July 24, 2008

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Stuart W Mirsky

A product of Brooklyn College with a BA in philosophy, Stuart W. Mirsky, like many writers before him, became enamoured of 12th century Icelandic prose early on. A student of the martial arts, he travelled, wrote for various publications, and ultimately came to earn his keep as a bureaucrat in a major northeastern American city. Today he writes regularly, focusing primarily on historical fiction. "Writing´s a tough row to hoe," he says, "especially in today´s environment where everyone thinks he or she can write and publishers have so much material to wade through." The problem is how to distinguish between the mundane and the special. "From all I´ve seen in the marketplace," he notes, "I don´t think modern commercial publishers have quite mastered this yet. Still, the self-publishing venue of modern POD technology (e.g., Xlibris) represents a two-edged sword. It makes publication possible for anyone who wants to write and publish a book, regardless of the subjective and often flawed judgements of third party editors in publishing houses, which is a good thing. But it also makes publication possible for anyone, without any filters to strain out the self-indulgent and often sub-standard stuff. And that´s not so good since it floods the marketplace and gives all who self-publish a bad name, regrdless of the quality of their work. The key is to find a way to stand apart from the herd, rarely an easy task, even in the best of times!"