At The Printers --- Showmen, Sell It Hot!

Greenbriar has a book coming out, and soon, called Showmen, Sell It Hot! (the exclamation point goes with the title, not the fact that it's about to be published). I hadn't said anything during progress for fear I might chicken out and not actually deliver. Now the train's left the platform and Showmen will arrive no matter trepidations I have over a first-ever berth between two covers. There have been Greenbriar articles published before, most recently in Monsters From The Vault about selling Bride Of Frankenstein in 1935, but Showmen, Sell It Hot! is 304 pages with my name emblazoned thereon, and that's scarier than Brides, Sons, and Ghosts put together. A book, I've learned, is that thing where if you write something stupid, you're hung with it for all time. With Greenbriar at least, I can make quick edits to clean up a mess. Not so with the printed page. A rest of my life would have been spent proofing had publishers not wrested the final manuscript away.

First copies will arrive to Cinevent in Columbus over Memorial Day weekend (May 24-27) and we'll have them at our customary dealer's table. After that, Showmen, Sell It Hot! will be available from GoodKnight Publishing at a discount before going Amazon route later this summer. Say what you might about the author's prose, and while I'm reticent to toot my own horn, there's no hesitation at singing praise for design and layout performed by GoodKnight's artist crew, their outcome a visual stunner with all-color pages and image reproduction second to few (their previous achievements were Errol Flynn Slept Here and Errol and Olivia, both knockouts). I don't know beans about publishing, and made but few specific requests, one being to generate a book that would lay flat whatever page you're on --- nothing aggravates me more than holding recalcitrant binding down with one hand whilst trying to eat with another --- that's how pimento cheese and oatmeal made inroads into my own library. We didn't want the book to be too big or heavy either, so avoided being literary Von Stroheims by hopefully judicious editing. The end result is intended to be not unlike walks through entrance of a vintage theatre to see pics discussed within, stills, ads, and ephemera to light the way.

Chapters are for the most part adapted from articles that have appeared at Greenbriar since 2005, all embellished by clean-up and addition of info dug up since initial airing. You could say that Showmen, Sell It Hot! is a motion picture (in this case, book) adapted from the TV series (webpage) that is Greenbriar Picture Shows, but this is not altogether a  Man From U.N.C.L.E paste-up. A lot of content is fresh, and certainly a visual upgrade beside results to be had online. Goodnight's page for Showmen, Sell It Hot!, with more info about the book, is here. As I said, there will be copies at Cinevent. It'll be for others to determine if the thing is any good. I did the best I could with it, as has been the case here at Greenbriar over a last (going on) eight years. If GPS has suited you, then you'll probably enjoy Showmen, Sell It Hot! and hopefully spread the word. So many books come out nowadays as to get lost in a shuffle, so Greenbriar will update now and then to keep up awareness of Showmen, Sell It Hot! When GoodKnight has it ready to ship, I'll mention that, as well as specific date when Amazon gets theirs in stock.