16 May 2018

Five Red Herrings, Tenth School


by

by Robert Lopresti

1.  Derringer Days.  Yesterday the Short Mystery Fiction Society announced the winners of the Derringer Awards and I couldn't help but notice that I was one of them, specifically for Best Short.  "The Cop Who Liked Gilbert and Sullivan" appeared in Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #23.  You can read what I had to say about it here and here.  Congratulations to my fellow winners, Brendan Dubois, David H. Hendricksen, and Earl Staggs.  But let's have a big round of applause for the winner of this year's Edward D. Hoch Memorial Gold Derringer for Lifetime Achievement.  That went to our own John M. Floyd!  Well deserved, too.

2. Free pictures!  It's always nice to find a new source for public domain illustrations.  (We bloggers love them, anyway.)  The Library of Congress very kindly sorted out the pictures on their website that are free for the taking.  (See the one below.)  Enjoy.


3. Underpaid through the ages. The University of Missouri Libraries has done a great service for anyone writing historical fiction.  Prices and Wages by Decades links you to actual government publications from the 1700s forward reporting on how much things cost and how much people were paid.  

4. Man With The Axe.  Last time I did one of these gather-alls I mentioned Lowering the Bar, which talks about the odd side of the legal biz.   I have to point out the story above which informs us that in a single incident a man in New York was charged with:
driving while ability impaired by drugs, driving while ability impaired by the combined influence of drugs, no license plates, unregistered motor vehicle, uninspected motor vehicle, operating without insurance, no front windshield, and no safety glass.

But on the bright side for him,  it turned out there is no law in the Empire State against driving around with an axe embedded in the roof of your car.


5. Shanks does Japan. According to an automatic translation app, the title of the book at the right is Sunday Afternoon Tea With Mystery Writer.  Could be, but in English it's Shanks on Crime. First time I have ever appeared in Japanese.  I wish Shanks a long and happy visit there.



Posted by Robert Lopresti at 00:00
Labels: , , , ,

8 comments:

  1. Paul D. Marks16 May, 2018 03:26

    Rob, congratulations to you and John on your Derringers -- and to all the winners!

    And thanks for posting the wage and price guide. I'm always looking for things like that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. O'Neil De Noux16 May, 2018 07:04

    Good reference links. Always helpful. I use google translate and it seems to work fine. https://translate.google.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Eve Fisher16 May, 2018 08:23

    Congratulations, Rob, all the Derringer Award winners, and a great big Huzzah! to John Floyd for the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Gold Derringer for Lifetime Achievement. Wow.

    I also thank you for the Prices and Wages site, and "Lowering the Bar". Wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Robert Lopresti16 May, 2018 08:24

    Thanks, Paul. O'Neil, Here is what Google Translate made of my book: Sunday afternoon Mystery writer and tea (Mr. Genko Genki)by Robert Ropelesty

    Another free service: http://webtranslation.paralink.com/Japanese-Translation.asp# came up with:
    Sunday afternoon's tea with mystery writer (drug source inference paperback)by Robert lopresti

    The part in the parenthesis obviously is a problem for both, but I think the latter did better than the Google, don't you?

    ReplyDelete
  5. John Floyd16 May, 2018 08:33

    Great post, Rob, as usual. Thanks for the shout-out, and sincere congratulations to you on your Derringer win!

    ReplyDelete
  6. janice law16 May, 2018 08:35

    Congratulations on the Derringer! and on your debut in Japanese!

    ReplyDelete
  7. R.T. Lawton16 May, 2018 08:57

    Rob, way to go on winning the Derringer and getting published in Japan.

    John, congrats on winning the Ed Hoch Award.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Steve Liskow16 May, 2018 09:12

    Great post, Rob, full of information I never would have thought to ask about.

    And congratulation to you and John. Well-deserved on both counts.

    ReplyDelete

Welcome. Please feel free to comment.

Our corporate secretary is notoriously lax when it comes to comments trapped in the spam folder. It may take Velma a few days to notice, usually after digging in a bottom drawer for a packet of seamed hose, a .38, her flask, or a cigarette.

She’s also sarcastically flip-lipped, but where else can a P.I. find a gal who can wield a candlestick phone, a typewriter, and a gat all at the same time? So bear with us, we value your comment. Once she finishes her Fatima Long Gold.

You can format HTML codes of <b>bold</b>, <i>italics</i>, and links: <a href="https://about.me/SleuthSayers">SleuthSayers</a>

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)