“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Our first reactions were ones of such stunned surprise that we didn’t even get mad. It took a while for the extent of the revision—or condensation—to sink in, I guess, and I’m still understanding the cutting as I leaf through the book occasionally, before making a list of what I can be sure was cut.

(Jane also discussed with Tam a number of points growing out of our last royalty statements; some of these are quite legitimate gripes that we’ve kept quiet about for some time. Her implications to Tam were clear enough—we hope: that for the first time she was thinking of alternate courses of action to being published by Prentice-Hall, perhaps trying other publishers, Eleanor Friede among them. I was all for that, I told her. During the week after the Dutch edition arrived, we received from Tam the contracts for God of Jane and Mass Events, both of which contain phrases and clauses in an effort to get around Prentice-Hall’s habit of withholding percentages of earnings against returns. She told Tam she wouldn’t sign them, nor do I want her to. Prentice-Hall even wants to apply any losses for God of Jane against Mass Events after 18 months, in an effort to make one book pay for another! As it is, Prentice-Hall is now applying earnings from the paperback Politics against the hardcover losses—a method Tam says is common in the trade, but which I think is ethically dishonest, to say the least. They did the same thing with Adventures; in this case, that action wiped the board clean for the hardcover Adventures, and even showed a small profit from the paperback sales. But still, it costs us. I view such tactics as the publisher’s way of guaranteeing their publishing costs with no risk to themselves. Instead of charging hardcover losses against taxes as a business expense, say, they charge the author for them; this means they do not have to pay the author any royalties on paperback sales, for at least several years. I don’t think Jane yet grasps the implications here.

(The upshot of all of this at the moment is that Jane will not be signing any contracts at this time, and that we’ll be informing Prentice-Hall that we won’t be contracting for any work for them until our questions and assurances are amply demonstrated. I see no other way to head off lots of trouble in the future. I’m personally quite willing to let the chips fall where they may, to coin a phrase, but I’m not at all sure that Jane will agree to go along. My thoughts are that she’d be so terrified to find herself without a publisher that she’d stand for a lot more than what has happened, bad as that is. But we’ll see. I for one have to do or say something, or I’d spend my days thinking about what a fool and coward I was not to stand up for my rights. Our meek acceptance of the deal, I’m afraid, would only lead to more of the same. This would surely drive me out of publishing if I let that happen. As it is, my opinion of Prentice-Hall has sunk to a new low, and it was low enough to begin with.

You have, in the dream’s meaning, your father who wants to be left alone, who likes to work in solitude, and who is quite uncomfortable with the expression of emotion. You have, in the dream’s meaning, your mother given to explosive bursts of emotional expression, who it seems makes emotional demands. In the dream’s meaning, she chased after him, and in that context you felt one portion of yourself making demands upon another portion that resented the emotional involvement, the emotional outbursts that that portion naturally expressed.

The dream of course involved your conflicts over Seth Speaks in the Dutch edition, and your feeling on the one hand that you must speak out to Prentice, while at the same time resenting the loss of your peace of mind.

In Framework 2, for one thing, the probabilities concerning national economics are known, and your course is indeed being plotted, for your benefit, among multitudinous issues, of which you are not consciously aware. I tell you that such a mechanism does operate. Your characteristics, intents and purposes are taken into consideration, and constant readjustments are also made. You both wanted a year with lower taxes. That was indeed part of your intent, but then when this occurs we only hear cries of woe.

He will shortly find that some days he can walk fairly easily—perhaps 10 steps—in that manner, or maybe even twice in one day, while for a few days in between he is not in good-enough balance. I would suggest walking three times a day now, as he has been doing, but one more time.