At Blydyn Square Books, our goal is to produce books that make you think. But we’ve learned that our books don’t just make people think; sometimes, they inspire people!
Take Mike Pedley, for example.
After reading our award-winning novel Thirty-three Cecils, Pedley decided to make a pilgrimage of sorts to the Belmar Pub in Binghamton, New York, where one of the characters was a regular patron.
Pedley planned his visit for September 1, 2022—because on September 1 in the novel, the two main characters were murdered.
Pedley walked in, ordered a beer, and started chatting with the bar patrons about the book. “I know it’s a novel,” Pedley told Jennifer James, the manager of the Belmar. “But it always seemed real to me.”
James was so impressed with Pedley’s enthusiasm about the book and the Belmar that she took a photo of Pedley and sent it to the novel’s author, Everett De Morier, a former Binghamton resident who now lives in Delaware.
“I was sitting at home when I got a text from Jennifer with a photo. It said, Happy Cecils Day. I had no idea what she was talking about,” De Morier said. “I didn’t remember the exact date when they died in the book and was amazed that someone else did.”
De Morier and Pedley got in touch, and when De Morier told the story to Tara Tomczyk, editor-in-chief of Blydyn Square Books, she couldn’t believe it.
“The fact that someone would remember that date and make a pilgrimage to one of the settings is incredible,” said Tomczyk. “That needs to be celebrated.” So together, she and De Morier came up with an idea for how to do that and ran it past Jennifer James and Ed Hickey, the owner of the Belmar. They loved it.
With their help, Blydyn Square Books arranged to host the first annual “Thirty-three Cecils Day” celebration at the Belmar on September 1—all because of Mike Pedley’s experience reading Everett De Morier’s novel.
Mike Pedley used one of our books to help invent a brand-new holiday. What will our books inspire YOU to do?
