An Open Letter to the Austin History Center

As you know, I dropped off two copies of my novel, Where Love Once Lived, last week. As a long-time resident of Austin who is now living in Sun City Texas in Georgetown, I know you have a place for the publications of local authors because my last book, Automated Law Office Systems, is in the Austin History Center according to the online catalog.

What you don’t know is that the idea for Where Love Once Lived came to me when I worked in the building now called the Austin History Center. At that time it was the main library building. This was back in the 1960s when I was a part-time bookmobile driver while going to the University of Texas.

The librarian I rode with most was Jean Siedo. She was outspoken and somewhat unorthodox, and clearly not the typical librarian. However, she was loved by all the patrons. Liz Siedo, the fictional bookmobile librarian in my book is an exaggeration of the real librarian based on my half-century-old memories.

Another thing you don’t know is that my next book, currently called Vengeance Is Mine, also involves Liz and the library. However, in this book, she has been promoted to director of libraries. She likes the old building where the Austin History Center is and has her office there. The manuscript for that book is with a potential publisher, but I’ll make sure you get a copy when it’s published.

I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to Brenda Branch, the director of libraries in Austin because Ms. Varner, head librarian in my book is a villain. I didn't set out to make her evil, but early readers of the manuscript said it needed more conflict. Everyone loved the Liz character, so getting Ms. Varner fired presented a way to promote Liz. Remember, it is fiction.