cake image found at http://fmdg.org/
On December 11th, two-hundred years ago, Indiana became a state. The 19th state in the United States of America to be precise. 346 days ago, here at Bibliophilopolis we began a year-long celebration of the State’s Bicentennial year, retrofitting our annual “Deal Me In” short story reading challenge (What is Deal Me In??) to contain only stories with some Indiana connection. It’s been a long journey and, rather than spread out the final three posts of the rest of December (i.e. after Indiana’s actual birthday has passed), I thought I’d just do the last few early to get them posted closer to the exact date of Indiana’s birth.
Below is a list, in order, of the fifty-two selections for this year’s Deal Me “IN” project:
1st Quarter*
(*Hey, I’m an Accountant; I’m breaking these up into quarters!)
Week 1: ♣8♣ – Mr Blake’s Walking Stick – Edward Eggleston
Week 2: ♦9♦ – And One for the Road – Joanna Parypinski
Week 3: ♥7♥ – The Gods of Indianapolis – Jason de Koff
Week 4: ♠Q♠ – Life on a Flat Top – Ernie Pyle
Week 5: ♥Q♥ – Drills – Laura Citino
Week 6: ♣Q♣ – Bobby and the Keyhole: A Hoosier Fairy Tale – Edward Eggleston
Week 7: ♥5♥ – I Can Hear the Clicking at Night – Ann Gamble
Week 8: ♣10♣ – The Legend of Potato Creek – Maurice Thompson
Week 9: ♥10♥ – Come Go With Me – Nora Bonner
Week 10: ♦8♦ – Shadowed – Christine Johnson
Week 11: ♦7♦ – What Happens in Hell Stays in Hell – Clint Smith
Week 12: ♦2♦ – Play Like I’m Sheriff – Jack Cady
Week 13: ♣A♣ – A Reward of Merit – Booth Tarkington
2nd Quarter
Week 14: ♦4♦ – Missing Athena – Josh Green
Week 15: ♠6♠ – The Gentleman of the Press in Skirts (Janet Flanner) – Fred Cavinder
Week 16: ♦5♦ – It Came From Burr County – Marian Allen
Week 17: ♠3♠ – God Bless You Mr. Vonnegut: And Farewell – David Hoppe
Week 18: ♥9♥ – The Passeur – E.E. Lyons
Week 19: ♥2♥– Siddhartha – Abe Aamidor
Week 20: ♥A♥– Letter to the Man in Carnivorous Plants – Lauren Ann Bolton
Week 21: ♠10♠ – Politics and Poetry (John Milton Hay) – Fred Cavinder
Week 22: ♦3♦ – The Penance of Scoot McCutcheon – Frank Bill
Week 23: ♣J♣ – Next Door – Kurt Vonnegut
Week 24: ♥6♥ – Ransom Place – Corey Dalton
Week 25: ♣2♣ – The Boyhood of Christ – Lew Wallace
Week 26: ♣6♣ – Autumn Full of Apples – Dan Wakefield
3rd Quarter
Week 27: ♠4♠ – Men From Mars – Ernie Pyle
Week 28: ♦10♦ – Schliemann in Indianapolis – Michael Martone
Week 29: ♠J♠ – Peyton Manning – Champion: This Doesn’t Happen Very Often – David Hoppe
Week 30: ♥8♥ – The Devil and James Whitcomb Riley – Jason Roscoe
Week 31: ♥4♥ – A Conversation with Tim O’Brien – James J. Hanna
Week 32: ♠8♠ – The B-29s – Ernie Pyle
Week 33: ♥3♥ – Everything Strange and Unknown – Joe Meno
Week 34: ♠A♠ – Poet, Prophet and Philosopher (Max Ehrmann) – Fred Cavinder
Week 35: ♦6♦ – The Circle Effect – Diana Catt
Week 36: ♣4♣ – Harrison Bergeron – Kurt Vonnegut
Week 37: ♦K♦ – The Table of the Elements – J T Whitehead
Week 38: ♣5♣ – The Old Soldier’s Story – James Whitcomb Riley
Week 39: ♥K♥ – Not in Kansas Anymore – Rocco Versaci
4th Quarter
Week 40: ♥J♥ – A Hundred Ways to Do it Wrong – Emily Temple
Week 41: ♠K♠ – Songs of Experience: Bob Dylan at the Egyptian Room – David Hoppe
Week 42: ♣K♣ – The Haunted Valley – Ambrose Bierce
Week 43: ♦Q♦ – Uncle Sack – Murphy Edwards
Week 44: ♠5♠ – Profiles in Survival: Eleanor M. Garen – John Shivley
Week 45: ♣3♣ – The Boarded Window – Ambrose Bierce
Week 46: ♠9♠ – Profiles in Survival: James Duckworth – John Shivley
Week 47: ♣7♣ – The Pedagogue – Maurice Thompson
Week 48: ♣9♣ – The Beautiful Lady – Booth Tarkington
Week 49: ♦A♦ – Fort Wayne is Seventh on Hitler’s List – Michael Martone
Week 50: ♠7♠ – Educational Testing: Just Another Job – David Hoppe
Week 51: ♦J♦ – Murder on Indiana Avenue – Andrea Smith
Week 52: ♠2♠ – Working a Jigsaw – Barbara Shoup
During the course of the year for this project, I read more than twenty authors for the first time, and several I know will become future favorites. My favorite suit was easily “Clubs” – the “legendary authors” suit, but each suit had its own merits and I did enjoy reading some short, non-fiction works for the first time in a Deal Me In challenge this year. So much so that I may include a suit of essays in my 2017 version. We’ll see.
Well, thanks to all those who followed along this year, and especially those that commented on some of these 52 posts. If Deal Me IN was a new discovery for you this year, I hope you’ll consider doing the challenge in 2017. The official sign-up post will be on 12/21/2016.