WHO WAS STUART CUMMINGS RIPLEY? For fact and legend click here

Chris Bauer admits literary theft RIPLEY 'WILL' A FORGERY click to enlarge A purported will by Stuart Cummings Ripley has been exposed as a crude fake by Pete Hamstring, investigative reporter for the Bucks County Banner. On assignment by the directors of the Bucks County Writers Workshop, Mr. Hamstring reported the following: Per your request, I have determined that the "will" of Stuart Cummings Ripley submitted by BCWW member (currently unnamed) is a crude forgery for the following reasons: 1. While I was only able to examine a computerized scan, I detected a faint watermark on the paper that indicates the paper was manufactured by the Neenah Paper Company using its Trojan brand papers. As its Trojan brand was first introduced in 2007 and Mr. Ripley died in 1964, the paper was not available in Mr. Ripley's lifetime. 2. The will purports to be handwritten; however, the font is obviously computerized, a version of a script font introduced by Microsoft in 1999. 3. The will is rife with spelling errors. Yet Mr. Ripley was a champion speller who won his first-grade spelling bee by correctly spelling "antidisestablishmentarianism." 4. According to the official biography on the Ripley website, Mr. Ripley left no known will. 5. The final tipoff is that the will incorrectly spelled Mr. Ripley's first name as "Stewart" rather than Stuart. As for the motives of the BCWW member (currently unnamed) in releasing this obvious forgery, I can only conclude that he did so in a crass pursuit of publicity and fame. My invoice, payable within ten days, has been sent separately to the BCWW. Yours truly, Pete (Hamstring)

LANDMARK STATUS SOUGHT FOR RIPLEY BUCKS COUNTY HOME


Original Ripley home, Tinicum Twp., Bucks County, PA

PROPOSAL TO DEVELOP RIPLEY
SITE AS THEME PARK

If the old Stuart Cummings Ripley home receives landscape status, developers have proposed turning the property into a multi-acre theme park. It would include a Ripley museum, library, 200-room hotel, several restaurants, carnival rides, zoo, a Home Depot and a Target store. It would be the first major development in the history of rural Tinicum Townshop, Bucks County, PA. One resident is quoted as saying, "Tinicum hasn't had so much attention since Mr. Ripley lived here, whoever he was."

proposed visitors center at Ripley Theme Park, Bucks County, PA

WAR-TIME RIPLEY LOVE...
TOKYO ROSE?

Ripley in WW II
by A. Scmiles

RIPLEY WITH...

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
by Mary Jane Aklonis
PARIS REVIEW INTERVIEW

1954

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FOR THE RIPLEY COLLECTOR GUIDE TO RIPLEY FIRST EDITIONS by Don Swaim

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LOVER OF HORSES
by Jackie Callin

Young Ripley and his first horse. click to enlarge

The Lincoln Brigade

Ripley pictured in third row, far left

RIPLEY IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR
by Jules C. Winistorfer
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click to enlarge
POSTCARD FROM DOROTHY PARKER TO RIPLEY 1936

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RIPLEY DEFIES...

"UN-AMERICAN" ACTIVITIES PANEL
by Knute Isinglass

Edward Hopper's 1935 sketch of Frannie Schmidt,
with whom Ripley had a long-running affair.

Don Swaim's The Assassination of Ambrose Bierce: A Love Story, published by Hippocampus Press. Available at amazon.com.

BACK IN PRINT
Don Swaim's H.L. Mencken Murder Case, originally published by St. Martin's Press, returns to print as a trade paperback through the Authors Guild Backinprint program. Available at amazon.com "...there's a dusty-attic charm to Mr. Swaim's fond evocation of bookshops past, and he couldn't have enticed a livelier ghost than Mencken to haunt them." --The New York Times Sunday Book Review

By Don Swaim

Both satirical and literary, Bright Sun Extinguished: Ode to Norman Mailer is an original pastiche of dark fantasy and horror. Download the ebook and the free software to read it on Macs, PCs, iPads, Kindles, or any digital device from amazon.com

by Daniel Dorian


by William J. Donahue


by Javad Mohsenian


by Chris Bauer


by Jules Winistorfer


by Jack Stewart


by Jim Brennan


edited by Chris Bauer

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