Gregory A. Fournier's Blog, page 28

Ann Arbor John Norman Collins Film Clip Surfaces

Collins leaving the Washtenaw County Building with Sheriff Douglas Harvey looking on.
Last week, Christy Broderick sent me an exclusive short 8mm film clip taken by her grandfather, Washtenaw County Sheriff's Deputy Charles Broderick, Sr. It depicts John Norman Collins walking across the jail parking lot and being loaded into the back of a jail van in 1970.

Collins mugging for the cameras.The ride was a short one across the street to the Washtenaw County Building where testimony was about to begin in the Collins case. Collins swaggers and looks jovial in this brief clip. Perhaps he thinks he can beat the murder rap.

Also seen in the video is Sheriff Douglas Harvey on crutches hobbling across the parking lot. Harvey was the county official who brought the original charges against Collins on July 31, 1969. Judge John Conlin made Harvey responsible for Collins's safety and security to and from the courtroom. The defense saw this as a conflict of interest issue and portrayed the county sheriff as the villain.

Ironically, Sheriff Harvey recently crashed his new Harley into the back of a semi-truck on Interstate 94. Harvey appeared in court wearing a hip-to-toe plaster cast and testified from a wheelchair. Collins's attorneys Joseph Louisell and Neil Fink could not get the sheriff off the stand quick enough. They didn't want the jury to feel any sympathy for him.

Super 8 Bell & Howell projector.I want to thank Christy for giving me permission to share this exclusive and historic 8mm film clip on my blog before the images fade away. Christy has agreed to have a proper digital copy made for posterity. I hope to upgrade the present link with the improved digital copy.

Christy's grandfather found the reel of Super 8 [8mm] home movie film hidden in a box at home. He told Christy about the film, so they projected it on the wall. She recorded the flickering image on her cell phone and sent it to me. Notice the clicking of the sprockets on the projector.

One minute, thirteen second film clip of Collins and Harvey walking across the Washtenaw County Jail parking lot from 1970:  https://youtu.be/8pohfGroiKo

Terror in Ypsilanti: John Norman Collins Unmasked. Check out my website: gregoryafournier.com

Terror in Ypsilanti: John Norman Collins Unmasked Book Talk Announcements

John Norman CollinsTerror in Ypsilanti: John Norman Collins Unmasked [TIY] is in its final stages and will be available from the printer in the next few weeks. I want to thank those people who have ordered autographed copies from my website http://gregoryafournier.com. Because the book runs about 460 pages, the index is taking longer to compile than my publisher expected.

In anticipation of my first shipment of books, I ran off the shipping labels to stay ahead of the game without realizing that the USPS sends out Your package has shipped notices. Expect shipment in early August. Thank you for your patience and my apologies for any confusion. 

Everything else is running smoothly. Copies will be available sometime in August on Amazon.com and in a Kindle ebook edition. The Eastern Michigan University bookstore plans to carry TIY for its fall semester.


St. Cece's Pub in Corktown.So far, I have scheduled three book talks and signings for the end of September in Michigan--one in Detroit and two in Ypsilanti.

My first presentation will be Saturday, September 24th at St. Cece's Pub located at 1426 Bagley Ave. in an area known to Detroiters as Corktown. Food and drink can be purchased at the bar and brought downstairs where I'll be talking between 6 and 8 pm. Because alcohol is served, participants must be 21 or older.



On Tuesday, September 27th from 5 until 7 pm, I'll be speaking at the Corner Brewery at 720 Norris Street in Ypsilanti. Attendees must be 21 or older. I.D.s are checked at the door. Light snacks will be available and liquid refreshments can be purchased at the bar.

The focus of this presentation will be the impact these seven murders had on Eastern Michigan University--on and off campus. Three of the seven victims were EMU coeds, and the prime suspect was an EMU student who police believed was responsible for most if not all of the killings. The person credited with linking Collins to the Karen Sue Beineman sex slaying was an EMU graduate and rookie campus policeman.

On a side note, John Norman Collins worked at Motor Wheel Corporation with Andrew Manuel, his partner in petty and grand larceny. What was once the administrative building of Motor Wheel now houses the Corner Brewery across from the old factory.


State of the art Ypsilanti District Library--main branch.My final talk is scheduled for Thursday, September 29th from 6 until 8 pm. at the Ypsilanti District Library located at 5577 Whittaker Road, south of I-94. My focus for this talk is the impact the Washtenaw County murders had on Ypsilanti and the region. There is no age limit for this presentation, but parental discretion is advised because of the violent and graphic nature of these crimes.

Signed copies of TIY will be available for purchase at each of these events. Hope to see many of you at one of these venues.

Links to:

St. Cece's [http://stcece.com]

The Corner Brewery [http://www.arborbrewing.com/locations/corner-brewery/]

Ypsilanti District Library [http://tln.lib.mi.us/md/ypsi/]

Remembering My Kid Brother--Rick J. Fournier

Rick's graduation photo--1968People in Allen Park, Michigan have asked me about my brother Rick. We grew up in Dearborn Township in the 1950s before the streets were paved and the sewer lines were put in. My father built our house with his friends on the weekends. When my mom and dad had two more sons, we moved into a slightly larger home less than five miles away in Allen Park. That was 1963. My parents bought a bar on Allen Road called the Cork & Bottle--now the Wheat & Rye.

Rick graduated from APHS in 1968 through the sheer will and determination of our mother. Rick played the guitar and had no interest in earning a high school diploma. Once he graduated by the skin of his teeth, he hung around never getting a job or any job training. To avoid the Army draft, my parents pushed him into enlisting in the Air Force. Several months after basic training, he went to Okinawa but was dishonorably discharged. He wouldn't take or follow orders and was insubordinate to his commanding officer.

From there, Rick drifted into psychedelics and became a transient in the college towns of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. He was taken into custody by the Ypsilanti police one brutal winter night wandering aimlessly during an LSD trip in 1970. The police didn't know what to do with him, so they called my parents in Allen Park. My parents didn't now what to do with him, so they called Wayne County Mental Health [Eloise]. Rick was locked in a  mental ward for over a year before he was released with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. I don't know what they did to him, but he was never the same. From there, things went from bad to worse. No need to describe his further descent.

Last known photo of Rick from the 1980s.Rick died in Silverthorn, Colorado, on November 17th, 1994 at the age of forty-four. He died of a massive heart attack while walking down the street. Because he wasn't carrying any identification, it took over a week before authorities were able to identify him.

Rick's obit listed him as an artist and photographer to mask the reality of his sad life. People tried but nobody was able to help him.

Happy trails, my brother.

GREGORYAFOURNIER.COM Author Website Running

Photo: Nicole FribourgSpring 2016 was busy for me. I completed Terror in Ypsilanti: John Norman Collins Unmasked (TIY) and re-edited Zug Island: A Detroit Riot Novel for a revised 2nd edition commemorating fifty years since the civil unrest of July 23, 1967.

As if that was not enough, I also earned my cyberpunk badge learning to build and maintain my new author website. Starting today, I am open for business.

Terror in Ypsilanti will go to print in mid-July. Advanced copies are available at gregoryafournier.com. Expect four to six weeks for delivery until books are in the pipeline. All orders must be within the delivery reach of the United States Postal Service.

The final page count for TIY will come near 480 pages including a map commissioned for the book, several reader supplements, a photo gallery, and a subject index. I have not been told the final price point, but I have seen an Author Review Copy of the book and am pleased with the end result. I'm certain the book version won't be listed under $24.95 because of its length and quality.

I am direct marketing TIY on my website for $20 plus $4 postage and handling. An e-book Kindle edition will be available on Amazon.com in the near future as well as the paperback edition. Discounted bulk and library copies will be available soon from my publisher Wheatmark.com. They honor a one-year return policy to vendors for unsold books.


The publishing business is notoriously slow.In January 2016 at the San Diego State University Writer's Conference, I met literary agent Skip MacGregor. After reading my manuscript, he was interested in representing my book. 

MacGregor was optimistic he could place the book with a traditional publisher but warned it would take two years to see TIY in print. Waiting two more years was unacceptable.

When he told me I would lose creative control beyond the manuscript, I decided to independently publish through Wheatmark. I did not want to see my vision for the book corrupted. By independently publishing, I made all the decisions. Researcher Ryan M. Place and I have worked too long and hard to make compromises and cede creative control to a publishing house concerned primarily with the bottom line. 

Building an audience and keeping readers interested is not open-ended. Five years is a long time to ask readers to wait. Several key people who helped me tell this story have died and others anxiously await the book's release. I wrote the best account I could with what I had to work with. Now, it is time for the book to find its audience.

--My author website link: http://gregoryafournier.com

Terror in Ypsilanti Book Talks

 Presenting at Eldercare. Photo: Ryan M. PlaceWhile in Michigan this April, I gave two presentations regarding my upcoming true crime book Terror in Ypsilanti: John Norman Collins Unmasked--one in Ann Arbor and one in Saline.

On April 22, 2016, I gave a presentation for Elderwise Continuing Education in Ann Arbor at the Red Cross building on Packard Road. About forty people attended the two hour talk which included a PowerPoint slide show of photographs used in the book. This was the first time I spoke publicly about my book. I want to thank John Stewart for inviting me.

The next day, I gave another talk at Brewed Awakenings on Michigan Avenue in Saline. I would like to thank owner Kim Kaster for her support. Her coffee house gives independent authors an outlet for their books and provides a venue for local authors to meet interested readers. My presentation was about ninety minutes long with no PowerPoint. About twenty-five people came to hear about the Washtenaw County murders that happened almost fifty years before.

Claudia Whitsitt. Photo: Ryan M. PlaceI was happy to be greeted by one of my former Ypsilanti High School students Jan Asher who came to show her support. Special thanks to Michigan author Claudia Whitsett for introducing me. Claudia recently won an Independent Publishers Book Award in Multicultural Fiction with her novel Between the Lines. Below is a link to Claudia's author page. Check her work out.

And to my great surprise, former Washtenaw County Sheriff Douglas Harvey showed up to hear me speak. Doug was the police officer who brought charges against John Norman Collins. The former sheriff has supported this project from the beginning. At the end of the talk, he gave my researcher Ryan M. Place and me a rousing endorsement for our work. This is the kind of validation I don't get sitting in front of my computer screen. I look forward to more such moments.


Douglas Harvey and I at Brewed Awakenings. Photo: Ryan M. PlaceTerror in Ypsilanti comes out in July and will be available on Amazon.com in quality paperback and Kindle ebook editions. Now that I have two speaking engagements behind me, I'm ready to schedule more presentations in Ypsilanti and Detroit in August and again in September or October when I'm in Michigan. This time around I will be armed with books. More details as I arrange them.

Thank you to everyone who came out to hear me speak about this dark period in Ypsilanti's history.

Claudia Whitsitt's author page: http://claudiawhitsitt.com/

Terror in Ypsilanti Book Cover Reveal

Between the summers of 1967 and 1969, a predatory killer stalked the campuses of Eastern Michigan University and the University of Michigan seeking prey, until he made the arrogant mistake of killing his last victim in the basement of his uncle's home. All-American boy John Norman Collins was arrested, tried, and convicted of the strangulation murder of Karen Sue Beineman.
I chose this photograph for my book cover because it sets an evocative mood of foreboding and establishes the setting of the story. Of the many photographs I've seen of the Ypsilanti Water Tower, none compares with this one taken by Ypsilanti Township resident Anthony Cornish. Two short blocks beyond this iconic landmark, John Norman Collins lived and preyed on his victims. Rather than choose a lurid image for the front cover, I wanted something to set a somber tone.

Many former and current EMU students may initially respond to the cover photo with a smirk remembering the Water Tower's legend: If ever a virgin graduates from EMU, the tower will topple. But reading the first few pages of my book will disabuse them of any such sophomoric notions.

My version of the Washtenaw County murders will be fundamentally different from The Michigan Murders. First, my rendition isn't a novelization--it is true crime. I use the real names of the victims and their killer. In addition, Terror in Ypsilanti benefits from almost fifty years of hindsight and includes insights from participants in the investigations and reflections from people who knew the victims and/or their assailant.

I've restored the essential details and dialogue of the contentious court battle from hundreds of newspaper articles obtained from the Michigan Press Clipping Bureau. Thank goodness for the Fourth Estate.

The official transcripts for the most notorious case in Washtenaw County history were purged from county records in the mid-nineteen seventies. If it were not for reporters hanging on every word of the trial, these proceedings would be lost to time. It is from their work that I've reconstituted the trial.

For the first time anywhere, using documents from the Michigan Department of Corrections, I've written a survey of Collins' tenure at Jackson and Marquette prisons. These accounts reveal a side of Collins never before seen by the public.

Included within my book will be an area map showing the body drop sites, twenty-six photographs, a timeline of significant events, a listing of the people's names, a listing of places mentioned, and a comprehensive index. These reader aids should be helpful because of the scope and quirky nature of this tragedy.

Speaking at Brewed Awakenings in Saline, Michigan. Photo: Ryan M. Place.Five years in the making,Terror in Ypsilanti is in its final production stages and will be available from Amazon.com in July 2016. A Kindle version is being formatted for ebook readers. Books can also be purchased at my book talks which I'm only now beginning to schedule. Stay tuned for more details.

FORNOLOGY Fifth Anniversary--325 Blog Posts Later

My corporate look. Eh!When Zug Island: A Detroit Riot Novel came out in 2011, my publicist Paula Margulies urged me to create a blog to establish a brand and help build an audience. I was reluctant because I felt the time and effort required to launch and maintain a site was out of proportion to any benefit I might reap. Five years and three hundred, twenty-five posts later, I can confidently say I was wrong.

Blogging original content does take time, but what I get in return is valuable. Here are ten benefits which make the effort worth my time.
structured writing practicedevelopment of my writing voiceestablishment of my brandaudience buildingnational and international exposureimproved editing skillsan information and research gathering toola vehicle for reader input and responsea platform for my workand a legacy log for my grandchildren From my work station stuck in the corner of my family room, I try to crank out a new post every seven to ten days. If I am out of town or backed up on other projects, I occasionally rerun a post, but I prefer to produce original content.

Regular readers of Fornology know my blog topics are eclectic and range from short historical pieces on Detroit and Michigan to travelogues on the places and people I visit. Some posts are about my books or about writing or blogging in general. Like this one.

Because Fornology is not a commercial site or tied to a professional organization, my hits come exclusively from people who show an interest in me or my work. When I returned from a speaking tour of Ann Arbor and Detroit this week, I discovered my blog reached a personal milestone of over 200,000 hits. Most of my hits are from the United States, but my international audience includes Russia (9,381), Germany (7,531), Ukraine (6,994), France (4,690), Canada (3,510), and countries across the globe.

With the help of my blog and the internet, people nationwide contacted me with information helping me tell the forty-seven year old story of Michigan serial killer John Norman Collins. Without these valuable resource vehicles, the writing of Terror in Ypsilanti: John Norman Collins Unmasked would not have been possible. Now undergoing a final line edit, my nonfiction account of the Washtenaw County killer will be available in July 2016 on Amazon.com and Kindle.

Many thanks to everyone who follows my posts. If you would like to receive my Fornology posts automatically, subscribe by writing your email address in the Posts box in the right-hand side bar. Be assured, I do not capture, collect, or distribute your contact information. Every Share I get is appreciated.

Zug Island: A Detroit Riot Novel Gets Facelift

Photo by Nicole FribourgWhile I am waiting to get Terror in Ypsilanti: John Norman Collins Unmasked back from my editor, I decided to revise Zug Island for a second edition in preparation of the 50th anniversary of the Detroit Riots in July of 2017. 

In addition to correcting minor errors and rewriting a couple of ambiguous passages, I supplemented several areas to include more content. For example, in the riot section I added several paragraphs about the Algiers Motel incident made famous by author John Hershey. The Detroit Police were hoping this multiple murder would get lost in the fog of war, but there were too many witnesses for it to be ignored. Now, it is part of Detroit's history.
 
Beyond supplementing and revising Zug Island, the novel will have a new cover. I want to cross-market Zug with Terror when that book comes out in July. Both will be available through Amazon and Kindle. When I get specific release information, I will pass it on through my blog. I'm hoping to set up an advanced sales mechanism, so interested people can preorder Terror. Readers who subscribe to my Fornology blog will be the first notified. Your privacy is assured. I do not collect contact information nor share it on the internet. 

Terror in Ypsilanti is independently published and needs all the exposure I can muster. With your help, we can make this long-awaited and overdue nonfiction treatment of the Washtenaw County murders and John Norman Collins' involvement a success.
Thanks.
Zug Island first edition Goodreads reviews: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11408295-zug-island

The Tao of Book Publicity

Writing a book takes blood, sweat, and tears, but without publicity, even the best books are doomed to obscurity. That applies to both traditionally and independently published books. Only 20% ever return a profit. Most titles die on the vine if readers don't know about them or can't find them.

In today's marketplace, authors are required to create their own marketing plans and run their own publicity campaigns. For most authors, book promotion is more challenging and expensive than writing the book.

With the advent of internet publishing and self-promotion, the old ways of selling books aren't as effective. As the business changes, authors new to promotion are often left in the dark and soon become discouraged. Because of the plethora of good and bad internet advice on publishing, much of it green fleecing, it is difficult for the novice to know where to turn.

This is where Paula Margulies' new book, The Tao of Book Publicity: A Beginner's Guide to Book Promotion, can give authors a leg up on the competition. With twenty years of experience in the book publicity business, Paula gives targeted advice about press releases, author platforms, distribution, book covers, blog tours, speaking events, media interviews, social media, websites, contests, and many other topics neatly arranged and easy to find. It is one-stop shopping for practical advice on breaking into the business. Experienced authors will also find this reference book a valuable resource.

Paula's Tao of Book Publishing comes at a great time for me as I gear up to promote my latest book, Terror in Ypsilanti: John Norman Collins Unmasked. I've already put it to good use.

World War II Secret Sub

This is one of the best documentaries about the war in the Pacific. Attached is a fifty-three minute documentary about an incredible and unknown super weapon of World War II. Germany had the V-2 rocket, the United States had the atomic bomb, and Japan had the super-sub.

The Largest Submarine in World War II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPC51Mh-jtU