{"id":33652,"date":"2025-09-20T18:58:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T18:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/33652\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T18:58:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T18:58:08","slug":"history-knox-author-to-offer-new-book-at-heritage-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/33652\/","title":{"rendered":"History Knox author to offer new book at Heritage Days"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\tHistory Knox<\/p>\n

Mark Sebastian Jordan authors a column each Saturday that reflects on the history of Knox County.<\/p>\n

So, if you haven\u2019t heard by now, I have a new book coming out, called In These Haunted Hills: Ghosts of the Ohio Highlands. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the ninth book I\u2019ve written, but the eighth to be published, and there\u2019s a bit of a tale to tell in that.<\/p>\n

My eighth book, finished last spring, is one that grew out of pieces I researched and wrote for this column. <\/p>\n

The Maplehurst Murder<\/a> is an expansion of a series of columns I wrote about the 1905 murder of Miranda Bricker, a domestic employee who worked at the Maplehurst Mansion
in Mount Vernon. <\/p>\n

For those who wish to review the case, the four stories can be found here:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0The Maplehurst Murder,<\/a>\u00a0Part I: An open and shut case?<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0The Maplehurst Murder<\/a>, Part II: The unraveling<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0A medal awaits the Copeland family<\/a><\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Follow up: from the Maplehurst Murder to Hollywood<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"History Knox author Mark Sebastian Jordan, as seen on a ghost hunt with Annie Tarpley\u2019s History & Haunts. (Submitted photo.)<\/p>\n

That book had originally been slated to come out this fall in time for Heritage Days at Malabar Farm State Park, where I sell and autograph books every fall.<\/p>\n

The world, however, is not always cooperative. No matter how some pundits may try to spin it, I\u2019m here to tell you that the economy isn\u2019t great right now. <\/p>\n

I know that is a fact not merely because of my curiously lightweight wallet, but also because my publisher for my historical true crime books apparently decided to slow down the pre-publication phase in order to push the book back to a spring release. <\/p>\n

I interpret that to mean that the economy is soft, and general book sales are down because everyone\u2019s expenses in literally everything else have gone up. Thus, The Maplehurst Murder is not going to come out until March 2026.<\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s fine for the publisher\u2019s plans, but I have more and more people showing up every year at Heritage Days looking for something new from me. <\/p>\n

If I keep getting more fans, we\u2019re going to have to upgrade me from D-list celebrity to something approaching a C minus status!<\/p>\n

Some of them are even telling me that the whole reason they are coming is to see what new book I have, so they can buy it and get it autographed. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s a good problem for me to have, but it\u2019s still a problem.<\/p>\n

Another publisher I\u2019ve worked with is the curiously named Alien Buddha Press in Phoenix, Arizona. <\/p>\n

\"\"One of the cell blocks in the Ohio State Reformatory, a haunted building which gets an entire chapter in Jordan\u2019s new book, \u201cIn These Haunted Hills.\u201d (Photo by Mark Jordan.)<\/p>\n

It started as a small poetry press, and while it is still very small and, therefore, flexible, the editor, Red Mitchell, has been expanding his operation into a much wider range of books.<\/p>\n

He helped me last year when I wrote and published my memoir Get Busy Living: Doing Time at Shawshank, which was about my experiences working as an extra in the now legendary Hollywood film The Shawshank Redemption.<\/p>\n

Alien Buddha Press is capable of working fast, so I decided to pitch a wild idea to them when I got the news in mid-August that Maplehurst was being pushed back to spring release.<\/p>\n

I wrote Red and asked him, \u201cIf I were able to write a new book in two weeks, would you be able to get me copies in hand in time for this fall festival in Ohio which starts on September 27?\u201d<\/p>\n

Red likes a challenge as much as I do, and he replied, \u201cIf you can supply a manuscript in two weeks, you\u2019re on.\u201d The game was afoot!<\/p>\n

Now, I have to let y\u2019all in on a little secret. Writers all have very different ways of approaching things. <\/p>\n

I have one writer friend, John Lucas Hargis, who plots out every detail of books before he writes them, on giant, detailed spreadsheets. He can tell you what is going to happen on page 224 before he\u2019s even started the book.<\/p>\n

Other writers may start without much of a plan, but they write slowly from the beginning of the story and work their way straight through to the end. What I do is a whole other world.<\/p>\n

\"\"The narrow country lane that leads from the site of Sarah\u2019s Grave near Greer, up onto Kaylor Ridge, site of the abandoned St. Joseph Mission. (Photo by Mark Jordan.)<\/p>\n

The beginning of my writing process (often after years of information collecting) is to not write anything at all.<\/p>\n

At first, I do nothing but think about the book to come. And sometimes (as in the case of The Ceely Rose Murders) this thinking process might last additional years. I call it \u201cback
burner simmering.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s basically the equivalent of slow-cooking food, or putting it in a crock pot. I let my book projects simmer somewhere in the back of my mind. <\/p>\n

Even though it\u2019s not in the forefront of my thoughts, my brain works on it, working out how the story needs to be phrased and paced. <\/p>\n

When I finally, at long last, begin to \u2018write\u2019 the book, it\u2019s mostly already finished in my head. <\/p>\n

My writing process is more along the lines of typing what\u2019s already 90 percent finished in my thoughts. Since I know by this point the overall shape of the book, I often start writing it somewhere in the middle, and jump around, eventually pulling the parts together.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019ve done so much writing, that my typing speed is quick. My fingers fly as fast as I can move them to put the words down on the page. <\/p>\n

After the necessary research and slow-cooking is done, it\u2019s just typing and editing. For that final phase, the actual putting of words on the page, I\u2019ve never taken more than a month to write a book.<\/p>\n

So, I knew that I was capable of writing a brand-new book of modest size in two weeks, as long as I had a subject that had already been through the research and slow-cook process.<\/p>\n

\"\"A key part of discovering the roots of the legend of Susie\u2019s Grave between Mount Vernon and Fredericktown, was deciphering faulty grave records and figuring out who these tombstones really belonged to. (Photo by Mark Jordan.)<\/p>\n

And I knew that I had an idea I have been meaning to do as a book for a long time now: A collection of true stories about hauntings, their origins, and my experiences of those places\/phenomena.<\/p>\n

After years of gathering stories, talking about those stories, and even writing about a few of them in this very column, I knew that I was ready to put it all together. I gave myself the challenge of writing the book in two weeks, because I know what a magical motivator a deadline is.<\/p>\n

The result? I wrote In These Haunted Hills in thirteen intense days. And you know what? <\/p>\n

I was actually much happier in those thirteen days, even though I was getting ready to move shortly thereafter, and was worried about figuring out a way to pay for copies of the book. <\/p>\n

It was a time of high stress, but I had frankly been pretty morose since I finished Maplehurst. By this point in my life, I\u2019ve grown to realize that I\u2019m not happy unless I have a big writing project to work on.<\/p>\n

Without a big project pending, I\u2019m lost. So, yes, we pulled it off, we hustled the project along, and the first shipment of books are now in my hands, with more on the way.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be mailing out pre-ordered copies (which ended up funding the entire first printing), and officially debuting the book at Malabar Farm State Park\u2019s Ohio Heritage Days on Saturday, Sept. 27, and Sunday, Sept. 28, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. <\/p>\n

The park is located at 4050 Bromfield Road, Lucas. My booth will be located, as always, in the Big House garage, where I get to commune with the spirit of Malabar\u2019s creator, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Louis Bromfield (who is in the book, too). <\/p>\n

\"\"The ghosts of the Renaissance Theater in Mansfield are also discussed. (Submitted photo.)<\/p>\n

In addition to my own books, I\u2019ll also have a selection of used Ohio-related books available. I hope you\u2019ll come out and join me. <\/p>\n

The local chapters include deep dives into the folklore of Sarah\u2019s Grave (near Greer), Susie\u2019s Grave (between Mount Vernon and Fredericktown), the ghosts of Kenyon College, and three whole chapters about Malabar Farm itself. <\/p>\n

Further stories come from Crawford, Richland, Ashland, Holmes, and Coshocton counties.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll also be doing a talk about the new book at the Knox County Historical Society on Wednesday, Oct. 1, at 7:30 p.m., focusing on the local chapters, and showing some pictures as well. <\/p>\n

If I have any copies of the new book left, I\u2019ll bring them for sale. Otherwise, it will be available on Amazon, and in the Malabar Farm Gift Shop, and any other local vendors I can interest.<\/p>\n

And, who knows, if this book catches folks\u2019 interest, maybe it will provoke some sequels. I have by no means exhausted my well of spooky stories, and I expect others will come forth to me to share their own.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s good, because, right now, I don\u2019t have a new book to work on, and I\u2019m lost again!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"History Knox Mark Sebastian Jordan authors a column each Saturday that reflects on the history of Knox County.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[489,156,373,31709,31710,31711,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-33652","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-featured","11":"tag-heritage-days","12":"tag-history-knox","13":"tag-mark-sebastian-jordan","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}