author • speaker • "Batman & Bill" character • pop culture archaeologist • he
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
The death of Jerry Siegel's father: part 3 of 3
Here is the third of three documents about the death of Michael Siegel that I will post—not technically an obituary but rather an article about the incident. Again, to see the death certificate, keep an eye on Brad Ricca.
What is your problem with Brad Meltzer? Why are you taking every opportunity to make him look like he's wrong (especially when his book is fiction AND at the end of his book, he totally sets the record straight -- with the same conclusion as you, though with a far more in depth and thoughtful analysis than you)?
I was at his book event last night in Philadelphia and someone there asked him what he thought about all your online passive-aggressiveness and Meltzer took the high road and said you were a nice guy. So let me take the low road.
My book is nonfiction; Brad's is fiction. Mine is for young people; his is an adult novel. We are hardly competitors--and if we were, he'd blow me out of the sky.
However, libraries will not buy a nonfiction children's book if there is reason to think the research is faulty; I simply need to show that mine isn't. My blog posts about this are not subjective, not hostile--they simply state facts. I regret if any of it has come across as passive-aggressive or negative in any way.
For months before I knew of Brad's book, I established my blog to share behind-the-scenes aspects of my research about all my books; sharing what I found about Michael Siegel is no different. Everyone else I've heard from by email or phone about this subject specifically has been enthusiastic to see this lost piece of history. And you said it yourself--Brad and I both come to same conclusion about the cause of death anyway.
I consider Brad my friend. I am going to a reading of his next weekend in Connecticut. For what little it's worth in terms of eyeballs, I plugged his wonderful new foundation on my blog. In fact, since February, long before I learned about Brad's admirable efforts, I have been in touch with the Glenville Development Corporation in Cleveland and have contributed what I can from afar to try to help their fundraising efforts to place markers on the sites of both Jerry's and Joe's former homes.
Brad and I share a great respect for Siegel and Shuster and wrote our respective books to pay tribute to them.
I have sent a copy of this response to Brad directly.
Concerning the newspaper article that is presented as the third piece of evidence supporting the cause of Jerry Siegel's father's death as heart failure rather than gunshot: It specifically states that the statement of heart failure came from the coroner, and the second piece WAS the coroner's report, equally contemporaneous to the event. Since there is no way the coroner would put one cause of death in his official report and give another to the press, the article utterly fails to qualify as an independent third piece of evidence to heart failure. Which is not to suggest that there is any significant room for doubt left. I'm just pointing out some muddy thinking to avoid in the future.
I copied the coronor's report into Microsoft's picture editor and adjusted the brightness, contrast, and midtones. The words that you could not read in front of "Negro" on the report are "an Unknown."
5 comments:
What is your problem with Brad Meltzer? Why are you taking every opportunity to make him look like he's wrong (especially when his book is fiction AND at the end of his book, he totally sets the record straight -- with the same conclusion as you, though with a far more in depth and thoughtful analysis than you)?
I was at his book event last night in Philadelphia and someone there asked him what he thought about all your online passive-aggressiveness and Meltzer took the high road and said you were a nice guy. So let me take the low road.
You come off sounding like a jealous ass.
And everyone but you is seeing it.
Thanks for writing. I appreciate your opinion.
My book is nonfiction; Brad's is fiction. Mine is for young people; his is an adult novel. We are hardly competitors--and if we were, he'd blow me out of the sky.
However, libraries will not buy a nonfiction children's book if there is reason to think the research is faulty; I simply need to show that mine isn't. My blog posts about this are not subjective, not hostile--they simply state facts. I regret if any of it has come across as passive-aggressive or negative in any way.
For months before I knew of Brad's book, I established my blog to share behind-the-scenes aspects of my research about all my books; sharing what I found about Michael Siegel is no different. Everyone else I've heard from by email or phone about this subject specifically has been enthusiastic to see this lost piece of history. And you said it yourself--Brad and I both come to same conclusion about the cause of death anyway.
I consider Brad my friend. I am going to a reading of his next weekend in Connecticut. For what little it's worth in terms of eyeballs, I plugged his wonderful new foundation on my blog. In fact, since February, long before I learned about Brad's admirable efforts, I have been in touch with the Glenville Development Corporation in Cleveland and have contributed what I can from afar to try to help their fundraising efforts to place markers on the sites of both Jerry's and Joe's former homes.
Brad and I share a great respect for Siegel and Shuster and wrote our respective books to pay tribute to them.
I have sent a copy of this response to Brad directly.
Thank you again for writing.
Concerning the newspaper article that is presented as the third piece of evidence supporting the cause of Jerry Siegel's father's death as heart failure rather than gunshot: It specifically states that the statement of heart failure came from the coroner, and the second piece WAS the coroner's report, equally contemporaneous to the event. Since there is no way the coroner would put one cause of death in his official report and give another to the press, the article utterly fails to qualify as an independent third piece of evidence to heart failure. Which is not to suggest that there is any significant room for doubt left. I'm just pointing out some muddy thinking to avoid in the future.
Fair enough, Anonymous, but there is also the death certificate, which I have and mentioned but did not post.
I copied the coronor's report into Microsoft's picture editor and adjusted the brightness, contrast, and midtones. The words that you could not read in front of "Negro" on the report are "an Unknown."
Post a Comment