This morning we were relieved to see the UPS man deliver our shipment of LIES AND OTHER TRUTHS: Rants, Raves, Low-Lifes and Highballs, the new book by Jim Dees, who, we've gone on record to say, may be the best undiscovered literary talent in Mississippi. We were getting anxious to read his book, sure, but also a little nervous about getting the book in time for his signing next Friday, October 10.
Dees, the supremely hilarious host of Thacker Mountain Radio, is no one with whom to trifle. His lightning-quick retorts, honed on the "wet"stone of Oxford, Mississippi's finest imbiberies, are legend. Many a fool and sage alike have buckled at the dagger end of his wit. To hammer this home, we received a letter of warning along with the books:
Dear Bookseller,
It has come to my attention that there is some confusion regarding the category for my book, Lies and Other Truths: Rants, Raves, Low-Lifes and Highballs. It is registered with the Library of Congress as non-fiction, yet this apparently isn't good enough for some mealy-mouthed busy-bodies out there in the lit world. There are reports that some booksellers believe the book cannot be true because it contains some hard-to-believe elements such as indoor snow, a gator-fighting Japanese literature scholar, the lost letters between Martha Stewart and Bob Dylan and dog porn (that's right).
Believing such matters to be the work of a twisted imagination, these nay sayers say nay. The book should be filed as "fiction" they cry, even "science fiction," or worse, "humor." We've even heard of one store shelving it in their "cooking" section, presumably because most of the characters are half-baked.
It all beggars the question, just what is truth, what is a lie, and the most existential query of all, "How do it know?"
I plan to visit your store next Friday to flog this ridiculously under-priced tome, and if I find that this book is being treated like a pack of untruths, or the rantings of a drunken spin-meister, or a fly-catching pile of livestock droppings, well, I'd hate to be you.
And that's no lie.
Respectfully,
Jim Dees, paperback writer
Thankfully the books are in the store and sitting on the front counter, so as to avoid any subject confusion. We plan to read it this weekend, with Tanqueray and Schweppes, per operating instructions. More later....
