The Memoirs of Billy Shears
Some of the Memoirs' chapters that were excluded from compilations contain material that many readers would find disturbing--such as some Biblical humor (about the 666 beat with four heads), the Beatles involvement in Satanism, and, of course, their Paulism. We highly recommend that no one read this book until after reading Billy's Back!, which, by the end of that book, puts all such things in context.
The Memoirs set world and regional records for its writing and encoding sophistication. Just as the Beatles heavily encoded many of their songs with clues about Paul's death, so too is this book, which explains those songs, also encoded throughout. Although this book reads like an extraordinary autobiography, the encoding methods used technically make it a poem, the longest one ever written in the Americas.
Until The Memoirs of Billy Shears, the longest poem ever written in the Americas was Herman Melville’s, Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land. Clarel, although reaching almost 18,000 lines (longer than the European classics, The Iliad, Aeneid, and Paradise Lost), is surpassed by about a thousand lines by The Memoirs of Billy Shears.
The Memoirs of Billy Shears, with over 156,000 words, also sets the record for the longest poem currently in print that was written in English worldwide. The out-of-print world record for the longest English poem is held by John Fitchett (1766-1838) and his editor for their 129,807 lines on the life of King Alfred. The death and replacement of Paul McCartney is surely more fascinating.
The Memoirs of Billy Shears also has the world's longest published acrostic. It runs for 612 pages, with about 8,500 acrostical lines. The previous record for the longest acrostic was set in France, in 2006, by Patrick Huet, with his 7,547 line poem, Pieces of Hope. You can read the secret acrostical text of The Memoirs in the booklet, Billy Shears Acrostical Decoding.
The Memoirs of Billy Shears refers to over 200 songs, setting the record for the most songs referenced in any narrative in any language. These songs establish narrative context, and show the hidden meanings about Paul McCartney's death in Beatle songs, and in several songs by their friends in bands including The Rolling Stones, Donovan, The Bonzo Dog Band, The Who, and Elton John.
The Memoirs of Billy Shears is the first novel that invites the reader to participate in a real talent contest. Readers upload their cover of original songs (selected from the unabridged text) for an upcoming CD. It will be the first time that the lyrics of an album of new material will have been read by thousands or millions before the CD's release, assuring success. The Talent Contest chapter of this book is also sold separately.
The Memoirs of Billy Shears, the first fully encoded full-length book, is also the first to create messages by word-stacking. On every page of the narrative, with over a thousand instances in all, words are arranged on separate lines to add extra meaning to that chapter.
The Memoirs of Billy Shears, with its many historically significant revelations about the Beatles that have been hidden since the Sixties, and with its record-breaking elements of writing sophistication (such as including the world's longest acrostic, word-stacking, etc.
- In Stock Out of Stock
- Peppers Press
- 9781475145885
- May 14, 2016
- Stock Photo
- 672
- L 20.0cm x W 12.6cm x H 4.4cm
Book Condition Notes
New: A brand-new, unused, unread copy in perfect condition.
Like New: A copy that looks unread and in perfect condition. Dust jacket is intact, with no nicks or tears. The spine has no signs of creasing. Pages are clean and are do not have any notes or folds of any kind. May have a remainder mark. (usually black or red in colour and is usually a dot or line on the bottom of the book on the page edges).
Very Good: A copy that has been read but is in great condition. May have slight cosmetic defects such as marks, wears, cuts, bends and crushes on the cover, pages, spine and dust jacket if applicable. Pages and dust cover (if applicable) are intact and do not have any notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. May have a remainder mark (usually black or red in colour and is usually a dot or line on the bottom of the book on the page edges).
Good: A copy that has been read but in clean condition. The spine, cover, pages and dust jacket (if applicable) may show signs of wear such as marks, wears, cuts, bends and crushes. Pages and dust cover (if applicable) are intact and do not have any notes or highlighting. May have a remainder mark (usually black or red in colour and is usually a dot or line on the bottom of the book on the page edges).
Acceptable: All pages are intact; the cover is intact. The spine, cover, pages and dust jacket (if applicable) may show signs of considerable wear such as marks, wears, cuts, bends and crushes. Pages can include limited notes in pen or in highlighter, but the notes do not obscure the text. May have a remainder mark (usually black or red in colour and is usually a dot or line on the bottom of the book on the page edges).