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October 30, 2005
Image of the Week: Typical American
We have a teacher from France staying at our house as part of an exchange program, and he took this picture of me outside Lexington High School because he was struck by how “typically American” I looked, and he wanted to share that with his family. So here I am in all my typical Americaness.
Patrick—that’s his name--has a very good sense of humor, with a definite edge. He’s quite blunt—in a charming French fashion. When I showed him my first book (I do love saying that), he looked at the title and said: “The Greatest Stories Never Told—a bit pretentious, no?’ When he saw the picture on the jacket of the second book he said: “It makes you look far more important than you do in person.” It’s always good to have people who will tell you the truth.
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:28 AM | Comments (1)
October 26, 2005
The clock ticks down
Less than a week to go now until the pub date. A time of high anxiety, borderline panic. The phone doesn’t ring, the book doesn’t budge from it’s basement ranking on Amazon, the publicist has no news to report, and your mind begins to spin paranoid fantasies centering on the disturbing possibility that your publisher, and in fact the entire book industry, has forgotten your book, which will now sell exactly three copies before quickly appearing in huge accusatory stacks at the Buck a Book!
So it was good to get some news in the last couple of days that helps blast the nightmares away, and suggest we are on track. The first bit of good news came in an email from Jean Marie Kelly, who is heading up marketing efforts on the book.
Co-op wise, we have front-of-store new release table at Barnes and Noble from Nov 2 through the end of the year; this is excellent. At Borders, from Nov 1 through Jan 2, we’re on the Holiday Gifts under $20 table which is a big table up front. Also fantastic. At Amazon, we’re doing a past-buyer mailing (people who bought Greatest War Stories) just before the on sale date and we’ll also be listed in the Amazon Holiday store during all of November.
Another piece of good news, After a little glitch. HarperCollins printing up 50,000 postcards which should be in the hands of The History Channel next week, and will go out in boxes shipped from The History Channel store.
On the PR front, the interviews are starting to come in, including a national appearance on Fox News Channel, and another locally on NECN. An updated list of my events is here. (The interview I did with Smoki Bacon appears on Boston cable (Channel 23) tonight at 7:30. Watch it if you want a hoot!)
Just to balance things out, and keep me from getting too excited, I must make note of the hilarious article my dad sent me about the bizarre (and pathetic) states of mind that an author goes through . Entitled "Publish and Perish" it appeared in this week's New York Times Book Review. Dad said “it could have been written by you, or about you,” and although I didn’t write it, I do recognize the various stages of self imposed shame and grief described.
Posted by rickbeyer at 06:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 24, 2005
Not long now
Eight day from pub date, and things are starting to pick up. Harper Collins has hired Lisa Sweet, who managed publicity for the first book, to set up a radio tour. She was working for HarperCollins back then, now she has her own company, not to mention a brand new baby! I thought Lisa did a great job on the first book, and I'm really happy to have her on board here as well.
Between Lisa, and Beth Mellow at HarperCollins, and my own efforts, we have a growing number of interviews and events set up. There's an updated list on this website, and I am tryig to keep it as current as possible. So if you want to know where I'll be, or what radio station to tune into, check it out!
Posted by rickbeyer at 03:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 23, 2005
Archimedes' Death ray
An ancient controversy involving Archimedes has hit the pages of the New York Times, and the articles caught my eye because they concern the subject of one of the stories in my new book.
For centuries, people have argued over whether it is really possible that Archimedes could have set Roman ships on fire with mirrors at the battle of Syracuse in 213 BC, as several ancient writers assert he did. The Times reported that a team from MIT successfully recreated Archimedes fabled ship-burning mirrors after The Discovery Channel program “Mythbusters” said it couldn’t be done. Their work is detailed here.
Today I read another article about how the MIT team and another from the University of Arizona had only mixed luck trying to replicate the mirrors in a demonstration this weekend in Arizona.
I love it when people try to recreate groundbreaking technology from earlier eras in order to better understand history, and my hat is off to everyone doing so here. But I can’t resist pointing out that someone beat them to the punch by 258 years. In 1747, French scientist Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon set out to prove the feasibility of Archimedes’ weapon. He built an array of mirrors that caused a piece of wood 200 feet away to burst instantly into flame. The demonstration made him famous across Europe. And in 1975, a Greek engineer demonstrated that 50 people holding mirrors could cause a rowboat to spontaneously ignite in just a few minutes. It seems that people keep on proving that the mirrors were technically feasible, while others keep on doubting in spite of all the proofs.
Did Archimedes really use such mirrors during the siege of Syracuse? Maybe, maybe not. But the truth is that the mirrors are just part of the amazing little-told story of what happened there.
As the military adviser to the King of Syracuse, Archimedes spent years devising an array of extraordinary “engines” to protect the city. When the Romans came, Syracuse put Archimedes’ machines to work.
There were large catapults capable of hurling rocks the size of wagons, and small catapults called “scorpions” that shot darts at the Romans. A giant grappling claw lifted Roman ships by the bow and smashed them against the rocks. Mousetrap-like-mechanisms levered giant weights down upon Roman siege ladders.
Whether the mirrors were part of the equation, or just a myth made up long ago, may never be known. But this we know: The Romans expected to conquer Syracuse in five days. Thanks to Archimedes, it took them more than a year, thus demonstrating that the genius of one man could prove equal to all the military might of Rome.
Posted by rickbeyer at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)
October 14, 2005
Cover Quiz
There are 17 stories featured on the cover of The Greatest War Stories Never Told, and I have posted a cover quiz on the web site for people who want to test their knowledge and/or get a little preview.
Posted by rickbeyer at 07:11 PM | Comments (1)
October 12, 2005
Book of the Month Club
I liked the "Book of the Month Club" review of The Greatest War Stories Never Told, so I thought I would share it:
From the female Lawrence of Arabia, to the American intelligence team that saved the life of Ho Chi Minh during World War II, The Greatest War Stories Never Told features 100 unbelievable true stories drawn from the pages of history.
There’s the story of Calvin Graham who was injured at the battle of Guadalcanal. Not too unusual until you consider Graham lied to get into the navy because he was only twelve years old! Then there’s the story of the American invasion of Japanese occupied Kiska in 1943, where after two days of heavy fighting and thirty-two dead soldiers, the Americans discovered there was no enemy. The Japanese evacuated three weeks earlier and all of the casualties came from friendly fire. There’s also the story of what happened on Christmas day 1914 when British and German soldiers crawled out of their foxholes and played an impromptu game of soccer. The next day they returned to their ugly job of killing each other. War may indeed be hell but as this astonishing and entertaining collection reveals, war has also provided some of history’s most remarkable stories.
Publication day is just 16 days away.
Posted by rickbeyer at 03:04 PM | Comments (0)
October 06, 2005
Image of the Week: Group Photo
A photo taken yesterday after the taping of "The Literati Scene with Smoki Bacon and Dick Concannon". From left to right, Joanna Datillo, (co-host) , Santo Aurelio ("How to Say it and Write it Correctly") Rick Beyer, Smoki, John Sears (Former mayoral candidate, sitting), Brenton Simons ("Witches, Rakes and Rogues)", Anthony Doerr ("About Grace"), and Dick Concannon. For more on the taping of the show, check out the previous entry.
Posted by rickbeyer at 10:33 PM | Comments (0)
October 05, 2005
Literati Redux
I just did my first TV interview for the new book. It was with Smoki Bacon and Dick Concannon on their local cable program The Literati Scene. The interview was taped at the Swan Café at the Park Plaza Hotel, in Boston’s Back Bay, and will air sometime in November. (Smoki is a character in her own right… check out a previous blog entry about her here.)
After the interview the guests had lunch with Smoki and Dick. Smoki sat on my left, and her old friend John Winthrop Sears sat on my right. John was a fixture in local politics for many years, once headed up the Metropolitan District Commission, and ran for governor (“the one job I really wanted.” he says) against Mike Dukakis in 1982. (The Duke won) He is apparently a direct descendant of John Winthrop, one of our state’s first governors. He’s also the cousin of the John Sears who manaaged Ronald Reagan’s first—and unsuccessful—presidential campaign in 1976. He talked like George Plimpton and looked like John Houseman, and was filled with delightful stories about Bostonians and Boston politics. He claims to have coined a word to capture the spirit of President George W. Bush: Textosterone. (I love it!) He also told me a story about a fight over a pig leading to Massachusetts having a bicameral legislature…definitely have to check that one out.
Sitting across from me was Brenton Simon, CEO of the New England Historica Geneology Society, and author of Witches, Rakes and Rogues, which looks to be a book chock full of wonderful stories Also across the table was novelist Anthony Doer, from Boise Idaho, who is just finishing up a multi-city tour for his novel About Grace, which just came out in paperback. Lots of great conversation, it was a joy to just sit back and listen (although I did manage to do some talking as well!!) Someone described the gathering as being a “salon,” and I think that captures it just right.
Posted by rickbeyer at 04:47 PM | Comments (2)
October 04, 2005
Ghost Army
I spent last weekend in Washington with an amazing group of guys. They are veterans of World War II unit nicknamed the “Ghost Army,” and their mission was to impersonate other units in order to deceive the Germans. The official name of the unit was the 23rd Headquarters Troops, and it was involved in more battles than any other unit in the ETO. The men of the Ghost Army staged more than 20 battlefield deceptions from Normandy to the Rhine using sound trucks, inflatable tanks, and all sorts of trickery.
It’s a really wild story, and one that has remained largely under the radar. I found out about it from a woman named Martha Gavin, who is a friend of my former business partner and good friend Mark Tomizawa. Martha’s uncle, John Jarvie, was one of the members of the unit. Mark and I interviewed a bunch of the guys, ranging in age from the low 80’s to the mid 90’s at a reunion they had last weekend in Washington. (Someone asked me today if the Ghost Army story is in my new book, and the answer is that it is briefly mentioned, but I found out about it too late in the process to do a whole story on it).
Another extraordinary aspect of this unit is that many of the men who worked in the camouflage battalion (wrangling the inflatable tanks, etc) were artists who sketched and painted their way across Europe. I’ve had a chance to go through some of their sketchbooks, and hear the stories behind the paintings, and its truly remarkable.
We are developing this as an independent documentary, and have set up a website that I will update as things progress. There isn’t much there now, but you can get a little more info on the unit and also see some of the artwork. Eventually I will be adding video clips and more info, so check back from time to time.
Posted by rickbeyer at 10:18 PM | Comments (0)