Iranian Family wins reprieve after allegedly housing The Satanic Verses

An Iranian family has won a last minute reprieve from deportation this week after being wanted for allegedly having a copy of The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. The book has caused an uproar in Muslim countries since it was first published in 1988. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the religious ruler of Iran at the time of publication, issued a fatwa following a riot against the book in Pakistan. The fatwa called for all good Muslims to kill the author and the publishers of the book. The book was banned in India and burned in demonstrations in the U.K. The threat was later withdrawn, however penalties remained for Iranians caught with a copy of the book.

Farah Ghaemi, a widow with three children, was forced to flee Iran after authorities accused her of having Rushdie’s novel in her home. Ghaemi runs a successful childcare business in Shiraz.

Details of the case have not been made public, however police claim to have found Rushdie’s novel along with several photographed pages of the book in the Ghaemi home. Mrs. Ghaemi and her children have since fled to Britain and settled in Gorton.

Immigration officials did not believe the family’s story, and their asylum appeal was rejected. The family was taken from their home and due to be flown back to Teheran last week. Friends of the Ghaemi family in Iran contacted a specialist law firm and won a judicial review of the decision.

The arrest warrant accuses Mrs. Ghaemi and her daughter of “distributing lies through publishing and the distribution of the misleading book, The Satanic Verses, and making propaganda against the sacred system of the Islamic Republic.” A bail hearing this week may allow the family to return to Manchester. A High Court judge will review the evidence while the family is being held in a detention center near London.

The Satanic Verses is the fictional story of a Bollywood star and a voice over artist in England. Both characters, in an attempt to piece their life back together after a string of bad luck, decide to return to India. The story contains a series of dream narratives which are at the heart of the controversy because it questions the teachings of the prophet Mohammed.

Since its release, those connected to the book have been hit by a series of violent attacks. The Italian translator of the book, Ettore Capriolo, was seriously injured in a stabbing; William Nygaard, the Norweigan publisher, barely survived an assassination attempt; and the Japanese translator of the book, Hitoshi Igarashi, was stabbed to death.

Click here to read an exclusive interview with the only person to ever do an indoor reading of The Satanic Verses in the United States.

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I just couldn’t get rid of them. I insisted that it would be like carving out a part of my youth. I just knew I was going to listen to every song in my collection and read the words from the pamphlets one day. I swore that to myself for years.

As those years passed and I listened to music less and less, the urge to just pitch the whole set got stronger and stronger. I looked at them on that top shelf and kept looking at them. I moved three times to different homes and kept them scratch-free. I might just want to look at the colorful pictures enclosed in them one day. Might be ten years from now, but you never know.

But that day never came.

The connection is unbalanced, but my attachment to the things in my closet was like the “things” in “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien. In the book, O’Brien explores the attachments soldiers make, and how the new identities formed through those attachments can be difficult to overcome. The underlying theme throughout the book is that the emotional “things” soldiers carry with themselves to the warfront and back is a burden that is often heavier on the heart and mind than any gun or helmet.

The same idea can be applied to our lives. We hold on to things so tightly that we inherit a dependence on them. We think that discarding these things will erase our memories of a time and a place that once was, and we’re scared of that. It’s the unknown. It’s the uncertainty. And with each passing year it gets worse, for age disconnects us more and more from youth. What we perceive as a hallowed time in our lives makes the need to hold on even more desperate. Alas, it is a trait I have worked hard to remove but still sometimes fail at, my understanding of O’Brien’s universal message notwithstanding.

As writers, we have these “things” in our work as well. For the novelist, we hold on to the elegantly written paragraph that just doesn’t fit. For the poet, its the perfect words that just doesn’t mesh in the line. For the essayist, its the crisp and commanding voice while making a point that doesn’t come close to arguing the thesis. We all encounter this problem at some point in our careers, and many times we as creators simply cannot let go of the thing which we created, even though we know without a shadow of a doubt that it belongs in the trash can.

Take my advice: Don’t attempt to publish work knowing that you could have done better had you just let go of some things. Had you just loosened the stranglehold on those precious words that you think you’ll never forget. If you are physically unable to highlight and press “Delete,” then create a “Cuts” file, throw them in there, and tell yourself that you’ll put them in another story or poem one day. Heck, if it’s really elegant tell yourself you’ll put them in a love letter for a significant other. Just get them out of there. Trust me, you will forget them within five minutes, and you will feel even more in control of your story and your work as a whole than you would’ve felt had you kept them.

What sat on my closet shelf for years was not the music, but the cases that had once held the discs. Pretty, clean, and at one time, necessary. But not anymore. My music collection had been streamlined long earlier with a book of plastic sleeves, and for the writer the revising process is no different. We streamline and make our stories better, and all of a sudden we come across a paragraph or line that just doesn’t fit anymore. But we love it. We worked so hard and so long to finish it. We remember exactly where we were and how good it felt to finally break loose and be able to write that day. Heck, we might even remember what we had for breakfast. It doesn’t matter. Get rid of the cases. Discard those stubborn passages. Do it and your story will make music. Fail to do this, and your creation might turn into a clanging gong.

Jeff LeJeune is the author of The Final Chase and Postmarked Baltimore. After a deadly disease during college redirected the course of his life, Jeff became a teacher at St. Louis Catholic High School in Lake Charles, LA where he was recently named a Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction.

A few months ago, a friend drove me to a book signing I was doing in her town. After she had fixed her hair in the rearview mirror and applied her lipstick, she pulled glasses out of her purse and put them on. I was surprised.

“I never knew you wore glasses,” I told her.

“I don’t,” she said. “I just want to look smart at the book signing. How do I look? I’m going for that Michelle Pfeiffer with glasses, sexy-smart look.”

I laughed. Then I started thinking about all the bookstores I wished I had worn glasses to over the past several months. Would it have made a difference? Once last fall, I was in a well-loved independent bookstore in the Bay Area. Since it was right before the release of my first novel, I told the owner about my book at the cash register. He looked me over and said I had a lot of nerve to come into his store and talk about my book. He then gestured rather intensely to the book display of a Pulitzer Prize winning author that would be doing a signing the following week. The bookstore owner informed me that I needed to honestly ask myself if I really deserved to be in the same store as people like the other author.

With all obvious respect to Pulitzer Prize winner, what alarmed me more than anything was that the bookstore owner had judged me, my book and my future career without reading one page of my writing. How is that intellectual? Read first, talk later. When we walk into bookstores, how safe are we from intellectual snobbery, or pseudo-intellectual snobbery as I call it? Unfortunately, sometimes not very. Are only books published by Random House even worthy of being opened? If so, then as readers we’ve been reduced to labels instead of design; names instead of substance. Buying a dress for the label instead of the fit is no shallower, image conscious or materialistic than buying books because we are told that those are the good ones.

Northern California is full of bookstores that I love, and I can attest that what finds its way on the shelves isn’t as narrow-minded as the selections as the aforementioned bookstore owner. When I was on my book tour, I did discover places where people were real and wanted to talk about books, letters and ideas. In college towns like Davis or places like the Gaslamp in San Diego, people were more comfortable thinking for themselves, discussing literature in their own terms, sharing ideas that were their own and not necessarily mainstream or, the more serious sin, marketable.

Lately, the irony of superior intellectualism and the glasses-wearing image stuck to it has struck me. Because I was always bookish, a studious girl and woman, I always considered myself to be wearing glasses even though I wasn’t. I forever wished I could play one of those scenes where the quiet woman in the library lets down her hair, takes off her glasses, looks across the table and suddenly is the sexiest thing on the planet. Fun, but honestly, do we really need to wear glasses to be considered smart anymore? Apparently to some people, but I don’t think so. Still, maybe just this fall, I will try those tortoise shell readers I saw at Urban Outfitters.

Tyler Oaks earned her Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from California State University, Stanislaus and her Master of Arts in Spanish from California State University, Sacramento. Tyler lives in California's Napa Valley with her husband and twin daughters. Tyler is presently at work on her next novel.

Barbara Harris Whitfield with Phil Donahue

From 1985 to 1991, I worked as a research assistant at the University of Connecticut Medical School. We were examining the after effects of people who had a near-death experience (NDE). At one point, my desk became the clearinghouse for the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) when board members couldn’t support a separate office. During that time, the media enthusiastically picked up on the NDE, and I often got calls requesting more information and to participate in their programs. I enjoyed working on documentaries. We had crews coming in from all over the world, and they were kind and curious about our subject. I also had the opportunity to be an expert consultant on a few movies.

One of the first American TV shows to contact us was “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 1986. My immediate response on the first phone call was, “Oprah who?” The assistant producer explained that Oprah’s last name was Winfrey, and that this was a new national talk show from Chicago. They wanted me to appear on the show as a researcher and a near-death experiencer; a role I was to play many times on TV and radio. I went on an all expense paid trip to Chicago and met Oprah for the first time in the dressing room. She was friendly and down to earth. We talked longer than I would have expected, and I remember liking her immediately. After appearing on the show, Oprah personally invited me back any time I wanted. As I left, one of her producers presented me with a book titled, “You Can Have it All: Prosperity Consciousness.” Inside, Oprah signed it and wrote, “Barbara, I know you know this but I want you to know that I know this too.”

In the second half of the 1980s and into the 1990s, I did most of the major TV talk shows and hundreds of radio shows. I didn’t have a book out until the last year of the popularity I experienced as a researcher. Despite this, I learned a lot about that strange world we call the media.

TV work is exhilarating yet frustrating. Travel and lodging are usually paid for; we are made to feel incredibly important by the staff of the show and fed plenty of caffeine and sugar. Once, I was given Chris Farley’s NBC dressing room which was stocked with huge chocolate chip cookies and big bottles of Coke on ice. The moment we are escorted by staff to the studio is a shockingly stark moment. Often, a staff member has warmed up the audience so that they are enthusiastic minutes before guests walk onstage. Usually, you don’t meet the host until the show begins taping. The atmosphere can feel electrically charged; this is where deep, slow breathing and feeling our feet connected to the floor can keep us centered and grounded.

Immediately after the show is over, guests are ushered out of the building. The door closes, and suddenly you are thrown back to reality. I have witnessed a few of my fellow guests faint in front of the limos that were escorting us back to airports. It’s a grueling process, and for some I suggest bringing along a friend to help get through it.

Barbara Harris Whitfield on The Larry King Show

I’ve been on “The Larry King Show” twice. The second time I was on, he introduced me by saying, “Was she out of her body…or out of her mind?” We need to be prepared for these moments and go with the flow. Always keep in mind that the interviewer is a performer, and it’s his job to keep the audience interested. We’re there because we are promoting our ideas and our books. They may seem rude at times, but they are helping us by keeping their audience engaged. The host knows their audience better than we do. Larry King is also an expert at interrupting. If you take too long to answer, any interviewer will interrupt.

The most important thing I’ve learned about TV and radio work is sound bites. To understand sound bites, practice answering questions in two or three sentences. Go over possible questions, and practice answering them in a pithy way. This will insure that the most important is relayed in the interview. Keep your answers short and sweet and the number of interruptions will be reduced, resulting in better sound bites.

Here are some tips for your next interview:

1) If it’s a short interview and you have something you need to say, plug that response into another question. You won’t necessarily answer the question the interviewer is asking, but the conversation is moving quickly enough that you can throw in the additional information.

2) Make sure the producers will show the cover of your book and your website address sometime during the show. Get it in writing. I was on a show last year on the Spike Network from LA. They said they would show my cover, which they never did. I also didn’t realize that this show was a spoof; producers enticed me there because of my research background and then put me on a silly show. I went along with it, and actually ended up having a good time. I would have been satisfied with the appearance if they would have put the cover of my book in the credits the way they had promised. A few weeks later after the show aired, I asked where my cover was and I was treated poorly. Looking back, I realize the importance of getting all details of a TV appearance in writing.

3) Once you sign a release, you have no leverage in the way your interview is used after it is taped and edited. You also have no leverage when it comes to not signing the release. Most of the time, producers won’t air your segment unless you sign the release.

4) Live TV is best because no one can rearrange your words in an editing room. Obviously, you need to be on point throughout the broadcast. Its important to know your subject well enough and that the interview comes across as natural and knowledgeable. Before I appeared on Donahue, I knew I was being set up to fail miserably. One of my debunkers was a cardiologist from a fundamentalist background whose book was about NDEs being the work of the devil in disguise. The other debunker was the president of the National Association for Atheists. The night before, a clinical psychologist who I prearranged a long-distance session with took me through a 45 minute guided image where I saw myself on the show doing great. At six in the morning, I jogged through Manhattan with a river of joggers. This drained my body of stress. I also had an order of 300 nuns praying for me through the actual hour. It ended up being one of the best interviews I ever did.

5) Make sure your publisher sends a copy of your book with reviews as far in advance as possible to the show. Make up a list of questions for the interviewer, or have the publisher include interview questions with your book.

6) Ask your contact from the show what they consider appropriate attire. If you’re still not sure, bring an extra outfit.

7) Realize that they are going to want to put make up on you. This includes men too. The hot lights they use on set wash out your face. Makeup artists put it on heavy, however it’s not as visible on film.

8) A stagehand is going to stick their hand up your jacket or dress to pin on a mike. A couple of times when I felt uncomfortable, I firmly took the mike away and put my own hand up my blouse. CNN, including “Larry King Live,” uses an ear piece that screws a soft plastic coiled piece into your ear. You hear everything going on in the studio through it, including what the control room crew is saying to Larry. This can be confusing in the beginning.

9) Don’t take yourself too seriously. This is entertainment, and how you think the show went may be significantly different from how the show appears once it airs.

One last thing: While you’re doing a show, ask relatives and friends to pray. It helps!

Click here to read "Who's Imus" Barbara Harris Whitfield's radio interview tips.

Barbara Harris Whitfield is the author of five books and numerous articles on the near-death experience and natural spirituality. She is a near-death experiencer and respiratory and massage therapist. She spent six years at the University of Connecticut Medical School researching the psychological, emotional, and energetic after effects of spiritual awakenings and recently retired from teaching at Rutger’s Institute for Alcohol and Drug Studies. Barbara lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband, author and physician Charles Whitfield, MD. They share a private practice helping adults that were repeatedly traumatized as children. Barbara’s new book, The Natural Soul, will be coming out in 2009 with SterlingHouse Publisher. For more information go to http://www.cbwhit.com and http://www.barbarawhitfield.com

1. Describe what it was like when you read The Satanic Verses.

I hosted the first and only indoor reading of the book, The Satanic Verses. In September of 1988, shortly after the publication of The Satanic Verses, all hell broke loose in the literary world. Certain Muslim factions were offended, because they felt that the novel vilified their religion and culture. The meaning of novels is to stir debates and rational discussion. This particular book went right pass the rational and took a sharp turn to violence. The book was banned in many Muslim countries, and U.S. bookstores received bomb threats if they carried the book. Those threats seemed very real and were taken very seriously. Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini sentenced the author, Salman Rushdie, to death. At this point, Rushdie was forced into hiding. I had just started my publishing company when all of this went down, and I was nothing more than a publishing infant. I remember thinking to myself, what kind of future do I have as publisher if I don’t make a stand? Banning books? Not in my world. Freedom of expression is a cornerstone for me; it is something I strongly defend, with the caveat that you don’t defame someone then try to hide behind our First Amendment. I remember a quote I believe Rushdie gave to Time Magazine, “The book that is worth killing people and burning flags for is not the book that I wrote.” I agreed with that. The book was simply a well-written piece of magical realism that shows the struggle between good and evil. It is also an example of Rushdie’s comic sense and satire. That being said and with the help of Megan Davidson, then Editor-In-Chief for SterlingHouse Publisher, we put together the first and only indoor reading of The Satanic Verses which was broadcast on radio. At the time, I didn’t fully understand the situation; I thought I was making a statement against banning books and threatening author’s lives with death. Needless to say, what I did caused a bit of an uproar in Pittsburgh. The police found out about the reading, surrounded the building and even placed a few undercover cops in the audience. It was a very tense situation, and the expression “the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife,” suddenly became very understandable to me. Before the reading, an attendee hung a heavy coat on a plastic hanger in the closet next to the room where the reading was taking place. Half way through the presentation, the hanger snapped, sounding like a gunshot. Everyone hit the floor, including the police. Instead of seeing it as a comic interlude once we knew the coast was clear, it only raised the tension in the room. After the reading, a death threat was left on the answering machine at SterlingHouse Publisher, and the morning newspaper headlines got me in trouble with the local Muslims. I met with local Muslims and talked things over. It all worked out wonderfully well, and we all just blamed the press for the high tension.

2. Did family and friends discourage you from doing so, for your own safety?

Did my family try to dissuade me? No. Were they worried? Yes. They were more worried for me than I was for myself. I think they had a deeper insight into the situation. Like I said, my focus was very narrow.

3. Do you feel that since your reading of The Satanic Verses the world has opened up and moved forward? The family wasn’t deported, but on the other hand it’s a shame that some government’s still feel the need to ban books. Is this story a sign of human’s moving forward or taking a step back?

Governments, churches, libraries, schools and local organizations have been banning books since there were books to ban, and most likely this will continue as long as there are books to read. Not too long ago, a local school attempted to ban The Catcher in the Rye for goodness sakes! Before books, if you said something that wasn’t the party line you risked getting your tongue cut off. Like it or not, we are a global society. There is a free-flow of information and ideas that just wasn’t there in 1988. Its getting harder to limit people’s thoughts and choices and since we are such a global society, the image that a country portrays is increasingly more important. Good for the Iranian court system for their ruling. Remember, though, that it takes a very brave family to have the book in the first place. Is the world going forward or backward? Hey, I’m just happy it’s going. Did I mention that Rushdie is lucky to be alive? The Japanese translator was murdered and the Italian translator was stabbed.

Iranian Family wins reprieve after allegedly housing The Satanic Verses

Brian Patrick Burke is the author of Globalization: Attack on the American Dream.

1. What inspired you to write Globalization, and how long did it take for you to write the book?

The inspiration for my book came from working with the general public first-hand and seeing the profound changes in the characteristics of the American middle class and the economy that created and fostered them. I started writing my book in 1997 and finished it in 2003.

2. Globalization deals with some hot-topic issues that everyone has an opinion on, yet sticks to the facts. How do you deliver an informative book and keep your personal opinion at bay?

Like everyone else, I tended to believe the opinions that have been circulating for years, such as the idea that trade unions have been killing our economy. I decided to base my research on facts; not opinions. The facts proved, for example, that unions were barely able to keep wages up with the rate of inflation; inflation fueled by excessive growth in government taxation, spending and out of control business growth. I learned the truth behind our nation’s economy, and that global economics in general are often covered in a smoke screen of politics and misinformation.

3. What is your view of the economy today?

I believe the current economic downturn is the "tip of the iceberg" in terms of our long range economic future. The Greenspan inspired interest rate (debt controlled) economy and "free-trade" has placed the average American citizen on the brink of bankruptcy. We expect the average American to spend our country (and the world) out of recession, but offer them nothing in return, except an unmanageable level of debt and dead-end service oriented jobs. Until we learn that it is the average middle class American's stability that is the true source of our economic strength, we will not overcome our current economic crisis.

4. Any more books in the future? If yes, will they deal with the economy?

My next book will deal with the trade deficit crisis. It will discuss the massive flow and transfer of wealth ownership throughout the world.

The American Dream is rooted in the process of economic democracy, which allows all Americans the opportunity to succeed and to share in the nation's prosperity. The author shows how globalization is opening the floodgates of economic and social upheaval in the United States, eroding our economic stability and our framework of democracy. The book also includes an argument for the development of a process of fair trade to protect ordinary American citizens from outsourcing and other potentially disastrous effects of free trade.
Buy This Book
Kindle Edition

Kyra Davis

Kyra Davis is the author of the Sophie Katz mysteries, including the latest book, “So Much for My Happy Ending” published by Harlequin/Red Dress Ink.

Q: What are the advantages and disadvantages of writing an ongoing character?

A: There are two big challenges to writing a series. One is finding a way to make each book original while maintaining the same cast of characters and the same basic formula. The second challenge is more complicated, this next book’s success will be dependent on my ability to give them a break from the fluff while at the same time giving my main characters a lot more depth.

Q: How do you feel about labeling your books as “chick lit?”

A: It didn’t used to bother me but now I recognize those kinds of labels are a trap. My book “So Much for my Happy Ending” was considered chick lit, so it never reached the broader readership who I believe would have appreciated it.

Q: Which comes first, getting published or finding an agent?

A You MUST find an agent first. Go to the writer’s conferences that are attended by good agents; after all, it is easier to grab an agent’s attention with a conversation than with a one page query letter.

Q: What has been the most effective form of marketing in order to promote your books?

A: Regional television. I’ve been interviewed on nine regional shows all over the country and one national show. The response I got was amazing.

Carlotta Holton is the author of Salem Pact and Touching The Dead, and is a member of the National Federation of Press Women and an affiliate member of the Horror Writers Association.

Carlotta Holton has just received her second award for Touching the Dead from the National Federation of Press Women Communications Contest. Click here to purchase the book.

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Submit Your Questions to: dearlee@writersnewsweekly.com.

Photo Courtesy: Ronnie Bergeron

A story without a great setting is like bread without butter, wine without cheese or cake without ice cream. You can have a story with an average setting, but what fun is a party without ice cream with your cake?

The following exercises will pump up your setting, which in turn will make your story even sweeter.

Setting Exercise One
Objective: To identify how Place is created

Read the first page or two of several of your favorite novels. Pay attention to how each author establishes the setting of the novel. What sensory images does the author use to establish Place? In each case, does the setting tell you anything about the protagonist?

Setting Exercise Two
Objective: To establish Place

Everyone has a favorite place. It would be a “narrow place,” such as a special table at a restaurant or a room in a specific house, or it could also be a “broad place,” such as the island of Hawaii.

Write about your favorite place as if you were setting the first scene of your novel in that place. Write this exercise in the first person (“I”). What is striking or unusual about the place? What are the sights, sounds, textures, smells and tastes of the place?

Setting Exercise Three
Objective: To clearly establish Place within a scene

Part 1
It is important to let the reader know just where a specific scene is taking place.

Read the following:

The next day Lisa noticed Jack when she looked up to hand Brad her keys. Jack walked up to Lisa and grabbed her by the elbow. “That’s it,” he said. “You’re coming home.”

“No.” Lisa broke away from him, glaring at him. She thought he had understood that it was over, that their relationship was history. “Go away, Jack. Don’t you understand? We’re finished. That’s all there is to it. Come on, Brad, let’s leave.”

Lisa felt her legs begin to tremble as Brad stepped between her and Jack. “Mister, leave the lady alone. She doesn’t want to go anywhere with you.”

Where is this scene taking place? What are the characters doing? Where are they in relationship to each other? Does the setting help to define the characters? We don’t know, because we don’t know where we are.

Part 2
Now rewrite this passage, setting it in a particular place. Things to consider: Where are Lisa, Brad and Jack? Is this a place they’ve been before? What time of day is it? Are they inside or outside? Is anyone else present? Why is Lisa handing Brad her keys?

What’s a Story Without the Setting? - Part Two
What’s a Story Without the Setting? - Part Three

For more helpful tips and exercises, visit www.sterlinghouse-bookstore.com and check out:
Writing Aerobics I by C. Sterling and M. Davidson

Agree? Disagree? Tell us at editor@writersnewsweekly.com or join the discussion on facebook.com.