Dac Crossley's Western Blog

Our Two Dollars Worth

Stanley the Boss caught me during lunch. “There’s a meeting about that damned Panama project over in the library at one. Will you take it for me?”

“Sure.”

“Before you get in bed – ask to see the two dollars.” Stanley had his on special way of giving instructions.

I was working as an ecologist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. A member of a small group looking into the fates and effects of radioactive waste. We’d taken on various environmental off-site studies from time to time.

I was aware of that Panama project. The US Atomic Energy Commission thought they might use “nuclear devices” to excavate a new Panama canal. They’d been burned rather badly in an attempt to dig a harbor on the northern shores of Alaska, because they’d ignored the environmental consequences. And in particular, they overlooked the Eskimo populations in the area. So the Commission wanted an environmental assessment right up front, this time.

When I got to the library early, I picked up the Britannica and scanned an article about Panama. A little preparation never hurts.

And as the meeting progressed, it developed that I was the Panama expert in the group. Nobody else knew Panama at all. Thanks to my five minutes in the library, I was able to go to a blackboard, sketch the Isthmus and show the Canal and its environs. Plus, I’d actually been there! I once passed through the Canal, courtesy of the US Navy.

Did I want to write a proposal to the AEC? Go to Panama? No, thanks, not I. Will somebody else take on a proposal? The meeting broke up.

Back it the office Stanley the Boss asked, “What happened?”

“I told ‘em to keep the two dollars.”

- - -

The Panama studies were eventually done by the Institute of Ecology at the University of Georgia, soon to be my employer. The National Laboratory did some research on the human ecology of Panama. Nothing came of it at that time, 50 years ago. But don’t be surprised if a sea-level canal connecting the two oceans doesn’t crop up again. It’s really not a good idea.

Dac Crossley
July 23, 2015

“More than likely, the moral and intellectual leadership of science will pass to biologists, and it is among them that we shall find the Rutherfords, Bohrs and Francks of the next generation. – Sir Charles P. Snow

Are You Reading – Anything At All?

There are some troubling portents afoot, for those of us who enjoy the pleasures of writing fiction. What’s happened to the readers?

I’m back from a craft show on St. Simon’s Island, a three-day event over the Fourth of July weekend. Co-writer Paige C. and I signed very few books during those three eight-hour days. Maybe the Georgia coast isn’t the best place to push Western novels. Paige’s southern mystery didn’t do much better than my books.

Is readership slipping? Consider these warnings.

My network of fiction authors is beginning to complain about low sales at book signings. Chatter on the web is generally upbeat but an undertone of worry is emerging.

Book signings aren’t as popular as they used to be. Bookstores say that signings are more trouble and expense than they are worth. Do aggressive authors scare away customers? Hard for me to believe that one. Most authors are too timid to approach prospective readers (not me, of course).

Bookstores are disappearing. And the ones that survive have targeted clientele. Children’s books are always big. Religious stores, too. I regret the loss of Borders, a friendly store. Barnes and Noble – well, they just don’t like small-press authors.

Amazon.com. America’s bookstore. True confession – I shop at Amazon. It’s so easy. I buy used copies of books for about four dollars. They are delivered right to my house. No driving across town. No Barnes and Noble. Bad Dac!

Quality is slipping. I fear that one is true. There are some poorly-written paperbacks out there, and you wouldn’t know it from their five-star reviews. No genre is immune; not even western novels. What’s going on? Self-publication, of course. And I fear that mid-range publishers aren’t so selective any more. That’s bound to discourage readers.

Television. Not the commercial networks, so much as the web-based providers. Netflix airs good content, I think. Another confession – I watch TV. It’s on and it gets my attention. There’s no TV at my retreat on Freeman Ridge and I read quite a bit when I’m there.

So I ask you the questions. Do you find yourself reading less? Where do you find your books? Electronic books? Do you have a favorite bookstore? And finally – do I annoy you myself?

Dac Crossley
July 15, 2015

“Man does not live by words alone despite the fact that he sometimes has to eat them.” – Adlai Stevenson.