The Gum Thief - Douglas Coupland [85]
I don’t think I’d try to publish this, Roger. You’d only be setting yourself up for disappointment. I’ve written several books, one of which was published, so I think I have some authority on this subject. My book of collected short stories, Mama’s Cranberries was published by To Catch a Dream Press and won the 2004 Eileen Braithwaite Memorial Trust Prize for Fiction Dealing with Equality.
I am a fan of the arts, Roger—I love art and culture and music—and don’t we all? It gives life colour and meaning. We writers—I feel I can speak to you man to man here—inhabit a giving, loving, feedback-filled community rife with generosity and selfless bonhomie. When something good happens to one writer, all writers read about it and rejoice! Take that, TV! Take that, cinema! Take that, Internet! We writers will never go away! We are strong!
Now, I feel I have to ask you why you’re not contributing to the coffee jar. It may be just a few quarters, but they all add up, and I don’t feel it’s my responsibility to subsidize my class’s “habit.” Please, at the next class, remember to pony up your share of the funds.
You did finish a book, Roger. I’ll give you that. If you like (and I don’t think this is stepping out of any boundaries here), I can supply you with private editing at a rate of $40 per hour, which is the going fee for editors with my credentials. There would also have to be a “rereading fee” for me to once again go through your novel, but that, again, is standard practice.
See you at next Wednesday’s class,
Ed Matheson, B.A.
Creative Writing Instructor and winner of the 2004 Eileen Braithwaite Memorial Trust Prize for Fiction Dealing with Equality
www.edmatheson.com
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
FICTION
Generation X
Shampoo Planet
Lift After God
Microserfs
Girlfriend in a Coma
Miss Wyoming
All Families Are Psychotic
Hey Nostradamus!
Eleanor Rigby
JPod
NON-FICTION
Polaroids from the Dead
City of Glass
Souvenir of Canada
Souvenir of Canada 2
Terry
About the Author
Douglas Coupland was born on a NATO base in Germany in 1961. He is the author of the number-one international bestseller JPod, soon to be a TV series, and eight earlier novels, including Eleanor Rigby, Hey Nostradamus!, All Families Are Psychotic, and Generation X. His books have been translated into 35 languages and published in most countries around the world. He is also a visual artist and sculptor, furniture designer and screenwriter, as well as the author of Souvenir of Canada, its sequel Souvenir of Canada 2, and Terry, the story of Terry Fox. He lives and works in Vancouver.
Copyright © 2007 by Douglas Coupland
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information address Bloomsbury USA, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Published by Bloomsbury USA, New York
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA IS AVAILABLE.
ISBN: 978-1-59691-106-2 (hardcover)
First published by Bloomsbury USA in 2007
This e-book edition published in 2011
E-book ISBN: 978-1-59691-753-8
www.bloomsburyusa.com