Posted By:
Hal LewisShoot, it really didn't take that long to write. It took longer to edit.
With the internet at my side, I was able to do all the necessary research in very little time.
For instance, I knew that the T206 Wagner was printed by the American Lithograph Company in New York in 1909... so I had no choice but to start with that fact and work my way forward.
I needed the name of a real orphanage that existed in Manhattan in 1909 and is still in operation... so I was able to find one via the internet.
Then I needed something to have killed his parents in New York in 1907. Bingo, the internet tells me that 1907 was the year Typhoid Mary caused an outbreak in Manhattan.
Bowerman was the "unknown" player on the T206 strip... and as luck would have it, the internet told me that he played in New York in 1905, so he tied in perfectly.
etc, etc.
I guess you could say that I looked up FACTS and then let them dictate which way the book turned. I wanted someone to be able to get on line and be amazed when they check the facts and see that ALL of them are real!