Miss Marple Wants an EDGAR
One of the great debates in publishing circles is about readers. Who are they? What do they want? On the eve of Edgar Night we might wonder whether the answer lies outside the fold of the book review section, the spotted owl of journalism, and can be found resting comfortably between the escalating Dow and Yankee earned run averages as these indices defy Fibonacci to climb ever higher.
Here are some ideas to attract new readers.
Pythagorean Love Triangles: once essential to the Romance genre these heated pursuits are front page news in the Wall Street Journal: ABN Amro, Barclays, Bank of America are trying to woo one another but a mad Scot, RBS Bank, threatens a Tartan juxtaposition. It’s better than NASCAR. Hearts are breaking.
Sanskrit Vowels: always a show stopper and heartily recommended for authors of Amateur Sleuth novels: Miss Marple finds herself in a downward Fibonacci Spiral: she buys a muscle car and gets drunk. Roughs up a few suspects, holes up with Jack Daniels and Raymond Carver, dons a black leather cardigan, sez, “Don’t even think about losing that EDGAR.”.
Roman a clef: the commander of the Decima Claudia Legion sends his harried batman out for Starbucks. After knocking back a Vente Americano he sacks London. Somewhere in the wreckage Jack the Ripper scampers off. Ironies abound.
New readers? The Tribune Company owns the Cubs. By combining the book review section with the sports page, the true tragedy that is the Cubs tradition sees some daylight. What would Rick Moody say about Mark Prior’s shoulder? That’s what I’m talking about.
April 27th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
I was going to go with “Nude women and free beer” but yours may be better:)
April 27th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
I’m not supposed to say “Miss Marple” or “Mark Prior’s Shoulder.” Your suggestion was central to the Industrial Revolution except that one day the beer was no longer free…