Fornology Unexpectedly Takes Off

I reluctantly began my Fornology blog in January 2012 when my publicist Paula Margulies advised me to put together an "electronic platform" to support my writing efforts. I hired Paula thinking I would learn the secret handshake and the magic formula behind a successful writing career. I did--hard work.

One of the first comments I received about my blog format was that it was "too old-fashioned and looks like a Monopoly card!" That remark set me back a notch, but I persevered. The first month, my blog got 283 hits restoring my confidence enough to continue blogging.

Fourteen years later, the number of hits my blog received for the month of August 2026 was a record setting 156,254, over twice the amount of my next highest month. To date, I have 540 posts spread over my site with a grand total of over 2,750,000 hits since my blog's inception. Why my Fornology blog has spiked this past month is a mystery to me.

I checked my blog's analytics feature only to discover another question I cannot answer. A breakdown of the top ten countries my blog reaches reveals that the United States heads the list at 42,400 hits for the month. No surprise there. Here is the rest of my top ten list for August 2026:

                                 France = 36,300

                                 Syria = 7,200

                                 Singapore = 7,100

                                 French Guiana = 6,860

                                 Brazil = 6,490

                                 Germany = 4,560

                                 India = 1,790

                                 Vietnam = 1,770

                                 United Kingdom = 1,590

At the bottom of the complete tally of twenty countries is a category simply listed as "Unknown," which was my third highest number of hits for the month coming in at 21,400. I wonder if these hits came from the dark web? I have no way of knowing, but I will claim them.

Author card created by Rolf Christopherson.

Thank you to all the people who took the time to read my blog posts. It was a pleasure writing them. I have two collections of the best of these posts linked below and in the sidebars of this blog. 

Detroit Time Capsule

Michigan Time Capsule

Detroit Time Capsule Anthology

After a decade writing 500 Fornology posts, I'm proud to announce the publication of my fifth book Detroit Time Capsule, which is a collection of seventy-five of my re-edited, best Detroit posts including significant historic moments, biographies of people who left their mark on the city, and memories of media personalities in the early days of Detroit television.

Detroit Time Capsule is a trip down memory lane, which should resonate with nostalgic Baby Boomers and contemporary Detroiters with a taste for learning their town's rich history and heritage.

This anthology makes a great holiday gift for readers who have an interest in easy to digest Detroit history. Most chapters are not tied by a narrative thread and can be read in three to five minutes.

And finally, I want to acknowledge Detroit/Ypsilanti photographer Chris Ahern for his striking photograph of the Monument to Joe Louis, aka The Fist (1986) by Robert Graham.

Detroit Time Capsule Amazon site

Michigan Time Capsule Book Cover Reveal

Michigan Time Capsule (2023) is a collection of sixty-two of my best Fornology.com posts written between 2012 and 2022 culled from over 520 hundred posts. These posts were chosen and revised for inclusion in this collection which is a sequel to my Detroit Time Capsule (2022).

This eclectic collection can be read from beginning to end, but each chapter is self-contained with no narrative thread binding one to the other. This volume is perfect for hit-and-run reading situations like waiting in the doctor's office or riding a bus.

Topics range from short biographies of automobile tycoons who helped create the automobile business, to tales of former Purple Gang members who could not give up the gang life. Other subjects include stories from Michigan's early pioneer history, and topics of broader interest which were too good to leave out of a "best of" collection.

Both Time Capsule books make good gifts for the Michigan history lovers in your life. Each chapter is an entertaining and informative snapshot of times past and/or people who left their mark or stain on history. This collection makes a great springboard for readers interested in learning more about Michigan's rich and sometimes violent past.

Copies are available for preorder on Amazon. As always, reader reviews are welcome.  

Michigan Time Capsule

Detroit Time Capsule Searching for Its Audience

Detroit Time Capsule (DTC) is a collection of 75 of my best Detroit Fornology blog posts gleaned from over 500 posts written over the last decade. DTC tells the story of the city's origin with the arrival of Antoine Cadillac in 1701 to the revitalization of Detroit as one of America's "comeback" cities of the twenty-first century. Each compact entry is three to five pages long for easy, convenient reading.

Published in 2022, this anthology is a trip down memory lane for Baby Boomers in the Greater Detroit area, and an entertaining historical survey for younger Detroiters or recent arrivals to our city of events and people that left their mark on Detroit.

People like Father Gabriel Richard, "Mad" Anthony Wayne, Henry and Edsel Ford, Joe Louis, Berry Gordy, George Pierrot, Mort Neff, Bill Kennedy, Soupy Sales, Edythe Fern Melrose (Lady of Charm), Ollie Fretter, Martha Jean "The Queen," Connie Kalitta, Alex Karras, Leaping Larry Chene, and Shirley Muldowney to name a few.

These posts originally appeared in my Fornology blog but have since been updated and reedited for this edition. As I pull the plug on my blog in the next year or so, this collection will become a collectors' item that includes topics and information you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else. My blog posts will fade into cyberspace, but the book will endure. Makes a great gift for former Detroiter's too.

My Amazon Author Page