May 23: A Date That Will Go Down in History (or Infamy)
That is, publishing history or infamy
Of course, every day goes down in history—sooner or later. Every calendar date is already full of thousands of years of history. So, what of May 23? Here’s a short history of what’s happened on this date:
1430 Joan of Arc is captured at the siege Compiègne, later to be sold to the English so that they could discredit her in a show trial by accusing her of heresy—not the first or the last time a woman would be silenced by being charged with witchcraft. Apparently, this was just one episode in the Hundred Years’ War.
1618 The Second Defenestration of Prague: Two Catholic Lords Regent and their secretary are thrown out of a window but amazingly aren’t seriously injured by the 70-foot fall. Mind you, this window toss triggered the Thirty Years’ War. There was no miracle to prevent that. At least this war didn’t last a century.
1785 Benjamin Franklin announces he’s invented bifocals. Through the subsequent centuries, millions of nearsighted people have been grateful to Ben that they could read about all the wars people have started.
1873 The North West Mounted Police is founded (later to be renamed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police). Their motto, “Uphold the Right,” helps turn Canada into a more-or-less peaceable kingdom.
1934 Bonnie and Clyde are killed by police in an ambush near Sailes, Louisiana. Not peacefully.
1945 Nazi Germany is finally, finally dissolved when the Allies arrest the members of the Nazi Flensburg government. (Here’s hoping the current reincarnation of Nazism suffers a quick death and returns only as a villainous ghoul contained within the pages of a Stephen King novel.)
1980 The film version of Stephen King’s The Shining, directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Shelley Duvall and Jack Nicholson, opens in theatres. (In the novel, King uses the word “milksop,” creating a powerful verbal and spiritual bond between his novel and mine, between him and me.)
And this year on May 23? Will world peace be achieved? Will fascism be defeated? Will certain politicians be impeached? Will all the snow we’re getting buried under melt by then? One can only hope!
Only one thing is certain about May 23, 2026: my debut novel Milksop will be published! And preordering will be available one month earlier, on April 23. Happy reading!
Public service announcement: There are no battle scenes, shootouts, or haunted hotels in Milksop, but you may end up crying over spilled milk.
As always, if the spirit moves you, please feel free to share your thoughts and this post.