MeFi Projects

PlanetSlade's fourth book is out today. It collects all my Gallows Ballads and Bushranger Ballads essays into this volume, and added some bonus material. Sold at chaotic public hangings, these lurid songs described the condemned man’s crime and warned spectators not to follow his example. Many claimed to set out the killer’s own confession – his “last goodnight” – placing these verses atop their own blood-soaked account of exactly what he’d done. Celebrity hangings, like that of Frederick and Maria Manning in 1849, produced many rival ballad sheets and total sales of well over two million copies [more inside]
posted by Paul Slade on Feb 6, 2024 - 0 comments

Ken Cosgrove, everyone's favorite Accounts man on Mad Men, has a side career as an author with many pen names. The David Algonquin Wiki imagines a world where Ken's stories have become popular and well-remembered pieces of culture but the man himself is largely a mystery (Although Harlan Ellison is a fan). Wiki is open to anyone, with an attempt being made to write his stories round-robin style.
posted by The Whelk on Apr 20, 2012 - 48 comments