Update to this story. "Random US: no regrets over Islam book," by Philip Jones, from the Book Seller, August 12:
Random House US has said that it has no regrets about pulling out of publication of Sherry Jones' Islam-inspired romantic novel, The Jewel of Medina, despite the growing controversy about the decision. The news, which broke in the US last week, has led to widespread criticism, and drawn comparisons with The Satanic Verses and the Danish Mohammed cartoons row.But Stuart Applebaum Random House US spokesman told The Bookseller that the publisher had had "no second thoughts". "It was a difficult decision: one that we have seldom had to take before and one that we hope not to have to take again," he said. Applebaum said that the decision had been taken by Gina Centrello, president and publisher of the Random House Publishing Group in the US, after several "credible and unrelated sources" warned that it might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, and could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment.
However, the explanation has failed to convince some observers. In a strongly worded piece on the Guardian website, Andrew Franklin, publisher at the UK-based Profile Books, was damning about the decision. "It's absolutely shocking. They are such cowards," he said. When asked about his comments, Franklin told The Bookseller: "I just think publishers should uphold the principle of free speech – editorial judgement is very important, but free speech is sacred, without it we should give up and go home."
In a separate statement, Random House US said: "We stand firmly by our responsibility to support our authors and the free discussion of ideas, even those that may be construed as offensive by some. However, a publisher must weigh that responsibility against others that it also bears, and in this instance we decided, after much deliberation, to postpone publication for the safety of the author, employees of Random House, booksellers and anyone else who would be involved in distribution and sale of the novel."
From a Google search on "Jewel of Medina", came up with an Amazon.com.uk page--
The Jewel of Medina (Hardcover)
by Sherry Jones (Author)
US List Price: $24.00
UK Equivalent: £12.21
Price: £11.04 & eligible for Free UK delivery on orders over £15 with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £1.17 (10%)
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Product details
* Hardcover: 432 pages
* Publisher: Ballantine Books (12 Aug 2008)
* Language English
* ISBN-10: 0345503163
* ISBN-13: 978-0345503169
Isn't Random House, Ballantine's "corporate parent"?
Ha ha! Sherry Jones thinks Mohammed married Aisha when she was age 11 --
Jones writes on her blog that "all I did was try to portray A'isha, Muhammad's child bride (believed by most historians to have married Muhammad at age nine and consummated the marriage at age 11) in the context of her times."
http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/5467
Of course, a publisher like Regnery wouldn't touch Jones' literary masterpiece with a 10-ft pole, not because it might offend the mahometans, but because it is shite.
I guess the free market ain't so free.
If you published the "Jewel of Berlin", Germans might riot and behead the author.
If you published the "Jewel of Tokyo", Japanese might riot and behead the author.
It's nice to know that a little violence trumps Western values.
Haha, the cowards from the Grunard accuse a bunch of cowards who are afraid to publish a crappy book?
Well, I already closed the book on both of them.
express your contempt on there cowardly action
http://www.randomhouse.com/about/faq/index.php?ToDo=contact
ISLAMSNOTFORME - I was going to go there myself, but you provided. Thanks! I commented.
All the publishers want to do is make a buck, can you blame them for not being a target? However, it's time our government and leaders stood up and vowed that any attacks would be met with swift, bloody disproportionate responses. They might think twice about dancing in the streets if they thought that napalm and cluster bombs were on the way
Is this the same Stuart Applebaum that was defending Tyson's decision to allow the Somalis to take off for Eid, or a different one?
Different.
The Random House Applebaum is:
Stuart Applebaum
Phone: 1.212.782-96 23
Fax: 1.212.782-91 81
sapplebaum@randomhouse.com
I was just reading the Comments on the August 5 WSJ article "You Still Can't Write About Mohammed," and came across this Comment:
If this novel purports to be historical, I wonder if it makes mention of Aisha's comments that she had to wash and scrape the semen stains off the Prophet's clothes before he went to prayers, as attested by Bukhari (Volume 1, Book 4, Numbers 229 to 233)
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/004.sbt.html#001.004.229
But the same in terms of lack of self-preservation instincts. I think I'm starting to understand what Dennis Prager is talking about.
I guess nobody picked up on my first comment above. How come Ballantine (subsidiary of Random House) published the book and it's available on Amazon.com?
Apparently Jones thought that Spellman would give her a nice blurb.
From Galleycat:
When Sherry Jones told her publishers at Ballantine that they should send a copy of her novel about the life of one of Muhammad's wives, The Jewel of Medina, to Islamic studies scholar Denise Spellberg, she never anticipated that Random House, Ballantine's corporate parent, would decide they were afraid to publish the novel after all. Instead of giving Ballantine a nice blurb, Spellberg called her own editor at Knopf and told her putting the book out was tantamount to "a declaration of war" against Islam and would probably lead to terrorist attacks on Broadway—and that was enough to put Random off the idea altogether.
..............................
Get that--publishing the book would be tantamount to "a declaration of war" against Islam.
What rot--a lot of people--myself included--were rather disgusted by "The Da Vinci Code", but not even its biggest critics felt that Random House (yes, the same publisher) had "declared war" against Christians in general, or Catholics in particular, by publishing this book.
By the way, there's another novel in the works about Aisha-- Kamran Pasha's "Mother of the Believers", due from Atria Books in April of 2009. Not sure what the reaction will be to this one.
Here's what Jones has to say about Aisha, "She's one of the most influential women in history, and so little is known about her in the Western world. I really believe she represents the potential in all women."
Yes, being married off to a brutal man in his fifties at the age of six does so much to empower one; being barred from ever marrying again after being widowed at the age of 18--an inspiration to us all (Mohammed didn't even want his widows to be "unfaithful" to him after his death). Polygamy, wife-beating, the veil--just contemplating this sort of life makes me feel so strong.
Jones is looking for another publisher:
"She has even, she said, drawn inspiration from A'isha's courage during these past months. Now, she added, she's hopeful that this controversy means "a better chance that the book will be read by more people."
Denver Rodeo wrote:
I guess nobody picked up on my first comment above. How come Ballantine (subsidiary of Random House) published the book and it's available on Amazon.com?
........................
Denver Rodeo, the book was due out today. All publishers accept pre-orders; from individuals, bookstores, and institutions such as libraries. I'm sure there are lots of pre-orders in for this book. That's all the Amazon.com page is.
Cancelling a book's publication at the last minute like this is very unusual. Ballantine has pulled the plug on "The Jewel of Medina" becuse its parent company has. I imagine that Amazon.com page will come down in the next couple of days. They've got a lot of refunding to do.
This just shows how terrified Random House was of Muslim violence. They're going to lose a lot of money on this one, even if Jones doesn't sue them for breach of contract.
Thanks ISLAMNOTFORME
I sent a strongly worded protest to Random House speaking on behalf of us beleagured folk of the free world.
gravenimage, why doesn't Amazon.com take down that page then? You'd think a gigantic international company like Amazon.com wouldn't leave a page up that could make thousands of people think the book is still available and add it to their shopping cart.
In case anyone is interested, here is Sherry Jones's blog:
http://sherryjones.blogspot.com/
A whitewash of a pedophile gets scrubbed because the pedophile's malignant terroristic followers do not want the subject even brought up in the mind of the West.
Irony, here is thy sting.
I sent a note via RH's feedback page. Judging from this, I guess I shouldn't be holding my breath for a reply.
Why not boycott Random House? Let them "ass-lick" Islam, all they want.
There's a big discussion about this going on at the Washington Post/Newsweek website:
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/islamsadvance/2008/08/censoring_islam.html
I think it's safe to say that we dodged a bullet with this one. We need less disinformation out there, particularly on this subject. The whole Aisha affair (as we know it to be) is pretty damning of Islam as a whole, but with Muhammad in particular.
Looking for evidence that Islam is completely incompatible with the 21st century? Look no further than Muhammad's marriage to a six year old Aisha (I prefer to not mention what happened at age nine). Perfect being my ass.....
Let us not support this woman one bit. If she were correct with her facts, I'd say by all means, but it's just another white-wash.
ISLAMSNOTFORME - I was going to go there myself, but you provided. Thanks! I commented.
Posted by: darcy
darcy and jewcat your both quite welcome jim va7gpd
Every newspaper in the free world should publish cartoons of Mohammed, if they are seriously interested in maintaining a free press.
One action of self-censorship begets another. In view of the craven cowardice of the world's media, the decision by Random House comes as no surprise.
Let us all 'publish and be damned'. They can't kill us all!
One thing that the world has not been deprived of is a literary classic. Sherry Jones has released the first chapter online as a pdf:
http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/images/uploads1/Prologue-JewelMedina.pdf
It is really, really bad. Here's the first paragraph:
"Scandal blew in on the errant wind when I rode into Medina clutching Safwan’s waist. My neighbors rushed into the street like storm waters flooding a wadi. Children stood in clusters to point and gawk. Their mothers snatched them to their skirts and pretended to avert their eyes. Men spat in the dust and muttered, judging. My father’s mouth trembled like a tear on the brink."
And so it goes on. I've no idea whether the book would have been offensive to Muslims. But it's certainly offensive to anyone who cares about English prose.
Well, Heresiarch, it's a "burqa-ripper," so what can one expect? It's definite trash, there's no doubt about it. Sherry Jones doesn't know anything about Aisha! She's just making it all up as she goes.
If this novel purports to be historical, I wonder if it makes mention of Aisha's comments that she had to wash and scrape the semen stains off the Prophet's clothes before he went to prayers, as attested by Bukhari (Volume 1, Book 4, Numbers 229 to 233)
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/004.sbt.html#001.004.229
Posted by: darcy at August 12, 2008 5:30 PM
For example, I posted the link above that attests to poor raped child Aisha having to clean the fake prophet's "semen stains" off the pervert's clothes on Jones's blog.
Of course she didn't publish it. Can't have the "Jewel of Medina" as a maid ordered to perform that gross and humiliating task, now, can we, even though it's the truth?
Could it be a publicity stunt? You know, "Look how PC we are, look at the way we defend Islam, without being asked to do so..."
Publishing houses exist to make money. For all we know, there's no book at all. Maybe Random House is trying to enlarge its consumer base.
Just a theory.
Here's an odd thing. Vintage is an imprint of Random House. They publish The Satanic Verses. A new edition - part of a Rushdie collected works - came out only a couple of months ago.
"... in this instance we decided ... to postpone publication for the safety of the author, employees of Random House, booksellers and anyone else who would be involved in distribution and sale of the novel."
===============================================
They do have a point. If they were to publish it, and some Infidelophobe were to visit the wrath of Allah on one of the above-mentioned potential targets, you can be SURE that the lawsuit against Random House would include in the complaint that "the defendant knew or should have known that their actions" (in publishing) "were likely to trigger a violent reaction" (from followers of the Religion of Blowing Stuff to Pieces).
Next legislation we need (after the "It's OK to call attention to Muslims doing Really Weird Things on Aircraft" law) would be a "No Legal Culpability from Speaking Truth to Islam" law.
The Amazon.com page for "The Jewel of Medina" is down.
http://www.amazon.com/Jewel-Medina-Novel-Sherry-Jones/dp/0345503163
Well, I have some empathy for Sherry Jones. I've been trying to find an agent or get picked up by publishing house for about two years now. I have completed my novel 'A Plague On Both Houses' and have been rejected more than 150 times. It's extemely tough to get published as a nobody, like me, with no connections or notoriety, but I tell myself maybe some dismissed my project out of hand because my query letters made it clear my story centered on fighting Islam. Maybe its simply my way of rationalizing the lack of interest. I had maybe 5/150 express something positive.
Despite this lack of success, the book will be offered through lulu.com and I'll get it into amazon.com and into the other on-line channels as best I can. It has been a long lonely walk down a dark dirt road, but I'm close to having it completed.
We need more stories and more speakers and more voices and more of everyone and anything that puts Islam into doubt. Never give up.
"It's extemely tough to get published as a nobody, like me, with no connections or notoriety..."
I can totally relate, Plague, as I too wrote a novel and have attempted to get it published. I also had some agents express interest, and I came very, very close! However, it didn't happen, and finally I just moved on to other things.
I still have my novel, of course, in a box in the attic! Well, I enjoyed every second writing it, and did enjoy friends' exclaiming over it, and, I tried! That's how I look at it.
Mine has nothing to do with Islam, and was written before 9/11. If I were to write something new (which I've thought about), oh, it would be Mohammedan/Islam/Koran City, if you get my meaning.
I have published poetry in various literary journals, and so have thought of a poetry book concerning the aforementioned subjects. Poetry in the take-no-prisoners style of Sylvia Plath, Sharon Olds, or Ai.
Good Luck with your novel, and when it gets online, let us know! Can't wait to read it!
OT:
Darcy wrote, to A_Plague_on_Both_Houses:
I can totally relate, Plague, as I too wrote a novel and have attempted to get it published.
...Good Luck with your novel, and when it gets online, let us know! Can't wait to read it!
................................
Getting published is *not* easy. I have just finished illustrating my first children's book (nothing to do with Islam), and it should be available in the next month or so. Yay!
Like you, Darcy, I've had work published in some small journals (as well as a lot of commercial art), but I still have several manuscripts and a work-in-progress graphic novel that I'm shopping around. It can be very frustrating.
I would love to read your work, Plague. You can set up a "print-on-demand" account for your book if you want to market it online. Good luck to you both.
I just ran across this article, and it seems apropos, "Scholars look at Good Book's naughty side", about a book, "The Uncensored Bible: The Bawdy and Naughty Bits of the Good Book".
It actually sounds rather silly, and not at all "scholarly", with assertions such as Eve being created from Adam's "penis bone". Personally, I've never heard this interpretation, but I don't mind.
A senior editor at Harper-Collins, Eric Brandt, said the publisher didn't think twice about the raunchy nature of "The Uncensored Bible".
"We publish something to offend just about everyone," he said.
[Author] Kaltner, however, said the book is not meant to offend. "We're not engaging in Bible-bashing here," he said.
Hmm--"We publish something to offend just about everyone"--I wonder if that includes burlesque versions of the Qu'ran? That I would love to see.
Well, the book has been out since last month, and so far there are no Christians rioting in the streets, issuing fatwas against the authors, Harper-Collins, the book's printers, whoever. I guess Christians just aren't serious about "defending" their religion. sarc/off
Here's a link:
http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061238840/The_Uncensored_Bible/index.aspx