R. Lawson Gamble's Blog: R Lawson Gamble Books, page 14

Tolliver Tales for April 2017

Concerned that a follower, subscriber, or friend who should receive a copy of Tolliver Tales Bulletin [image error]does not, we decided to send a copy as a blog post. We will continue to send one by Email as well, working hard to perfect our mailing list.  Enjoy.

Tolliver Tales April 2017

Why Pre-sale?

Pre-order for books is a fairly new tactic, now wholeheartedly embraced by Am[image error]azon, iBooks, Smashword and other on-line sellers. My newest Zack Tolliver, FBI novel Under Desert Sand will be placed on pre-order at Amazon.com immediately after Easter. In this article I will discuss what I feel are the advantages and disadvantages of using pre-order for the author––and for the buyer.

I have placed books on pre-order with Amazon Kindle twice before, with mixed results. The first book I tried was CAT. I hyped it a lot and sold several copies before its actual publication date. Later, I put my new, experimental (for me) mid-grade book Payu’s Journey up for pre-sale. I sold just one (thanks, mom). But to be fair, that sale represented a large portion of all sales for that book as the month went on (Payu did not sell well as an Ebook – more about why in another article).

On the whole, I found the results discouraging, perhaps not good enough to warrant the preparation, hype, and angst as the deadline approaches. But I’ve learned some things since then, which I will share. But first, I’ll examine the benefits to the buyer/reader, thus raising the immediate question: are there any? It’s not as if in this digital age there won’t be enough copies to go around. Yet, after some research and listening in chat rooms I found a few reasons to purchase on pre-order:

1. The memory factor. How often have you read about a great new book and decided to buy it, only to find it is not yet available? The months go by toward publication and the book slips from mind – opportunity lost. Now you can pre-order the book, and then forget about it. Most stores will Email you when the book becomes available.

2. Price. Often (usually) the price offered at pre-sale is lower. Amazon guaranties the price will be the lowest for the book during the pre-sale period all the way to midnight on release day. This means if you pre-order a month in advance at one price, and two days later the price dips on pre-order, that’s the price you’ll ultimately pay. Often (as with my books) the price on pre-order is the lowest for the book, ever.

3. Convenience. If it is a book you know you will buy in any case, buy it on pre-order and “git-er-done”.

4. Shelve it. The beauty of digital books is unlimited shelf space. Pre-order the books you know you want and let them accumulate. Never be without that bedtime reading.

The benefits for the author are clearer, even if some are misunderstood. Here are a few:

1. Visibility. Visibility is king, and pre-order raises visibility for your book immediately.

2. ASIN. On Amazon, your book is assigned an ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number). With the ASIN, you can create links from any URL to your book, simplifying the task of finding it for potential readers. You can also use it to create a link to the review page for your book, to simplify (and hopefully encourage) that process.

3. Preview. Pre-order on Kindle offers you a preview of how your book description will look on your page, which you can change if need be at Author Central later. You can preview other components as well, and make changes quickly after the book is released.

4. Coming Soon. Your book is shown through the Coming Soon filter, offering extra visibility.

5. Momentum. If your book sells many pre-orders, it can begin life with a strong sales rating, and good momentum.(Fair warning: if not, the opposite is true.)

There are concerns, and some disadvantages and several risks to authors offering pre-orders. They will be topics for future articles in this column. All these concerns can be overcome with due diligence and preparation. Particularly, Amazon’s ever-adapting algorithm works harder to benefit the author utilizing pre-sale, by increasing the book’s visibility more than ever before. Just how much more, and how effectively, are two questions I hope to answer after the pre-sale of Under Desert Sand is complete.

Tagged: Amazon Kindle, Amazon.com, book distribution, book marketing, Ebook, iBooks, kindle, marketing, pre-orders, Publishing, reviews [image error]

A Conference just for Indie Writers

The free on-line conference for indie writers and publishers, Indie Fringe, is coming around again. It happens at ten Saturday morning March 18. This is one of the best resources you never heard of. Again, it’s absolutely free. You do need to register[image error], but that takes seconds. They just want your name and Email. Did I mention it’s free?

The focus this year is How to Write, Produce and Distribute A Book. That about covers everything I want to know. The conference is streamed as separate workshops direct from Olympia, London, and is one of the few events dedicated strictly to indie authors.

Visit selfpublishingadvice.org/what-self-pu... and push the Register Now button to get aboard.

Today 70% of all adult fiction sales are ebooks, 30% of them sold by indie authors. Then there’s audio, poised to sell on many more music platforms now that Apple and Audible (Amazon) have terminated their exclusive deal together. There will be sessions to address these topics. Then the question of how to advertise; should you pay for it? Use Amazon ads? What about Facebook ads? All of this will be covered.

All together Indie Fringe offers 24 sessions, all free (did I mention that?). Speakers include award-winning writers, international speakers, marketing experts, a representative from IngramSpark, website experts, illustrator experts, and so on. Don’t worry about missing a presentation because it conflicts with another. That’s the beauty of on-line conferences––it’s all there for you, just scroll down and find it.

It does take time to read/hear all that is written/said, but you would spend even more time at your local writer’s conference, wouldn’t you? Here, you can skip what you don’t want to hear, or leave half way through (no one will see you). I have volumes of material saved from last year’s conference that I still haven’t had time to read. But I will, I will!

So get aboard. There is no reason not to!

Tagged: book sales, E-book, ePub authors, marketing, self-publish, Writers Resources

Crunching The Numbers

As the old year wanes, the time has come to evaluate my book sales and learn from the da[image error]ta, hopefully to improve sales in 2017.

Many charts and graphs are available to authors through the auspices of various retailers and distributors. In part, because these businesses must keep the data for their own purposes, in part because they know we eagerly follow the ups and downs of our sales with the same dedication others follow the stock markets.

My books retail almost exclusively on Amazon, and mostly as eBooks. I have tucked a toe in the waters of audio books, I believe that market will grow, and hopefully I will learn how to evaluate it and use it better. I sell almost all of my print books at signings, launches, and craft fairs throughout the year, shelving only a handful at independent retail outlets. The latter sell very few, requiring special promotions to do so, such as signings or book talks. Following such events, the sales stagnate once again. It is a lot of work, and takes a lot of time, for little gain.

I participated in five craft fairs and launches in 2016. I presented three illustrated talks and signed and sold books afterward, and I participated in an Old Time Radio Show with Sisters in Crime. Sporadic as these events were for me, they accounted for my second greatest volume of book sales.

An independent, self-publishing author must follow the fluctuations of the book publishing world of today, no easy matter. However, I have learned there are marketing constants, unchanged after decades of upheaval. They are quality and quantity. The human constants for success are persistence and patience; neither are easy.

A whopping 78% of my 2016 book sales income came from eBooks on Amazon. The remaining 22% came from all other sales. Of that number, 55% came from my talks, launches and craft fairs, and the Radio Show. Also of interest, the total of royalties from my only traditionally published book was 6.5% of the remaining 22%. Finally, my new entry into the campaign, the audio books, sold 5% of that 22%.

What have I gleaned from these numbers? I see four clear directions for 2017. 1) I will continue to sell eBooks on Amazon, increasing the number of books in my series as I am able. 2) I will participate in more craft fairs, book launches, and present more talks in the new year. 3) I will convert more books to audio books and endeavor to learn more about that market. 4) I will refrain from publishing traditionally unless a publisher is willing to make me an offer I can’t refuse.

But I must do more. As Social media grows, and changes, I know I must learn and change with it. I will not attempt to engage in every platform as it comes along. I cannot, and it will not serve my best interests to try. I will use a single platform (probably Facebook) as my hub and link to other platforms that appear able to service me best.

I continue to have a fond hope to sell more print books, perhaps persuade a large distributor to take an interest in my series. I know they sell when placed in front of readers––I see it happen.

It is reflection time, when as an author I count my blessings and thank those who have supported me and my writing over the year. I particularly thank my reviewers, for good or ill, for the time you took to present your thoughts about my novels. While I might not always agree, I will always appreciate the thought and time taken to present your views.

Amazon has tightened guidelines for those eligible to review, excluding close personal relationships with the author (sorry, mom) and other close ties. It is now much more difficult to accumulate reviews (without cheating). A review is still the best gift you can give an author.

Tagged: Amazon Kindle, authors, book marketing, Book reviews, E-book, Publishing, self-publish, traditional publishing, Writers Resources, writing discipline

Changing Genre Midstream

As writer and reader I’ve noticed few authors write in more than one genre. I wondered why.

An author of a crime mystery series, I decided to try another category of writing. In so doing, I think I may have learned the answer to my question. It is not about ability so much as expectations, not about the writer so much as the reader. Here’s what I mean:

It is beneficial, I believe, to explore your capabilities to their farthest extent, whether physical, intellectual, or creative. Applying this philosophy to writing, I wanted to explore my capabilities in multiple genres. I had written mysteries, as mentioned above, and a history. The history was a picture book for Arcadia Press, not easily confused with any other category. I wanted to write a mid-grade/YA book and so penned Payu’s Journey, a fanciful anthropomorphic story of a dingo set in Australia. The animal lost her pups, and in an attempt to recover them took a human baby by accident. She decided to raise the baby as her own.

I wrote it, self-published it as an Ebook, and soon the cover appeared alongside my mystery series on Amazon. It is a fun little book, entertaining for all ages and published with no real expectations other than reader enjoyment. Little did I know the effect it would have on my other books.

My mystery series sales fell off immediately.

At first, I put it down to the vagaries of the market, with which we are all familiar. By the second month of low sales, however, I realized something had changed and scoured social media and the Amazon site to attempt to discover what it was.

And then it came to me.

As I viewed my novel covers on my Amazon site, I realized there would naturally be some confusion. Author’s books are not pictured within categories or genres on the site, but simply in a row. As a reader, two assumptions come to mind. First, that Payu’s Journey is book five of the crime mystery series. Imagine the disappointment as the mystery buff begins to read about a dingo and a baby. Second, the reader might well assume I had finished the series. Most readers want to read a longer series, not a short one, and would likely choose another author. Those readers who had read the first four books of my series would naturally conclude it was complete, and move on.

There is another, less obvious difficulty. Readers tend to become comfortable with an author within a certain genre; Stephen king in Horror, Larry McMurtry in Westerns, Tony Hillerman in Navajo mysteries. They feel uncomfortable with that author writing a different kind of book. Can John Sanford write a steamy romance?––probably. Would anyone want to read it?––probably not.

With all the authors available to readers today, I suppose there will be even more of a tendency to typecast them.

What to do? Of course, the synopsis that accompanies Payu’s Journey at the Amazon site is clear, but my intent to continue the series is not. I made an effort to explain it in social media, in my Amazon author bio, and everywhere else I could think of, but there really is no good way to forestall a reader’s decision. My sales did pick up again, but never to the previous level. I understand now the only solution is to put action to my words and publish the fifth book of the mystery series ASAP.

Am I advocating for an author to remain true to a single genre? No, I still resist that. For those selling more widely than me, focusing on paperbacks in stores or marketing in other ways, this situation is likely not as much of a problem. But for a novelist still developing readership, with Ebooks sold through Amazon as a large source of book income, it is for me.

I intend to continue to pursue my creative limits. I intend to publish parts 2 and 3 of Payu’s Journey to complete the trilogy. Now that I understand the nature of the problem, though, I will concentrate on finishing my next Zack Tolliver mystery novel first and foremost.

Tagged: Amazon Kindle, authors, book sales, crime mystery, fiction writing, genre writing, marketing, readers, sales, self-publishing, writing influences

New Location for Serialized Story (link on main page)

Scroll down the main page to find link to The Blue Halls)

Can You Maintain Your Identity As A Writer?

It’s all right there––in your head. Your dream project, your book. You know what you will say in it, you know what it will look like. You begin to write, it grows page by page, chapter by chapter. One day it is finished. Soon you will find a way to publish it. But ask yourself: between this moment, and the moment the book appears on a retail shelf, is it still the same book? Your book? Are you just as excited about it, or has something changed?

Authors sometimes find the publishing process a little like carving a figure from wood; the more critical you are, the more you carve, the smaller and less recognizable the work becomes. This is not to say one shouldn’t enlist editing resources. Such a step is essential, a new eye is helpful, a different perspective is critical. However, I subscribe to the idea that editing is a learning process, and the author should become increasingly able to edit his own work.

I have listed 4 dangerous moments in the life of your project for preserving your identity as an author:

1. Input from others while in the process of writing can sometimes turn you from your original concept. Swayed by the will or ideas of others, the product ceases to be truly your own. Your writing style is like a finger print; it is distinct; don’t allow it to be corrupted.

2. Critique groups, writing clubs, and similar groups can seduce or bully an author toward a style change. Inherently each member of the group believes his/her own style is most correct and will try to impress it upon you, consciously or unconsciously.

3. Editors. There are several types and layers of editing. Most professional editors will learn what it is an author requires and limit suggestions accordingly. However, in some circumstances, such as in large traditional publishing houses, work must pass through several different editors before publication. Publishers often have a general style in mind as representative of their house. Strong recommendations from their editors can be difficult to ignore.

4. Book Cover: In my mind, the book’s cover has as much to do with your identity as an author as its content. A traditionally published author may have the power of veto for his/her book cover (or not), but may have little say in the original book cover design. The cover of your book is what first sells it, and first establishes its content. The cover should indicate the content and reflect who you are as an author.

The more you write, the less editing your work should require. Have a stable of readers, ideally each possessing a specific skill: one sees detail such as repeated words, wrong word usage, etc.; another is good at spotting inconsistencies; yet another may notice formatting problems. You can design your group of readers to meet your own needs.

The bottom line is this: use the editing you need until you no longer need it, but even as you thank your critic decide whether or not the advice is helpful, and act accordingly.

 

 

Tagged: authors, editing, Editors, Reviews and Criticism, traditional publishing, Writing, writing influences

Blue Halls IV

(It will be recalled Mr. Tasker expected to learn during young Buckminster’s next guitar lesson the identity of the bullies tormenting him; but the boy never appeared.)

 

The growing swell of nervous, anxious, angry conversations ended abruptly with the arrival of the Headmaster. He was a large man, portly, his appearance altogether fitting for his role. He took his seat at the head of the long table with a harrumph. The room was not large, with the full complement of administrators and boarding staff seated at the table, the entire faculty room was necessarily dedicated to the purpose of the meeting. All eyes turned to Headmaster Rockhill, who in turn studied each face, moving in a clockwise direction around the table, pausing longer on the visages of Mr. Porthall, Mr. Gardner and my unworthy self, to scathing effect. It was immediately apparent to all he considered us in some way responsible for the meeting.

 

“We have a runner,” he said, finally, harrumphing once again.

 

This pronouncement was followed by silence. The headmaster allowed it to continue, played it as he watched us search each other’s faces for hints. Who knew about this? Which child had run? What was the cause?

 

Once satisfied his pause had the desired effect, Mr. Rockhill fixed his eyes upon Mr. Porthall. “Please report your findings, sir,” he said, and sat back, tapping a tattoo with his fingers upon the wooden arm of his chair.

 

Mr. Porthall bounded to his feet. “Yes sir, thank you, sir,” he said and cast sheep eyes at Mr. Rockhill. He now toured the faces at the table one by one in a weaker imitation of the headmaster’s manner, but finding his own attempt falling short, he began to speak.

 

“Last night at precisely 7:26 pm I released Mr. Connor Buckminster from the schoolroom to attend his guitar lesson with Mr. Tasker, as I do every Tuesday night at that precise time.” Mr. Porthall’s gaze turned pointedly to me and moved on, flitting away as if I were unworthy of more detailed inspection. “Mr. Tasker waited the entire half hour for young Buckminster to arrive. It is unfortunate Mr. Tasker did not report this absence before the entire period had passed.”

 

Caught by surprise, I opened my mouth to object, but with a flick of his hand Headmaster Rockhill motioned me to silence.

 

“When Mr. Tasker did finally come to the schoolroom to report young Connor’s unaccountable absence, I immediately impelled a complete search of the building, beginning with Mr. Buckminster’s quarters in the Cave.”

 

Mr. Porthall now fixed his gaze upon Mr. Gardner, who could not completely conceal his dismay and presented for all the look of a dog having puddled on a new carpet. Cringing in anticipation, he waited his turn to become the object of Porthall’s verbal assault. His wait was not long.

 

“Mr. Gardner informed me he had not seen Mr. Buckminster all evening, indeed not since his charge departed for dinner. He stated that the young man had not returned to his cubicle following the meal, nor at any time since. Mr. Gardner also informed me of his concerns regarding ongoing incidents of bullying he believes the lad has suffered since the term began, incidents which should have been reported up the chain of command, but unfortunately were not. Had we known of this behavior, we most certainly would have initiated an immediate response.”

 

At this juncture Mr. Porthall paused to glance at the Headmaster, who nodded his head to punctuate the seriousness of these charges.

Mr. Gardner’s face had turned ghostly white.

 

“Our search produced no results,” Mr. Porthall said. “Further, nothing appeared to be missing from Buckminster’s wardrobe. His wallet and personal items were all in place. Of course, I let no time lapse before reporting all of this to Headmaster Rockhill. Our search continued into other buildings and eventually the entire campus. Up to this moment, we have seen neither hide nor hair of Mr. Buckminster.”

 

Having completed his statement, Porthall stood, a reed swaying in the breeze, until Headmaster Rockhill indicated he might sit. The headmaster turned next to the school business manager, a man with hawk-like nose mounted upon a sharp predatory countenance.

 

“Mr. Fremont, what is the condition of Mr. Buckminster’s account, if you please?”

 

“It is paid in full, Sir.”

 

“I see. Then I suppose we should try to find the young man.”

 

The assembled staff smiled obediently at this apparent attempt at humor. The Headmaster, however, turned to Mr. Fremont with creased brow.

 

“My question was in regard to withdrawals, not deposits, Sir. Is there any indication the lad had withdrawn sufficient funds for travel?”

 

Mr. Fremont turned quite red in the face. “Oh, of course. That is, no, he has not withdrawn any large sums. His last withdrawal”––here he considered an account book––”was five dollars and fifty cents.”

 

“Hardly enough.” Headmaster Rockhill looked around the table. “Those of you who have not been with us long may be surprised to learn how determined some boys are to run away. It is not this institution they seek to escape, it is their perceived lot in life. We had one young man make it as far as Detroit.” He harrumphed and cast an eye upon Mr. Fremont. “However, five dollars and fifty cents suggests more of an appetite for candy bars than a journey.” He looked around the table. “It is apparent to me the lad had no preconceived plan to depart the premises. The fact he left his wallet and other valuables behind strongly suggests he wandered off on impulse once he departed the schoolroom last evening. I have alerted the local police in case he has left the campus. However, I should not be surprised to find he has not even left the building and might at this very moment be closeted somewhere, dispirited and afraid.”

 

He stood. Placing his palms on the surface of the table, the Headmaster leaned forward. “We shall carry on with our regular schedule. However, during your free periods I expect all hands on deck. We shall mount a continuous and extremely thorough search of all the buildings on campus.”

 

Tagged: R Lawson Gamble new novel

BLUE HALLS (Part III)

Copyright©️2016 R Lawson Gamble. All rights to this work are reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in part or in whole in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author. In this work I describe actual locations and authentic time frames and global events. The characters, however, are fictional and any resemblance to events or persons living or dead, while possible given the nature of this work, is in fact unintentional and largely coincidental.

(continued)

Mr. Gardner approached me one day as I was locking my classroom door, my arms full of books, in a hurry to arrive at my afternoon duty. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I was expected to be present in the chaos of the locker room where within that shrill and reverberant space I would encourage children to move into their athletic clothing and on out to their sports fields as speedily as possible. The athletic locker room was just steps away from my music classroom, however the final class period of the day required me to restore a variety of rhythm instruments to their proper storage and simultaneously respond to the inevitable post lesson questions and requests from my students. I was not, as you might imagine, in the frame of mind for a prolonged conversation.

 

The man’s first words, however, demanded my attention. “Mr. Tasker, it is my belief young Connor is being systematically bullied after lights out.”

 

He went on to describe the nightly routine in the Cave where he presided, detailing how the students changed to night-clothes, prepared their laundry, exchanged final words with the master, and then read quietly for the final quarter of an hour before lights out. For the half hour following, Mr. Gardner made unpredictable appearances, sometimes catching an errant youngster out on the floor for which the proper demerits were assigned. Regardless of his attention, however, at rising the following morning he often observed bruises on young Connor’s arms, marks he was quite convinced were not present the night before. Connor refused to respond directly to Mr. Gardner’s questions, brushing away his concerns as unfounded, while claiming the marks came from falling out of bed, or walking into his bureau, or the like.

 

“There is nothing more I can do to increase my vigilance,” Gardner exclaimed to me, in a most exasperated manner. “I must have my rest as well, sufficient to rise at six and perform my morning duties. I don’t see what else I can do.”

 

There was little I could suggest beyond advising him to consult with the dormitory administrator and leave the matter in his capable hands. However, as I hurried on my mind raced. I was not surprised Conner had become the object of bullying. On the contrary, I had seen it as a distinct possibility, yet the difference from surmise to actual knowledge is stark, and in that moment of truth, passivity must pass into exigent responsibility and action.

 

It happened I was scheduled for a lesson with Connor that very evening, and I planned my approach to this very delicate issue, knowing if allowed to do so Conner would certainly prevaricate. My scheme was simple; I would convince Connor his words would travel no further than his mouth to my ear. Bullying relies upon a victim’s fear of retaliation and is sustained by secrecy. I determined to present to him a scenario in which an older student “discovers” the actions of the bully or bullies in question––for in my own mind I was convinced of the latter––and in due course reports the behavior to a master. Thus the rat is seen by these bullies to be an older, much stronger student, upon whom retaliation would be ill advised. Hopefully, then, actions taken by the adult community would lay the matter to rest.

 

So it was at 7:30 that evening, experiencing no little self-satisfaction from my brilliant plan, I awaited Connor’s arrival. I sat and plucked the strings of my guitar, my ear attuned to the stairwell for the familiar thuds and steps of Connor’s descent, my eyes roving frequently toward the open door of my closet studio. I waited for Connor the entire half hour of his scheduled lesson. He never came.

 

Blue Halls Two

(THE BLUE HALLS second segment)

Connor Philips Buckminster III was in every way a natural victim, with round pudgy face and folds of soft flesh overflowing a worn leather belt cinched too tight, the excess dangling over khaki trousers creased in various planes unintended by any manufacturer, smudged with grey-brown matter best left unidentified. He had round, earnest eyes in a chubby cheeked face. Connor was a crab without a shell, a defenseless creature formed by ten years of coddling now abandoned in a sea of predators. He was one of those the school termed an “Old Boy”, whose father attended the school in his own youth and held to the believe the rigors of boarding school life had “done him good” and would ultimately send his own son “down the right road”. C.P. Buckminster II was made of sterner stuff than C.P. Buckminster III, however–a trait that bypassed his son.

Connor was housed in the Old Building in a huge cavern of a room appropriately nicknamed The Cave. He shared this space with thirteen other ten and eleven-year-old boys, each assigned a cubicle sectioned off from the next by a thin wood panel, in appearance not so much individual rooms as kennels. The ceiling soared high above; the tops of the divider panels fell short by several feet, the resulting open space a conveyor of every small sound. A sliding curtain across the front of each compartment was the extent of privacy. This arrangement of seven stalls each side left a wide common space, an expanse of hardwood floor that reverberated drum-like with each tap of a small hard-heeled shoe. At lights out, The Cave resembled nothing less than a field of ground squirrels, heads poked out from behind curtains, small bodies scurrying from one hole to the next when the master’s attention was elsewhere. The man assigned to oversee this menagerie was out of his depth. Tall, spare, with tight curls springing from his head as if in a state of continual fright, George Gardner wore the visage of a hunted man. Before the first month was out the corner of his mouth had begun to twitch involuntarily. His eyes darted here and there as if perpetually seeking an avenue of escape, his entire countenance took on a searching, haunted look.

Young Connor was my guitar student. Every Thursday evening at 7:30 pm without fail he excused himself from Study hall and by 7:31 his footfalls sounded on the stairs, accompanied by a series of thuds as his over large guitar case slapped against the wall in the narrow confines of the stairwell. The boy’s parents, traveling through Greece at the time, bid me teach their son to play classical guitar. Connor, however, was desperate to learn a more modern piece in an attempt to impress his dorm mates. A compromise was reached; if he practiced his fingering during the week and attended to classical studies during the first part of our lesson, we would work on a piece of his choosing during the final ten minutes. It was during this more relaxed portion of his lesson we often chatted and the thread of the conversation sometimes led to matters other than music.

During one such moment Connor paused in the attempt to stretch pudgy fingers beyond their capacity on the wide fingerboard and looked up at me.  “Mr. Tasker,” he asked, “what are the Blue Halls? Why can’t we go there?”

In truth, I had often wondered this myself. Among the subterranean corridors located in the murky depths of the Old Building, the Blue Halls were notorious. These passages were declared off limits at all times, not just during evening hours. The Headmaster had raised the issue at the very first pre-session faculty meeting. “There is really no reason for a child ever to go there,” he declared. “Please be vigilant to this rule.” During the first weeks of school that followed, I heard the name Blue Halls whispered about from time to time, usually among old students; I learned of double dares to go there at night, heard fragments of dramatic stories about them ranging from children disappearing forever to dreadful apparitions appearing suddenly––all originating with the tale teller, I had no doubt, as young men of that age are prone to creating wonderful tales.

The night I was to teach my first lesson in the tiny below-stairs studio, Mr. Porthall, the administrator in charge of evening study hall, claimed the seat next to me at the Headmistress’s Coffee Hour, which took place in the faculty lounge every evening after dinner. He was a large man, soft and wide, with permanently pursed lips, which along with his wide button eyes tended to establish on his face an expression of constant incredulity.

“Mr. Tasker,” he said, fixing me with a stern look, “I believe you are aware our boarders are not to use the Blue Halls under any circumstances.” He emphasized his words with a light tap of a long finger on my arm. “Please remind your students to pass to and from the study hall by the upper passageway. They will receive instructions from me to that effect each time they depart the study hall to report to your studio.”

I agreed to this, having no reason for dissent, yet found the request, and the man’s insistence upon it, somewhat puzzling. I understood the administrative concern for safety, efficiency of passage, and best use of the boys’ time. Certainly wandering about corridors when one ought to be studying should be discouraged. But why the Blue halls, in particular, I wondered? There were many passageways in the Old Building; several, to my mind, a good deal darker and more prone to a possibility of accident than the Blue Halls, from the little I had seen of them. Yet no other out-of-bounds area was ever mentioned with such frequency.

As a responsive and responsible faculty member, however, and a new one at that, it was not my place to raise the question and I therefore obediently recited the appropriate mantra at the end of each of my lessons, and as each boy departed listened for his footsteps to thump up the stairs in the acceptable direction.

Tagged: Blue Halls segment II, Mystery, new fiction, private school boarding, R Lawson Gamble, serialized novel