34AEJ7D@CMUVM.BITNET (Bill Gorman) (06/20/91)
Index Number: 16241 I recently noticed a book titled "Captain Quad", written by someone using the name (may or may not be his/her real name) of Sean Costello. IMHO, this is sensationalist garbage deliberately attempting to cash in on non-disabled society's almost instinctive distrust/dislike of the disABLED. In other words, the books smells of calculated exploitation. The story is about a young man who becomes a paraplegic. He then turns into sort sort of crazed psychic killer, due to all the "festering hatred" his has for the world because of what happened to him. He leaves his paralyzed body "astrally" and commits all sorts of crimes. The cover of the book displays a man in a wheelchair, displaying what is apparently intended to be an insane, bloodthirsty leer. If this lump of excrement appears in your local bookstores, let your conscience be your guide as to your actions. The way the non-disabled world laps this sort of thing up, some a**h*** is liable to want to make a movie out of it. Yech! Sez me, W. K. (Bill) Gorman
34AEJ7D@CMUVM.BITNET (Bill Gorman) (06/22/91)
Index Number: 16345
I said:
>The story is about a young man who becomes a paraplegic.
^^^^^^^^^^
CORRECTION: quadraplegic
Sorry about the error.
Sez me,
W. K. (Bill) Gormancmfaltz@phoenix.princeton.edu (Christine Marie Faltz) (06/25/91)
Index Number: 16384 I am glad you let us know about this book, and I think we should do our best to let all know how we feel about it: write to local papers, let anyone who mentions the book know how we feel about it, and so on. Although I am annoyed with authors who think they are being creative or funny or whatever else, I do not think we have the right to censor. I will not ask a bookstore, for example, not to carry the book. If we censor things, we cannot point to them and show the public what is wrong with this society. We can use the book's existence as a weapon against itself and society's view of the disabled. Censoring is wrong -- what if agencies wishing to keep us in our place were able to prevent positive, helpful publications outof the bookstore simply by letting owners know that thebook, in their opiion, was unrealistic? Condemn the book, but don'thide it. The ugly scars n our literature andother media forms must be confronted head-on. -- | Poor is the person whose permission | Christine Faltz 33 Prospect Ave. | | depends upon the perceptions of others | Princeton, NJ 08540 | "Who is John Galt?"