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Rating: 
Summary: HAIL ERIS! ALL HAIL DISCORDIA!
Review: Some excerpts from an interview with Malaclypse the Younger by THE GREATER METROPOLITAN YORBA LINDA HERALD-NEWS-SUN-TRIBUNE-JOURNAL-DISPATCH-POST AND SAN FRANCISCO DISCORDIAN SOCIETY CABAL BULLETIN AND INTERGALACTIC REPORT & POPE POOP.GREATER POOP: Are you really serious or what? MAL-2: Sometimes I take humor seriously. Sometimes I take seriousness humorously. Either way it is irrelevant. GP: Maybe you are just crazy. M2: Indeed! But do not reject these teaching as false because I am crazy. The reason that I am crazy is because they are true. GP: Is Eris true? M2: Everything is true. GP: Even false things? M2: Even false things are true. GP: How can that be? M2: I don't know man, I didn't do it. GP: Why do you deal with so many negatives? M2: To dissolve them. GP: Will you develop that point? M2: No. GP: Is there an essential meaning behind POEE? M2: There is a Zen Story about a student who asked a Master to explain the meaning of Buddhism. The Master's reply was "Three pounds of flax." GP: Is that the answer to my question? M2: No, of course not. That is just illustrative. The answer to your question is FIVE TONS OF FLAX!
Rating:
Summary: A Truer Emperor than Most
Review: This book is not a biography of Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico. It is instead a work of historical fiction, in which the Emperor is the foremost of a wide range of famous and eccentric characters drawn from real life (from Sam Clemens and William Tecumseh Sherman to Rufus Porter (inventor of the aerial locomotive) and Abe Warner (proprietor of the Cobweb Palace.)) It is also very good, especially for a first novel. While the characters are presented as larger than life, they are not cartoonish. The character of Joshua Norton is especially painted with depth, or at least as much as such an enigma can be. Sure, most people today would write him off as a penniless bum, madman, con artist, or worse. There was much, much more to him, though. Invariably, those that knew him spoke of his dignity, moral strength, and kindness. If he were simply mad, in a city like San Francisco (then or now) he would hardly have merited a second glance. Yet for over 20 years he was accepted as Emperor. Newspapers printed his edicts, restaurants fed him for free, citizens accepted his currency, heads of state corresponded with him (Lincoln, Victoria, and the Tsar) - and over 10,000 turned out in pouring rain to attend his funeral at the Masonic Cemetery. Norton the First was respected, he was listened to, and his moral example was followed- there are many called "Emperor" that could not claim this much. In addition, this book presents a colorful and detail filled picture of gold rush times in early California. The author has done his research. I was especially taken by how he got the details of placer mining correct. My only minor criticism would be his knowledge of firearms of the period- there are a few obvious inaccuracies there. If you are looking for a formal biography, then try _Norton I, Emperor of the United States_ by William Drury. The author also lists it as his primary reference.
Rating: 
Summary: Rush of Dreamers
Review: This fictionalized account of the life of Emperor Norton fails utterly to convey any sense of the man who is an icon in the San Francisco Bay Area. Reading this artless book is neither enjoyable nor informative.
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