About Me

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A 40-ish publisher (editor, project manager, etc.), husband, and father of an even number of offspring, I grew up, or failed to, reading fantasy and sci-fi. I still enjoy reading, and now am trying to write. My favorite books include YA fantasy, manga, biography, and advice to authors. I'm also a former history major/grad student/high school teacher and assessment writer. Now I work for a school supplement publisher, specializing in high-low chapter books. I spend a lot of my time controlling reading levels. At night, I cut loose and use long words. W00t!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Great Historical Images - Library of Congress...and of course manga

Quick! Before the Republicans defund it and tear it down, in the interest of saving money, and give the no-bid trillion dollar contract to their buddies, check out the LoC's Prints and Photographs Online Catalog.

It's full of fascinating (I don't use the word lightly) glimpses of US history.

For a book reissue I'm working on, I have to find an image of the Klan from the 19th century. There are a huge number from the early 20th.

There are also a lot of lithos and cartoons, depending on the era. Here's one about the Klan, from the early 20th century: "Like the moth, it works in the dark." You can download high-res images for free. If you're publishing them, you have to check the copyright status.

I used to love stuff like this when I was teaching. Now I somehow find my way back, for work and purely for interest.


All this is to say that I've been reading for work mostly these days. I'm still enjoying, but slowly, the biography of Dorothy Hodgkin. I'm holding off on new fiction novels till I finish. But I am indulging in comics. My favorite new one is Bakuman. I've read vols 1-2. It's kind of a kick in the pants for us wannabe creative types. (It's about two driven 15-year-old kids who start publishing manga with a major publisher, and it's very enjoyable, except for the nagging feeling of relative inadequacy reading it engenders...)

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