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April 30, 2007

The History Channel Announces Greatest Stories Web Series

The History Channel announced today that The Greatest Stories Never Told web series will launch on their website in the fourth quarter of this year. The news was part of an announcement outlining a series of major intiatives for their website, history.com

Here’s the part of the release about the Greatest Stories series.

GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD - The original short form series is based on the Greatest Stories Never Told books by Rick Beyer. Every episode tells a fascinating, little known story from history with a surprise twist. From the world conqueror that died of a nosebleed to the development of the pigeon guided missile to Annie Oakley's shot at stopping World War I, host Timothy John Smith relates stories of the absurd. (4th Quarter 2007)
The news has been carried by a number of online news outlets, including MultiChannel News, Hollywood Reporter, and Variety.

Here's a link to The History Channel Press Release. It refers to the series as an "original digital brand," which sounds important.

Most news articles led with the fact that George Lucas is supplying documentary material that will be used on the website. I can't quibble with the media's decision to give George top billing over me--I'm just glad to be mentioned in the same (almost) breath.

We filmed these pieces in December, and I am dying for them to get on The History Channel website so people can see them. It now looks like they will be coming out in October, at just about the same time as my new book, The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told. That will make for some nice synergies.

Posted by rickbeyer at 03:32 PM | Comments (1)

April 26, 2007

New Sample Pages

Harper Collins has sent some sample pages of the new book, The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told. I've posted a couple on the site here. (Note: these are uncorrected proofs, so don't be alarmed if there are typos.) It's very exciting to see the pages, and get the sense of how it is going to come to life. Even though I know what the book will look like, since it roughly follows the model of the previous books, it's a thrill to see one of the new stories set up and looking great!

Posted by rickbeyer at 02:39 PM | Comments (1)

April 11, 2007

Copyediting

Yesterday I received a package from Harper Collins containing the copyedited manuscript of my new book, The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told. Upon opening it, I was hit with the stink of cigarette smoke that permeates every page of the manuscript. My response to that was somewhat different than you might imagine.

I shouted for joy!

Before even looking at the material inside, I knew that smell meant one thing: Chuck Antony had done the copyediting.

Chuck copyedited my first book, and did a tremendous job. He pored over that manuscript, fact checking as well as proofreading, and offering many suggestions that made things clearer and easier to understand.

The copy editor's job is to clear away various obstacles that might get between the author and the reader, obtacles that threaten interfere with the act of telepathy that we call reading. A typo, an inadvertent ommison, a "minor" mistake in fact, an unclear passage--any one of these can derail a reader. Chuck's commitment to eliminating every such obstacle made the first book better, and I'm glad he's on this one.

Posted by rickbeyer at 01:09 PM | Comments (0)

April 01, 2007

New Duds

Yesterday was the first day of the new guiding season for the historic houses operated by the Lexington Historical Society, and Marilyn and I were resplendent in our new outfits, if I do say so myself.(You can click on the photo for a larger version).

Marilyn is wearing a new day dress and petticoat made by Anita Bausk, a seamstress in Marloboro who specializes in reproduction colonial clothes. She also made the new wool coat I am wearing. The shoes are new too--they are straight lasted, meaning that they are both the same--there is no difference between the left and thee right. My favorite new touch is the walking stick with decorative fish on the end,an eight dollar purchase!

Marilyn and I can be found on most Saturday mornings (except for the next two) at Buckman Tavern,adjacent to the Lexington Green, touring people through the building where the colonial militia met the night before the Battle of Lexington. Come see us!

We were both a bit rusty, but got into the swing of things by the end of the day. As we left Buckman Tavern in the afternoon, we were accosted by a group of tourists from Shanghai and posed for pictures with each and every one of them. All in a day in historic Lexington!

Posted by rickbeyer at 10:13 AM | Comments (0)