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The Big Update, 6/27/04:
Announcing Three Minutes: The Flight 93 Online Book Project
The what? And what does it have to do with street musicians? So here's what I've been up to, the big secret since I updated the page last. Over the past few years I've been neck-deep in the story of Flight 93. I've heard from a lot of you, gone back and forth with many of you, and frankly been moved by some of you. Some of you read the first, thoroughly debunked article; some only read the second. And coming up on three years later, I think I've got a good sense of what probably happened on September 11th, at least in terms of Flight 93. And it's a doozy. In fact, it's too much of a doozy. There's just about no way to ever prove what I'm thinking happened, happened. Physical evidence is long gone, eyewitnesses are getting fuzzy memories, and anyone who really might know could end up in Leavenworth for blabbing about it. In fact, it's such a wild-eyed (to use the current phrase du jour) idea, even many of you, the dedicated folks, will think it's just plain nuts. So instead of a piece of "investigative journalism" (which would be really bad journalism, what with few facts and fewer proven ones), I did the next best thing: I wrote a book that covers the entire story. It's called Three Minutes. And it's going to be online, here. The beauty of it is, anyone can read this. Not just 9/11 investigators, not just Flight 93 investigators. Anyone. It's (I think) a compelling, gripping story of what might've happened. It explains the inconsistencies that have bothered me over the years. And it does it in a fictional format, that isn't threatening to anyone. Because heck, it's just a novel. So tell your friends, is what I'm getting at. As you can imagine there are certain obstacles to publishing a book of this nature. Not the least of which is, I'm a troublingly average fiction writer. I've had nonfiction published before (if you want to go buy it, you sure can), but frankly many of you are going to be appalled by my novel-writing skills, or lack thereof. So, I've gone a different route. Between July 4th (you remember, Independence Day) and September 11th, I'll be putting up a new chapter online every week, until 9/11/04 when the last three chapters will all go up at the same time -- what I'm going to call the Big Reveal. And trust me, none of you will see the end coming. The chapters will go up every Sunday morning until September. The schedule (links will be added as the chapters go online) will be as follows:
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July 4 - Chapter 1 July 11 - Chapter 2 July 18 - Chapter 3 (early) July 25 - Chapter 4 |
August 1 - Chapter 5 August 8 - Chapter 6 August 15 - Chapter 7 August 22 - Chapter 8 August 29 - Chapter 9 |
September 5 - Chapter 10 September 9 - Chapter 11 September 10 - Chapter 12 September 11 - The Big Reveal (Chapters 13-15) |
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But Robb, why do all this work and not get it published? This whole website has been an experiment in nontraditional thinking, so why not this part as well. This is where the street musician ethic comes into play. I'm going to stick a PayPal button at the top and bottom of each chapter. In the spirit of a good street musician, I'd like you to throw a quarter (that's 25 cents, foreigners) in my guitar case for every chapter you like -- or even if you like the idea. Just like a street musician, you don't have to throw anything in if you don't like the music. Heck, just like a street musician, you can listen to the music and never throw any change in. But I know you'll feel better if you do. The next chapter will still appear the following Sunday, even if you don't click to send me a quarter (or more, if you'd like), I'm not going to hold anyone hostage here. It'd be neat to say this worked well, but even if it doesn't, it's still going to be neat. The rules are a little different this time. Obviously I'd rather you not reproduce the chapters elsewhere, feel free to link to this page if you'd like. And of course any similarities to real people are coincidental, blah blah blah... remember, it's fiction. Wink wink. So I hope everyone enjoys Three Minutes. As always, feel free to send me a note (or any corrections) whenever you've got something to say.
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