Site News

Complete Overhaul

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I am very pleased to be able to announce that for the first time in a number of years, 17th Street has had a major overhaul. Thanks to the help of my wonderful friend Angela, the backend of the site has been completely updated and is now entirely powered by WordPress, making the content much easier to update. Thank you so much, Angela!

The layout should be compatible with most browsers and operating systems, but if you notice any problems, please let me know. The only known problem is font rendering in Windows XP. If you are using this operating system, this can be fixed by ensuring that you have ClearType switched on. This can be achieved by going to: Settings > Control Panel > Display > Appearance tab > Effects > Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts: ClearType.

In addition, the site now has a twitter feed (@17thstreetnet) and an easily accessible RSS feed. The message board has also had a significant upgrade. Given these new methods to stay up to date, I have decided to retire the email alert system that we’ve had for the past few years. Nevertheless, as there were several hundred subscribers to the mailing list, I realise that there may still be a few visitors who would prefer email notifications instead of twitter or RSS. If you feel this way, please let me know and I may look into establishing a new mailing list at some stage in the future.

In addition to bringing the website’s backend and social media presence into the 21st century, the content of the website has also had some significant cleaning up in recent weeks as follows:

  • A search function has been added in the header which should be helpful if you have anything in particular that you’re looking for and don’t want to search through the various site sections yourself.
  • The author section is now completely up to date: The Legend of Broken is now included on the published work page, Mr. Carr’s mini-biography has received a small update, and the newly renamed press page has been updated to include a number of recent articles/web chats along with some old ones that I had missed before. I am also in the early phase of compiling links to various articles and op-ed pieces that Mr. Carr has written and are available online, so if you know of any that you think should be included then please feel free to let me know about them.
  • The book section has been updated and contains some new content: the third book page has been updated to include Mr. Carr’s recent announcement that another book may be in the pipeline, summaries and critical acclaim for both The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness have been added, The Angel of Darkness timeline has been revised, and the Alienist quiz has been updated.
  • The character biographies have had minor updates and now feature additional portraits of the seven main characters, created by the lovely and talented Tiffany. You can find them on the individual character pages. (Stevie still lacks a biography, but I plan to rectify that in the coming months.)
  • The previous “more” section has been split into two new sections: a locations section containing maps of Manhattan and Ballston Spa (in both image and PDF format for easier printing) as well as further information on selected key locations, and a history section. Neither of these sections are complete yet, and both will receive significant attention over the coming months.
  • The site section has also been updated: the about page has been updated and now includes my contact information rather than needing to access a separate contact page, and the links page has been cleaned up with dead links removed and new links added.

And that’s it! If you encounter any problems as a result of the overhaul, please remember that you are more than welcome to contact me.

The Legend of Broken

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For those who may be interested, a recording from WAMC Northeast Public Radio’s “The Book Show” featuring Caleb Carr talking about his new novel, The Legend of Broken, is available to listen to on the radio station’s website. In addition, for those who did not see the comments on a previous entry, a recording taken of a talk Mr. Carr gave at a book signing late last year has also been made available and can be viewed below.

Finally, I have recently finished reading The Legend of Broken and although I don’t normally write book reviews, I have come away feeling that Broken deserves wider recognition, especially among Caleb Carr’s regular readership, so I have included my thoughts below for anybody who has not read the book but would be interested to know more about it. | Continue reading →

Third Book News!

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I hope you all enjoyed the live discussion yesterday at the Big City Book Club with Caleb Carr as a special guest. Most excitingly for regular visitors to 17th Street and long-time readers of the Alienist books, Mr. Carr has confirmed that a third book is indeed planned! In addition, another crime novel with “historical overtones” is also in the pipeline. The full question with Mr. Carr’s response is below.

Question: Do you have any plans to write a third book?

Caleb Carr: Well, not exactly the time to ask this: I have just finished a massive new work, “The Legend of Broken,” which is very different, and yet, at its core, not so different at all. An experiment in the theory that most of the questions we’ve been discussing are philosophically eternal, like nobility, greed, and stupidity; and I hope everyone will give it a chance, even if it is not set in New York.

And so I can’t set RIGHT off to do another long Alienist book. I have another crime novel in mind, with many historical overtones, and if all goes well, I will tackle the last in the Alienist trilogy thereafter.

And yes, it will unravel the mystery of Sara Howard…

You can read the rest of the questions submitted to Mr. Carr and his answers at the Big City Book Club or on the message board. There was some really interesting discussion about the characters, the social issues at the heart of The Alienist, the question of whether the book will ever make it to the screen (or the stage?), and the history of New York City itself. Enjoy!

Online Discussion

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Although it’s been a long time between updates, I am very pleased to say that there is substantial news to report. Starting with news that will be of most interest to fans of the Alienist books, The New York Times is reporting that there will be an online discussion about the books this week on January 15 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. EST with Caleb Carr as a special guest!

The Big City Book Club will convene online for our live discussion of “The Alienist” on Jan. 15, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., with two special guests taking part: Caleb Carr, the book’s author, and Ric Burns, the filmmaker behind the public television mini-series “New York: A Documentary Film.”

Set in 1896, just as Theodore Roosevelt comes to take over the Police Department in a city where vice reigns, Mr. Carr’s 1994 literary thriller revolves around a murder investigation conducted by a reporter for The New York Times and his psychologist friend. At the book’s center is the mutilated body of a young male prostitute discovered on the Williamsburg Bridge, along with the nascent world of criminal profiling.

Join us for the discussion of the book and of the world of 19th-century New York.

In addition, readers may be interested to learn that Caleb Carr released a new novel, The Legend of Broken, late last year. Described as “…[a]n excellent and old-fashioned entertainment that evolves into a clever discourse on the history and development of modern warfare,” in a review by The Washington Post, Random House released the following description of the novel:

Legend meets history in this mesmerizing novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Caleb Carr. Demonstrating the rich storytelling, skillful plotting, and depth of research he showcased in The Alienist, Carr has written a wildly imaginative, genre-bending saga that redefines the boundaries of literature.

Some years ago, a remarkable manuscript long rumored to exist was discovered: The Legend of Broken. It tells of a prosperous fortress city where order reigns at the point of a sword—even as scheming factions secretly vie for control of the surrounding kingdom. Meanwhile, outside the city’s granite walls, an industrious tribe of exiles known as the Bane forages for sustenance in the wilds of Davon Wood.

At every turn, the lives of Broken’s defenders and its would-be destroyers intertwine: Sixt Arnem, the widely respected and honorable head of the kingdom’s powerful army, grapples with his conscience and newfound responsibilities amid rumors of impending war. Lord Baster-kin, master of the Merchants’ Council, struggles to maintain the magnificence of his kingdom even as he pursues vainglorious dreams of power. And Keera, a gifted female tracker of the Bane tribe, embarks on a perilous journey to save her people, enlisting the aid of the notorious and brilliant philosopher Caliphestros. Together, they hope to exact a ruinous revenge on Broken, ushering in a day of reckoning when the mighty walls will be breached forever in a triumph of science over superstition.

Breathtakingly profound and compulsively readable, Caleb Carr’s long-awaited new book is an action-packed, multicharacter epic of a medieval clash of cultures—in which new gods collide with old, science defies all expectation, and virtue comes in many guises. Brimming with adventure and narrative invention, The Legend of Broken is an exhilarating and enthralling masterwork.

Let us know what you think of the new book or the New York Times chat at the message board! As an aside, if you tried to make a message board account at any stage last year, you may have found that your account was not validated in a timely manner (my apologies, I was bogged down last year with work and study commitments) so you may need to create a new account in order to post. Rest assured that any new message board accounts will be validated in a timely manner from this point onwards, so please get involved and enjoy a discussion with other readers.