In the first post in this cycle, I pointed out that, while The Seeker Academy has so far received sixteen mostly very positive reviews on Amazon, some that run 700 words, Holistic/Integral/New Age leaders won’t review it.
Independent Amazon reviewers, most of whom review many other books, say the novel “reflects on extremely relevant issues for today and for the future,” has “parallels with the classic Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” “while delving into cultural philosophy, never loses the sweet flavor of storytelling,” and “shows real ambition for spiritual adventure.”
And yet, sixty of the sixty-one editors, retreat leaders and scholars who address Holistic/Integral/New Age themes, and got review copies of The Seeker Academy, have been unwilling to review it. Why? Do they think it threatens them? In a post I’ll mull over before writing, and publish March 15th (the Ides of March), I’ll give my best answer to that question.
Meanwhile, I hope you will read the Amazon reviews and three editorial reviews, and look at the list of the unwilling I provide below. If the novel is judged by its Amazon reviewers to mindfully and with “ambition” address the Holistic/Integral/New Age movement, why won’t the movement’s leaders review it?
As a reminder, the one leader in sixty-one who did review the novel, Nancy Slonim Aronie, author of Writing From The Heart, who teaches every year at all of the major retreats, and lectures at Harvard, said of The Seeker Academy: “With exquisite facility of language, L.D. Gussin takes us on a very real spiritual journey; the ups, the downs, the all around. I’ve been there. L.D. Gussin nails it!”
UNWILLING EDITORS
Editor in Chief, Shambhala Sun Magazine
Editor in Chief, Yoga Journal
Book Editor, Alternatives Magazine
Editor in Chief, What is Enlightenment? Magazine
Managing Editor, Tricycle Buddhist Review
CultureWatch Editor, Sojourners Magazine
Managing Editor, Foreward Magazine
Editor at Large, Utne Reader
Editor in Chief, Tiferet: A Journal of Spiritual Literature
Prose Editor, Tiferet: A Journal of Spiritual Literature
Editor, UUWorld Magazine
Managing Editor, Yes! Magazine
Editor, Communities Magazine
Managing Editor, In These Times
Editor in Chief, Beliefnet.com
Contributing Editor, Beliefnet.com
EVP Content and Community, Beliefnet.com
Publisher, Conscious Choice Magazine
Book Review Editor, Conscious Choice Magazine
Editor in Chief, Whole Life Times
Editor, Ascent Magazine
Editor, Insight Journal
Culture Editors, Spirituality and Health Magazine
Managing Editor, Shift: At the Frontiers of Consciousness
UNWILLING RETREAT ADMINISTRATORS
I sent review copies to twenty managers and trustees representing Kripalu Center, Esalen Institute, Omega Institute, Breitenbush Hot Springs, The Crossings, Hollyhock Centre, Spirit Rock, and Chautauqua Institute. Not one has been willing to review it.
UNWILLING RETREAT WORKSHOP LEADERS
I sent review copies to a dozen authors who teach workshops every year at one or more of the retreat centers listed above. Only Nancy Slonim Aronie has reviewed it.
UNWILLING SCHOLARS
I sent review copies to ten scholars of this movement, whose academic associations include California Institute Of Integral Studies, Wisdom University, Goddard College, Rice University, JFK University, The Graduate Institute and University of Oregon.. Not one has been willing to review it.
March 13, 2008 at 10:48 am
Why won’t they review it? Great question. I haven’t read your book yet, so I will only tackle this question from the point of view of those who do the reviewing (that is, I’m taking for granted that your book isn’t the problem but the reception is. Crimony, these are people who made it through Boomeritis, which is among the worst novels I have ever been exposed to).
One possibility: You have an establishment of people who are trying to keep a profitable enterprise going here, or to make it profitable. Here you go, trying to disrupt the natural holarchy of the new-age economy with this doing-it-yourself, on your own terms trip, and taking market share while you’re at it. Unacceptable! The Coming New Age will not tolerate it.
And for the record: I mean it when I say that Boomeritis is little more than vapid polemic marketed as a novel. Remember that you are dealing with people who are willing to convince themselves it’s actually an artifact of an emerging paradigm of wicked-awesome oneness with the capital-K cosmos.
Anderson