September Indie Newsletter
The BGR's 411 on the indie literary arts...for the month of September
CLIMBING THE MOUNTAIN OF PUBLISHING: Fake book reviews & blurbs, AI, buying your way on to bestseller lists and other Sisyphean existential Crises
During the month of September, I read a really stunning piece of long-form journalism entitled: “Death on the Savage Mountain: What really happened on K2, and why 100 climbers stepped over a dying man on their way to the summit.” It’s a chilling exposé of the sort of “climb factory” that mountain climbing has become. Minus the rock band/celebrity angle and the whole different mountain of Everest, this article brought to mind Ever Rest, a really original indie title that I read back in 2021. It juxtaposes fame and the music industry, and all of the related narcissism, with mountain climbing. Similar to “Death on the Savage Mountain”, it begs the question, what is it all for?