After thirty-six years as book-editor in New York, Robin retires and moves back to her girlhood home in Oberlin, Ohio. She takes with her copies of items she had kept in a special file. The items had come not from literary agents but directly from writers, reflecting their quirky, original, creative, passionate, ironic, even bizarre voices. All the items enlighten and entertain. A Hall of Fame for Unknown Writers is Robin’s story as she reproduces the comic items and nominates them for induction into America’s first (and only) hall of fame for unknown writers, where the motto reads: “We’re in Kansas forevermore.” “For thirty-six years, I was an editor at a family-owned (now part of a bulky conglomerate) book-publishing house in New York. In retirement, I thought it might be enjoyable to write not the Great American Novel (my authors are trying to do that) but the Fun American Novel. Over the years, I had accumulated all sorts of material that I could weave into the novel: material that came to me directly from the country’s most unforgettable unknown writers and professors.” –Robin

The mysteries and marvels of the science fiction world are brought to life in this compilation of stories representing the work of major authors in this field.

This engaging book answers such intriguing questions as how author Peter Benchley got the idea for "Jaws; " where Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton; and why the "Hindenberg" exploded over Lakehurst in 1937.

An irony of enshrinement at the baseball Hall of Fame is that it's no guarantee of lasting name recognition. The sport's history stretches too far back, as today fans scratch their heads about athletes and owners who were among the most celebrated public figures of their time. Who was more renowned than George Wright, baseball's greatest star during the transition from amateur to professional play? Who was more feared than Big Dan Brouthers? Maybe it was Amos Rusie, who threw so hard that some say the rules makers increased the pitching distance just to make things fair. Of the 256 players, managers and executives in the Hall of Fame, the names that are known well--Ty Cobb, Connie Mack, Willie Mays--account for a small minority. This book contains biographical and statistical information on 16 previously overlooked Hall of Famers, including Morgan G. Bulkeley, Candy Cummings, Roger Bresnahan, Jack Chesbro, Jesse Burkett, Kid Nichols, Bobby Wallace, John Clarkson, Elmer Flick, Eppa Rixey, Jake Beckley, Roger Connor, Vic Willis, Willie Wells, Frank Selee, and Bid McPhee. These men, selections of the oft-criticized Veterans Committee, all enjoyed remarkable careers--and were themselves remarkable stories, as the author discovered.

Considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time, Ty Cobb cast a shadow over the game with his violent behavior on the field and off. His shadow was never darker than when it fell on his teammates. Sam Crawford, Harry Heilmann and Heinie Manush were three of the greatest players in baseball history, good enough to be in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Each played in the Detroit outfield alongside Cobb, though their fame never reached the level of his. Little is remembered about this trio of Hall of Famers. Crawford, the all-time triples leader, Heilmann, the last right-handed batter to hit .400, and Manush, another batting champion, each made his own mark on the game, detailed for the first time in this triple biography.

Rescued in 2010 from the small creek that runs next to Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, New York, a simple baseball launched an epic quest that spanned the United States and beyond. For eight years, "The Hall Ball" went on a journey to have its picture taken with every member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, both living and deceased. The goal? To enshrine the first crowd-sourced artifact ever donated to the Hall. Part travelogue, part baseball history, part photo journal, this book tells the full story for the first time. The narratives that accompany the ball's odyssey are as funny and moving as any in the history of the game.

Both in life and death, Queen Victoria is among the most popular monarchs to be committed to film. Her reign was characterized by an explosion in media coverage that began to rely on images rather than words to tell her story. Even though Victoria has been labeled the "first media monarch," the sheer magnitude of her screen presence has been neither chronicled nor fully appreciated until now. This book examines the growth and evolution of Queen Victoria's on-screen image. From the satirical cartoons and silent films of the 19th century to the television shows, video games, and webcomics of the 21st, it demonstrates how the protean Victoria character has evolved, ultimately meaning many different things to many different people in many different ways. Each chapter looks at a facet of her character and includes analysis of how these media present Queen Victoria as a real person and shape her as a character acting within a narrative. The book includes a comprehensive and international filmography.