“There’s nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction”
Winston Churchill
It should come at no surprise that at the new year we would bring some changes to The Hatchet. We love the evolving nature of web and magazine design and have a long history of adjusting the company’s business model to suit the times. We are nothing if not flexible.
We need to start with an apology, however. A BIG apology. We became sidetracked in 2011. We admit it. I, the editor of The Hatchet, thought that we could publish four issues of the journal plus two of the Literary Hatchet, all while spending 60-80 hours a week running for Mayor of Fall River! (I can hear you groaning at my foolishness.)
Well, I tried. And while I did not succeed at either—the run for mayor or the publication schedule—it was an amazing adventure and well worth the time and effort. But a new year means a new beginning—an opportunity to make adjustments, organize for the future, and focus on the tasks at hand.
After long and careful consideration, we at The Hatchet have made a number of refinements. Some are cosmetic (the websites for LizzieAndrewBorden.com, MondoLizzie.com, PearTree-Press.com, and HatchetOnline.com), some are behind the scenes, and some are all about business. To this end, let us share with you the following transformation.
We are eliminating the subscription option when ordering the journal.
Those of you who had paid for a subscription for 2010-2011 will receive the next three issues of The Hatchet at no cost in order to complete your subscription package. You will each be emailed information about obtaining your free copies as they are published.
If you are new to The Hatchet or would like to purchase past or current issues, there are two ways going forward to own this great magazine.
- You can return to this website to purchase and download the PDF electronic version, or
- You can buy the print copies through our print-on-demand partners (links are provided in the store
The prices of the single issue downloads are very reasonable, running from a sale price of $5 per issue for year one of the journal, to $12 each for the most recent issues. If you have any questions, please let us know.
We will continue the following traditions:
- Offering issues of the Literary Hatchet at no cost for the download PDF version and a minimal cost for print issues
- Paying our authors for their contributions to both magazines
- Providing interesting and compelling writing, fully vetted for factual accuracy
- Accepting submissions for both fiction and non-fiction
Ultimately, the proof of our success is the satisfaction that you, our readers, have in our finished product. It is our plan to publish three issues of The Hatchet in 2012, at regular intervals (March, July, November), and at least two issues of The Literary Hatchet (February and September). More details will be forthcoming.
So here’s to a great new year! And hoping that this old Irish blessing comes true:
May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life’s passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours!
Cheers,
Stefani Koorey
Editor & Publisher
The Hatchet: A Journal of Lizzie Borden & Victorian America
From all of us at PearTree Press, here’s wishing you a very merry Christmas and a joyous new year.
The redesign of LizzieAndrewBorden.com is complete. This blog, as you now can see, also has been given a makeover using the same theme, but with a different skin.
The transformation took much longer than anticipated because the main site was moving from HTML to WordPress. I find WordPress a flexible framework that allows for effortless updates on the fly.
Please note that the Bibliographies section of the Resources section have been updated as well. Now one can search throughout all ten years of the Lizzie Borden Quarterly!
To those websites that link to specific documents or pages from the old site, I am afraid some of those connections are no longer valid as WordPress uses a different address/permalinks configuration. Please update your links!
Our sister site, LizzieAndrewBorden.com is undergoing a facelift and is offline for maintenance. It will return at noon on Saturday with a better design, one that will sure to please.
Until then, the Lizzie Borden Society Forum, The Hatchet, and this blog will remain open for business.
Click on the image to see it larger.
Today was a splendid book signing for Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A. Borden and Her Fall River. The Society sold over 120 copies of the book, and a good time was had by all. Now that the book is out, the reviews by readers are starting to trickle in. I will post some of them here in the coming weeks.
If you haven’t yet ordered the limited edition of Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A. Borden and Her Fall River I am afraid you are out of luck. The limited edition of 100 signed copies in a special slipcase is SOLD OUT.
Don’t forget that Sunday, November 20, is the book signing for Parallel Lives, from noon to 3 PM at the Fall River Historical Society.
It will be live tweeted. If you cannot attend but would like to hear all the news as it happens, tune into the Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/FRHistorical
I was presented with a limited edition Parallel Lives tonight at the Benefactor’s Reception at the Fall River Historical Society. Here are some images of my copy:
To those of you who cannot make the journey to Fall River for the book signing of Parallel Lives, the Fall River Historical Society will be doing a LIVE TWITTER EVENT, and tweeting the entire occasion!
Please join us live online on Sunday, November 20, from noon until 3 PM. If you don’t have a twitter account, you can still follow us at @FRHistorical: http://twitter.com/FRHistorical
The wonderful folks at the Fall River Historical Society in Fall River, MA, have done it again! Usually, when the holiday season rolls around, they carefully wrap up and store away all of their Lizzie Borden artifacts until the spring. I mean, who wants to enjoy the celebration of the season with a visit to a murder trial’s exhibit collection? Well, maybe you and me, but most? Probably not.
So this year, in recognition of the release of Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A. Borden and Her Fall River, the new 1179 page tome on all things Fall River, including its most (in)famous citizen, the Society has gifted us all with a new exhibition! —A celebration of the genial side of Lizzie Borden, featuring new and never before seen artifacts, letters, images, and ephemera—-all donated to the Society by the families of friends of Lizzie Borden and used in the writing of this new book.
I have visited the exhibit and let me be the first to tell you just how magnificent it is! I oohed and ahhed my way around the room, marveling in the unique pieces—so many of them to behold!
It was nice to see the actual photographs that are being used in Parallel Lives, and see, first hand, the letters and stock certificates that bear her signature. Lizzie’s gold watch is included, as well as a large collection of her holiday cards sent to one family over many years. To imagine the Lizzie Borden of legend while viewing these delicate and friendly items is nearly impossible. For what we are presented with here is proof of another life—one lived with grace, dignity, and courage. A sense of the sweetness of Lizzie Borden is in this collection, which for many will be a completely different experience.
So if you want to think about the horrific events of August 4, 1892, feel free to visit 92 Second Street. But if you want to encounter the private Lizzie Borden of her later years, and touch, if just for a moment, the kindnesses and generosity of a woman who seemed to have lived her life without audacity or malice, then please visit this amazing exhibit now!
NEWS! Booksigning for Parallel Lives will be held on Sunday, November 20, from noon to 3 p.m. at the Fall River Historical Society Museum Shop. Copies of Parallel Lives be available for sale on that date. If you preordered Parallel Lives, you can pick up your copy from that date forward.
I visited the Fall River Historical Society today to chat with the curators about the Society’s plans for the holidays (parties, book signings, new merchandise) and was granted the rare opportunity to view a copy of the finished product of Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A. Borden and Her Fall River, a few weeks before it is released to the public on November 21. The books are not in yet, so don’t all jump in your cars and try to snag one yet—what I saw was their only copy.
I wanted to share with you what I experienced when handling this long-awaited tome, and how it affected me to finally hold it in my hands.
You might say, “hey, it’s just a book, what is the big deal here?” Well, this book is not just any book. It is the culmination of almost ten years of research and it was a project that I was personally involved in as the book’s indexer and one of its proofreaders. I have read the book at least a dozen times, all tolled, and know it intimately. But I only worked with photocopies of chapters, both before typesetting and after, and had not seen the book as a real book before.
No, I didn’t turn to my index right off the bat, but, instead, slowly and with great care examined the dust jacket first. It has a silky feel that makes you really appreciate its sturdiness. It is pretty too, and when I turned the book over and saw the back of the jacket I did emit a little “oh”—there was my name as a contributor of a jacket blurb. Cool!
Then I opened the book, gingerly turning the pages one at a time. I was impressed with how well the photographs, both black and white and in color, reproduced. The paper is a heavy stock of white, which perfectly offsets the illustrations. I turned to the pages I knew contained the new images of Lizzie Borden, from the newly released “Auntie Borden” image from the back porch of Maplecroft, to the other as yet unseen snaps of Miss Lizzie that will surely amaze you.
I went to some pages that I wanted to see when the book came out in print—images that I knew would impress me by their clarity and striking tonality. It was only at the end of my perusal that I looked at the index to the book, and seeing it brought back memories of the months of work that went into its creation. I had naively thought that the work would take me but three weeks to accomplish. Foolish me! Some sixth months later, as the 9,000th entry was completed, I looked back at my plans and laughed out loud. Luckily, my long journey did not hold up this project. Both the indexing and the writing of the end notes by the Michael Martins and Dennis Binette ended at the same time.
I have to say that when I saw this book today I said out loud, “It’s . . . it’s . . . perfect!”
This book is not just about Lizzie Borden. It contains stories of Fall River and its people that have stayed with me. I won’t tease you with them now, but I guarantee that you will not be disappointed. One story that is told made one of the proofreaders, who is a man, cry because of its poignancy.
We meet all sorts of strange and wonderful people in the pages of Parallel Lives: city fathers, rich mill owners, common folk, and criminals. Every strata of Fall River’s society is represented in depth, thank goodness, as this is not some high society story, but a tale of greed, creativity, and murder. It has it all.
And in a few weeks time, you will finally see for yourself!
A great story appeared today in the local free newspaper, published by the Herald News, called the Fall River Spirit, on Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A. Borden and Her Fall River.
You can read all about it here.
Do you believe in ghosts?
October 30, 2011 8:26 AM
With nearly a dozen “ghost hunter” reality shows on television and 60 million Americans believing they have seen a ghost, it’s hard not to deny America’s obsession with poltergeists. Tracy Smith set out to find if there’s any reliable scientific evidence to their existence.
