Help me get my book out!

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About 180 pp. on subject of '60s psychedelia as a manifestation of Surrealist aesthetics. Does include some music theory related sections (song structure, harmony, and some transcriptions of melodic lines).

Written as M.A. thesis but also hopeful book project. Worked on it for four years. Includes references to 400 SONGS! Lots of different subjects covered that I think are really significant to the whole phenomenon of '60s psych, all related to the central theme.

No takers yet. Any suggestions or aid welcome. Thanks you guys!

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 8 July 2006 20:25 (nineteen years ago)

iuniverse.com, cafepress.com, any other "on demand book publishing" house. I've seen iuniverse and cafepress books and cosmetically they're every bit the equal of trade paperbacks. I even got asked to provide a blurb for someone who did his through iuniverse.

― Urnst Kouch (Urnst Kouch), Saturday, 8 July 2006 20:46 (nineteen years ago)

Ouch - I hear you George and thanks, but I WOULD like to...maybe...get paid? Or at least not have to *pay to play* after working on it for four years.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 8 July 2006 20:55 (nineteen years ago)

Sounds salable to me. Since it's an academic project, pitch it as a textbook for cultural studies programs blah blah blarg.

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Saturday, 8 July 2006 21:02 (nineteen years ago)

hmm, i might have an idea about this. is your address in your sig line your actual email address?

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Saturday, 8 July 2006 21:13 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, that works - thanks!

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 8 July 2006 21:19 (nineteen years ago)

Sounds salable to me. Since it's an academic project, pitch it as a textbook for cultural studies programs blah blah blarg.

if you use thefriendlyfriendlybubble as the author name that might help too. good luck with it!

― jed_ (jed), Saturday, 8 July 2006 22:15 (nineteen years ago)

I'd buy a copy, it's right up my alley. Def. let us know when it does get published...

― DougD (DougD), Saturday, 8 July 2006 23:50 (nineteen years ago)

>'60s psychedelia as a manifestation of Surrealist aesthetics<

wow. can you give a short synopsis or example? I can't get my head around this. of course I did just put in a 12-hour workday. on first thought, 60's psychedelia seems like paint by numbers when compared to surrealism.

― nicky lo-fi (nicky lo-fi), Sunday, 9 July 2006 07:05 (nineteen years ago)

Here is the little abstract I had to do for the project in its thesis form:

This thesis analyzes the aesthetics of 1960s psychedelic rock music. The main premise of the study is that this genre of music may be seen as a particular manifestation of Surrealist aesthetics. This argument is based around the proposition that the primary unit of significance in Surrealist aesthetics is the surreal object (an object either bizarre unto itself or “normal,” but found within inexplicably strange contexts). The thesis establishes the means of identifying the equivalent of the surreal object in music through analyses of certain European art musics created around the time of the Surrealist movement. The main study of psychedelic rock music itself builds on these foundations and involves discussions of the role of the surreal object in psychedelic song lyrics, the surrealistic objectification of text and musical materials, and the treatment of song forms as surreal art “objects.” As Surrealism was itself rooted in Gothic and Romantic traditions, the study examines the common presence of Gothic and Romantic elements in psychedelic music as well.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 9 July 2006 07:31 (nineteen years ago)

And just to maybe address the last part of what you were saying, I make it clear throughout the thing that I'm not arguing that psychedelic music was Surrealism in practice. Obviously, it didn't involve automatism and such. The argument is that psychedelia is *surrealistic* in its aesthetics.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 9 July 2006 07:40 (nineteen years ago)

dude, i'll paypal you $20 for a peek at the draft!

― the fuckablity of late picasso (vahid), Sunday, 9 July 2006 09:05 (nineteen years ago)

sounds very promising, i'd buy a copy

― rizzx (Rizz), Sunday, 9 July 2006 09:49 (nineteen years ago)

put me on the potential buyers list, too. unfortunately i know dick-all about getting books published (as do all of my friends who write, apparently).

― GOD PUNCH TO HAWKWIND (yournullfame), Sunday, 9 July 2006 10:29 (nineteen years ago)

Heard part of an interview with Ben Cisnaro, if that's his name: NYTimes, has a 331/3 book on Pixies' Dolittle, and he was talking about how Francis told him about being influenced by surrealist princples and practice, starting with Un Chien Andalou. What's that Dylan bio, think it's Scaduto's, in which Bobby keeps saying, "Time don't exist, it's just the other side of Dali's clocks," til finally some girl (prob Baez) tells him he's just trying this out for effect, and to shut the fuck up.

― don (dow), Monday, 10 July 2006 00:23 (nineteen years ago)

oh shit, i still need to read the copy you sent me, dude!

― gbx (skowly), Monday, 10 July 2006 00:52 (nineteen years ago)

Offer to PayPal seconded.

― Hoosteen (Hoosteen), Wednesday, 12 July 2006 23:55 (nineteen years ago)

this sounds like an academic press book, Tim, unless there's a way to "frontload" the song material into a sort of pop hook/bait but even then your focus sounds more theoretical than historical, and if you're not Greil Marcus that may scare off commercial publishers. are you using a literary agent? where have you submitted so far?

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Thursday, 13 July 2006 09:28 (nineteen years ago)

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