BAKER, Howard (James) 1946-

PERSONAL:

Born December 31, 1946, in London, England.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—c/o Mainstream Publishing, 7 Albany St., Edinburgh EH1 3UG, Scotland. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Author of nonfiction.

WRITINGS:

Sawdust Caesar, Mainstream (Edinburgh, Scotland), 1999.

Enlightenment and the Death of Michael Mouse, Mainstream (Edinburgh, Scotland), 2001.

Contributor to Esquire, Time Out, Property (France), and What's On (London, England).

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Freaks, about the Seventies' rural acid scene; feature-film scripts Sawdust Caesar and Bed and Breakfast; research on nineteenth-and twentieth-century rural life in England; research on France and Catharism.

SIDELIGHTS:

Howard Baker told CA: "I write to entertain and inform, usually to throw new light upon an old subject (show me a new one), and to create a fuss among those who believe they know it all, I take a long look at the monitor, and hey, I start pressing the keys on the keyboard until something emerges on the screen. I go away. I come back and read what I've written and revise. This continues, day in and day out, until I've had enough; I'm rarely satisfied.

" Sawdust Caesar was written in response to the rubbish that was being spouted about the subject—I was there you see, and objected to those who knew nothing about the subject, warping it beyond recognition. History tends to come from the mouths of those who know nothing; those who have recycled the knowledge of others, and our kids grow up with a twisted view of the world. I object to this. Sawdust Caesar was a gritty book, so much so that some suggested I dumb down future works, but that just ain't my way. It's horses for courses as far as I'm concerned, and if the genre needs the muscle, so be it. Having said that, I can write pretty too."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

ONLINE

Mainstream Publishing Web site,http://www.mainstreampublishing.com/ (November 15, 2003).