Blazing Reader,

"Artists are solitary agents," says Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi. "We have no obligation to anyone but to ourselves, which is great, because we're free agents. That's exactly why tyrants are afraid of us, because we will say whatever we want, which will shock some people, but delight others. There's something inherently free about art, and it's because we don't owe anyone anything."

That's from an interview with David Perell.

Yann Martel's right. True artists won't even be swayed by fame, money, or highly censored book deals. For example, if I were not able to sell enough novels to meet my income needs, I'd go back to earning money as a marketing consultant, while continuing to write each day (albeit not as many pages).

If I were in it purely for the money, I wouldn't have spent two years writing a 500-page novel exposing the COVID farce — knowing it would be shunned by the mainstream media.

Speaking of which, did you see the Kirkus Review for Much Ado About Corona? If you missed it, check out the "Kirkus Reckoning" video I recorded with the cover artist Jordan Henderson (another "solitary agent" painting shocking and delightful works in the mountains of Washington State):

In it, Jordan and I...

• discuss possible reasons (conspiracy theories!) why novels, TV shows and movies have all but ignored the COVID years
• give a brief and fascinating history of how Virginia Kirkus launched the Kirkus Reviews during the Great Depression despite being told by 24 of 25 advisors that it was an insane idea
• dissect some oddities and politically-correct leanings in other Kirkus Reviews' reviews

We conclude with Jordan reading the Kirkus Reviews' review of Much Ado About Corona while a stuffed orangutan covers my eyes. Find out what this mainstream outlet had to say about my counter-narrative novel.

You can watch (or just listen) to it on YouTube, BitChute, Rumble and X.

—John C.A. Manley

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