Hey, There's A Dead Guy in the Living Room

Hail and Farewell

Jeff Cohen

So that was it. We hope you liked it.

This is the 3464th post on HEY THERE'S A DEAD GUY IN THE LIVING ROOM, and unless someone else parachutes in and decides to add some thoughts, it is the last. We've had quite a good run here but it's time to shut off the lights and lock the doors before we stop saying anything anyone wants to hear.

For me DEAD GUY has been any number of things. It started when Deni Dietz and I defected from Murderati a long, long time ago and thought we'd start our own blog, but we didn't want to examine crime fiction strictly from an author's point of view. So we recruited editors, publishers, readers, librarians, reviewers, agents and booksellers, among others, to provide perspective we as writers couldn't offer. 

I'll continue to post blogs every now and again (look next Tuesday for sure) and hope you'll look for those moments, but as for DEAD GUY, this is the end of the line, and that's because we have all agreed it's better to go out while we're still wanted and not overstay our welcome.

But it wasn't all about publishing. The rule among us at DEAD GUY was that there were no rules. If you wanted to post about your section of the crime fiction world, great. If not, go for it. I have personally posted about digitizing my vinyl record collection, interviewed my daughter, had my dog write a guest post, talked about my health issues (ad nauseam), ranted about having to master barre chords, introduced a pseudonym, shamelessly promoted my work, bragged about blurbs, discussed the importance of making attractive letters when filling in a crossword puzzle, mentioned comedians I especially admire and occasionally made dives into such popular subjects as religion and politics. I recall once explaining how to deal with the atheist on your Christmas card list.

This blog has been more than a simple repository for my random thoughts. I've made good friends here. I've managed to blow off steam or express emotional truths when I had to. It served as a steam valve when I needed it. And a couple of times it served to let me write silly song lyrics. 

The most gratifying part of the weekly post was to connect with those who decided to visit us here. Hearing from readers and other writers, among many others, was a great comfort and sometimes an ego stroke when it was most needed. Writers write because we want to communicate something. Knowing that people were taking notice was a very large help at times.

For me the schedule forced me to write whether I had a great idea in mind or not. Some of my favorite posts were those that came when I was backed against a deadline wall. 

Everyone who has ever posted here will tell you that coming up with a post every week could be a trial. It's not easy to keep going and not repeat oneself. There have been nights that I've sat here looking at a blank screen for an hour wondering what would appear on the blog page at 12:00 a.m. that Monday. The closest I've ever come to believing in "Writer's Block" has been related to these posts. But I still don't believe.

The people with whom I've been part of DEAD GUY are amazing, smart, funny, warm and dedicated. I am grateful and honored to have been associated with each and all of them. I won't mention all the names here because I'm certain to forget some and that would bother me deeply even if it wouldn't rankle those I failed to cite. But assume if you've read a post here and it wasn't one of mine that it was written by someone I admire greatly, someone who inspires awe in me. I thank each of them. 

For those who have chosen to check in here every day or every week or once a year, we can't possibly thank you enough. It has been wonderful being part of your lives. Don't mourn the DEAD GUY. We stopped because we didn't want to disappoint you. You deserve our best. We hope we've given it to you. Thanks for everything.

 

 

Oh. And pitchers and catchers report in 44 days.

A Fond Farewell From DEAD GUY Alum Josh Getzler!

Josh Getzler

As I have four or five times in the past, I am writing this post from Florida, where I spend my winter break each year. In previous years, I’ve used my final post before New Year’s to look back at the year, and to project where I might be next year this time.

This post, however, is a bit different, and somewhat bittersweet, because this is the last time I’ll be writing for Hey, There’s A Dead Guy in the Living Room. I think the decision to end the blog was correct—it’s hard to find something new to discuss every week, particularly when trying to keep it at least vaguely within the box of crime fiction or publishing, and I know all of us have deviated at different times over the years.

But for today, I’d like to discuss not the past year, but rather the past eleven. And while Jeff tells me that 2,500 words is awfully long for a typical blog post, given that it’s the second-to-last entry of the whole thing, I hope you will indulge me. So sit down, y’all, as my 14 year old daughter says; it’s Story Time With Josh.

I re-entered publishing in January of 2007, and at that time I thought the industry had been revolutionized by technology since my first foray into the business of books a decade earlier. In 2007 submissions and edits had all become digital, and conversations among agents, editors and authors had become rapid-fire exchanges of emails. As an (aging) assistant, I was no longer spending days Xeroxing manuscripts and putting them into boxes, but organizing inboxes and learning to use electronic databases to monitor editor moves.

Then, as I thought I was getting the hang of the new paradigms, another innovation/disruption happened: Amazon decided to turn its gaze to publishing, and created the Kindle. The decisions Amazon made in entering this world have certainly had the most affect on the publishing industry in this past decade—far beyond any other single aspect of the business. From the pricing models, through its competition with Barnes and Noble and WalMart, through its Agency Model contracts and legal battles with publishers to its decision to enter the scrum as a non self-publishing publisher (and its systems of paying royalties), Amazon beats out Publisher Consolidation and the near-demise of browsing in brick-and-mortar bookstores as the Biggest Thing of the 2010’s.

From a personal standpoint, I started in 2007 as an assistant to two (outstanding) agents, having just leapt from a business where I’d been the boss, with three children 8 and under, where I woke up every morning at 5:00 to read queries, and where I spent four months line-editing a 700 page thriller (that never saw the light of day).

As 2017 ends, I’m a partner of the six-year-old agency I co-founded in 2011 with Carrie Hannigan and Jesseca Salky. We have all seen our books hit the NY Times (and many other) best seller lists, including Carrie’s client Vashti Harrison’s amazing middle grade book about black women who made history, Little Leaders, which was #3 last week. We are up to seven people in our agency, and have reached financial stability. I represent more than 60 authors, and hit my 100^th deal announced on Publishers Marketplace this past year. My oldest child (who’s contributed to Hey Dead Guy several times) just completed his first semester of college, while my toddler girls from 2007 are now both in high school. If I tried to wake up at 5 AM to read a manuscript, I’d be asleep by 8 that night, which isn’t practical.

When I started back at Writers House in 2007, my expectation was that I’d be The Mystery Guy. I’d edited mysteries in the 90s at Harcourt, read more of them than any other kind of book, and figured I’d find my lane in that world. And while I’ve done that (expanding into pretty much all aspects of crime fiction, from cat mysteries to horror to historical thriller to contemporary spy novels to near future dystopic police procedurals), I realized pretty quickly that I needed to expand my sights to…Anything That Will Sell. But nine years after starting to take on clients, I’ve been able to consolidate into a few different genres that make up most of my submissions. As a way to discuss the past decade in publishing, I’ll include commentary while discussing each part of my list.

• Crime fiction, as above. This takes up probably half of my energy—or more, at different points when I’m flush with projects. I’ve sold more crime fiction than anything else, and it remains dear to me. I’m also seeing the most extremes of highs and lows with it at the moment. The low points began a couple of years ago, when Berkley and St. Martin’s Press—two of the most significant mystery publishers in the business—contracted their lists by ¾ and ½, respectively. Now on one hand, that was probably necessary: The shelves at B&N were filled with donut shop mysteries and knitting mysteries and knitting mysteries set in donut shops (with cats, of course), and the market was so glutted that it was difficult for many new authors to find their audience and break through. Additionally, while we thought that ebooks were going to replace mass market paperbacks--where mysteries typically found their audience--on a one-to-one basis, that didn’t happen AND the lower price of ebooks didn’t make up for the lost revenue (and many publishers began to release their mysteries in hardcover and trade paperback, which caused its own pricing issues and lowered sales figures—but that’s a whole different discussion for another time.) So there needed to be a bit of a correction. We are just beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel now, though not without quite a bit of pain. Many well-published authors found themselves without homes after many books. Many well-seasoned editors found themselves out of work after many years at a home. This caused a great deal of backup in the ability of the fine publishers still (or newly) publishing crime fiction (like Midnight Ink or Crooked Lane or Severn House or Henery House) to take chances on new writers, as they were populating their lists with veterans.

The upside was that these publishers DID work very hard to take up the slack. Additionally, for the first time, we were able to see digital first or digital only imprints of the big publishers begin to get traction. Whether Witness (HarperCollins) or Alibi (Random House) or Thomas & Mercer (Amazon) or several others, we have started to see real sales come from these imprints. (Of course many of these imprints compete very strongly on price deals, which sacrifice revenue per sale for quantity of downloads adding up to a decent stream. 1,000 books downloaded at $1.99 with a 25% of Net Revenue rate don’t match up to 1,000 books sold at $7.99 with a royalty rate of 8% of list price. ($250 vs $640, after a number of assumptions.))

Also, we are beginning to see the re-emergence of the mass market paperback, which will come as a boon to mystery readers who don’t like to use e-readers. The market, I suspect, won’t have the same share as it used to, but there are clearly many readers and large number of terrific writers, and even an industry as difficult to shift as publishing will respond to those needs.

Finally, we are seeing an increase (as all content providers are) in unusual deals in mystery stories, particularly where production is concerned. The number of new outlets for video has allowed mystery and crime fiction stories to be optioned, produced, and even reverse-engineered in record numbers. Hallmark Mysteries and Movies has become the Berkley Prime Crime of television, and Acorn TV (or ITV3) its source for British cozies and procedurals.

OK, so that’s a bit of a digest on crime fiction. For me, that’s a significant amount of my energy. The others are:

• Middle Grade children’s books. When I started back in 2007, I had a kid just entering the middle grades, and two bosses who represented terrific middle grade novels. But it took a chance conversation with a film producer who knew a guy with a book described as Harry Potter with Pirates (which turned out to be more like The Princess Bride with 13 year olds) to start me on the road to a strong list of books for tweens. I’ve grown to love these books, with their spunky heroes and heroines who are not yet jaded (much) but still can Get It Done. I like the humor and the Feels, and the fact that there is a greater breadth of story permitted there than in almost any genre. Funny thing to me was that I thought that once I got the hang of middle grade books, I could also rep Young Adult, but I found out that I simply didn’t have the same eye. So I now rarely look at books for older teens, but am definitely actively continuing to work on the middle grade.

The frustration on this side is that it is INCREDIBLY difficult to market these books. The intended market does not buy its own books, but needs to have parent approval and participation. And the lack of brick-and-mortar bookstores is preventing the kind of browsing with kids that led to finding the book NEXT to the book one is looking for (whether as an adult or a kid). And the old way for authors to get to their audience directly—by visiting schools and libraries—has been discovered by everyone, and it’s now more difficult to get those gigs and be considered special.

• Historical Fiction. I realized a couple of years ago that I was at a place in my career where I could start to concentrate on the kinds of books I really love. And being married to a history teacher for 21 years has made me more and more interested in learning about times and places I don’t already know about. And so many historical novels either cross over into crime fiction or deal with either politics or Royal Courts or Ecclesiastical issues that so I’ve spent a considerable amount of time finding and working on books set in times and places as disparate as 12^th Century Ireland, 16^th Century England AND France, 19^th Century Italy, pre WWI Russia and pre WWII Vienna, as well as Israel, Mongolia, Japan, Pre-Revolutionary New York and…you get the idea.

The issues here are that historical fiction is either crowded with titles (Henry VIII) or “too strange for the market” (even if it’s in the same location 100 years later). There is also a tendency for publishers to get gun shy when they have taken a big risk on an historical novel that doesn’t pan out, when there is popular wisdom that only a certain number of these titles will hit in a given year, and if one flops then every other book seen by that publisher will be compared to that one. Additionally, I’ve found in the past year that the pacing of so many of the historical novels I rep make for somewhat long books—it’s necessary not only to set the place but the time and where it is in history, and often a different voice. And as a result, editors will need to spend a longer time reading than they might with shorter books in other genres (or proposals in nonfiction). As a result, there is often a longer than comfortable time between submission and response to these books, which can play havoc on the rhythm of a sale. I’ve had more long-wait submissions in historical fiction than in any other genre, and it’s become a source of terrible frustration to my authors. Doesn’t mean it’s not worth it in the end, but it requires more patience and fortitude than in most kinds of books.

• Nonfiction: I got into nonfiction for two reasons: One old friend of mine came to me with her Work-Life Balance proposal, and because my authors tend to be both smart and in possession of day jobs they can write clearly and compelling about. These are the most straightforward books to work on, and their submissions tend to be of more reasonable length. If you had told me ten years ago that I would have a vigorous list of prescriptive books for (mostly) women about professional satisfaction, parenting, and small-I-inspiration, I would have been surprised. But not as surprised as if you’d told me that I would be pitching a proposal about the mission to Pluto—by the brilliant scientist who ran the mission—on the DAY his spacecraft flew by the Heart of Pluto and a photo of his mission would be above the fold on the front page of the New York Times.

So that is my list, with some relevant commentary on the market.

The past ten years have been fascinating. When I entered Writers House, after being in Baseball—with the Yankees (for God’s Sake), many people asked whether I was going to find publishing as exciting or interesting. And the truth is, while there were many great moments in baseball, the everyday life of my career in publishing has been more consistently happy and satisfying, even when I may be frustrated with a submission or displeased with an offer or wanting to tell off someone who may deserve it. The variety of books I’ve read, the fascinating people I’ve been able to interact with, the talent of the writers and editors and publicists and other agents. Man, it’s just so impressive.

And one of the places I was able to find a voice and meet people in has been Hey, There’s a Dead Guy in the Living Room. Even if there were times I had to throw together a quickie couple of paragraphs on Tuesday at 11:30 after a long day at work and a night out, I had a great time talking mysteries and writing and business (and occasionally Bruce Springsteen). I get queries that talk about my columns, and I use both my own archives and some from my fellow Dead Guys in my class on publishing at NYU. So to Lynn, and Jessy, and Terri, and the many others, and most of all to my friend (and client) Jeff Cohen (hey, I get to acknowledge YOU for a change!), thanks so much for letting me be part of this terrific experiment in multiple-contributor blogging. I can’t wait to see what the next ten years bring—maybe we’ll have to have a reunion run, like an 80s metal band, and see where we’ve all landed. We can call it Mostly Dead. Which, as we all know, is still, if you work on it, alive.

The Year That Wasn't, In Advance

Jeff Cohen

Wow. 2017. Won't be sorry to see this year go, will we?

It's December, and you know what that means! (No, DON'T cue the Christmas music.) That's right: This is the last month of new DEAD GUY posts. And while we're still processing the end of our favorite crime fiction blog, we are seeing some light at the end of the tunnel.

I'll be discussing my own blogging plans before we go, but given that there won't be DEAD GUY next year, I thought I'd give you a look at what I would have been saying if I were still the regular Monday blogger here. So here are things I most likely would have posted here in 2018:

There's no such thing as writer's block. Stop it.

Hey! THE HOSTESS WITH THE GHOSTESS came out January 9! Here are all the reasons you should buy it! (And the places you could have pre-ordered it...)

Think about your characters first. Your plot serves your characters; it's not the other way around.

It snowed here this week. The first person who tells me how beautiful and fun snow is will be obligated to come to my house and shovel the driveway.

It's been a year since I began chemo. I'm doing much better now (insert picture of me with hair).

Here are my picks for the short subject Academy Awards...

Can you believe that thing he said yesterday????

Baseball season starts this week. Do not try to contact me on opening day. I will not be available.

My lovely wife and I are taking 10 days and driving the Pacific Coast Highway from San Diego to San Francisco (and a little beyond). Here are some photographs!

The only way you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps is if you're hanging by your feet. (An oldie but a goodie.)

How do you add humor to mystery? You don't. The humor has to come naturally from the situation and not layered on like frosting.

BIRD, BATH AND BEYOND, the second Agent to the Paws mystery, is coming out (fill in release date)! Here are 10 reasons you should buy it!

After what happened this week, what else can I possibly post about?

Yeah, I don't watch GAME OF THRONES. So the hype is a little irritating.

THE QUESTION OF THE DEAD MISTRESS is being published this week (hi, Terri!)! Here are five reasons you should buy it (but they're really good reasons)!

That was a heck of a World Series, wasn't it?

Isn't it time to rename the New Testament (another from the archives)?

In the wake of recent events, I'd like to point out that I'm not that kind of a man and neither are most of the ones I know.

Yeah, Thanksgiving. Great food, but just a harbinger of the "holiday season" and who needs that?

Stop with the Christmas music. Seriously. I get that there are a LOT of Gentiles, but this goes beyond the pale.

Wow. 2018. Won't be sorry to see THAT year go, will we?

 

Pitchers and catchers report in 71 days.

Nine Additional Musings About Public Libraries (Dale Spindel!)

Today we welcome back former DEAD GUY Dale Spindel, one of our library bloggers, as part of the DEAD GUY farewell tour! So glad to have Dale back one more time!

Dale Spindel

I was invited back for one last turn as Sunday blogger on Dead Guy, and I decided to write about what I know best, so here goes…

1. In spite of the popularity of e-books, predictions of the imminent demise of print are still very much exaggerated.   E-book purchasing has more or less leveled off and people still enjoy reading books in the same format that has worked so well for the past several centuries.   Not that I think technology will come to a grinding halt – I’m just waiting for the day when I can have a chip implanted in my brain that will enable me to “meditate” books written by other people. I’m not sure how that’s going to play out at the circulation desk, but I’m confident that someone will figure it out.
2. Library circulation is going to take a hit as more and more people abandon DVDs and turn to streaming services for video content.   Libraries that can afford it have started to turn to services like Hoopla and Kanopy to provide downloadable video and audio content (as well as e-books) but the pay per view model has the potential to wreak havoc on library budgets unless defined limits are placed on patron access.
3. I don’t know where people get the idea that recent immigrants to the United States are not interested in learning English.   What I do know is that for most people, learning a new language becomes exponentially more difficult the older you become; I have often said that I do not know how well I would fare if, out of political or economic necessity, I suddenly found myself needing to live someplace outside of the English speaking world.   I do know that I would do everything I could to ensure that any grandchildren I might have would be fluent in the language of the place we came to. In the library where I now work, some of the children who come regularly to our preschool story time sessions are being brought by grandparents whose ability to speak English is limited or nonexistent.   Many of these older immigrants, having come here from different parts of the world, are unable to chat with each other (which makes me sad) but I am heartened by the fact that they are doing what they can to make damn sure that their grandchildren won’t have that same problem here in America.   On the weekends, these same children are back in the library – this time with their parents – spending valuable family time looking through picture books and working with educational software. The reality I see is at direct odds with what is coming from the mouths and pens of some pundits
4. The type of assistance that people seek from reference librarians has changed over the past 40 years due to the Internet, but not just because people are able to look up so many things for themselves online.   What brings some people to the reference desk these days is their inability to fill out an online job application, print out a boarding pass, or scan and attach a print document to an email.     What is needed in these cases is not so much a professionally trained librarian as a concierge or personal assistant.     Forty years ago, if someone (usually male) approached a librarian (usually female) and asked her to type a letter for him because he didn’t know how to type, she would huffily explain that it was not her job to perform secretarial services.   Today, however, when someone equally likely to be male or female approaches a librarian (only a little less likely today to be female) and asks for help in formatting a Word document, many of us eagerly jump right in.   I’m not sure what the difference is between someone not wanting to bother to learn how to type and someone not wanting to bother to learn how to develop minimal computer competency, especially when the library offers free individualized training sessions.   But why bother to learn as long as the librarian is willing to do it for you?
5. Some larger library systems engage the services of social workers to assist people in the library who are homeless or otherwise in need of assistance in dealing with a variety of health or economic issues.   I consider this to be a very good development since librarians are not trained as social workers but would have trained as social workers rather than as librarians if that was the kind of work that they actually wanted to do.   Unfortunately, in smaller libraries or library systems, it is left to a librarian to deal with situations such as the ones I have handled at various times during my career. Here’s just a small sample:
6. Dealing with the daily presence of a mentally ill individual who made vaguely threatening comments to members of the library staff and who was eventually jailed for physically attacking a family member.
7. Explaining to the police why a woman who had defecated on the restroom floor and then later soiled an upholstered chair should be removed from the library.   The police were reluctant to do this because the woman “seemed nice” and told the officers that she hadn’t been feeling well lately.
8. Being yelled at by a regular patron because he was not hired for any of the jobs I had helped him apply for, recognizing even as I was helping him that his appearance and manner of communication were going to dissuade anyone from hiring him.
9. Forty years ago, library programming for adults was pretty hard to find and was not ever mentioned as part of my professional education.   Today, public libraries offer a wide variety of activities including movies, musical performances, classes, crafts, discussion groups, and gaming (both digital and non-digital), and that’s just for the adults.   Children’s programming has expanded from story time and summer reading activities to include all types of crafts, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) activities , jugglers, magicians, musical performance, live animals, and pretty much anything else out there that creative librarians can think of and track down.  
10. Many in my profession have jumped on various bandwagons out of a fear of not remaining relevant.   This has caused some librarians to spend valuable resources on such things as maintaining a presence on Second Life and posting QR codes throughout the library.   We were also told not that long ago that Pokémon Go   was going to be the next big thing to bring people into our libraries.   I think it’s great that librarians are not afraid to try new things, but I wish that a little more critical thought would go into the process beforehand.
11. I’m going to get flack for this one but I’m going to say it anyway. Too many people have fallen victim to our society’s willingness to require advanced degrees for positions that people used to be able to obtain by working their way up the proverbial ladder.   Institutions of higher education are the obvious beneficiaries, in collusion with professional associations seeking what would appear to a foolproof way of raising the social and economic status of their memberships. According to a chart posted by the website Statistica at https://www.statista.com/statistics/185160/number-of-masters-degrees-by-gender-since-1950/ the number of master’s degrees granted in 2018, will rise to approximately 790,000 which is nearly five times as many as were granted in 1975 when I received the first of my two master’s degrees.     There’s been a major reshuffling of the deck in terms of what librarians are called on to do and while, in some cases, the skills required by the job have become ever more high tech dependent, some of the tasks that librarians are performing today, if looked at objectively, really don’t require a master’s degree.   I will also be the first one to say that the vast majority of the skills I use as a library director were picked up from twenty-five years on the job and not from anything that I learned in graduate school.
12. A referendum in New Jersey calling for 125 million dollars to be bonded for public library construction and renovation projects passed easily on November 7 with 60% of the votes cast. This should give the people who claim that public libraries are no longer wanted or needed, something to think about.

It has been a real pleasure to be a part of “Dead Guy” and I wish Jeff and everyone else who has been a part of it the best of everything.

A Visit From Robin Agnew!

Robin Agnew

I have fond memories of blogging for “Dead Guy” – and I am delighted to be able to claim being one of the original bloggers. I love the wide view of this blog – it’s always included a range of authors, publicists, agents, editors, librarians and (where I come in) booksellers. All of us have been united by the love of the mystery genre and the passion of Jeff Cohen, who tirelessly promotes the genre we love along with writing great books.   And I am not sucking up! I keep trying various series…Jeff writes MANY …and all of them are good. That E.J.Copperman guy is great too.

Aunt Agatha’s Bookshop is celebrating 25 years this October and one of the tasks I took on as we approached this milestone – and OK, it was kind of a demand by the book club – was assembling a list of the books the club has tackled in the 24 years we’ve been meeting.   The most read author…no kidding…is Jeff Cohen! (Four titles).

The book club is one of the great things about owning our bookstore. Once a month a group of us meet to thoroughly dismantle or appreciate (as the case may be) whatever the book happens to be that we’ve chosen for the month. I send out a choice of 3 or 4 titles the month before and the group votes. Sometimes it’s a tie and we have to have a vote off!

Some of the liveliest discussions through the years include Sharon Bolton’s Sacrifice; Sarah Caudwell’s Thus Was Adonis Murdered; Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep; Robert Crais’ Suspect; Tana French’s Broken Harbor; Leslie Glass’ Killing Time; Michael Gruber’s Tropic of Night; Julia Keller’s the Killing in the Hills; Alex Marwood’s The Darkest Secret; Val McDermid’s A Place of Execution; Ruth Rendell’s A Dark Adapted Eye; Peter Robinson’s In a Dry Season; and Julia Spencer-Fleming’s In the Bleak Midwinter.

I’d hardly be a bookseller worth my salt if I didn’t recommend seeking these books out – highlighted because the discussion was so vivid, the views on the books were so diverse, and in some cases (especially the Rendell , Marwood and Bolton titles) the plots were so complicated they had to be discussed.

Another great thing about owning our bookstore has been meeting authors, some at the beginning of their careers – Steve Hamilton (who we met before A Cold Day in Paradise was published), William Kent Krueger, Louise Penny – or joining them in mid career and watching their career continue to blossom like our buddy and neighbor Loren D. Estleman. That part has been an absolute joy.

When we turned 20, we had a blow out of a party, with many authors and multiple book signings. Luckily the space next to our store was vacant at that moment and we were able to spill over to accommodate the hundreds of folks that showed up.

As we turn 25 and are to some degree looking back, I wanted a quieter and maybe more profound experience. So I invited William Kent Krueger and Julia Keller to join me at the library for a conversation. I think it will be as memorable as our 20^th anniversary celebration – I am really looking forward to it. If you’re in the Ann Arbor area Thursday, October 19, please join us at the downtown library at 7 to meet two of my very favorite writers and people, and to share in a discussion of the genre we love.

Big Book Move of 1962

Jessy Randall

In the spring of 1962, Colorado College students, faculty, and staff moved books and other materials from the soon-to-be-demolished Coburn Library to the new Tutt Library in what became known as the Big Book Move. Boxes traveled down a conveyor belt from an upper window of Coburn and were then hand-carried to the new building. This one-minute silent video is extracted from a 20-minute DVD (a conversion from reel-to-reel), donated to CC Special Collections by Oscar Soule, CC class of 1962.

Available TODAY!

 

 

library prank

Jessy Randall

 

Borrowing from myself over at Library Shenanigans ...

 

The best thing about this shenanigan, to me, isn’t that it takes place at my own library (I’m in charge of Special Collections at Colorado College). No, the best thing about it is that my new library director, JoAnn Jacoby, sent this link to the whole library staff saying it had gotten almost 4 million hits on youtube, whereas this other video — of JoAnn talking about libraries — has gotten — well — somewhat fewer (99 as of this moment).

Both videos show the newly renovated CC library, inside and out, including the very popular "pod" chairs, the Herman Miller orange rockers, the roof gardens, and more.

 

New Dante editions at Colorado College

Jessy Randall

Colorado College Special Collections recently acquired five editions of Dante's Commedia for use alongside the 1491, 1536, and 1822 editions (and others) already in our teaching collection. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above, an image from a facsimile of the 14th century "Dante Gradenighiano," named for Giacomo Gradenigo, the man who curated, copied, and commented on this version of Dante's Commedia. Gradenigo's name appears in an acrostic on the front pastedown of the book (not shown).

 

The 1568 edition, edited by Bernardino Daniello and published in Venice by Pietro da Fino, has an inverted wedding cake illustration of Hell prefiguring the one in our 1822 edition.

 

The 1575 edition, published in Lyon by Guglielmo Rouillio, has the commentary of Alessandro Vellutello.

The 1596 edition, published in Venice by Bernardo Sessa, is edited by Francesco Sansovino and contains two full commentaries: both Alessandro Vellutello's and Christopher Landino's.

The 1928 Nonesuch edition, published in London, was limited to 1475 copies and has text in Italian and English. It contains 42 illustrations after those of Sandro Botticelli (that is, the illustrations are based on Botticelli's but are not perfect reproductions).

Also available: comic book versions by Hunt Emerson, Christos Gage, Seymour Chwast, and Stefan Petrucha.

 

Don't Be Sad... It's Just a Blog

First: Our most fervent hopes that everyone in the path of the recent terrible storms is okay and that life will return to normal soon.

But now a bittersweet announcement: Every day here at DEAD GUY we try to bring you something that can add to your day. Most often that something has to do with crime fiction publishing, as our lineup of bloggers has been constructed to know about that category. And over the past 10 we have done our best to provide every possible viewpoint on the subject.

But, as they say, whoever they are, all good things (and the rotten ones too, truth be known) must come to an end. 

As much as we've all loved being DEAD GUY bloggers, we've agreed it's time to close the proverbial doors around here. Coming up with useful, entertaining content every day has gotten to be a little too much after all this time and we want to go out while we're still at the top of our game. 

So the December 31 post will be the last one here at DEAD GUY. While it's a little sad to think this is coming to a close, we prefer to focus on the idea that we've done good work here, people have enjoyed it, and we've kept it going since January 2007, which ain't bad. 

The cast of characters has changed over the years, but never the mission: To provide perspective on writing, publishing, reading, editing, promoting and enjoying books, mostly in the crime fiction area. We're all still committed to that concept and we'll keep expressing our opinions when we feel they're relevant. Just not here at DEAD GUY after 2017 becomes 2018. 

In the ensuing months, please know we'll keep posting as we have before, so don't tune us out of your daily web scan just yet. And along the way, we'll be hearing from some DEAD GUY alums who have graciously agreed to come back for one more visit before the lights are put out and we group-hug our way to the end of the Mary Tyler Moore Show. 

Keep reading. That's what this has always been about.

Adieu, Tuttlet!

Jessy Randall

My past month has been taken up with the big library move at Colorado College. My department, Special Collections, moved from Tutt South (colloquially known as "Tuttlet") to the newly renovated Tutt Main (soon to be just plain Tutt). 

The image above shows some anonymous graffiti written during the move on a wall of the soon-to-be-demolished Tutt South. It was quite an odyssey getting the books and other materials, including a huge heavy map case, from one building to the other.

     

Pictures of our new digs to come when it’s a bit more photogenic.

libraries respond to president drumpf

Jessy Randall

I'm the resident librarian at Dead Guy, so this post is at least semi-appropriate for the blog. Borrowing from my own work at Library Shenanigans...

Check out this sign at the library of the Howard University School of Law:

And here's a related image, from the Facebook page of The Bookloft in Massachusetts:

ISBN mystery in Special Collections

Jessy Randall

As Curator of Colorado College Special Collections, I recently ordered a copy of Woody Leslie's book Understanding Molecular Typography. There appeared to be a snag in the cataloging, and the following email conversation ensued:

Cataloger Amy: Hello, Jon (and Jessy),  If this link is behaving as it was for me just now, then you will see the image, with a link, to a Dr. Seuss book to the right of the title I just cataloged, “Understanding Molecular Typography.” Hmmmmmmm……..  :-/

Systems Specialist Jon: That bib record contains the ISBN for the Dr. Seuss title so it’s pulling the Dr. Seuss book cover image… Correcting or removing that ISBN should fix the problem. I also noticed that a subject heading of Humor is shown on that bib-is that correct?

Amy: I figured it had to do with the ISBN. The ISBN in the record is indeed the ISBN on the title page, so, I’m not sure how one might handle that. About humor, yes, that is correct, despite the rawther serious-sounding title.

Jon: Interesting-so it’s a humor book and they put the ISBN for a Dr. Seuss book on the title page? That’s kinda funny. WorldCat seems to have the same problem: http://www.worldcat.org/title/understanding-molecular-typography/oclc/920580763 –as do the catalogs of all of the other libraries WorldCat shows as holding this title… This is now actually hilarious.

Curator Jessy: Wow. This is fantastic actually! I wonder if they did it on purpose. Maybe I’ll try to contact the author or publisher and see.

Amy: I’d love to know what he says. It’s kind of like a library shenanigan. I mean, why “On Beyond Zebra”?? This is a first, for me.

Jessy: Dear Woody Leslie, As you can see from the email chain, your book is causing some confusion and hilarity at the Colorado College library. We think you did it on purpose. Are we right?

Artist Woody Leslie: Hi Jessy, This really made my day! Thanks for contacting me. Yes, I intentionally appropriated that ISBN number. Understanding Molecular Typography is a fictional textbook by a fictional author about a fictional science -- the science of molecular typography, which is based on the premise that all letters are in fact molecules, composed of atomic shape units known as typtoms. One of the ideas of the book is the concept of genetically modified, or invented letters. I used that ISBN number as a tribute to Dr. Seuss' book On Beyond Zebra, because it's all about invented letters. I didn't account for library cataloging of ISBNs when I used it, figuring it would mostly be ignored. I too have noticed the World Cat auto picture selecting based on the ISBN. Glad you were able to sort it all out. There's more about the book and project here.

Spouse on Haunted Hill--TODAY!

Jeff Cohen

E.J. Copperman

So, this happened.

Sometimes when you really need a lift (and let's just say November 2016 was not my favorite month for a few reasons), one just appears. And when Library Journal lists your novel as one of the Top 5 Mysteries of the Year, that's the very definition of a lift.

But that's not why I gathered you here today. Although you might want to take a peek anyway.

You see, this week the eighth (!) Haunted Guesthouse mystery novel, SPOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, is being published, and we need to discuss that. Because it's much like the other seven, except it's not.

Here's how the publishing business works: The author (in this case, me) writes the book about a year before it's to be published. When, as in this instance, the novel is the last on the contract from the publisher, there is always the possibility that there will be no offer for more and this will be the last story in the series. Of course, it's a year ahead of time and nobody knows what's really going to happen, so there's also the possibility that the publisher WILL decide on more books or that (as with the Haunted Guesthouse series many months later) the publisher does pass but another publisher decides to continue with more books.

But keep in mind that I'm writing this book a year ago, when everyone thought Jeb Bush would be the Republican nominee. 

As a writer, one has to juggle the possibilities. This was the eighth in the series. Subplots and character interactions had been developed from Book #1 and the writer, as an entertainer, would hate to leave the audience (that, hopefully, is you) without a satisfying ending. So with the state of cozy mystery publishing being what it was in 2015 and what it remains today, writing a conclusion to the series seemed at least a consideration. Don't want to frustrate loyal readers.

But there was the other possibility, which in its own way came true. There WILL be more than eight Haunted Guesthouse mysteries. There will be at least 10 (that's a minimum of two more, the first of which is being written right now). So writing a definitive conclusion to the series would, in retrospect, have been a strategic error. Not to mention, there was no way of knowing when writing this book which way the wind was going to blow. 

So what does an author do? Well, I'm not going to tell you because I want you to read the damn book. But suffice it to say that SPOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL leaves its possibilities open while offering what hopefully would have been a satisfying conclusion to many things that had been brewing since the series began. It's a high wire act and one that you'll have to read for yourself to determine if I've pulled it off successfully. I look forward to hearing from you. No, really. I mean that.

Suffice it to say: SPOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL brings back Alison Kerby's ex-husband Steven Rendell, to whom she refers, not at all fondly, as The Swine. Steven blows into town (Harbor Haven, New Jersey) with no suitcases but plenty of baggage: He's skipped out on a very large business deal, owes some shady people a good deal of money, and thinks they might be following him. So he asks if he can stay at Alison's Jersey Shore guesthouse because, this being February, surely she has an available room.

Given his nickname, Alison would be happy to turn The Swine away. But he is the father of her now-teenage daughter Melissa and she (Melissa) would be devastated if anything happened to her dad. So in comes Steven, his debts, his pursuers and his infuriating habits. And before you know, somebody's dead, somebody's suspected and everybody is scrambling for answers.

Meanwhile, Paul Harrison, the resident ghost detective, is distracted by an electrical experiment he believes might propel him into the next level of existence. Maxie Malone, the guesthouse's poltergeist, is carrying on her romance with Everett, the ex-Army ghost who was murdered in a gas station restroom, and Alison's boyfriend Josh is acting oddly. So it's a slightly more hectic week than usual at the Haunted Guesthouse.

And it all wraps up. Or not. Depends, I suppose, on how one looks at it. I hope you take a look and decide for yourself.

Possible Endings for
SPOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL

1. A random missile from Ft. Dix blows up the guesthouse; (rejected)
2. The ghost of Abraham Lincoln strolls by and emancipates all the other ghosts (unlikely)
3. Melissa grows up to be a paranormal scientist and finds Paul his path to the next level (I wouldn't count on it)
4. It was all a dream (no comment)
5. The Swine sees the error of his ways and remarries Alison (uh-huh)
6. The Guesthouse is shut down by the local Board of Health (plausible, but boring)
7. Something not listed here (most probable, and let's face it, I've read the book)

Only one way to find out, and it starts this week.

You're Stealing. Stop It.

Jeff Cohen

There are a multitude of disturbing trends in today's society. One of them is running for president, but that's not the point here. The bottom line is, it's virtually impossible, no matter what one's point of view might be, to watch the news, read the news or download the damn news without being upset (often horrified) about what you see.

And the political or global issues are not the only sources of outrage and anxiety, not by a long shot. There are some wonderful things about the current version of the modern age, and I'd list them here but right at the moment I'm having a hard time remembering what they are. Trust me, I know they exist. I'll think of them tomorrow.

What concerns me at the moment that won't upset people whose ideologies are not in line with my own? The decline of simple rules of grammar, punctuation, usage and syntax, to begin with. I teach people at the college level who can't tell the difference between you're and your. I see posts and documents indicating that even those who have completed advanced degrees don't bother to use apostrophes properly. You'd be amazed how many people think the sentence, "Lots of woman do the same thing" is perfectly acceptable.

And then there is the odd sense of entitlement among those--and I do not limit this to millennials and young people, as I have seen done--who believe that entertainment is a right. These are individuals with working brains who don't see the problem in downloading music off "free" sites, who will buy bootleg copies of movies before they are released to DVD, who steal a cable TV signal and believe they are somehow completing a victory over "the system."

Well, I'm "the system." Nice to meet you.

There are any number of online sites that right now, today, will let you read books that I spent months writing and to which I own the copyrights and they will not charge you for those books because they themselves did not pay for them. The site might charge visitors a fee as a "subscription," but trust me, when they send you the file with my name (or my other name) on it and you read the book, I am receiving a grand total of nothing for it.

The idea that somehow this is a victimless crime, that no one is losing out when you "beat the system" by getting free entertainment, is crap. I hear the argument all the time that there's no harm in a bootleg download of a movie because "Tom Cruise already has enough money." Maybe so, but guess what--the key grip doesn't. The Foley artist needs a salary, and if revenues go down, she won't get any. The guy who cleans the recording studio isn't getting paid when the artist can no longer afford to book the place because nobody is paying for the art.

I have close friends and relatives who see no harm in finding "free" entertainment. They seem to feel they're being clever, winning a victory over a corrupt system. I see them stealing. Period. 

Right now, I am contracted to write four separate mystery series which some of you read and hopefully enjoy. If sales don't hit the right numbers--and no, I have no clue what those numbers might be because the publishing industry changes its standards about every 20 minutes--I will no longer be releasing any books at all. Because I need to make a living and pay the bills. This is true of every author, every singer, every filmmaker, every producer, every actor, every screenwriter and all the people who serve the industries they inhabit. 

If you're taking copyrighted content from a source that doesn't compensate the creators of that content, you're stealing. Pure and simple. You're not being a Robin Hood outlaw. You're robbing from everybody and keeping everything. At most the only concerns you're keeping alive are the ones that steal from artists. 

I object.

The BEA Blues

Josh Getzler

 

So this week, the Booksellers Expo (BEA) moves from New York City to Chicago, and for the first time in many years, I won’t be attending. Danielle has a client—the marvelous Mimi Cross, speaking on a panel—so she wins, and will be flying off to Chicago on Thursday.

 

I think it was a huge mistake by the BEA to move the expo. I know it’s the way it was done for many years—like Bouchercon, it moved around the country, giving different areas the occasional opportunity to host the publishing industry. It allowed booksellers from the local region to come and spend less money than if they travelled all the way to New York. It’s fair to do it that way.

 

But it’s going to make for a far less interesting fair than when it’s held in New York; and it will have a detrimental effect on the professionals in the publishing houses and agencies based in New York—the vast majority of the industry.

 

Since BEA settled into the Javits Center, publishers and agencies have used the conference not simply to put up booths and showcase their books for the sellers and librarians, but also to allow their employees to walk around the fair and see what the competition has to offer. If only the most senior editors and publicists are attending the fair in Chicago this year, in the past I would walk around Javits and see everyone from editorial assistants on a half-day excursion to four or five mid-level folks standing around and schmoozing. It’s old home week, and it lets the less experienced (if they are paying attention) to get a real sense of the scope and breadth of the industry.

 

And you could get a sense of how Publishing was doing as a whole, too, by the tenor of the floor. Right after the big layoffs of 2008-9, and for a few years following, BEA was tentative and uninspired. Everyone was looking over at the Amazon booth the year it arrived, and walked stealthfully by the digital publishing companies. It wasn’t really until 2014 that I started to see a bounce in the collective step. In Chicago, only the highest-ranking officials will be there, and they will be on message. Booksellers and librarians can create their own buzz, but it’s only a segment of the real story, which will be missing.

 

Booksellers and librarians (and authors), too, enjoyed the excuse to come to New York for a few days, even if they spent half their time either commuting to the Far West Side to the Center or complaining about how horrible Javits is. But publishers feted them, and they got to go see where the pulse of the business in the US really emanates from.

 

This takes nothing away from Chicago itself—I’m really bummed I’m not going to go see my friends there. I’d be writing the same post if it were in Los Angeles or St. Louis or even (God Forbid) Philly. (I joke.) I simply believe that the most valuable locale for the most significant book fair in the US ought to be where the vast majority of people who work in that industry are located.

 

So to everyone on their way—have fun! Post and blog and take pictures and tell me I’m wrong! With all this complaining, I’m insanely jealous. I hope it’s amazing (and if you’re going to be there, go to Mimi’s section!

 

I’ll look forward to next May 31, when BEA returns to New York.

Gonna Be in Ewing on Sunday?

Jeff Cohen

I'll be speaking on How to Make (Fictional) Murder Funny at the Ewing Branch Library in Ewing, NJ this Sunday (March 20) at 2 p.m., so please register and drop on in! I'll be signing books and talking to the audience afterward. Love to see you there if you're in the area! Only 33 spaces left, so make sure you register!

middle grade mystery novels

Jessy Randall

Librarian Heather Riley of the Urbana Free Library in Illinois has put together an excellent gateway to middle grade mystery novels, with sections for classics, historical, realistic, action/adventure, and fantasy/paranormal. I'm pleased to see The Mysterious Benedict Society included -- I loved that book as much as my kids did.

Thank you, Heather! But I think you accidentally left out Daniel Pinkwater's Snarkout books, in which a bunch of kids (all boys and one girl, typical Pinkwater but we love him anyway) work with the Sherlockian "Osgood Sigerson" to solve bizarre mysteries involving avocados and other things. (By the way, the name Sigerson is  Holmes's pseudonym in "The Adventure of the Empty House," a 1903 short story by Arthur Conan Doyle; it is also the name of Holmes's "smarter brother" in the 1975 Gene Wilder film.)

 

 

the mysteries of Hanukkah -- no, the other kind of mysteries

Jessy Randall

Hanukkah starts a week from today. Are you looking for some Hanukkah mysteries in the sea of Christmas books? Your Dead Guy librarian is here to help ... as much as she can.

Open WorldCat shows about 400 titles with the subject Hanukkah - Fiction. Christmas - Fiction yields 20,000 titles. Christmas trees - Fiction yields over 700 titles. So, Christmas trees get more fiction than Hanukkah. And yes, I know, Hanukkah isn't the most important Jewish holiday of the year -- that honor belongs to Passover. Know how many hits we get for Passover - Fiction? 200.

Of course, not all detective novels are cataloged with the exact same terms, so let's try other methods. A keyword search for Hanukkah and Murder yields ten titles; Christmas and Murder yields 3000. Hanukkah and Detective yields eleven titles; Christmas and Detective yields over 6000.

If you Google "Hanukkah mystery" you'll find a lot more (and less) than detective fiction. (For example, I "learned" that the history of Hanukkah foreshadows the reign of the Antichrist ... whatever, dudes.) The religious "mysteries" of Hanukkah -- the candles, the oil  -- take up most of the Google links. But you will find a few crime novels:

Jane Haddam, Festival of Deaths (1994)

T. Lee Harris, Hanukkah Gelt (2010)

Sharon Kahn, Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Choir: A Ruby, the Rabbi's Wife Mystery (2006)

Shulamit E. Kustanowitz, Murder at the Minyan (2006)

Ilene Schneider, Chanukah Guilt (2007)

Out of the Frying Pan into the Choir by Sharon Kahn
Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry by Harry Kemelman
Murder at the Minyan by Shlumat E. Kustanowitz
The Body in the Sleigh by Katherine Hall Page (mostly about Christmas but Hanukah is mentioned)
Chanukah Guilt by Ilene Schneider - See more at: http://mysteryreadersinc.blogspot.com/2010/12/chanukah-crime-fiction.html#sthash.AaZ3FNYu.dpuf

Out of the Frying Pan into the Choir by Sharon Kahn
Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry by Harry Kemelman
Murder at the Minyan by Shlumat E. Kustanowitz
The Body in the Sleigh by Katherine Hall Page (mostly about Christmas but Hanukah is mentioned)
Chanukah Guilt by Ilene Schneider - See more at: http://mysteryreadersinc.blogspot.com/2010/12/chanukah-crime-fiction.html#sthash.AaZ3FNYu.dpuf

Out of the Frying Pan into the Choir by Sharon Kahn
Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry by Harry Kemelman
Murder at the Minyan by Shlumat E. Kustanowitz
The Body in the Sleigh by Katherine Hall Page (mostly about Christmas but Hanukah is mentioned)
Chanukah Guilt by Ilene Schneider - See more at: http://mysteryreadersinc.blogspot.com/2010/12/chanukah-crime-fiction.html#sthash.AaZ3FNYu.dpuf

Laurence Roth's Inspecting Jews: American Jewish Detective Stories may also be of use, along with Abigail Browning's Murder is No Mitzvah: Short Mysteries about Jewish Occasions.

And, for kids, there's Rabbi Rocketpower and the Mystery of the Missing Menorahs by Rabbi Susan Abramson and Aaron Dvorkin, with illustrations by Ariel DiOrio. 

Only one of these books, Kahn's Out of the Frying Pan, is from major publisher (Scribner). Doesn't that seem weird? If only I knew someone in publishing, someone who could try to change these statistics ... Josh, keep you eye out for a Hanukkah novel. There's a market gap. And imagine the December sales!

If I missed any -- and I hope I did -- please let me know in the comments.

Rabbi Susan Abramson and Aaron Dvorkin and Ariel DiOrio - See more at: http://mysteryreadersinc.blogspot.com/2010/12/chanukah-crime-fiction.html#sthash.AaZ3FNYu.dpuf

Rabbi Susan Abramson and Aaron Dvorkin and Ariel DiOrio - See more at: http://mysteryreadersinc.blogspot.com/2010/12/chanukah-crime-fiction.html#sthash.AaZ3FNYu.dpuf

One last thought: if you're feeling bummed out about the dearth of Hanukkah detective stories, you could cheer yourself up by hosting a Hannukah-themed mystery party!

We're Really Not Kidding. Help!

Josh Getzler

I'm away from my desk today, so I asked Jeff to put up again his post looking for support for our fellow Dead Guy, Erin Mitchell. It's plenty important enough that you can wait a week to hear about why you shouldn't write in the passive voice or curse in middle grade books, or whatever else I was coming up with today. Back next week. Go Mets (Yes, I said that--maybe my next post will be defending my right to say that after having worked with the Yankees for 9 years--or maybe it's obvious from that!)

We here at DEAD GUY are taking today to urge you to donate to what we believe is the worthiest cause on the planet.

Our very own Erin Mitchell.

As she has documented quite eloquently, Erin's been having some pretty serious health issues, and as anyone in the United States knows about such things, it has not been inexpensive. She is self-insured, so the bills are mounting pretty staggeringly. We believe Erin should not have to shoulder the burden alone while she's dealing with so much at the same time.

So there is a grassroots (that is to say, crowdsourcing) movement to try and help, which was set up by Ellen Clair Lamb. Many have contributed (including some on this blog), and if you are able to do so, we'd urge you to send what you can.

Anyone who has read Erin's posts here or encountered her elsewhere know she is an amazing woman, one whose wit and general good humor coexist with strong views and a sense of right and justice. She is being dealt a hand she doesn't deserve, and the overwhelming cost of health care in America should not be something she has to contend with when she's fighting a much more important fight. 

If you can spare a few bucks, we'd appreciate it if you would take a look. If you can't, why not comment below and let Erin know how much you like reading her here on DEAD GUY or elsewhere. In fact, why not do both?

She's already overwhelmed with a situation. Let's overwhelm her with how much people care.

We do. You get well soon, Erin. We want you back here on Fridays.

noir library video

Jessy Randall

The clever staff at the Forbes Library in Northampton, Massachusetts created this excellent noir film about libraries. My favorite bit is the poker-faced book-truck ride at 2:28.

Banned Book Week - Librarians as Warriors

This year, the American Library Association celebrates Banned Books on September 27, 2015. Even in this age of information, where movies are pirated, tweets captured for infinity the second they appear and are deleted, and criminals record and post their activities to the world, we still need to fight for the freedom to speak.  And be read.  And to ensure that others have the freedom and access to information.

In the next few weeks I hope to re-visit those "dirty" or challenged books that I thoroughly enjoyed in my youth.  I hope that you will also take a moment to appreciate being able read books that someone believed you shouldn't.  

Books are power.  

Looking back, I bet that books that were considered scandalous or dangerous are the ones that you remember reading the most.  And not always for the reasons one would expect.  For me, what turned out to be the most accurate depictions of reality were often the most shocking, disturbing, and memorable.

Readings Lists - Not always a form of torture

Our library system has a category of books designated as "Classics," meaning all of those books that are considered to be the iconic fundamentals of great literature. However, in my library a far wiser librarian than myself re-catalogued those books as "Reading Lists," as not all of the books that get stuck into this category are really classical.  Instead, these are the books that teachers have decided their students should read at any given time. Lois Lowery's The Giver is a Reading List, as while it is definitely is an example of groundbreaking fiction, it is debatable as to whether it's actually a classical book that will be read in a hundred years.

When I'm asked about this section, my general response is,"These are all of the books that people read  because they are forced to."  It's not that I think one second that these books are not worth reading; it's just that very few people would ever voluntary pick one up unless they're on some sort of self-improvement mission. 

I was an English major, and as a librarian I adore books, love fiction, and worship authors.  I was that child who constantly had her nose in a book.  However, that does not mean that school Reading Lists were always met with joy.

Looking back, though, these were the books that I remember loving even though I was being told that I should.  Teenagers.  So annoying.

Emma by Jane Austen

Of Course. And, according to NPR, matchmakers are happier people.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Despite my having no knowledge of teen gangs, I adored this book.  Ponyboy.  And the movie, which I did not see until years later, exceeded my expectations with the casting.  Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Rob Lowe, Matt Dillion, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise with bad teeth…

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

For every teen who knew he/she was smarter than everyone else.

 

Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

Before dystopia was cool.

 Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

I believe that this was my favorite books of all the ones I was forced to read.  Society, manners, and the absurdity of it all

 Candide by Voltaire

I was a weird kid. But then, I also loved Monty Python.

 So, thank you, my many English teachers.  But I still don't forgive you any of you making me read John Steinbeck.  I'm sorry, but at least the books were short.

Libraries...We're Not Dead Yet

After watching yet another local news report on how the homeless are overrunning the libraries (air conditioning, free Internet, and apparently a surplus of YouTube videos available for viewing), I was left once again with the impression that the general public believes that libraries have outlived their purpose.  For many people, they seem to think that in this age of google, Wikipedia, and e-books, public libraries are baby-sitters for bored children waiting for their rides or safe shelters for transients.

 They would be wrong.

 As summer ends, so does the national Summer Reading Programs for adults, teens, and children.  The cooperative ALA theme for this year was Superheroes, comic and real-life, and you only need to check twitter, Instagram, or Facebook to see just how amazingly librarians and libraries embraced it.   #SRP2015.

 Firemen and policemen made visits to libraries, costumed superheroes read storytimes, artists taught children how to create their own comic books, and children created their own costumes.  The creativity displayed by library volunteers and staff was astonishing.  Yes, I would be tooting my own library’s horn by including them in this, except that I had very little to do with our programs.  I just stood back and watched in amazement. 

 To see children and their parents so excited to come into the library each week to be rewarded just for reading never gets old, even when the staff is exhausted and we are overwhelmed by crowds.  Adults enjoy the reading programs as much as children, as for once they have an excuse to do something they might believe they just don’t have time to fit into their schedules.  Reading for fun.  Reading to their children.

 Reading becomes a priority.  You can make time for reading.

 So, when I fear that people are too busy to come into the library, that we are warehousing the homeless, that everyone already has access to everything online at home…I remember the summer.

 Summer Reading Programs are exhausting, but they remind everyone that there is always time to read. The reward is just more tangible, immediate, and fun.  Now we just have to find a way to make summer vacations last throughout the year.

I'll Keep My Atticus Finch, Thanks

Jeff Cohen

I'm not going to read the "new" Harper Lee novel, "Go Set A Watchman," and it's not simply because I have no idea what that title means.

For those who have been living in solitary confinement the last six months, "Watchman" is the second Harper Lee (everyone likes to say how she prefers to be called "Nelle" by her friends, perhaps to prove they belong in that category) novel, published a mere 55 years after the first one, "To Kill A Mockingbird," which you might have heard about.

I had some interest in the newly published (tomorrow, actually) book, but not the same as some very dedicated Lee fans. I came to "Mockingbird" very recently, having tried a number of times to read it and not pushing myself past the family genealogy offered in the first couple of chapters. (I finally got through it all as an audiobook read by Sissy Spacek, who did a lovely job as one would expect.) I was familiar with the film version, starring Gregory Peck in perhaps his most well-suited performance as the narrator's father, Atticus Finch, a man of incredible moral integrity at a time when it was easy to have none.

And that's why I won't be reading "Watchman."

According to the reviews and news articles about the publication of "Watchman," the story here is an alternate version of the "Mockingbird" characters and some of its events. In this version, Atticus, who had stood up for African-Americans in the beloved original novel, is a bigoted, closed-minded man who actually once attended a Klan rally and believes wholeheartedly in segregation.

Well, Ms. Lee is more than entitled to her versions of Atticus in any way she wants to write him, but I want my Atticus Finch from "Mockingbird" and no other. 

The backstory here--truncated for brevity and because I don't actually know what really happened--is that "Watchman" was an early draft of "Mockingbird," written around 1955, or as I call it, "the time that didn't exist because I wasn't born yet." It deals with Jean Louise "Scout" Finch, a woman in her 20s, coming home to the South from her current place in New York City and dealing with her aged father Atticus, who "has his good days and his bad days."

And that's all I know about the plot. From what I've read about the "new" Atticus, that's all I need to know.

As an artist, Ms. Lee has the right--no, the obligation--to portray her characters as accurately and truthfully as she sees fit. Whether this version is being published with her wholehearted approval might be questionable and then again it might not. Whether or not it should be published is not my call; it was hers, and she decided by signing the contract to go ahead. Once again, no author would want to be told he or she could not have full expression simply because the readers disapprove. 

But as a reader, I have rights, too. That clearly includes the right not to sully my own personal image of a character who had a serious impact not only on American fiction but perhaps on American policy. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed not long after Peck portrayed Atticus on screen. It would be a huge leap to consider that cause and effect, but to deny there was any impact would be equally inaccurate.

My view is that in the South--and everywhere else--at that time (and always) there were far too many "Watchman" Atticus Finches and not nearly enough "Mockingbird" Atticus Finches. I choose to celebrate a fictional hero who actually deserves that distinction. I choose not to change my view of him in a draft the author's original editor felt was not ready for publication. 

That's my choice, not Harper Lee's. Both her books will continue to exist. But I will have read only one.

The Ghosts of My Friends

The Ghosts of My Friends is an autograph book with a twist. Published in the early 20th century, it’s a near-blank book meant to be used for sideways signatures to be turned into “ghosts,” that is, humanoid (or ghostoid) shapes representing the signers.

 The “ghosts” pictured here were made in 1916 from the signatures of Polly McKeehan and Geo. B. McDonald.

There are about 40 copies of The Ghosts of My Friends in U.S. libraries. Each one, of course, would contain different ghosts. I recently brought out a copy for a Colorado College class discussion about identifying people from their handwriting. This book takes that idea a step further, suggesting that a person’s handwriting is that person in a profound way.

Jessy Randall

No one had requested Colorado College's copy of the first edition of The Book of Mormon in at least fifteen years, but that all changed last month. First one request, then another, and then eighty Mormon visitors in one day, broken up into four groups in order not to overcrowd the reading room.

The Book of Mormon, the foundational text of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was first published in Palmyra, NY in 1830. 5000 copies were printed, of which at least 144 are currently in libraries. Joseph Smith’s text has been reprinted hundreds of times and translated into many languages and alphabets, including Brigham Young’s Deseret alphabet (one of several alphabets developed to simplify spelling in the 19th century, including one invented by Melvil Dewey, yes, he of the card catalog system).

Book values change with the times, and the monetary value of this book has increased exponentially. According to library records, Colorado College purchased our copy for $250 in 1962. It was one of the first purchases made using the Hulbert Fund, honoring Archer Butler Hulbert, CC professor and scholar of the American West. The book is now worth approximately $100,000. Our copy, however, is not for sale.

sexual misconduct and neurotic belching

Jessy Randall

As Curator of Special Collections at Colorado College, I frequently receive catalogs from rare book dealers with unusual themes. This week I got a notice from Garrett Scott about his latest list:

"42 uncommon and interesting items dealing in murder and mayhem and destruction both natural and unnatural. Items include a few nice 19th century murders (or topical verses on same). Further doom and/or destruction includes prairie fires and destructive snowfalls, Romantic deaths, a young girl in the coal pits, the romance of the Rosenbergs, glances at funeral practices and other perhaps morbid preoccupations. Sexual misconduct and neurotic belching have each been included as well."

The full catalog is available in PDF form here. Happy shopping!

The Ghosts of My Friends

 

The Ghosts of My Friends is an autograph book with a twist. Published in the early 20th century, it's a near-blank book meant to be used for sideways signatures to be turned into "ghosts," that is, humanoid (ghostoid?) shapes representing the signers.

Colorado College students reading 18th century literature were in Special Collections recently, and at one point we were talking about identifying people by their handwriting. I ran and got The Ghosts of My Friends since it suggests that a person's handwriting is that person in a profound way.

The "ghosts" pictured here were made in 1916 from the signatures of Polly McKeehan and Geo. B. McDonald.

There are about 40 copies of The Ghosts of My Friends in U.S. libraries. Each one, of course, would contain different ghosts. Maybe there's a copy in a  library near you! Or you could purchase a copy from abebooks.com for $30-500 (the most expensive one for sale today includes the "ghost" of actress Sarah Bernhardt).

I made my own ghost out of felt in a school art class ca. 1982:



To me, my ghost looks like a graduating frog.

Jessy Randall

Its a great time to be a comic book nerd

This week we welcome our newest DEAD GUY! Every other Sunday you'll be hearing from Cynthia Chow, branch manager for the Hawaii State library system, who'll be offering perspectives on pretty much everything from her viewpoint. And you're going to love it. Trust us.

By Cynthia Chow

Comic books have been around for decades, but it has been a long journey for them to be accepted as legitimate forms of literature.  The eighties had their Watchmen, Persepolis,and Maus, but even those groundbreakers were still considered to be part of a niche market.  That is finally changing.  Comic book superheroes have become a part of pop culture, with millions of “average” people - whose previous experiences with comics may have extended only so far as to the perusal of the Sunday newspapers (what are those?) -  being able to list off characters from the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and X-men.  Now that Hollywood has realized just how much money we are willing to spend to see our icons brought to life, there is a virtual smorgasbord of superhero movies scheduled all the way through 2028. Turn on the television virtually any night of the week and you will see some version of a comic book; the broodily overacted-without-Batman-Gotham, the very fun Flash, the how-could-they-not Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the cigarette-smoking-but-probably-going-to-be-cancelled-anyway Constantine, and my favorite, Arrow (more shirtless training montages, please).  These shows take their comic inspirations seriously and are as far from campy as you can get, unlike various incarnations from the past, when Adam West apparently couldn’t be bothered to do a sit-up.  These superheroes do not wear tights.

My love of comics began decades ago, when I was stealing into my brother's room to rifle through his Batman and Spider-Man collections. It seems only fitting that my first summer job was working in a failing bookstore/comic book store, and I managed to become one of those people who collected comics sealed in plastic bags. I still have the black armband included in the Death of Superman promotion (spoiler, he's not dead). 

Comics – loosely defined as graphic novels when published together as a continuous story arc- are also what led me to my actual career.   I was a new Young Adult Librarian who actually saw value in putting them in my library, and when a teen loves one comic he/she will only want to read more. 

And graphic novels have gotten GOOD. Just like any genre, some writing is better than others, but now established and "respectable" writers have entered the playing field. I thoroughly recommend that you give these a try:

• Batwoman, Queen and Country, and Whiteout by Greg Rucka. Although he has always had roots in comics, the author of the Atticus Kodiak and Jad Bell thrillers is incredible at crafting kick-ass female heroines.  He has created a wonderful Batwoman – don't mistake her for Batgirl – series.  Rucka’s Queen and Country series features an awesome female spy agent and led to a series of novels expanding on the same storylines.  His graphic novel Whiteout is essentially a locked-room mystery that has a U.S. Marshall trapped in the Antarctica with a murderer. 
• DC’s Identity Crisis by Brad Meltzer.  The bestselling mystery and thriller writer depicts how a criminal act enacted on a superhero’s wife, and the Justice League’s response, completely divides the team.  It’s absolutely brutal - in a good way.
• Wonder Woman: Love & Murder by Jodi Picoult made waves - and received mixed reviews - when the fiction writer took over an entire Wonder Woman storyline. 
• Castle: Richard Castle’s Derek Storm.  Yes, he’s a fictional author on ABC’s Castle writing fictional mystery novels, but ABC produced thrillers that are actually enjoyable and the graphic novelizations of the Derek Storm books are very fun.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8.  Joss Whedon continued his awesome television series in comic form, freeing him from studio production and budgets.  It gets wonderfully weird.
• These are just the graphic novels written by authors specifically to be comics.  Janet Evanovich, Patricia Briggs, Richard Stark/Donald Westlake, and Laurell K. Hamilton have all had their series turned into pretty impressive graphic novels that take their novels into illustrated realizations.
  
  It's never been a secret to teachers and librarians that comics are the gateway drug to getting reluctant readers to read.   My suggestions here are just the tip of the iceberg, but I hope that these graphic novels written by skilled mystery and fiction writers will tempt adult mystery lovers into delving into the world of comics.  Never let it be forgotten that Barbara Gordon, the original Batgirl, was the secret identity for a truly heroic occupation. In her “real life,” Batgirl was… a librarian. 

 Oh, and if you doubt my love of comic heroes…That’s me as a very green Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy. 

 

 

                       

To Tour! That's the Answer!

Jeff Cohen and E.J. Copperman

No, as a matter of fact, I didn't go to Bouchercon but oddly, I will be in Long Beach, CA in a few weeks (read on) and visiting some friends I haven't seen in far too long. I did miss seeing dozens of people I'd have loved to see at the biggest mystery gathering on the planet, but there were other plans being planned and this trip couldn't be made financially reasonable. Hopefully next year on the East Coast, where I can theoretically drive.

Now on to business: I don't feel like a grizzled veteran just yet, but I realized recently that I've been involved with book publishing (as an author) for about 15 years now, given that's when I started writing my first novel, FOR WHOM THE MINIVAN ROLLS. And that sort of made me stop and think for a moment.

It's been a weird ride, a really enjoyable one, and I don't feel like we've even gotten far from the station yet, so there's plenty to go. And along the way I've met some people who will be friends for the rest of my life, I've heard from wonderful readers, I've been reviewed well and hilariously and I've been interviewed on radio and television, not to mention online.

But one thing I've never done has been a "book tour."

As you saw last week, the advantages (or dis-) of an author traveling from city to city and meeting with booksellers and readers (hopefully) can be a topic for debate. But I've never done one because publishers will generally not pay for an author to do so unless the author is a bestseller and can therefore afford to pay for it themselves. Keep in mind that the person who coined the phrase "Catch-22" was an author.

Still, I've always wanted to meet some of the booksellers I've contacted over the years and seen some of the stores other authors have told me about. So with the publication of INSPECTOR SPECTER a hair over two weeks away, I've decided that now is the time to hit the road. 

But since I'm not a bestseller--at least not to that degree--I'm going on a short tour. There's only so much goodwill some authors can afford.

INSPECTOR SPECTER, the sixth Haunted Guesthouse mystery, will be published on Tuesday December 2. I have a class to teach on Thursday, December 4, so the "tour" will begin on Monday, December 8. And here's how it'll go:

Tuesday, December 2: Barnes & Noble in East Brunswick, NJ with Toni LoTempio

Monday, December 8: Aunt Agatha's in Ann Arbor, MI (with our ex-DEAD GUY Robin Agnew!)

Tuesday, December 9: Murder by the Book in Houston, TX

Wednesday, December 10: The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, AZ

Thursday, December 11: I'm on the road. Literally. Plans are to fly to San Francisco and then make my way, via Los Angeles to:

Friday, December 12: Mystery Ink in Huntington Beach, CA.

Saturday, December 13: Mysterious Galaxy's holiday party in San Diego, CA.

So, five bookstores in five cities in six days. And if you work for a bookstore near San Francisco and would like to discuss an event on December 11, get in touch!

If you're in one of those areas and would like to say hi, please come on out! Keep in mind that I'm probably coming from a lot farther away than you are! And it's the readers and the booksellers who make these events special. So I'm hoping to see you there. Wherever "there" is.

heroic WWII librarian

Jessy Randall

Would someone please write a biography or a novel or a screenplay about heroic WWII librarian Ona Simaite?

According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum:

ONA SIMAITE (1899-1970), Lithuania

Ona Simaite, a librarian at Vilna University, used her position to aid and rescue Jews in the Vilna ghetto. Entering the ghetto under the pretext of recovering library books from Jewish university students, she smuggled in food and other provisions and smuggled out literary and historical documents. In 1944, the Nazis arrested and tortured Simaite. She was then deported to Dachau and later transferred to a concentration camp in southern France. She remained in France following her liberation.

Photo credit: Yad Vashem photo archives.

Harry Potter in China

Jessy Randall

My library recently acquired a copy of Harry Potter and Leopard Walk Up to Dragon, an unauthorized Harry Potter knockoff in Chinese with illustrations stolen from Disney and other sources. It may be of interest to Harry Potter fans, students of Chinese, and anyone interested in copyright and intellectual property; it may also be of interest to Tolkien fans, since in this novel Harry teams up with a wizard named Gandalf and goes after a magic ring and a dragon. Don't believe me? See this jaw-dropping excerpt.

I can't say for sure how J.K. Rowling feels about these bootlegs (and these, and others), but I'm guessing it might be like this:

spooooooky photographs from the CC archives

Jessy Randall

In honor of Halloween, I present spooooooooooky x-ray images made by Colorado College professor Florian Cajori ca. 1896. These are probably the first x-ray images west of the Mississippi.

What you're seeing are a spooooooooky hand, a spoooooooky rat, a spooooooky bird wing, a spooooky foot in shoe, and a spoooooky pair of scissors. The hand and the foot belonged to CC professor Frank Loud. Colorado Springs photographer Horace S. Poley developed and printed the photographs and labeled them. He did not use any form of the word "spooky."

For more information, see: J. Juan Reid, "Florian Cajori: First X-ray Photographs in the West," Colorado College Bulletin, February 1982, pp.12-13.

what's the best work trip you ever went on?

Jessy Randall

I got invited to Steamboat Springs, Colorado this week to give a presentation at the local public library. I was kinda dreading the four-hour drive each way, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. I listened to a new music, looked at the beautiful view, and enjoyed the hell out of the fact that none of the many traffic jams were northbound while I was northbound, nor southbound while I was southbound.

The presentation went well, the weather was perfect, I hiked five miles and saw an excellent waterfall, and then I found out that I'd be reimbursed at the official IRS rate of 56 cents per mile, so it feels like I made money on this deal!

What's the best work trip YOU ever went on?

How Many Missing Heads Will We See Wednesday?

Jeff Cohen

Not to belabor the point, but the fact is that THE QUESTION OF THE MISSING HEAD , the first Asperger’s Mystery from Midnight Ink, will be published Wednesday, and you should buy it. In order to better entice you to do so, please consider the following list of dire consequences that might—just might—occur if you choose to skip this book and wait for the movie.

Quick side note: The MISSING HEAD CHALLENGE is set for Wednesday, the publishing day for THE QUESTION OF THE MISSING HEAD. Take a picture of yourself with the book or the title page on your e-reader and post it. For everyone who does on Wednesday, $9 will be donated to the Autism SPectrum Education Network (ASPEN) helping families touched by autism spectrum disorders. So don't forget to post that photo!

Possible—Just Possible—Consequences

1. There isn’t going to be a movie. Buy the book.
2. You might be the only one in your book group who hasn’t read it, leading to ostracization (that is, you can get ostracized) and possible expulsion.
3. You might fail to catch the first adventure of Samuel Hoenig, the borderline genius with Asperger’s Syndrome, and Janet Washburn, his newfound associate. This could lead to terrible feelings of regret when Book #8 in the series is published and you have to catch up.
4. Your bookseller, who knows your taste, might look at you funny.
5. It’s possible you won’t be laughing enough. That’s bad for you.
6. You won’t be helping to contribute to the MISSING HEAD CHALLENGE, and will therefore miss out on getting $9 contributed to the Autism SPectrum Education Network (ASPEN) without spending any extra money yourself. So you don’t want to help support families touched by autism, huh?
7. Your local bookstore might need to sell that one more book to make the rent this month. You want that on your head?
8. If you don’t buy the book, I might have to get a regular job. At my age? Please.
9. That short leg on the kitchen table? This book is the exact right thickness to prop it up level. If you don’t buy it, you could drop hot soup in your lap.
10. You might very well miss reading a book you’ll like a lot, that Publishers Weekly called “delightful and clever.” Do you really want to skip something that’s “delightful and clever”?

 But hey, no pressure.

On the other hand, here are a few things that might happen if you do buy a copy of THE QUESTION OF THE MISSING HEAD this Wednesday (or even now on your e-reader!):

Benefits of Buying the Book

1. There’s the slimmest possibility it will change your life. Preferably for the better.
2. Maybe if enough people buy the book (like, for example, you), there will be a movie!
3. Smiling is good for your face.
4. You could get a slightly better understanding of what it’s like to be a person with an autism-spectrum disorder. You might treat such people better afterward.
5. As previously noted, the MISSING HEAD CHALLENGE will see to it that for every person who posts a picture of themselves on Wednesday holding THE QUESTION OF THE MISSING HEAD in some form, $9 will be donated to ASPEN, and it won’t be your $9, but you can claim responsibility for it.
6. You could be seen reading THE QUESTION OF THE MISSING HEAD on the subway. Someone whose attention you might want to attract could see you’re reading an intelligent, witty (or "clever and delightful") book and strike up a conversation.
7. You might learn something about cryonics or the probability of hitting a ball fair out of Yankee Stadium. But it won’t feel like work.
8. If you figure out who the culprit is, you’ll feel smart. If you don’t, you’ll be delighted when the culprit is revealed. It’s a win/win.
9. Reading helps keep your mind agile. Even reading this post is good, but THE QUESTION OF THE MISSING HEAD is much longer, and provides more benefits over time.
10. Let’s face it: You want to know what question could be asked regarding a missing head. What better way to find out?

So there you have it: Scientific evidence that you should buy and read THE QUESTION OF THE MISSING HEAD. Do you want to argue with Science?

Stephen Blumberg, library thief

Jessy Randall

In the 1980s, a man named Stephen Blumberg stole thousands of books and manuscripts from American libraries, amassing a collection worth millions of dollars. (For the full story, see his Wikipedia entry or the "Bibliokleptomania" chapter of Nicholas Basbanes’s A Gentle Madness.) 

Colorado College was one of the many stops on Blumberg's cross-country book-stealing tour. He stole at least two books from us. One of these was no big deal, a 1930s pamphlet on Bent’s Fort, easily replaceable. The other, however, was quite rare: Henry Villard’s The Past and Present of the Pikes Peak Gold Region, published in 1860. Currently, it's held in only a handful of U.S. libraries and isn't available from any dealer. The FBI valued the CC copy, in its crummy modern binding, at $10,000.

Blumberg may have stolen as many as a dozen books from our library, but only these two were recovered. Library staff worked with the FBI to get the books back. It was particularly complicated because Blumberg not only removed or covered over library ownership marks from books, he also added false library marks. So, for example, a book stolen from Harvard might get a University of Michigan bookplate slapped onto it, and then a “withdrawn” stamp on top of that.

As was his wont, Blumberg used his own saliva to remove the CC bookplate from our copy of this book. Nevertheless, the FBI tracked it down, and it was returned to CC after Blumberg's 1991 trial. He spent almost five years in jail. Since 1996, he has been convicted twice more for similar thefts.

Because researchers often want to see the book that Blumberg stole, but can't always remember the name of it, we now state in our catalog record that our copy of the Villard book was "temporarily part of the Blumberg Collection." It's a good book to bring out with classes when we want to talk about the ethics of book collecting, and always sparks an interesting discussion.

cataloging snags

Jessy Randall

When I was hired as Curator of Special Collections at Colorado College, we had about thirty books and boxes on a shelf labeled "cataloging snags." I ignored these as long as I could, but finally one day I gave the shelf some attention.

As you might expect, I found mostly 20th century books in non-Roman writing systems -- books in Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, etcetera. There was also a box of old coins, including, gasp, a penny from the 1950s, worth perhaps as much as 15 cents to an expert collector. The shelf was full of junk, in other words. Nothing "special" for Special Collections at all.

And then there was this.

I opened it up.

Let me try to approximate the sound I made at this point. It was something like this:

aahhAAHHAAHHHHHH?! urghhghhrraahhhhrghhfhfhhhhghhh.

The book is the first published English translation of Aristotle's Politics, printed by Adam Islip in London in 1598. It has the bookplate of English scholar Sir Sidney Lee (b. 1859), editor of the Dictionary of National Biography. He wrote a little bit about Aristotle and a lot about Shakespeare.

We cataloged it right away. How it ended up on the cataloging snags shelf, I don't know. It wasn't terribly difficult to catalog -- it has its title page, and the Library of Congress owns a copy. It's in beautiful condition and is one of the more valuable books we have in the library. It's now in our temperature- and humidity-controlled high-security vault. I bring it out regularly to show to classes in Classics, Philosophy, Political Science, and Book Studies. And I'm thinking about making the kitty cat on the title page the mascot for Special Collections.

 

Back to school picture

Jessy Randall

Colorado College started school this week, and the library is crazy busy with tours and instruction sessions. The Special Collections reading room has been jammed with people every day.

So, like John Cage, this week I have nothing to say and I am saying it.

I've Got a Little List (And I'd Like It To Get Bigger)

Jeff Cohen

A recent conversation with a certain agent we all know is leading me to address an issue I should have looked at years ago, to be honest. So add that to the roster of things for which I'm grateful to have such a good agent looking out for me.

Like all authors I keep an email list. In fact, I keep two email lists--one under my actual name and one for E.J. Copperman, who never checks email and forces me to do it. These lists are comprised of people who have shown interest in books I've written and might want information on upcoming events or releases, which authors know now to classify as "news". 

Cognizant of how I feel when deluged with emails from some business hoping to encourage my patronage, I send out emails very rarely. Extremely rarely. Don't expect to hear from me unless there's a new book about to be released.

When two of the Haunted Guesthouse books were sold for translation into Japanese, E.J.'s list did not get a notice. I'm guessing not that many of them were going to buy the Japanese versions anyway, and I figure most of them have already read the books in English. Call me crazy. It's not that I wasn't excited about the sale--I think it's incredibly cool--but I didn't want to bother people who probably aren't as interested in me as I am.

So it's possible that the lists are a little less hefty than they might be if I were a real email list hound. I know authors whose lists go into the tens of thousands. And I admire their dedication and skill in compiling all those names and addresses.

I just haven't got a clue how one does that.

It's true: I have actually tried to grow the lists over the years. I've mentioned them on various listservs. I've mentioned them here. I bring a sign-up sheet to any event I attend (most of the time). I offer free autographed bookmarks to anyone who asks via email, and if you think I don't add each and every name to the email list, you're adorable, but wrong.

And still my lists are, let's say, not incredibly muscular. Remember the commercials about the 98-lb. weakling who needed somebody or other's fitness program to impress girls on the beach? My email lists would lose a fight to that guy. BEFORE the fitness program.

As it happens, I have two books about to be released before the end of this year. THE QUESTION OF THE MISSING HEAD, the first Asperger's Mystery featuring Samuel Hoenig, will be on its way from Midnight Ink in early October. The sixth Haunted Guesthouse novel, INSPECTOR SPECTER, will follow from Berkley Prime Crime in early December.

My email list members WILL be hearing about those. Trust me.

But I'm trying to ensure that there will be more of them. Many more. As many more as I can possibly list. So if you're not already on the list, please get in touch and let me know, and I'll add you. If you know someone who might like to hear about the Guesthouse books or the Asperger's novels or anything else my twisted little mind might conjure up, please tell them to get in touch, and I'll add them, too. If by chance someone you've met might find an autographed (by either me or E.J. or both) bookmark enjoyable, by all means have someone get in touch. I've got bazillions of those things cluttering up the house.

Let's get the lists to look less like the Before picture of the 98-lb. weakling and more like the After picture. I promise I won't clog your inbox with "news" that doesn't really have any information in it, and I hope you'll find the (very) occasional pieces interesting.

Because if you don't, you can let me know and I'll take you off the list. I don't want to be a pest.

the most perfect reference book ever?

Jessy Randall

You guys!! There's a book about mystery books that take place in the book world!! This is probably the most perfect thing ever for the Hey-There's-A-Dead-Guy librarian Sunday post.

It's a limited edition, pricy book (200 copies, $75), but if ever there was an audience for such a book, it's us, right? The best part, to me: it contains 130 full-color photographs of "rare or especially interesting dust jackets and covers."

The Oak Knoll page says the publication year is 2013, but this page says the publication date is July 2014. I think it probably just came out, because it isn't in any libraries yet.

 

Gwen Gregory reviews The Art of Secrets

Gwen Gregory guest blogs for Jessy Randall this week. The short version: an engrossing YA mystery.

I was first drawn to The Art of Secrets by James Klise (Algonquin, 2014) because it takes place in Chicago and the author is a librarian. Once I started reading, I found that Saba Khan, the teenage heroine, lives just a mile or so from my home in the Rogers Park neighborhood on the north side of the city. I was quickly drawn into the story, which blends elements like teen angst and learning to get along with arson and art theft.

Without revealing too much of the plot, here’s a quick rundown. Saba’s family’s apartment burns in an arson-caused fire and they lose all their possessions. Her fellow students at the private school where she is on scholarship want to have a benefit auction to help the family, and one donated item turns out to be quite valuable. Chaos and crime ensues.

The text is almost all in the form of first person narratives from different characters, including Saba, her parents, others students, and teachers. Some are police or newspaper interviews, some are journals entries; there are even a few text messages. It took me a bit to get used to this, as well as to the different fonts used to express handwritten entries, but I got into it fairly quickly. 

Klise manages to touch on quite a few interesting issues, especially cultural, religious and socioeconomic diversity as exemplified by Saba and other students. The mystery is not particularly complex, but it did keep me guessing until the end. While the crimes committed are serious, there’s no violence or drugs involved. The Art of Secrets will be engrossing for most young adult readers, and quite a few grown-ups as well.

Librarian side note: there were comments in the text about a student using the library catalog terminals for email. Only a librarian would bring this up, so I know the author is the real deal.

Gwen Gregory is the resource acquisition and management librarian at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She reads books the way many people watch TV.

why I really became a librarian

Books arts exhibition, Lafayette College, 2006, photo by D.J. Chuang, Creative Commons license

The stories of why I became a librarian are manifold, but I realized today that probably the real reason is air conditioning. Colorado Springs doesn't get anywhere near as hot as other places I've lived, but it's been hot enough for the last few days that I've been appreciating the coolness (temperature-wise) of Tutt Library, and remembering how nice it was to work in libraries in the summers in NY, MA, PA, and NC. 

Rare books and manuscripts, you see, are supposed to remain at a fairly stable temperature and humidity. Not all libraries have the same rule, but here at Tutt we try to stay between 61 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit and between 41 and 44% relative humidity. My office isn't quite as cool as the collections areas, but it's still way cooler than outside. And every time I enter our collections area I get a nice blast of coolness, kinda like when I'd find any excuse to go to the walk-in refrigerator when I worked at a pizza shop in high school.

Jessy Randall

 

reference book grudge match #3

Jessy Randall

Joseph Green and Jim Finch. Sleuths, Sidekicks and Stooges: An Annotated Bibliography of Detectives, Their Assistants and Their Rivals in Crime, Mystery and Adventure Fiction, 1795-1995. Scolar Press, 1997.

I can't believe this print source was ever written, published, or sold, and yet all three things happened. This is a book of ... how can I even explain it ... it's like if an obsessive-compulsive fan of detective fiction had endless money and time to create something like Casaubon's unfinished, doomed "Key to all Mythologies" in George Eliot's Middlemarch. Except this got finished and wasn't doomed!

The book has sections for detectives, authors, books, sidekicks, and stooges. The detectives get most of the book's real estate (pages 43 to 748). Each name is accompanied by a brief description, basic personal information (nationality, sex, type, and location), a list of "sidekicks" and "stooges" (i.e. adversaries), a short biography of the author who created the detective, and bibliographical information. The rest of the book is mostly cross-references, so if you know the name of the stooge you can get to the detective.

Why would anyone use this book in the age of Google? I don't think anyone would. Yet there's something wonderful in the fact that it exists, that Green and Finch actually got paid (presumably) to create this crazy thing. And it's still in print, with a price of $200! Its Amazon rank is about 6,400,000 at the moment, which may be the worst rank I've ever seen, not that I've made a study of such things.

Winner: detective fiction fan nerdliness.

reference book grudge match #2

Jessy Randall

Rosemary Herbert, ed. The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing. Oxford University, 1999.

Despite being published in the nascent days of the internet, this book would still be of great use to anyone writing detective fiction. I can even imagine such a person keeping this book by her bedside, dipping into it or reading from cover to cover, gleaning, along the way, basic information on the history of the police in the U.S. and England, mystery tropes such as the gentleman thief and the locked room mystery, and the origins of terms like red herring or whodunit. The entries are signed and contain references for further reading.

I spot-checked Wikipedia and found the information in the Companion generally superior. The book scoops Wikipedia by four years on the etymology of whodunit, with a reference to a usage in 1930. It's got carefully researched entries on topics like the spinster sleuth and the slicks, which would be difficult or impossible to find online. Most important, the Companion is slated to writers. The exact kind of information a writer might need on smuggling, sex crimes, or bribery are in the Companion; I found no online source with succinct, writerly overviews on these topics.

Winner: the print book.

reference book grudge match #1

Jessy Randall

As you may know, I'm the resident librarian at Dead Guy. Now and then I like to flex my library muscles, and this is going to be the first in a series of three posts looking at reference works on detective fiction. My plan is to compare some pricy print sources to the information we can now get for free on Wikipedia and elsewhere.

Bruce F. Murphy's Encyclopedia of Murder and Mystery (St. Martin's, 1999) is a single-author work with entries on authors, titles, characters, and themes in detective fiction. It lacks neutrality, making it, to my mind, less of an encyclopedia and more a work of criticism. There are facts here (short biographies, occasional incomplete bibliographies), but the thrust of the entries is critical. Sue Grafton gets a rather nasty overview (when Kinsey Millhone goes undercover, she "sounds like a character from Happy Days"; the writing is "vapid" and "bland," and the marketing of the books is "cutesy"); Robert B. Parker gets similar treatment (his later books are "simple" and even "canned").

Murphy's Encyclopedia is a good book. It's intelligent and well-written, and I can see why libraries all over the country have acquired it. But I'm not sure why anyone in 2014 would spend $75 on it ($65 for the paperback) when more and better factual information is readily available online, for free. The 1999 edition of Murphy misspells Janet Evanovich's name (Evanovitch) and lists her birth year as unknown, while Wikipedia knows all about her; Murphy's entry for Agatha Christie is under 1000 words, about a tenth of the size of the Wikipedia entry. 

In the early days of the internet, we librarians cautioned researchers against depending on Wikipedia. It had no editor! It was written by amateurs! It could be changed at any moment, by anyone! Of course, these things turned out to be strengths, in the end, and while you can't always trust everything in Wikipedia, it's frequently got more and better information than print sources.

Winner: Wikipedia.

marginalia mystery solved!

Remember the contest about the mystery marginalia, with a prize of $1000? The mystery has been solved!

Daniele Metilli, an Italian computer engineer, has been named the winner. Working with a colleague who is fluent in French, Metilli identified the script of the marginalia (a particular type of 18th Century French shorthand) and translated some of the text. And guess what, this story is particularly library-oriented, because Metilli is studying to be a librarian, and says libraries are the best places for finding mysteries to solve! 

“If I didn’t have access to online sources such as Google Books, the Greek Word Study Tool of the Perseus Digital Library and the French corpora of the CNRTL, I probably wouldn’t have won. What great times we live in!” - See more at: http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2014/05/05/mysterious-150-year-old-writing-rare-copy-homers-odyssey-identified#sthash.opikcfal.dpuf

identified the mystery script correctly as a system of shorthand invented by Jean Coulon de Thévénot in the late 18th century. - See more at: http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2014/05/05/mysterious-150-year-old-writing-rare-copy-homers-odyssey-identified#sthash.opikcfal.dpuf

identified the mystery script correctly as a system of shorthand invented by Jean Coulon de Thévénot in the late 18th century. - See more at: http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2014/05/05/mysterious-150-year-old-writing-rare-copy-homers-odyssey-identified#sthash.opikcfal.dpuf

identified the mystery script correctly as a system of shorthand invented by Jean Coulon de Thévénot in the late 18th century. - See more at: http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2014/05/05/mysterious-150-year-old-writing-rare-copy-homers-odyssey-identified#sthash.opikcfal.dpuf

Read the full story at UChicagoNews. Thanks, Owen Cramer, for calling my attention to this!

 

 

mystery marginalia: win $1000

Jessy Randall

The University of Chicago library is offering a $1000 prize to anyone who can identify and translate some highly unusual marginalia in an early printed edition of Homer's Odyssey. The best guess, so far, is that the notes are 19th century French shorthand. They appear in the chapter in which Odysseus visits the underworld. Paging Dan Brown! Dan Brown, you are wanted in the office ... so we can provide you with the inspiration for your next book.

Good luck figuring out the marginalia! Here are some close-ups.

Thanks, Lynne Thomas, for the tip!

another library mystery

Jessy Randall

Speaking of library mysteries...

Someone has been leaving coded messages inside books at the Weldon Library at Western University in Ontario, Canada. As of March 24, 2014, 18 notes have been found. Professor Mike Moffatt has images of all the notes at his blog, and a reward is offered to anyone who can crack the code.

Get to it, mystery decoders!

Thanks, BoingBoing.

real-life mystery in Edinburgh

A mysterious book artist has been leaving book sculptures around Edinburgh since 2011. They're beautiful and fragile and made from books. The artist still has not broken anonymity, despite a whole exhibition of the sculptures and a book about them.