HALFWAY TO THE STARS:

Based on real events, unforgettable. debunking chapters of today told by a long-term, snarky gripman on San Francisco’s cable cars, tales you won’t hear in most places where Political Correctness trumps real-life observations, especially about people playing race and ethnicity “cards,” made salty, honest and very funny, as told by the “grumpy gripman” narrator, who finds himself in the so-called Land of Free Speech, but where it is always other people who tell you what can say and even think, despite your own experiences.

The tale of One-Tooth or the little ghost boy or the elderly twin sisters or the Chinese dishwasher or Bitty the pet rat or Machete Man or a Sister of Perpetual Indulgence will put a lump in your throat or possibly blow up your P.C. meter. Might appeal to those who are “progressive,” depending on the issue, conservative,” depending on the issue, or neither, and tired of being forced to choose one or the other.

(from Amazon.com) By William Neville - This review is from: Halfway to the Stars: Cable Car Tales of a Grumpy Gripman
[T]he title of Daniel Curzon's new book might lead one to think it would be an innocuous collection of heartwarming tales that a tourist might choose for a vacation souvenir. Far from it. this is a dark, angry book for lovers of the macabre, the hilariously grotesque, of deft observation, brilliant writing and of ideas boldly and fearlessly stated. Having survived fifty-two years in San Francisco, which may be even longer than the author has resided there, I can attest to the actual existence of many of the "characters" depicted here; if Curzon invented many others they seem every bit as real. And he has created a protagonist, the grip man of the title, who is as vivid and memorable as the motley passengers who leap onto cable car and page. Our narrator is a bitter, self-defeating loner whose girlfriend is in a coma throughout most of the book and whose sole friend and companion is a pet rat (or a succession of them) who resides on his person as he goes about his daily chores. And he is angry. Angry about all the ugly ways in which the city, and society in general, is going to hell. He is particularly outraged by the whole notion of "political correctness." This theme becomes stronger as the book progresses, and culminates in a harrowing dream the narrator has in which he cannot evade the crowd pursuing him or even name who they are. It's as if he's forbidden to name them, as the extremes of political correctness require us to ignore the evidence and observations of our senses in favor of some vague societal purpose. When it is considered worse to name a crime or criminal than to actually perpetrate that crime, the something is seriously wrong.

This is the grip man's thinking and he pulls no punches in expressing his ideas. Does the author feel the same? Who's to say? Whatever the case the book will inspire controversy as well as admiration for its skill and off-the-wall portraiture. And I have one question for Mr Curzon: why didn't you include the most notorious cable car rider of alll, the woman who became a nymphomaniac because she had to grab onto a pole to prevent falling down when the car stopped short? Are you saving her for the sequel?

Direct link to this review: http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A354WXY9711HAL/ref=cm_cr_pr_pdpMARKETING

PLAN: TV, print, radio discussing how Political Correctness makes us all afraid to call things what they are and instead makes us "enablers" of bad behavior that is ruining American life.

"Daniel Curzon is central and essential to the history of our community’s culture." — Doric Wilson, playwright

"Daniel Curzon is indeed an important, in-fluential, enlightening, and entertaining author." — Robert Patrick (Kennedy’s Children)

About the Author

Daniel Curzon has never been afraid of controversy and has been on the cutting edge of several major social and political issues. He is the author of many books of fiction and plays, including the landmark gay protest novel Something You Do in the Dark (G.P. Putnam, 1971). (“I greatly admire Daniel Curzon for writing this novel.”— Christopher Isherwood) (“Powerful and engrossing!” — Walter Allen, author of The English Novel) (“Engrossing, powerful, and disturbing.”— Joyce Carol Oates)

In1999 Daniel Curzon brought a lawsuit against a website that allowed cyber-bullying, intimidation, and defamation of teachers, even by people who had never been their students. As an early champion of stopping Internet hate crimes of this kind, he appeared onThe Today Show, Fox News, BBC radio, KQED radio, and in People Magazine and USA Today, etc.

(He lost the lawsuit and the problem continues to this day.) His novel What a Tangled Web deals with this issue.

With his new book he dramatizes how political correctness stops problems from being dealt with honestly instead of facilitated with the platitudes of a “liberal bubble.”