The Italian Hall Tragedy

A lot of the people I talk to about this book ask me how it's possible that people could die merely by "stampeding" toward an exit.  It seems odd until you think of all the times that people have been injured and killed by doing just that.  My friend Mark in St Paul sent me a link to this story which is in the news now because of recent court action:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4291480.html

There, at the E2 nightclub in Chicago, 21 people died in 2003 trying to flee an upstairs hall where a fight had broken out.  The same tragic results happened in Chicago as they did in Calumet.  One big difference is that criminal charges are being brought against people who broke the laws that contributed to the E2 deaths (overcrowding the building etc) and lawsuits have been brought which will compensate the victims to some extent.

Steve

The book is out!  And, I would be remiss if I failed to mention that writing the book is the easy part.  Getting it into print and making it look this good takes a team.  Here's the gang from Momentum Books:

Ed Peabody is the editor who I first pitched the idea to (and lucky for me, he already knew about the Italian Hall tragedy before I got to the explaining part), Kelly Gehart is the promotional force behind the book, Steve Wilke also edited the book (most people would be shocked if they saw how much a good editor like Steve W can do to improve a manuscript that a writer considers "finished"), Leah Clark designed and laid the book out, including that beautiful cover, and that's me on the far right.

Steve

Area author explores historic state calamity . . . . .

The Grand Blanc View's Ryan Redding wrote a very nice article about the book.  Here's a link to the online version:

http://00444ee.netsolhost.com/moxie2/Scene/mysterious-tragedy-area-a.shtml

For those interested in pre-ordering the book -- HURRY! -- see www.momentumbooks.com.

And now I can say, "As seen on TV!"  

I took a quick jaunt to the UP yesterday to tape a segment of What's UP with Sonya Chrisman at WNMU (TV 13).  Watch for the program to air between now and NOV 1 -- in it, Sonya and I talk about the tragedy, and my upcoming talks at Finlandia (Nov 1) and Northern Michigan (Nov 2).  We even managed to sneak some pics into the show.

There is also a mention of the book in  GREAT LAKES MARINERS (see page 34 of the issue on newsstands now) and will be an article about the book in this week's Grand Blanc View.

Steve