Research material

The 1975 World Almanac next to the current edition.

Back on Jan. 25 - the last weekend before this when I didn't have a book signing for "The Clock Struck None - my wife and I visited Marshall. I had a very successful book store at a small independent book store then in 2010 for "Texas & Other Planets". But the book store, Prospero's, subsequently closed down.

Otherwise, there is no place to have a book signing in Marshall. There is only one small bookstore in the mall in Marshall. While in Marshall on Jan. 25 I visited it. I introduced myself to the proprietor. This was the third used book store I approached in preparation for the release of "Clock" - the others were in Gladewater and Longview.

I know used book stores generally don't host signings for new releases - Prospero's was a pleasant exception - but in all all
three cases - in Longview, Gladewater and Marshall, too - I got a rude brushoff.

To make it worth my while, while I was at the Marshall store, I picked up a few used books. One of them was a copy of the 1975 World Almanac. I thought it might come in handy in research. As it happens, I found the contemporary references to the Watergate Scandal fascinating. It's interesting to see what the affair looked like to the public immediately after the fact. That helped me when I wrote 'As Tricky as Dick's Hat Band".

So the trip to the Marshall book store turned out to have been more useful than first thought.