Dear Jack London

January 14, 2011

Dear Mr. London,

Thank you for submiting a copy of your book White Fang. Although it seems as though it may have taken you a while to write it and I personally enjoyed it very much, I'm not very sorry to tell you that I wouldn't give “two whoops in hell” (to paraphrase your own words) to publish this book about how a wild fiend turns domestic.

Speaking of your choice of language. On one hand, phrases like “The darned cuss” or “Poor devil” would certainly offend some of the more civilized readers and there is no way we could market this to the home-school audience. On the other hand, it's not strong enough to make into a good hip-hop or rap book like Decoded.

Speaking of civility. Another aspect of the book that makes it unpublishable is the animal cruelty. The dog-fighting scenes are reckless and unnecessarily detailed. PETA and the SPCA would drag us by the scruffs of our necks into court. And you must know that many of our readers (myself included) do not accept your notion that nature is the creator of living things and we are left alone to mold ourselves into what we will become.

his character was developing along the lines laid down by his heredity and his environment.  His heredity was a life-stuff that may be likened to clay.  It possessed many possibilities, was capable of being moulded into many different forms.  Environment served to model the clay, to give it a particular form. . . . And so, according to the clay of his nature and the pressure of his surroundings, his character was being moulded into a certain particular shape.  There was no escaping it. 

Once again, the amount of time you have spent is admirable but we believe that the offensive and questionable elements would drive away readers. Perhaps you could submit it to a movie studio. Many Americans who would be offended by these scenes in a book would be more than willing to watch them on the screen. With lines like, “Don’t break them teeth, stranger," perhaps a movie of the Old American West genre.

Sincerely,
Editorial staff
The CurTaled Press

P. S. Happy Belated B-day. Woof!

WG:cg (Idea from Writer's Digest "Reject a Hit" column. See an example here.)