For a limited time, when you write a review for one of the Piper Houdini novels at Amazon.com, you will get a free copy of Marvel’s Beavis and Butt-Head (1994) signed by editor Glenn Herdling and color artist Bob Sharen. $10 value–limited supply! Continue reading
A guest blog I wrote for my publisher, Balboa Press, about the importance of keeping your writing visual.
Already a police officer in Washington, D.C., Irene McAuliffe sat for the civil service test in Boston in 1921. Along with two housewives, a nurse, and a social worker, she was among the first women to join the Boston Police Department’s ranks as a member of its vice squad. Continue reading
In 1926, Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History pioneered the celebration of “Negro History Week.” The precursor to Black History Month, Negro History Week fell during the second week of February because it coincided with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln on the 12th and Frederick Douglass on the 14th. Continue reading
Zip the What Is It, whose real name was William Henry Johnson, was a freak show performer famous for his tapered head. Dressing in a suit of hair and sheering most of his head to accentuate its unique shape, barkers would proclaim Zip as a creature from Africa who had lived with the apes. But he was actually born in Liberty Corner, a community located in Bernards Township, New Jersey, in 1842. He was one of six children born to former slaves. Continue reading
Many of today’s young pop-culture enthusiasts are only familiar with zombies of the modern, “toxic” variety—corpses restored to life as the result of a horrifying virus or radioactive contamination from an exploded space probe. The iconic zombie owes its heritage to a much earlier period, when Haitian slaves invented stories of such a purgatory to prevent them from committing suicide. Continue reading
On Sunday, I attended Speakeasy Cinema in Chelsea where I met David Jaher, author of the upcoming book, The Witch of Lime Street: Séance, Seduction, and Houdini in the Spirit World. Continue reading
When writing a work of historical fiction, it is incumbent upon the author to make sure the facts are as accurate as possible. Continue reading
