Author: W.J. Elvin III

W.J. Elvin III is known to many AOTP readers as author of the rollicking LiteratEye column exploring literary fakes, fraud and folly. His journalistic career focused on investigative reporting and feature writing for national markets. He wrote an award-winning Washington based \"insider\" column during the Reagan era, known on Capitol Hill as \"coffee-spilling time.\" While the column was accused of excessive reliance on a warped imagination, he asserts \"there was some truth to it.\" He has edited newspapers, newsletters and magazines, several of which survived the experience. In addition to investigative work, he has written extensively in fields ranging from antiques to national security. Despite his insistence that "I was nowhere in the vicinity at the time of the alleged incidents," Elvin has been outed as author of the anonymous "Ask the Fiddler" columns archived here. His two mystery novels, "Murder By Bay Breezes" and "Sherlock Holmes and the Eye of Mad Bear," were published by GunBoss Books and may be found on Amazon and other book dispensing sites. A second novel in the Andy Holliday mystery series is currently being hatched.
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How to Park Free

Found and submitted by W.J. Elvin III:

Artist creates invisible car
Telegraph.co.uk
02 May 2009

Art student Sara Watson has found the ultimate way of avoiding traffic wardens – by making her car invisible.

The 22-year-old student at the University of Central Lancashire spray painted a battered Skoda Fabia to match the car park and entrance to her art studio.

Her work, created as part of her drawing and image making course at the university, creates the illusion that the car is see through.

invisiblecar

She was given the car from a breakers yard and worked for three weeks to ensure that it blended perfectly with its surroundings. Continue reading “How to Park Free”

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George Harrison and His Autograph(s)

Submitted by W.J. Elvin III:

Revealed:
How George Harrison forged the Beatles’ signatures for a dying fan
Daily Mail Online
May 2, 2009

George Harrison is believed to have forged all the signatures of the Beatles to make a dying fan”s wish come true.

The report emerged after an autographed picture of the band was sold at Keys auctioneers in Aylsham, Norfolk on Friday.

It was donated by Harry Bartlett, of Rickinghall, Suffolk, whose daughter Ann received the photograph shortly before her death in the late 1960s at the age of 16. Read the rest of the story here.

harrisonautographs

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LiteratEye #12: Is That a Ferret in Your Pocket, Or Are You Just Glad to See Me?

Here’s the twelth installment of LiteratEye, a series found only on The Art of the Prank Blog, by W.J. Elvin III, editor and publisher of FIONA: Mysteries & Curiosities of Literary Fraud & Folly and the LitFraud blog.

LiteratEye #12: Is That a Ferret in Your Pocket, Or Are You Just Glad to See Me?
By W.J. Elvin III
May 1, 2009

beyondheavingbosomsYou’ve probably already ordered the new book, Beyond Heaving Bosoms, so I won’t go into a lot of spoiler detail. But, then again, maybe you’re new to the lusty, earth-quaking realm where the “heroine’s irresistible Magic Hoo Hoo and the hero’s untamable Wang of Mighty Lovin” collide in pulsating passion. Welcome.

This week we are looking into how the feisty Bosoms authors blew popular romance novelist Cassie Edwards out of the water. Edwards has over ten million books in print. Her unraveling involves ferrets.

Bosoms’ subtitle is: “The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels.” It’s by Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan, the bright and clever brains behind the Smart Bitches/Trashy Books blog.

Their beat is the fattest fiction genre with the biggest profits in book publishing. Critically, sometimes hilariously, sometimes academically, they review romance novels and the unique and often enough weird world of romance writers and readers. It’s a world where you’ll encounter Cassie Edwards and the ferrets. Continue reading “LiteratEye #12: Is That a Ferret in Your Pocket, Or Are You Just Glad to See Me?”

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LiteratEye #11: Motive for Murder

Here’s the eleventh installment of LiteratEye, a series found only on The Art of the Prank Blog, by W.J. Elvin III, editor and publisher of FIONA: Mysteries & Curiosities of Literary Fraud & Folly and the LitFraud blog.

LiteratEye #11: Motive for Murder
By W.J. Elvin III
April 24, 2009

“I felt at the time like someone would have to die, that drastic measures were called for, but I didn’t know who.” … “I even thought of the possibility of killing people who were not involved in the fraud schemes at all “¦ And I could tell the fraud victims I was too busy with those deaths to come through on the frauds. The whole idea was not to get caught for the frauds.” (Quotes from Mark Hofmann noted in the book, “Salamander” by Linda Sillitoe and Allen Roberts).

Mark W. HofmannMark Hofmann would be considered a celebrity genius of literary forgery and fraud if he hadn’t flipped out and killed some people. As a result of the murders, he’ll go down in history as a warped and callous ogre.

Before going on, I’d like to clear the air about one thing. There’s a mistake I’ve been making for some time in referring to Hofmann as “the greatest forger of the past century.” George J. Throckmorton brought it to my attention in one of the few books about the case that I’d overlooked until recently, “Motive for Murder.” What should be said is: “Mark Hofmann was the greatest forger of the last century who got caught.”

Obviously, the truly great forgers will remain forever unknown.

Aside from that, the most interesting aspect of Throckmorton’s book is, as the title suggests, his exploration of Hofmann’s motive for the killings. Continue reading “LiteratEye #11: Motive for Murder”

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