I gave Stan from the North till Friday and I still haven't had any word from him about The Buddha, The Dakini, and The Dirty Old Man so I thought I'd do a wee bit of book publishing research.
I checked on meditation books and found one by Gelong Thubten, called Handbook of Difficult Times, which I will order today. It is published by someone called Liz Gough at Yellow Kite books, an imprint of Hodder and Stoughton. In the Bookseller reference, it said she bought the rights off the author. I assume that means he hasn't an agent.
I prepared an email to send to Liz Gough this morning, but I haven't been able to get one through. Folk like her will get hundreds of book proposals every week, and the chance of getting someone to pay attention to an email from someone they've never heard of is probably remote, but you've got to try and make an effort.
My spiritual friend in Belgium has a teaching day on her schedule at Beaumont for this guy so when I've given up on Liz Gough, I'll try to find out more through my wee lama.
All the emails sent to Liz Gough have bounced. I also sent it to Hachette enquiries an hour or so ago, so I'll wait a couple of days before starting to chase my tail again. Anyway, here is the email:
Hi Liz Gough,
I've recently finished what seems to be a very funny memoir about my experiences in meditation and my connection with the Samye Ling.
The Buddha, The Dakini, and The Dirty Old Man has zeitgeist written all over it. The Buddha in the title refers to the abbot of the Samye Ling, the dakini is my girlfriend and the book is about much more than meditation. Sex for old folk, menopause, porn, quantum mechanics, mindfulness, but what will sell it is the fact that the folk who've read it for me so far thought it was funny. Jane King Hippolyte and I had this exchange over the book.
She wrote on FB about her man, Kendel is laughing out loud at the first chapter. I asked what she'd found funny about it. She wrote:
It's the Catholic upbringing chapter. And to be fair, the whole book is kind of funny, which is mainly a tone thing. But ask Neil Gaimon, all the torture in the name of love is hysterical. Not to mention the heathens getting chucked out of limbo.
The first person to read the book sent this to me:
I FUCKIN loved the book!
The title intrigued me from the start - you dont hear much about the dakinis! It took me a while to work out the heathen girlfriend is the dakini???!!!! wow - I mean , I get it if I were her it is a bit close to the bone but jeez john what a wonderful description of the 3 glass psychotic syndrome - beautifully observed - I could see myself. HOWEVER the inner heat the inner heat - well blow me down with a feather , right enough I have been experiencing it for 15 + years easy but not till the moment that you spoke about the irony of sitting next to a spontaneously boiling dakini did I recognise it as a blessing, have a giggle and breathe out!
You manage to get some of that esoteric stuff across in the most enjoyable readable terms - im inspired to have a go at the vase breathing myself now i know i can produce the inner heat haha! The anecdote of the WHACK was alsomagnificently done -
The carryons are delightful and It´s also just a lovely wee record of the development down the years of the Samye Ling centre - so well done indeed amigo!
Jane King Hippolyte also sent this to me in an email:
I don't see why this book should not be publishable. Especially now, when most people have been told to meditate or to try mindfulness even if they have no clue what it is.
Did you read Arun Sood's New Skin for the Old Ceremony: A Kirtan? That would probably be the closest to yours in genre. I met him last year - he's young, Scottish and Muslim, which is an interesting combination.
I was very absorbed by your book. It felt like a real person talking, and a real set of philosophical and spiritual questions being dealt with very seriously but not at all academically, which is really unusual and very refreshing. The only other writer I know who regularly steps up to these questions is Neil Gaiman, who I totally love. But he turns all the answers into comedy, whereas you have kept the journey real. Congratulations.
I just finished this book a month ago. I haven't tried to get an agent yet. It said in the Bookseller that you bought the rights of Handbook of Difficult Times off the author. So I assume you don't have to be approached through an agent. Want to read the book?
You must get hundreds of emails at day. Hope you read this one. Anyway, all the best. John McKenzie
