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Will “Navassa Island Murderers” Win Project Publish?
Tags: History Project-Publish
THE MARKET: Peter O. Whitmer’s Navassa Island Murderers
is one of five finalist book proposals in Project Publish. On Oct. 9, editors at Touchstone Books of Simon & Schuster will award one finalist a publishing deal. Will Peter walk away with the grand prize? If he does, shares are worth $100. If he doesn’t, shares are worth $0.
THE AUTHOR: Peter O. Whitmer currently lives in Princeton, Massachusetts, and Montserrat, British West Indies with his wife, Candace. After attending the University of California at Berkeley during its countercultural heyday, he earned a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. He currently is a consultant to a division of Harvard Medical School. His numerous articles have appeared in Gadfly, Saturday Review, the Worcester Telegram, and the Boston Globe. He also wrote the only cradle-to-grave biography of the late Gonzo Journalist, Hunter S. Thompson, When the Going Gets Weird, as well as a psychological biography of Elvis Presley, The Inner Elvis.
THE LOWDOWN: Could an illiterate deaf-mute Black teen, named “Devil” – a defendant in America’s largest murder trial – possibly topple the U.S. President? The answer is yes, and the story is told in Peter O. Whitmer’s Navassa Island Murderers. This historical work traces a bizarre and fascinating series of events surrounding Congress’s 1856 U.S. Guano Act and a “Haitian Relocation Plan” for slaves that duped hundreds into entering into horrifying labor conditions in the Windward Passage on Navassa Island. The work was brutal, the food maggoty. After the Black workers asked for “conditions,” a riot ensued, with “The Management” armed with guns, and the workers armed only with rocks. The Navy took survivors to Baltimore for trial, and international press erupted. These are but a few of the surprises in a story in which a deaf-mute named “Devil” takes the stand, his actions changing forever the direction of foreign affairs.
THE BUZZ: Referred from a literary agent actively representing the book. See market advice.
NEW! READ THE EXPANDED PROPOSAL NOW: PDF
TIP:
Current value = probability prediction will occur, e.g. $10 = 10% chance prediction will occur.
| PREDICTIONS | CURRENT VALUE | TODAY |
| “Navassa Island Murderers” Wins | $65.12/ $0.00 | (closed) |
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Discussion
last comment by: cacs, Sep 21 2007 @ 05:09 PDT
The author can write. The images are vivid in conveying the scene. What’s unclear is the progression of the story. Even acknowledging that only fragments are presented, I question whether the excerpt set in the future with some guy shooting out laser lights from his fingertips has a place in the story. I’d prefer to see a more linear style, maybe set during the trial, with flashbacks to conditions on the island and a gradual unveiling of the events: riot, etc. It’s unclear whether this is a fictionalized account or a straight history. I had the impression from the prefatory comments that it’s based on fact, but the digression into the futuristic stuff throws me.
last comment by: petersouthie, Sep 23 2007 @ 12:09 PDT
DISCLOSURE - This user is participating in this market.
I found the story intriging and quite believable. Right from the beginning I wanted to know more. When I pick up a book I really know nothing about, it has to catch my attention from the start. I think the author grabs you from the start and makes you ask yourself where this is going. A very nice set up to start the story. That’s a big key for me when reading an unknown book. i’ve put down many books because of the introduction to the book. This one I did not put down. I wanted more and got it.
last comment by: 2F2kSm1g, Oct 03 2007 @ 06:10 PDT
Intriguing
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