It is my desire to set out clearly my account of events, and not bother with the sillinesses indulged in by so-called authors trying to earn spurious fame. God forbid that I should ever suffer the shame of publishing a book for money, or of having one of my family so demean themselves. How can one tell who might read it? No worthy book has ever been written for gain, I think; occasionally I am forced to listen to someone reading to while away time in the evening and, on the whole, I find it all quite absurd. All those elaborate conceits and hidden meanings. Say what you mean to say, and then be silent, is my motto, and books would better–and a lot shorter–if more people listened to my advice. – Iain Pears, An Instance of the Fingerpost (p203, trade edition)
Saving the world, one book sale at a time.
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Et in arcaedia, ego. 
Would be a lot fewer 150,000+ word book-lengths, that’s for sure. 🙂
The irony for me was the length of the book from which this quote was taken.
We used to use it in the office as a bug-whomper. For when a genre novel Just Won’t Do.
Hey, you got something against 150,000+ sord books? *kicks manuscript*
…Huh? o0;;
I think I need more coffee…
It kind of reads like Edgar Allan Poe, doesn’t it?
It’s actually been quite a long while since I had the opportunity to sit and read Poe. And I’m only just into the 2nd p.o.v. section. I’ll have to think on that comparison.
I loved that book, though I admit it took me well into the second POV before I did.
Are you enjoying the book? I keep eying it at the bookstore, but I’ve never picked it up. Let us know what you think when you’re done!
So far I am. It took me a bit to get into it and was quite a switch from the last two (non-manuscript) books I read: Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Years of Rice and Salt and Jennifer Weiner’s In Her Shoes. And I tend to only get in 60-80pp per week because otherwise I feel occasionally guilty about the submissions that are awaiting my attention. Except for nights like last night when I couldn’t sleep.
spurious fame?
Hey, if he doesn’t want the spurious fame, I’ll take it.
Shelley B.
http://www.shelleybates.com
Y’know, if he really feels that way about it, I’d be happy to relieve him of all those nasty royalties.