new book deal in the works

My long-planned book Weird Realism: Lovecraft and Philosophy is close to a deal. More soon.

I’ve picked up a serious book-writing addiction. As I see it, it’s the best possible addiction to have. Consider the positives:

*you get to spend your time writing about things you care about

*you get healthy outside pressure to avoid procrastination and put your thoughts on a topic in better order

*there has never been a case where writing a book hasn’t changed me in some way (Foucault said something similar, and rightly so)

*people read your books who you have never met and who you could not possibly meet if not for the book. Furthermore, if you’re lucky the book might continue to be read for awhile after you’re dead. How many activities are likely to have reverberations even after your death? (Having kids is the other one that immediately comes to mind, and it’s a similar activity in some ways: the product is going to look a bit like you, but you never know exactly what you’re going to get. And in addition, you’re not the only person involved, whether it’s procreation or a book.)

*turning a series of thoughts into a book contract brings various institutions into play on your side, and institutions (I say as a Latourian) are a fully legitimate ingredient in any chain of philosophical forces.

A philosophical work is not just “rational arguments” plus “peripheral outside practical considerations.” Rather, a philosophical work is a sum of ideas plus constraints. Institutions help provide the constraints on a philosophical project, whether those constraints be deadlines (as always) or even page limits (as in the case of the grant to translate L’objet quadruple into French).

Whenever I feel a constraint on my work from some outside force, my first thought is not “damn constraint, I demand to be free!” My thought, instead, is: “how does this constraint work to my advantage by helping me force my ideas into specific, tangible form?”

So, as long as people are willing to throw 3 or 4 book contracts at me per year, that’s how many I’m going to be writing. A contract is a nice constraint to have: “finish by October 15, or else!”