Ghosts of the Grand Canyon
Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Judy Martinez, co-author of the new Ghosts of the Grand Canyon.
As I walk through the doors of the local bookstore, I ditch my husband almost immediately and quickly dash towards the New Age section, hoping that this time I will pick up a book on the paranormal that might contain new stories about hauntings that havn’t been written about already. After I search through the chapters of the new books and glance at the pages, I disgustingly set the books back in their home place, walk out of the New Age aisle with my head held low, and wonder why authors refuse to get off their derriere and seek out new hauntings and ghost stories for their books rather than re-telling stories that have already been published.
I knew exactly where to find my husband in the store; he has a smile on his face and is cradling several new books from the Star Wars galaxy. He instantly notices the frown on my face, and tries to hide his excitement about his catches of the day as he asks me if I found anything new. I respond with exasperation: “Nope; once again, the same old stories.” It’s at this moment that my loving husband loses his once-happy grin, shifts all of his new-found treasures into one arm, and puts his one free arm around me to give me a hug (I mean, couldn’t he have put all the books down and used both arms to hug me?). I desperately needed that extra arm of support.
I eventually decided that it was time for me to write a book on the paranormal, about ghosts and hauntings, that included previously un-shared information—new stories that are fresh, exciting, and true. Both my husband Brian-James (BJ) and I were once employed at, and even lived in, Grand Canyon National Park. Every ghost book and article we picked up and read at the gift shops on the Grand Canyon were pretty much all the same stories. It was time for those who are truly interested in the Grand Canyon to know the exciting history of the park, including its many hauntings. That is the main reason we wrote Ghosts of the Grand Canyon.
I still wander into bookstores optimistically looking for any book on the paranormal that might have some new material. Until then, my husband’s arms have a job at consoling my heartbreak and tears. I hope our book will in some way help fill in the gap left by all the other stories that have been told and retold too many times. Our hearts and souls were poured into this book, trying to ensure that you have an informative, as well as entertaining, experience.
Our thanks to Judy Martinez for her guest post! For more from Judy Martinez, read her article, “Four Haunted National Parks.”
Dear Amy,
I just finished reading Ghosts of the Grand Canyon, by Judy and Brian-James Martinez, which was published this year. I understand that you are the acquisition editor for the paranormal genre and not the text editor or proofreader, but I don’t know who else to address, and maybe you can pass this criticism along to whoever needs to hear it.
I enjoyed the book but I was frequently distracted by sentences that lacked sense. This occurred because, from what I could tell, no living person read the book before it went to press. Or if a living person did read it, they were grammatically challenged and thought that the meaning of the passages was clear enough that the reader could figure out the authors’ intent for himself or herself. The inattention got worse as the book went along as if the authors just got tired.
Here’s an example. It’s the second sentence of Chapter 13:
The overall design was more practical than elegant compared to other Mary Colter buildings, although it was still built to Colter’s strict design standards, with native rock, brown wood siding, and green window trim, it tends to blend in with the natural woodland surroundings.
To me, this change makes the passage clearer:
The overall design was more practical than elegant compared to other Mary Colter buildings. Built to Colter’s strict design standards that called for use of native rock, brown wood siding, and green window trim, the dormitory blends with the woodlands around it.
I know so little about architecture that I don’t know if design, as the authors used the term, refers to how the buildings were put together or to their finished appearance, so even my edit is ambiguous to me. But my point is that the authors shouldn’t expect me to mentally rearrange any sentence and that if the editors allow loose use of grammar like that, it’s a bad reflection on the publishers; it’s as if Llewellyn Publications is telling the reading public that literacy is unimportant.
Comedian Bob Newhart once said that he knew he wasn’t cut out to be an accountant when he caught himself saying, “Well, that’s close enough.” I hope that’s not the case with this publishing house. Llewellyn brings out titles whose New Age character needs all the foundation it can muster in these spiritually and politically conservative times, and indulgent editing and proofreading, and careless grammar help to undercut what many of us consider a valid alternative belief system. Please promote good writing along with your refreshing point of view.
Best wishes,
Reitman Rhyasen