D’oh

For my weekly features I usually write the entries in advance. I wrote next week’s Flashback Friday and accidentally clicked “publish” instead of “schedule.” (This is the second time this has happened.) I removed the entry from the blog in less than a minute, but I bet my subscribers saw it anyway. Sorry I spoiled your Flashback Friday for next week. The rest of you will see it at 1:01 a.m. next Friday.

I’ve got the next two Make-a-List Mondays written too. And I have this week’s Select It Sunday, well, selected, though I haven’t written it yet. I like pre-scheduling entries like this. It saves a bit of trouble if I run out of inspiration on the days I’m supposed to post, or if my internet isn’t working or I’m busy or something. But the price is that I occasionally SNAFU like above.

Again, my apologies. But if you accidentally got a sneak peek, don’t give the Flashback Friday selection name away to anyone!

Okay, so I lied

I didn’t update yesterday. Life intervened.

But I have posted the updates I meant to post yesterday, today. And it’s not even four a.m. yet, so I’m only a few hours late for the first of August.

Enjoy.

Sean Munger does Linda Grimm

Sean Munger has written a blog post about Linda Grimm, which is up to his usual sterling standard. (Speaking of which, I read his new novel Zombies of Byzantium and was impressed enough to donate my copy to the library, something I do very rarely — less than a dozen thus far I think, counting this one. I only donate books which the library doesn’t already have and which I think would make a worthy addition to their collection.)

Whatever happened to the Whereabouts Still Unknown blog anyway? It’s been inactive for months. Did the author just abandon it? That would be a great pity, as it was a good enough blog for me to highlight it on my own blog — another honor rarely bestowed.

Flashback Friday: Charles Hall III

This week’s Flashback Friday focuses on a black male teenager whose disappearance is classified as a Non-Family Abduction and I don’t have the foggiest idea why. In fact, very little information is available to his case.

Charles Hall, whose nicknames were Charlie and Little Charlie, was last seen in Nashville, Tennessee on New Years’ Eve, 1981. He was fifteen years old at the time. It was 3:00 p.m. and he was going to see his girlfriend. It isn’t clear whether he arrived there or not, but he never came home again. And that pretty much represents the grand total of my knowledge on the case.

I’ve tried to find out more, but no luck. Even if there was media coverage at the time (and I doubt if there was), searching through the news for someone with a name as common as Charles Hall would be looking for the proverbial needle in the proverbial haystack.

To indulge in some speculation: it was New Years’ Eve. 3:00 p.m. is a little early to start drinking, and Charlie was young, but alcohol could very well have been a factor in his case. But who knows? I certainly don’t. His case has got to be classified as an abduction for SOME reason, but why?

This is frustratingly similar to the 1988 disappearance of 17-year-old John Lango, who vanished at midnight on January 1, 1988. Those “disappeared at midnight” things annoy me — did they mean midnight as in the ball had just dropped, or midnight as in the day was about to become January 2? He was also last seen leaving his house and beyond that I haven’t a clue. Missing teenage boys certainly get the shaft when it comes to media coverage.