Raw Deal at Fringeware
Ken Smith signed my copy of his new book Raw Deal with the phrase, “Sometimes life just sucks.” The author of Ken’s Guide to the Bible and co-author of Roadside America thus succinctly provided the theme of his new book. Raw Deal: Horrible and Ironic Stories of Forgotten Americans (Blast Books, $12.95 paper), illustrated by local artist and writer Mack White, brings together the likes of Frank Olsen (a biochemist who jumped out of a window to his death after the CIA dosed his after-dinner drink with LSD in 1953), “Blind” Tom Wiggins (a genius black slave pianist and composer whose master denied him any contact with the outside world and exploited his talent to amass a fortune), Nathan Stubblefield (inventor of the first wireless telephone in 1882 and hapless victim of Manhattan stock frauders), and a cast of 22 others whose lives ended in comic tragedy. Smith, who lives in Harrison, New Jersey, and was flown in for the event, wore jeans and a white T-shirt and sat on the corner of a desk hanging his sneaker-clad feet above the carpet, kicking them back and forth nervously.
A precise, quick, and energetic speaker, Smith orated before an assembly of about 50 in the swampy back of Fringeware. By writing Raw Deal and bringing together these stories of people being taken advantage of, Ken says he hopes to remind us to keep our guards up and our minds active. If you think you’re a victim of forces beyond your control, guess what — you probably are, you’re not alone, and you’ve not had it as bad as most of these people. In modern America, Ken says, people are infatuated with conquering the world and their problems from the inside out; our New Age positivity may be dangerous. As he hilariously put it, those who bury their heads in the sand to avoid stories like these may themselves end up the subjects of Raw Deal II.
While Smith spoke, Mack White hovered near the magazine and comic books by the front door (where you can find Villa of the Mysteries, Mack’s comic series), eavesdropping and eventually joining the group for a question & answer session. Smith and White fielded questions about research and the inspirations behind Raw Deal. Smith also brought along a collection of hate mail he received shortly after the publication of Ken’s Guide to the Bible — apparently not everyone appreciated his presenting the juiciest and sexiest parts of the Bible in an easy-to-read, witty, and historically contextualized format. Searching for the reasons why he wrote Ken’s Guide, people assume he must have had a horrible childhood experience with Christianity. But Smith seems wary of hunting for motives: That’s why Raw Deal presents history and reality as they are prima facie — sometimes raw, brutal, and sucky. — Lindsey Simon
This article appears in September 18 • 1998 and September 18 • 1998 (Cover).