Several years ago, there was a television show called M. A. N. T. I. S. I thought it was one of the greatest shows ever. It was about a guy that was half man, half praying mantis, and he fought crime. And the network cancelled it! A regular guy who, when trouble reared its ugly head, half of him would turn into a praying mantis. It’s interesting how some bad television shows become cult classics. I wrote a book entitled No Place for a Woman: The Struggle for Suffrage in the Wild West. I spent more than two and a half years researching and writing the book. I thought it was going to be a good book, but alas… Like M. A. N. T. I. S., the problem wasn’t the idea, it was the presentation. In addition to the various chapters about how suffrage was achieved in the Wild West there were several shorter stories about the movement. Those sidebars should have been placed at the end of the chapters. Instead, they were placed in the MIDDLE of the chapters. The sidebars were supposed to be on darker gray paper, but that never happened. The result, it’s difficult to read. I’ve received numerous emails from people who think there are pages missing or simply find the work too complicated to muddle through. It’s unfortunate. I worked hard on that book and it turned out to be a disaster. I had no control over the printing of the book, but my name is on it and readers blame me for everything about the book. I’ve entered No Place for a Woman in a few book contests including the Spur Awards. I’m so sorry for the judges. They had the unfortunate task of trying to figure out just how to read the book. The book didn’t win, place, or show. The judges reviewing books for the Foreword Review Magazine Book of the Year award managed to look past the issue of the poor presentation. I was informed yesterday that No Place for a Woman was one of five titles in the running for Book of the Year. I’m sure it won’t do any better than that but given the issues with the book I’m grateful it got that far. Bad TV and bad books are part of our culture and harmless enough when properly abused. Like M. A. N. T. I. S., the only way to make No Place for a Woman better is if a laugh track is added.
