It's the Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title - The Shortlist...

Yes, it's time for the Diagram Prize again- the 38th.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that there was still time to nominate odd book titles from 2015, well the deliberations are over and the shortlist of titles has been announced.

The Bookseller administers the Diagram Prize - you can see the interesting range of book covers for the shortlisted titles here, as well as find out what each book is about (briefly).

Now it's up to the public to vote for their preferred oddest title. You can follow the Bookseller's link to the voting page, select your title and press submit, you don't even have to leave an email address...

I don't feel that this year's selection is as varied as in past years, but at least there are titles to choose from.

There have only been two years when the prize was not awarded, 1987 and 1991. Fortunately there's been a winner every year since 1992, and with the interest and publicity the prize brings each year I don't think a lack of strange book titles will be a problem.

So here's the 2015 shortlist:

• Reading the Liver: The Papyrological Text on Ancient Greek Extispicy.

• Too Naked for Nazis. (The author submitted it himself...)

• Soviet Bus Stops.

• Paper Folding with Children.

• Behind the Binoculars.

• Reading from Behind: A Cultural History of the Anus.

• Transvestite Vampire Biker Nuns from Outer Space: A Consideration of Cult Film.

I have to admit that those last two appealed to me, but having given the titles a couple of days I can see the appeal of 'Paper Folding with Children'. :D

Do look out for any odd book titles that are published in 2016- including self-published- so you can nominate them early next year.

The voting closes 15th March at 23.59, and the winner will be announced later in the month.

Any opinions on this year's selection? 

Newspaper Research...

I'm very pleased I didn't need any newspapers to write my short story- it's now on its way, and after the final editing came out at 1,799 words, so 1,800 as the magazine requires. When I eventually get an answer (around 16 weeks from receipt) I'll let you know if it's a yes or no.

So with that story out of the way I'm free to get back to my longer works in progress.

At the moment I'm checking a few facts- dates of events that cannot be manipulated; such as the date the Treaty of Amiens was actually signed. It's only a background detail but if it was signed later in the year then everything in the story has to be shifted too.

This is where old newspapers come in useful.

Old newspapers are being digitised and added to the British Newspaper Archive each year. It's a partnership between Find My Past and the British Library, their aim is to digitise 40 million newspaper pages "over the next 10 years".

It's possible to search for free, but if you want to access the page and save/print the details there is a charge, but they do have a number of subscription options which is helpful.

Old Newspapers...

The last few days I've been checking for ancestors, and today discovered one of my grandfathers was fined (in December 1940) for "a black-out offence" the previous month - shows how seriously it was taken.

I did eventually discover in the Morning Post when the Treaty of Amiens (between the French and the English) was actually signed- 25th March 1802. Admittedly the article was that date the following year, looking back on events, but another article elsewhere confirmed the date too.

So the 25th of next month it will have been 214 years ago, and we can still read the views expressed at that time...

From 1850 onwards there's a lot more available than 1710-1830's, but those early newspapers and sheets that survived would probably be very delicate anyway.

While the annual subscription seems like a lot of money, when compared with the time and cost of travelling to places to scan through film, or maybe even microfiche in some cases, it doesn't start to look too bad for my needs.

As with any research there's the risk of distractions, so I'm limiting myself to an hour or two in the early or late evening, and I bookmark anything relevant in folders in my account, so I can come back to them again.






image courtesy of Naypong & www.freedigitalphotos.net