National Book Award-winning writer William T. Vollmann stunned the Penguin offices when he submitted a 22-page children’s book to Viking editor Paul Slovak this morning.
“It’s the shortest manuscript I’ve ever seen from Bill,” said Slovak, who also told reporters that editing this “would be a breeze.”
The book, entitled Shooting Guns at the Gnus, is also illustrated by Vollmann. Vollmann hoped that the book would encourage young children to start firing guns early, so that they could get a sense of “what it means to be free” at a very early age.
Parents bristled at Vollmann’s plans, claiming that he was taking advantage of his literary reputation to sully the pristine nature of the children’s book market. One organization, The Society for Safe Books, plans to picket the Penguin offices this morning, demanding that Penguin not publish anything even remotely offensive. None of the activists, however, had read the book in question.
[…] April Fool’s day post so far, from Edward Champion’s Return of the Return of the Reluctant – “The book, entitled Shooting Guns at the Gnus, is also illustrated by Vollmann. Vollmann […]
Brilliant.
[…] Rants reports on a number of fascinating news items, including William Vollman’s new children’s book and the creation of a new "pretentious fiction" category in the […]
That’s a pretty funny picture of Bill.
[…] Blogging “Takes Too Much Time” Neal Pollack to Write Dad Essays Until the End of Time William Vollmann Turns in Uncharacteristically Slim Children’s Book Orange Unveils Male-Only Banana Prize “Pretentious Literary Fiction” to Get New Section […]
[…] Rants reports on a number of fascinating news items, including William Vollman’s new children’s book and the creation of a new "pretentious fiction" category in the […]
OMG you totally had me sucked In!