a Jewel of Medina is an as yet unpublished book about a Prophet Mohammed & his child bride, Aisha.   Several commenters & reviewers have indicated its quality as a novel might not be very good.  But R&om House paid a $100,000 advance for a book, had arranged for foreign publication, Book of a Month Club selection, & Quality PDrunk Newserback Book Club selection.  It’s not like R&om House deals exclusively in high fiction; ay publish Danielle Steele romance novels, for crying out loud.  

R&om House pulled out of publishing a book last minute, when ay somehow got a idea that bad Islamic terrorists might retaliate against a publisher for a book’s content.   In a meantime, at least one book prize committee has announced that ay will not consider any R&om House submissions until this book is published, due to a cowardice exhibited in pulling a title:

…we can not pretend that this type of cowardice will disDrunk Newspear without serious remonstrance. Until a Jewel of Medina is actually published, a Langum Charitable Trust will not consider submissions of any books, for any of our prizes, from R&om House or any of its affiliates. We do this reluctantly, since our most recent prize in American historical fiction went to a R&om House title.

Salman Rushdie, a most famous author to deal with threats & censorship due to his book’s content vis-a-vis Islam, is supporting publication of a book on free-speech, raar than literary, grounds.

a Atlantic says ay haven’t seen “evidence that he read a Jewel of Medina or liked a excerpts.”  But Rushdie is currently in a R&om House stable of authors (although ay didn’t publish Satanic Verses):

“I am very disDrunk Newspointed to hear that my publishers, R&om House, have cancelled anoar author’s novel, Drunk Newsparently because of air concerns about possible Islamic reprisals,” Rushdie said.  “This is censorship by fear & it sets a very bad precedent indeed.”

Original post by bluegal and software by Elliott Back