With the help of two friends, this Virginia slave was sealed inside a wooden box and shipped from Richmond to Philadelphia, a harrowing 27-hour ordeal at the mercy of cargo handlers and rogues of all sorts. The Disappearing Man is based on a true story—one of the most incredible escape attempts in the history of the Underground Railroad. It was the ultimate disappearing act.
“Murder is my favorite crime. I write about it regularly.” – Waldo Lydecker, Laura
“I shall never forget the weekend Laura died. A silver sun burned through the sky like a huge magnifying glass. It was the hottest Sunday in my recollection.” This is how my favorite movie begins. These succinct words, spoken by Clifton Webb who portrays the charismatic writer Waldo Lydecker, are the tasty tease that draws us into an American film noir of cult status. On Sunday, Laurawill be screened at The Tampa Theatre, a 1926 jewel that has been lovingly preserved by a dedicated group of local individuals. It is a rare treat to see a movie of this caliber screened in such a venue, a “movie palace”. The screening will be preceded by a performance on the refurbished Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Organ, which rises and descends through a trap door in the stage floor. The movie will be followed by a question and answer session with a local professor and film buff. To say that I’m excited is a huge understatement – I’ve been waiting six months for this event. Continue reading “An Elegant Solution to Murder”
Learning the ropes as a new Indie author is not easy. There is endless information on the web to sort through and countless people and companies offering a wide variety of services for a broad range of prices. I feel compelled to tell folks about an unpleasant experience (to say the least) I had with a company that I overpaid to format my book for Kindle, Smashwords, and Barnes & Noble in hopes to save someone from making the same mistake I did. After the blood sweat and tears of actually completing my book and the good fortune of having a close friend that is an amazing editor I made the soul searching decision to publish independently. I’m pretty tech savvy and thought that I might be able to figure out the formatting myself but wanted to make sure it was done correctly so I hired a company out west. The women that ran this company did speaking engagements about the ebook industry and had written a few books herself about writing books to develop your brand. Her website was equally impressive. I went ahead and paid her what I know now is way beyond the going rate for formatting. Continue reading “Learning the Ropes by Jen Smith”
Vincent Casale was born in East Harlem, New York and grew up in Flushing, Queens. He attended Hillcrest High School in Jamaica. While his favorite classes were those pertaining to the arts, his true love were those which included theater, novel writing and television history classes. Upon graduation in 1977, Casale decided to forego college to follow in the so-called “family business” and became an Expeditor for Movie-Labs. He also enjoyed such employment stints as a bartender in New York’s infamous Penn Station and as a driver for a local car service.
In 1984, after years of indecisiveness, he proudly joined the ranks of the NYPD; becoming the first to do so in his family. He spent the majority of his career patrolling the streets of Queens. In 1989, Casale was awarded his dream assignment by being transferred to the NYPD’s Movie-TV Unit. Having once aspirations of becoming an actor and enjoying a true passion for films most of his life (He grew up watching old black & white movies as a kid) this opportunity was nothing short of a dream come true. Continue reading “Featured Author: Vincent Casale”
The Disappearing Man
