Friends in very high places?

May 20-21, 1975 no books listed. Perhaps still recovering from the Sot Weed Factor.

May 20-21, 2005 I read:

Report on Communion, The Facts Behind the Most Controversial True Story of Our Time, Ed Conroy

Sigh. I didn't finish this book. It was kind of a detour after re-reading Communion and it had way too much speculative debate about things with no hope of any real answers.

I'm not sorry I read at least some of this book however, given my obsession about book promotion. Conroy describes how Communion began to sell the minute it was shipped to bookstores in 1987--with no pre-publicity and no pre-publication reviews. The publisher did not take orders, they just sent to stores their own estimate the quantity of copies they thought would sell. That's highly unusual.

Were there friends in very high places?

An anecdote in Report on Communion does seem to suggest that something odd might have been happening. One editor, a former national magazine reporter, was in a bookstore near the displays of Communion when he saw:

…a couple that was very short. … And they were all wrapped up. Long scarves, wool hats that you pull down, and they picked up a copy of the book and they started thumbing through it…. And it was obvious that they were speed-reading, too. And they would say, "Oh, he's got this wrong, he's got that wrong." And they were sort of giggling.

He reports going over, identifying himself as working for the publisher and asking what they thought was wrong with the book.

I think it was the woman who looked up. She was wearing those big sort of sunglasses that the girls keep up in their hair. And they really sort of hide the face. But by God behind those dark glasses there was a goddamn big pair of eyes. And I mean to say it was a big pair of eyes. And they were shaped sort of like almonds. (Report on Communion, Conroy, pgs. 18-19)

He got no reply beyond a wave of hostility so intense that he was forced to retreat. The editor didn't mention whether the extremely short couple actually bought the book. But they might be a whole new niche market. It would be hard to pin them down as a target for advertising, though.

I kept envisioning a market research company arranging a focus group--

"Okay we've asked you here to this crop circle at midnight in a remote field to get your opinions. Hey, you with the tractor beam, put down that cow. We can offer sodas and snacks but we're renting this space and we don't have a budget for cattle mutilations. That's right come over here. Now we'll be recording your opinions on video… No, sit down there. Not so close. Get back. Put down that probe! Aiiiiiii!!!!!"

When the researcher regains consciousness in the field the next morning, all the tapes from the night before will be blank.