Publications

At one point in my life, I was turned on to the idea of writing computer books by a friend in the industry. While I would never consider myself a real writer, the thought of being "published" seemed like a great idea at the time. Well, as with many things in life, I quickly became very fatigued and bored with it. For various other reasons that will become apparent as you read below, I decided not to pursue a career in this field. The result of my brief forray into the literary world is presented here for your enjoyment.

This was my first effort. I was the ghost writer for Peter Norton on this one and Arthur Griffith was my co-author. As it was my first effort, I didn't have enough of a "name" to be on the actual cover. No problem, I understand what it is to pay dues. The publisher neglected to first send me a copy of the book before it hit the shelves, and second to even put my name in the book. While at a local bookstore, I saw the book on the shelves and was horrified to find that my name wasn't printed anywhere within it's pages. Now, when I tell someone that I co-wrote the book, I have to explain why my name isn't even in it. Nice. I also did a good deal of editing on this one as well.

My second effort, with a couple of very successful Windows authors. I contributed mostly to the network, multi-booting and Linux/Unix inter-operability chapters in this book. I also edited a good portion of it as well. This book was quite a bit of work, I must say. It's a very large volume and contains a wealth of information for the Windows 2000 sucker..err user...to grab ahold of. If you know me, you know that I hate Windows, but I did feel justified with this one as it was an opportunity to get my favorite virus..Linux..into the Windows world of computing. Once all of my work on this book was finished, I was actually nickeled and dimed over my fees for it. I had to actually prove what it was that I worked on for the book. I have yet to receive a copy of this book from the publisher, after more than two years, and refuse to pay for it myself. The publishers and co-authors were kind enough to mention my name in this one.

Finally, I'd like to say a few words about my experiences. My agent rocks. My experiences in no way reflect his work. This is simply a problem with the big guys...the publishers. It is indicative of the way that artists, authors and artisans in general are taken for granted by the big machine. If you're not unionized, your ass is out in the open..plain and simple. Shame.

While my experiences were bad, I wouldn't rule out writing another book in the future. If I do, it will be a programming book. I think that these operating system books are great, but there are just too many of them in circulation. Of course, both of the books I worked on were huge successes, both with the public and industry. I guess that some solace is to be had in that fact.