Open Road Hits Canada, Great Britain, U.S.
Though I hate to admit it, I’ve been remiss. That editing project I started months ago has morphed into something else again. Photos. Get the photos. Not so straightforward when you’re decades after the moment. The new book is set, in fact, during a decades long stretch between the mid 70s and mid 80s. And though I know which photos I want, licensing them is a challenge. More on that later.
For now, many thanks to Open Road for getting me back to the grind! Yes, it’s another promotion. A Fall Promotion. I don’t know about you, but for me the Fall is the reading season. In the Pacific Northwest, the days get shorter and darker. Curl up in a chair. Grab a book!
| Title | Author | Promo Type | Ctry | Start | End | Promo Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Butcher, Baker | Gilmour/ Hale | ORM – Early Bird Books | CA | Sept 16, 2024 | Sept 16, 2024 | $2.99 |
| Butcher, Baker | Gilmour/ Hale | ORM – Early Bird Books | GB | Sept 16, 2024 | Sept 16, 2024 | $2.99 |
| Butcher, Baker | Gilmour/ Hale | ORM – Early Bird Books | US | Sept 16, 2024 | Sept 16, 2024 | $2.99 |
New Book Redux: The Rest of the Story
Back to my current obsession with newspaper photographs. As many of us know, American newspapers have been facing numerous challenges. Many of the small local newspapers? Gone. The story of Anchorage’s two historic newspapers — The Anchorage Times and the Anchorage Daily News — follows a similar path. By 1992, The Anchorage Times was gone. Its assets were soon assumed by the Anchorage Daily News, which itself underwent multiple changes, the most significant of which was its purchase by the McClatchy Company in 1979. There were several more ownership changes to come. None of them particularly kind.
The problem was the money. Or the lack thereof.
Then, in the midst of this, came a would-be savior by the name of John Rogers of North Little Rock, Ark. Having apparently made a fortune trading in rare sports memorabilia, Rogers soon approached newspapers with a deal too good to refuse. He would digitize their vast archives, in return for the right to resell them from his own, parallel archive. (The newspapers themselves would receive a digitized archive of their original resources as partial payment).
What Could Go Wrong?
Turned out, Rogers was pushing a multi-million dollar fraud scheme.
In order to obtain money from investors, Rogers falsely represented that he had secured contracts to purchase certain collections of sports memorabilia and newspaper photograph archives his company would sell at a profit, according to the plea agreement. Rogers showed the investors contracts for collections and archives even though he knew the deals never actually existed because the contracts were forgeries that Rogers created to deceive them.
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Illinois, March 6, 2017
John Rogers was ultimately sentenced to a 12-year sentence in 2017 for scheming to defraud banks and investors out of $25 million, in part by using a doctored Heisman Trophy as collateral for a $100,000 loan.
What did the Anchorage Daily News actually get out of its deal with Rogers? A hard drive with millions of photos and associated records. That’s the good news. According to a source affiliated with ADN, the files on that hard drive contain ZERO metadata. Good luck trying to find anything without hours and hours of arduous hunt and peck labor.
Luckily, there is a for-profit service that has moved into the breach. Which is where I’ve gone to find the photos I need. Whew. But this is a tragedy. Millions of irreplaceable and historic photos are locked up in digital amber.
Another Reminder
And while we’re at it, I want to take ANOTHER opportunity to remind you of the series, Mind of a Monster: The Butcher, Baker, which premiered January 9th on all podcasting platforms, including Google, Spotify and Apple podcasts. In case you haven’t heard, Cindy Paulson — one of the few women who escaped Robert Hansen’s deadly wrath — is featured in Episode 7. As always, the great Dr. Michelle Ward is the host. And, yours truly makes an appearance as well.
eBook Discounts
So with that little pedantry out of the way… Grab the thankfulness. Get the book. Butcher, Baker, feels like a friend or, at least, a great companion. You won’t be alone. Go on over to one of the fine sites below and place your order. You will never regret it!
| Newsletter | Link |
|---|---|
| Early Bird Books | Subscribe Now |
| The Lineup | Subscribe Now |
| The Portalist | Subscribe Now |
| Murder & Mayhem | Subscribe Now |
| A Love So True | Subscribe Now |
| The Archive | Subscribe Now |
| The Reader | Subscribe Now |
Fall Showers Promo
This promotion is offered through Open Road’s social media platforms and is available solely in the U.S., Canada and Great Britain. The promo is ONLY available September 16, 2024. Don’t forget the date. I know I won”t!
Copyright 2024. All rights reserved.
Hey, you can also order my latest book, “What Happened In Craig,” HERE and HERE. True crime on Epicenter Press about Alaska’s Worst Unsolved Mass Murder.
