"The Rainy Day Murders" Spring Status Report

 

Writing has come a long way since its beginnings as cuneiform messages pressed into soft clay tablets over five thousand years ago. Once the tablets dried, they were permanent records of business transactions and simple messages primarily. A notable exception being the oldest known literature ever found, The Epic of Gilgamesh, discovered in 1853 buried in the desert of what is now Iraq.

Ancient scribes wrote their important messages on vellum, which was made of scraped and tanned sheep or goat hide. Charcoal was ground and mixed with oils to create crude ink and applied with crude reed brushes or sticks. Vellum was much more portable than clay tablets, but it was much more perishable also. 

It was the Egyptians who developed papyrus which led to the eventual development of paper. Papyrus could be rolled into scrolls for easy storage and portability. 

The ancient Egyptians also inscribed their writing on the walls and columns of their important civic buildings, as did the Greek, Roman, and other notable empires. Much of what we know of ancient history comes from the ruins of these monuments.

The printing press with moveable type was invented in 1436 by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany. Now, ideas could be mass produced and public opinion shaped. This invention helped change the political landscape of Europe. Bound paper books and libraries have been the repositories of the world's knowledge for close to seven hundred years of human history. 

In our own time, books have lost favor to digital methods of recording our thoughts and ideas in ways we couldn't have imagined possible, even twenty years ago. The digital computer age has revolutionized how we work and how we live.

What humans have used to write with has also evolved over the ages. The reed stylus created the wedge shaped notations in moist clay used by the Sumerians and Babylonians. The Greeks and the Romans used bone or ivory styluses to imprint notes and messages on wax tablets, not to mention metal chisels to immortalize their empire's achievements in stone and marble.

Quill pens were developed around 700 A.D. which was an advancement that lasted until the development of the first pencils and fountain pens in the 1800s. Then, in the late1860s, the modern typewriter was invented to mechanize how we write. Sometime in the late 1980s, word processing and personal computers took over from the mechanical typewriter.

 

Today, most humans tap out their messages digitally on a keyboard or a touch screen. Instantaneous messaging can reach a global audience, with far reaching implications for the future. Ironically, humans are once again writing on tablets, only digital ones this time around.

So that brings me to the subject of this post. With all the advancements in writing technology over the millenniums and today's high-speed computing, why does it take so long for a book to be published?

1. First, the writer needs a solid idea to develop and write about. That can take years.
2. Next, the book needs to be researched and checked for facts, corrected, rewritten, and revised.
3. Then, the writer must hire a qualified editor to help bring the writing up to current publishing industry expectations.
4. Finally, the writer needs to find an agent interested enough in the project to pitch the book to a publisher who is willing to invest time and money promoting it in the marketplace.

Interested readers of this blog have been asking me with increasing frequency, "When will The Rainy Day Murders be available?

Currently, I'm in the rewriting stage and have lined up an editor to help me over the summer. When I feel I have a quality, professional manuscript, I will solicit an agent. Then, it is anybody's guess when I can attract a trade publisher.

Despite the high-speed internet age we live in, the publishing business is notoriously slow. The only thing I can say about when The Rainy Day Murders will be available is "Stay tuned."


Check out this link for five charts showing the current trends in the publishing business. I have my work cut out for me.
http://janefriedman.com/2014/03/21/5-valuable-charts/

Ypsilanti Water Tower Title Replaced

When I began writing about the Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor coed murders of 1967-1969 almost two years ago, I decided on the title In the Shadow of the Water Tower. It had a noirish and pulp-fiction quality that seemed to suit the subject matter. 

In addition, the first two victims and their alleged murderer lived virtually in the shadow of the water tower. As I got deeper into the research and learned more about the facts and the people connected with these cases, I became increasing uncomfortable with the title. 

Then it struck me. Why taint Ypsilanti's beloved landmark with the John Norman Collins controversy? The Water Tower played no role in any of the seven murders that Collins is thought by many to have committed. 

I decided to change the name of my non-fiction book to The Rainy Day Murders, which is what the media called these killings early on because rain was a factor in most of the murders. 

Some police investigators thought that the rain may have acted as a trigger that drove the murderer to kill. Other investigators thought the rain helped destroy evidence at the body drop sites, and the killer was merely perfecting his stealth.

The Rainy Day Murders title also presents the thematic subject matter of the work right up front. The word "murder" is a strong and evocative image that clearly labels the product inside. 

***

This Michigan Historic Landmark, completed in 1890, has stood proudly for 123 years. Built on Ypsilanti's highest point, the 147 foot tall building is clad in Joliet limestone with four crucifixes set into the stonework to protect the workers who built it.

On a personal note, my wife and I were walking to McKinney Union, sometime in the mid-Seventies, heading south down Summit St. Two city workers were pouring a new cement sidewalk leading up to the double door entrance of the Water Tower, whose tall doors were swung wide open.

I asked if we could go inside and take a peek. One of the workmen said, "Sure."

Grinning, we entered and started up the stairwell. Many people since 1890 had left their mark and written their names on the walls over the years. Somewhere near the top of the staircase on the inner wall, we signed our names and dated it with permanent marker.

Once in the top portion, wooden cross braces and other structural elements were visible, as was some radar and other buzzing electrical equipment. The entrance to the cat walk was locked, so we couldn't see the magnificent 360 degree view of Eastern Michigan University and the nineteenth century residential section of historic Ypsilanti. 

Local university legend has it that when a virgin graduates from EMU, the tower will fall down. Such legends exist at many universities, but Ypsilanti and Eastern experienced the "rainy day murders" up close and personal. Now the expression isn't as clever or funny as it once seemed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ypsilanti_Water_Tower

25 Lies Writers Tell Themselves

Every writer has had writers' block or will get it. Most of us write because we want to, not because we are forced to. But without self-motivation, it's easy to make excuses for not writing. Waiting for the muse to strike is poetic but not practical.

The link below is an excellent post about "25 Lies Writers Tell Themselves and Start To Believe." I don't know about you, but I take my motivation where and when I can get it. 

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/03/27/25-lies-writers-tell-and-start-to-believe/

100th Fornology Blog Post - Zug Island Web Radio Interview

One year ago this month, I began my blog - Fornology - and coincidentally this is my one-hundredth post. That means coming up with new content every three to four days - or an average of two posts per week. I've discovered that it is surprisingly enjoyable.

I began reluctantly at the prompting of my publicist, Paula Margulies, but now, posting is a natural part of my weekly routine. Sometimes, I have a definite idea of what to write about, but other times I'll see or hear something that I want to pass on to my readers. More often than not, I document what I'm doing with my writing projects: promoting Zug Island in print and on the radio, for instance, and on the writing of In the Shadow of the Water Tower, which deals with John Norman Collins, alleged coed killer from the late 1960s.

Blogging allows me the instant gratification of immediate publication and gives me an outlet to feed my writing habit. Each post is a creative micro burst which helps me build an audience for my longer works. I check my stats daily and am pleased with the steady rise in hits each month. My blog is approaching 7,000 hits.

That Russia is my second largest audience next to the United States is amazing to me. Then to see the Canadians catching up, with the Germans close behind, is like going to the races. These "audience" stats have meaning only to me, but it reminds me of the power of the world-wide web to reach out and communicate with people internationally. The Global Village has become a reality to me.

On Friday, May 4th,  I did a web radio interview on the Hollis Chapman Show about my debut novel, Zug Island.  My segment begins the show and is thirty minutes long. We had some minor technical difficulties early on but managed to work through them while on the air. It's live radio.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hollischapmanshow/2012/05/04/join-our-cool-voice-over-show

Blogging on the Cuff - Old School

In an age where cursive writing is a lost art, most people prefer to print - if they are forced to write at all. But people today usually do so with an uneasy mixture of upper and lowercase letters, with little or no regard for the arcane concerns of punctuation or grammar.

These days, public school children get little or no instruction in cursive writing. They are trained to compose directly on the computer and edit as they go. I guess that's progress.

But for me, I find that a fragmented way to write though I suppose it is a more efficient and synergistic way to work. I prefer working my ideas out with pen and paper first. It is more tactile and flowing for me and lends itself to improvisational thinking. Once I get an idea of what I want to write and how I want to present it, the physical act of writing slows me down enough to get my ideas worked out on paper; then, I go to the computer to take advantage of its time saving editing and proofreading features.

I marvel at how the ancients wrote. The Egyptians used papyrus and paint; the Greeks used vellum and scrolls; the Romans used wax tablets and a stylus, while the Medieval monks used paper and ink. Shakespeare did marvelous work with ink and a sharpened goose quill. Even the mechanical striking of the old fashioned typewriter keys seems antiquated compared to the muted tapping of a modern keyboard. The immutable law of nature is that everything changes and for everything gained, something is lost.

That brings me to the M.C. Escher engraving, Drawing Hands, sketched in 1948. It has always fascinated me, but now, in this brave new world of electronic publishing and computer animation, it has gained new meaning for me. This lithograph typifies the artist's mad dash at creation and shows what can be accomplished with paper and ink when talent and imagination is applied.

Zug Island Wins Two Awards

When I found out I had won a Finalist Award in the USA Book News 2011 competition, I felt an immediate sense of accomplishment and validation. What for me was a quirky blue collar coming of age story about race relations in the Detroit suburbs was meaningful to others.

Since publication of Zug Island: A Detroit Riot Novel, one year ago this May, I have received many emails testifying to the unflinching honesty of my portrayal of a time in American history many people would prefer be left unwritten.

In February, I was surprised to discover that I had received another award for Zug Island, an Honorable Mention from the 2012 Los Angeles Book Festival competition. These awards have motivated me to forge ahead with my next writing project, The Water Tower, about the John Norman Collins murders in Michigan of the late Sixties.

If you are looking for an entertaining and meaningful summer read, click on the Zug Island book cover in the right sidebar for more information. Available from Amazon in a quality paperback edition and Kindle format.

Going Viral - Every Writer's Dream

The publishing business has never been easy to break into, but in this brave new world of independent, digital on-line publishing, the business of writing is suddenly wide open.

With so many players in the game today, how do independent authors get their books noticed on a national and an international level?

First, write a great book; next, promote it; then, hope it goes viral on the net. Word-of-mouth sells novels. Blog it and flog it. Sounds easy, doesn't it? Try it sometime!

That's why I love articles like the New York Times story that I've linked below. Vintage Books is about to publish a trilogy that has been described by some critics as "mommy porn."

50 Shades of Grey has sold like crazy as an ebook on the net and garnered the attention of main stream publishing. The author recently inked a seven figure contact, and the publisher is creating a buzz in the book world - I hope it's more than just hype.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/10/business/media/an-erotic-novel-50-shades-of-grey-goes-viral-with-women.html?pagewanted=2&hp

Talk Radio - Why Not?

Looking through a newsletter from my publisher, Wheatmark.com, I discovered a free radio booking resource called Radio Guest List. Once you sign-in with them, they send out a daily listing of radio outlets requesting guests to interview for a wide range of topics.

Depending on the program's target audience, they are looking for authors, musicians, lifestyle commentators, financial planners, and "experts" in many areas. This website simply lists stations that need on-air talent. Once you find a request for a quest spot that is in your area of expertise, you contact their booking agent. That's it!

If they are interested, they will email you back to make arrangements. Within a week, I have been booked for two interviews to discuss my novel - Zug Island - one is for a show called Beef Stew, and the other is for a program named Sayin It Plain.

Other than readers, what new authors desperately need are publicity and exposure. This website provides both for free. Take advantage of it. Good luck!

www.radioguestlist.com

Wanted: John Norman Collins Information

Forty-five years ago, a dark cloud of terror hovered over the college communities of Eastern Michigan University and the University of Michigan. Seven unsolved, horrific murders of young women over a two year period, July of 1967 through July of 1969, baffled Washtenaw County law enforcement and haunted county residents.

A break came in the case when a rookie EMU Campus Policeman, Larry Mathewson, put two and two together and wrote a police report that spelled the beginning of the end of John Norman Collins' reign of terror. He was brought to trial for only one of the seven Michigan murders, and he was indicted in Salinas, California, for the brutal rape/murder of a young woman - Roxie Phillips - but Washtenaw County refused to extradite him. They had their man and they weren't going to let him go.

In the 1960's, telecommunications were primitive by today's standards and forensic DNA was unknown in a court of law. Washtenaw County had no experience with this sort of unspeakable, senseless carnage. After the third murder, the law enforcement community knew they were playing a cat and mouse game with a psychopath. Panic gripped the college communities of Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor.

Why the mini-history lesson? My study of serial killers and sex crimes indicates that these sociopaths gradually lead up to their horrible crimes. They are usually abused as children, they like to torture and kill animals, they have a need for control and power, they feel disenfranchised from the society at large, they see life through a mirrored reality which has its own rules and logic, and ironically, they seek self-esteem and recognition through their crimes which must be carried out anonymously.

That's why, when they are caught, serial killers usually speak freely about their guilt. Now they are important men, they are getting the attention they crave, their names are in the papers and on television, and their fame/infamy is now complete. They have entered the history books. They have made their mark.

But not so with John Norman Collins. He has steadfastly maintained his innocence for the last forty-five years, even in light of devastating evidence against him in the Karen Sue Beineman case, the only murder he was tried and found guilty of committing. Another of the murders, the Jane Mixer case, has since been solved. Many years later, DNA evidence convicted another man of that murder which always stood out as different from the others.

Recently, several people have come forward to speak with me about their personal experiences with Mr. Collins. He did not start out by butchering young women; he gradually led up to it. What drove him to such a rage as to mutilate and "over kill" these women is still the subject of conjecture. I am looking for answers to the six murders Collins was accused of committing but never brought to trail for. In addition to investigating these cold cases, another issue has arisen which concerns me now.

Please forgive me! I am seeking information regarding young woman who dated JNC and who felt they were violated by him. On an even more personal and painful note, if you are a rape victim who survived the experience and gave birth to a child, we need to talk.

Contact me at my gmail address: gregoryafournier@gmail.com. All information will be confidential! I am not requesting this information in a vacuum; I have a motivated interest in this matter which has recently surfaced.

Blast from the Past

I received an interesting letter the other day from a college friend of mine with a forty year old, yellowed news clipping in it dated March 15th, 1971. Our university newspaper, The Eastern Echo, interviewed me about a poetry reading I was about to give, my first of two. I had forgotten about it.

There I am in a photograph, twenty-two years old and looking gaunt, with my trusty companion, Blitz, who is wondering when we are going for our walk. I'm spouting off about one thing or another. The reporter asked me if I was going to pursue a writing career.

"It's something I'd like to do. If I can make a living at it, I will; if not, I'll do something else. Eventually, I'd like to write longer works like novels, but I don't have the control over my writing I'd like to have."

After thirty-seven years of teaching English language arts and literature, a great preparation for a writing career, I've finally written that novel, Zug Island: A Detroit Riot Novel, and seen it through the publication process. It was a long time coming.

Prompted by that article, I dug out some of the poetry I wrote back then and read it with a mixture of amusement and humility. In retrospect, all that comes to mind is what a pretentious twit I was. But one poem in particular has withstood the test of time.

Impressions

Looking back,

I saw my footprints

Glow and then melt

in the sand.

Washed away

by the metronomic mix

of breeze and sea,

It rushed at me.

Time doesn't pass in anything so glorious or regal as a "winged chariot," it is measured in the silent footfalls we make as we walk through life.

How Far Seems Shangri-La Now?

Being an author is something I've wanted to do since I was in junior high school. I spent more time in the bookmobile than on the sports field. One rainy Sunday in April, I began reading James Hilton's Lost Horizon and I was hooked. It wasn't a huge novel, and I read it in one day. But it was full of wonderful ideas and strange places to an eighth grader from Dearborn Heights, Michigan.

The novel touched the Shangri-La of my heart and soul. It wasn't until I was older, an English teacher as a matter of fact, that I discovered that this simple novel, which spoke to me on a personal level at age thirteen, was a cautionary and prophetic warning about the coming of World War II, or more accurately, the continuation of World War I. If you haven't read it, do! The restored version of the Ronald Coleman movie is marvelous as well.

Almost fifty years after my first reading of Hilton's classic, I've finally authored and published my own book, Zug Island: A Detroit Riot Novel. I start a summer book tour in Detroit next week. My hope is that I can move readers the way I was moved by Hilton's words those many years ago.

Goodread's Giveaways

Authors without a powerful publishing house behind them find getting publicity and exposure for their books a slow and expensive process. For the cost of as little as one book and postage, an author can run a giveaway on www.goodreads.com by agreeing to a few reasonable conditions.

I've found this promotion the best offer an independent author can find to bring readers to your author's site and book title. My giveaway promotion for Zug Island ran for two weeks and attracted 674 participants.

Sixty people have added my novel "to buy" and a like number have put it on their “to read” lists. That's a combined 18% potential sales conversion rate. I've read that 7% is a healthy number.

If you have a book coming out soon, or have a book that has been out six months or less, it's easy to run a giveaway. Register with goodreads, set up your profile, and run your contest. Goodreads chooses the winner(s), and you send your book to them. It's as easy as that. When all is said and done, you'll be the big winner.

Wired for Success?

Any publisher or publicist will tell you, having a vibrant and active electronic platform is essential for a successful author. I just finished building my electronic platform, and now I need to warm up to it.

But I'm new to social media, and it feels like a virtual kiss to me. My lips are all puckered up, though there is nothing to press them against, except the cold embrace of the computer.

There is nothing like person to person contact. As I travel to promote and talk about my novel, I hope I can meet many of you in person. Check out my schedule of appearances this summer on my novel's website.

Electronic Platforms

In the digital village, writing a novel is one thing; spreading the word about it is quite another.

Now that my novel has been released online, getting my electronic platform synergized and active is my immediate concern. It wants to run, but it just learned to walk.

My website is in place [www.zugislandthenovel.com], I have an author's page [www.goodreads.com], and my blog [www.fornology.blogspot.com] is connected to each.

Now I find out that I need "friends." So what else is new?

Then I was told, "Don't worry. You don't have to know them."

#%&@!!! What does it mean?

Facebook, here I come.

Barred from Zug Island

Early on in the writing of my novel, about six years ago, I tried to get on the industrial complex known as Zug Island, only to be confronted by two burly security guards.

I told them I had worked in the labor pool over thirty years ago, and I was there to get permission to take some photos for a novel I was writing.

They were less than impressed and wouldn’t even allow me to go to their Human Resources Department to ask.  They ushered me off the island and told me not to return. "Case closed!" In the age of 9/11, that is expected I suppose.

I will be in Detroit this July, and I still want to get on the island to take a few key photos for my book talks and my blog. My tactic has changed this time around though.

Yesterday, I sent a complimentary copy of my novel with a cover letter, a press release, and some bookmarks and postcards to their Human Resources department. It should arrive Tuesday. If nothing else, it will be a curiosity and an amusing break in their day.

Will it work? I’ll let you know.

Zug Island Inaugural Presentation

Yesterday afternoon, I gave my first book club talk, to a group of teachers from the San Diego area. Writing a novel is one thing; speaking about it is another. After I related how I came to write Zug Island: A Detroit Riot Novel, I spoke to its theme, read a brief passage, and answered every one's questions. Before I knew it, the party was over.

By all accounts, the presentation went well, and I was pleased with the response. Having been a career English teacher for many years, the transition from classroom lecturer to public speaker was an easy one for me. Articulating answers in response to impromptu questions reminded me of being in the classroom, and I actually enjoyed myself.

If you are in the San Diego or Detroit area in the next couple of months, check out the Events button on my novel's website. This page will be updated as new venues are added. I hope to see many of you soon.

Novel Coincidence, Part Two

Late afternoon on Friday, I get a call from my barber, Janine.

"Greg, one of my clients saw the front cover of your novel on my bulletin board in the shop. He knows about Zug Island and witnessed the mayhem while driving home from a baseball game that afternoon."

"No kidding. How coincidental is that?"

"I know! He gave me his cell phone number and asked that you call him if you're interested in talking with him. He wants to buy your novel."

"Great! Give me his number."

So I start writing down the information: "Dr. Nathaniel Whitfield." Then, with a smile, I wrote his phone number.

"Janine," I said. "Dr. Whitfield is my ex-wife's OB/Gyn. "He delivered both of my children some thirty years ago."

Small world.

Novel Coincidence

Last week, I showed my barber, Janine, the mock up of my novel's front cover, and she placed it up on her bulletin board in her shop. Friday, one of her patrons was getting his hair cut, and he saw the book cover.

"Zug Island. I know Zug Island. It's on the Detroit River," he told Janine, amazed. Then he responded to the subtitle, A Detroit Riot Novel. "I was there during the riots. I was at Tiger Stadium for a Sunday afternoon Tiger/Yankee game and remember it like it was yesterday."

Janine replied, "One of my first customers wrote and just published it. He is very excited about it."

"Wow! After over forty years, someone wrote a novel about it. I'd like to speak with him sometime. Would you mind giving him my cell phone number?"

"I'd love to," she said.

End of part one.