Stubble the Lords Hunter ‘Robert Price’ takes jab at N.L. in good hockey fashion - By N.L. Belardes
You know, Bakersfield Californian columnist, Robert Price, A.K.A. ‘Stubble the Lords Hunter’ had my book for a few weeks now. I wasn’t sure if he was burning pages out of it, reading it, or if he’d handed his copy to those creepy old timers still judging Bakersfield’s wayward youth from their dark Star Chamber. Of course he wouldn’t be… He’s not one of them…
Price wrote a nice plug for the novel in today’s edition of the Bakersfield Californian. He plugged the November 6th book signing at Russo's in the marketplace and Noveltown as the Southern Central Valley’s up-and-coming imprint, even though he did call me a “wild-eyed conspiracy theorist”. I love it! That’s what I get for jabbing him for months now with my fun-loving ‘Stubble the Lords Hunter’ quips…
Seriously, here are some words to chew on to make you think about your local newspaper, the Bakersfield Californian, and perhaps even get you to pick up a copy of Lords: Part One to see if the novel really is redundant, or just following a time-line and connecting new dots in a strangely macabre urban myth:
Lords: Part One is not much different in intent than Dominick Dunne’s A Season of Purgatory, which plainly analyzed, is good fiction, though based on actual murders (in Dunne’s case, the Skakel murders). As a novelist I did buy into certain Star Chamber theories, but that may not be too far off from the truth as the Californian does implicate all those so-called Star Chamber folks (except for a very few I added) in Robert Price’s 2003 articles. If I am a “wild-eyed conspiracy” theorist, then perhaps Price is implying the Californian has made a few conspiracy-doozies of their own while connecting conspiracy dots in the Price articles. It plainly is conspiracy-thinking for a local newspaper to leave such urban mythmaking for the collective consciousness to theorize and grow fearsome over. I just took that to the next psychological level, and in literary form. Go read the 2003 articles: Glenn Fitts—a possible Lord; Stan Harper—a possible Lord; Ted Fritts—a possible Lord; Tommy Tarver—a possible Lord; Robert Mistriel—a possible Lord, and so on... are they or aren’t they? The Californian leads you on a path of urban myth-making, and then makes you, the reader, decide for yourself… it’s a nice carrot to dangle and I picture Robert Price in similar fashion to me, dancing, and skipping along in front of the reader with a bamboo fishing pole and candy-coated carrot for the reader to chase after…
That doesn’t seem too far off from what character Simon Sundale does in my novel, Lords: Part One as the newspaper publisher. In the story he takes advantage of urban myths whether proven or unproven to gain more readership... especially of apocalyptic beliefs during a devastating dust storm. Here’s conspiracy-making in the 1970s about God-sent natural disasters waylaying the Kern countryside along with pop culture movie sensations blended with fears of alien invasions. Go to your local library and read the old newspapers for yourself and see if you agree/disagree. Look at the movie ads, read the stories, and get an apocalyptic feel for Bakersfield 30 years ago. Then think about the Lords of Bakersfield news articles of 2003: Conspiracy-making in the new Millennium? You bet. Robert Price and the Bakersfield Californian are right there with me, wild-eyed and gaining readership because they have made us all think there just might be Lords of Bakersfield out there in the distant past and not-so-distant and murderous present…
*Sidenote: I loved it when dozens of media folk (TV, Radio, and Print) all wandered downtown today for the big terror media op at 9am. I posted pictures at 9:24am and quite possibly beat them all in good grassroots blogger style…
Price wrote a nice plug for the novel in today’s edition of the Bakersfield Californian. He plugged the November 6th book signing at Russo's in the marketplace and Noveltown as the Southern Central Valley’s up-and-coming imprint, even though he did call me a “wild-eyed conspiracy theorist”. I love it! That’s what I get for jabbing him for months now with my fun-loving ‘Stubble the Lords Hunter’ quips…
Seriously, here are some words to chew on to make you think about your local newspaper, the Bakersfield Californian, and perhaps even get you to pick up a copy of Lords: Part One to see if the novel really is redundant, or just following a time-line and connecting new dots in a strangely macabre urban myth:
Lords: Part One is not much different in intent than Dominick Dunne’s A Season of Purgatory, which plainly analyzed, is good fiction, though based on actual murders (in Dunne’s case, the Skakel murders). As a novelist I did buy into certain Star Chamber theories, but that may not be too far off from the truth as the Californian does implicate all those so-called Star Chamber folks (except for a very few I added) in Robert Price’s 2003 articles. If I am a “wild-eyed conspiracy” theorist, then perhaps Price is implying the Californian has made a few conspiracy-doozies of their own while connecting conspiracy dots in the Price articles. It plainly is conspiracy-thinking for a local newspaper to leave such urban mythmaking for the collective consciousness to theorize and grow fearsome over. I just took that to the next psychological level, and in literary form. Go read the 2003 articles: Glenn Fitts—a possible Lord; Stan Harper—a possible Lord; Ted Fritts—a possible Lord; Tommy Tarver—a possible Lord; Robert Mistriel—a possible Lord, and so on... are they or aren’t they? The Californian leads you on a path of urban myth-making, and then makes you, the reader, decide for yourself… it’s a nice carrot to dangle and I picture Robert Price in similar fashion to me, dancing, and skipping along in front of the reader with a bamboo fishing pole and candy-coated carrot for the reader to chase after…
That doesn’t seem too far off from what character Simon Sundale does in my novel, Lords: Part One as the newspaper publisher. In the story he takes advantage of urban myths whether proven or unproven to gain more readership... especially of apocalyptic beliefs during a devastating dust storm. Here’s conspiracy-making in the 1970s about God-sent natural disasters waylaying the Kern countryside along with pop culture movie sensations blended with fears of alien invasions. Go to your local library and read the old newspapers for yourself and see if you agree/disagree. Look at the movie ads, read the stories, and get an apocalyptic feel for Bakersfield 30 years ago. Then think about the Lords of Bakersfield news articles of 2003: Conspiracy-making in the new Millennium? You bet. Robert Price and the Bakersfield Californian are right there with me, wild-eyed and gaining readership because they have made us all think there just might be Lords of Bakersfield out there in the distant past and not-so-distant and murderous present…
*Sidenote: I loved it when dozens of media folk (TV, Radio, and Print) all wandered downtown today for the big terror media op at 9am. I posted pictures at 9:24am and quite possibly beat them all in good grassroots blogger style…
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Wednesday, October 26, 2005.
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