More About THE EYE POCKET

"Reluctant readers -- you know, those 7- to 12-year-olds who would rather play a video game than read a book -- won't be able to keep their noses out of ''The Eye Pocket'' -- San Jose Mercury News

In the summer of 2006 The Eye Pocket was released to worldwide acclaim. Unfortunately, a bitter dispute broke out almost immediately between Crow and his publisher, DNA Press, who Crow claimed had improperly listed his book as a children’s chapter book for 7 to 12 year-olds. Crow argued his book was adult non-fiction. The following press release documents this life or death struggle and its peaceful resolution.

PRESS RELEASE

Outaged Over “Chapter Book” Designation, Author Claims Book "Really Happened" -- Donates Royalties

April 1, 2006 E.J.Crow, author of The Eye Pocket, and who threatened the book’s publisher, DNA Press, with Societal action over what Crow had deemed the “horrendous ‘miscategorization’ of a seminal work of nonfiction,” called off the dogs today. Although Crow claimed his “book would have forced physicists to reexamine the most fundamental assumptions about the natural world" and that the publisher entrusted to bring his treatise to the scientific community had “dropped it off at daycare,” cooler heads prevailed when DNA Press allowed Crow to donate as much of his royalties as he saw fit to the Gift of Adoption Fund.

DNA Press released The Eye Pocket as a children’s fantasy chapter book for 7 to 12 year-olds earlier this spring.

The Eye Pocket tells the story of one Bobby Humblebeach, son of an unemployed adventurer, who thinks he lives in America’s most boring town. But when Bobby and two friends stumble across an Eye Pocket – an area of land caught between the past, present and future – Mr. Humblebeach abandons his couch and outfits the gang with the latest adventure equipment. Under cover of darkness, the four explore a world that is everything our planet was and will be. Their mission into the unknown goes awry, however, when Bobby’s dad excavates a gold chest and awakens its wrongful owners.

“If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times: children are people too. Why, I used to be a child myself,” claims Crow. “But this isn’t fiction. Everything in The Eye Pocket really happened. I didn’t even change the names to protect the innocent. That’s why I was so irritated!”

DNA Press stands by its listing of The Eye Pocket in the children’s chapter book genre.

“I like EJ,” said Alexander Kuklin, Managing Editor at DNA Press. “But that doesn’t mean he’s not delusional. We accepted his book because children will delight at how Bobby and his friends refuse to bow to laziness, and how the enthusiasm of Mr. Humblebeach reveals how some adults aren’t so different from children after all. The book inspires dreamers to action, no matter what boring town they may be trapped in. But now EJ’s claiming it’s all true,” sighed Kuklin. “It’s a wonder he’s let out in public.”“Still,” said Kuklin, “this all worked out for DNA Press in the end. We have retained our right to list The Eye Pocket as children’s fiction, and EJ can donate his royalties to charity. Go figure.”

“It may sound trite, but helping children is really what it’s all about,” ranted Crow. “I’m taking a firm step in this direction by aligning myself with the Gift of Adoption Fund’s objectives. Now you can help us all by buying this book.”

E. J. Crow conducted research on Tanzania’s anti-poaching efforts for his M.A. in International Studies. A field agent for The Fantastic Society of Peculiar Adventurers, Crow divides his time between Pleasant Hill, California, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Novgorod, Russia; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; and Lake Oswego, Oregon.