Cool Obscure Facts

Today in Salem History: On April 24, 1792, Abraham Solis advertised “Haerlaemer Oil” with “Dutch explanations of its use” in the Salem Gazette. This was probably Haarlem Oil, a diuretic made in Holland since 1672 and still in demand in the early 20th century. So popular was this remedy, practically…

In my role as pop culture maven, I am here to explain to you why so many of your friends are wishing you a happy 420 today. Your friends aren’t saying that?  It’s just mine?  Well, whatever. Four-twenty as a denotation of belonging to the “cannabis subculture” began, according to…

Here is another interesting historical document. Again with a feminist theme. Or anti-feminist. Also anti-romance. Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to read Sappho. Who actually wrote poems, not a novel. Unless they mean this…. They probably meant this.  (It was first published in 1888.) Yet again, romance will…

This is the bedroom where Lizzie Borden allegedly took a hatchet to her step-mother. (And you can actually stay here in this room – the house is a bed & breakfast now.) I’ve long known about the infamous axe murder of her parents and the fact that Lizzie was generally…

Have you ever wondered why Americans switch hands to eat with their fork, but Europeans don’t? Yes you have. You lie awake at night, in the cold early morning, pondering life, the universe, the number 42, and why Americans eat with a zig-zag fork pattern. Admit it. Well, now there…

Are you one of the many (many, many) readers of m/m romance? Do you swoon to Alex Beecroft’s False Colors: An M/M Romance or Erastes’ Transgressions: An M/M Romance? For anyone who might be thinking, “What, M&M’s have romance?” and trying to picture the green girl M&M in something slinky…. no. M/M is…

One of the points I make in my book PugSpotting is that pug owners like to involve pugs in everything they do. If you can put a pug in it, pug owners are there and have done it. Random insertions of pugs in books and artwork? Check. Pugs on utensils,…

Nathaniel Hawthorne (who as you can see was somewhat of a hottie) also experienced libel accusations in regard to one of his most famous works of fiction.In The House of Seven Gables, the name of the corrupt, evil villain is Judge Pyncheon. It just so happens that there actually was…

You may have heard how a Georgia jury found the author of The Red Hat Club, a novel, libeled her former friend by basing a character in the book on her – going so far as to even identify her actual neighbors – and adding that she was a right-wing,…