There are several pieces of site news and Caleb Carr news to make mention of in this update so I encourage you to read this entire post, particularly the second last paragraph (hint, hint).

The most obvious thing to make mention of is that for the first time since the site opened in 2005, 17th Street has a new layout! As you might have gathered, I love historic maps and the one featured in this layout is a panorama of Manhattan from early in the 20th century. Although the overall look is a rather big departure from the previous layout, I hope that you all still approve of it and find it easy to navigate.

In addition to the new layout, I am pleased to announce a new section of the site containing information about Caleb Carr which can be accessed via the Author link in the navigation menu. It contains a summary of Mr. Carr’s education and career, links to interviews he has given over the years, and a list of his book and film works. The only thing missing from that section of the site is a publicity photo. If you know of any relatively recent photos of Mr. Carr that I would be free to use, I would appreciate it if you would contact me. Please note that any photos you suggest will need to be of a similar size and quality to those found elsewhere on this site, and I would like to be able to get permission from the photographer.

Now, onto the news that I’m sure you’re all more interested in.

In completing this update, I made the discovery that Mr. Carr is working as a librettist on composer Ezequiel Viñao’s new opera, Merlin. Although this doesn’t really count as “news” given that the opera has been in progress since the 1990s, I hadn’t heard about it until I stumbled upon the opera’s website recently, so I assume that there are others of you in the same position as myself. Plus, I happen to love opera so this is almost as exciting as a new Alienist book, from my perspective!

For those of you more interested in Mr. Carr’s books, however, the opera’s website also contains another piece of exciting information: it is written that Mr. Carr is currently “continuing work on several creative projects, including a new Alienist volume and the Ezequiel Viñao opera, Merlin.” This, of course, means that we finally have confirmation from a source other than The Age (at last!) that the elusive third Alienist novel is in progress. Love opera or not, I think it’s safe to say that this is good news all round!

Well, I hope you’re all pleased with this month’s site update. As always, if you have any feedback, you’re welcome to leave a comment on this post, post at the message board, or contact me directly.