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The Hammond Castle Books |
The second volume debuted in February 2020 click here |
Living in the Past, Looking to the Future: The Biography of John Hays Hammond, Jr. As an inventor, Hammond is considered "The Father of Radio Control." He was a protégé of both Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Alva Edison—Hammond visited the West Orange lab and became lifelong friends with his contemporary, the youngest Edison son, Theodore. Theodore and his wife often visited Hammond's castle home in Massachusetts while driving to their summer house in Maine. Whereas Edison's "Invention Factory" amassed nearly 1,100 patents, Hammond almost single-handedly accumulated 800 worldwide patents and his hob-nobbing lifestyle was much more fun. In the summer of 2008, Hammond Castle finally implemented John's decade-old idea to restore the kitchen of the castle in true vintage style and dedicate it to Hammond's cook, the late Nellie Nally Connors. Nellie became a dear friend to both John and his wife. Her insights and anecdotes about Hammond greatly aided in the writing his biography. A nod of gratitude was given by making Nellie a pivotal character in John's mystery novels, Dead by All Appearances and Dead in Small Doses, which are set at the castle during World War II. Nellie was aware of that homage at the time of her death and she took great amusement in it. The museum has also followed John's suggestion to publicly open Hammond's private lower-level dining room which was referred to as The War Room because of its mural depicting Gloucester Harbor under a fictitious air/sea attack and defended by Hammond's inventions. The sales of John's works have generated more than $50,000 towards the preservation
of Hammond Castle Museum. |
Just like all proper castles, Hammond Castle has it own ghostly occurrences |
John is the editor of this collection of Hammond's short stories |
The Wind Mysteries |
John is also the author of the distinctly different Wind series set in his adopted New England. All four novels use Hammond Castle Museum as a centerpiece. What all of his works share is a focus on personalizing history in an accurate fashion. The unique premise of the Wind series: Kirsten Eriksson possesses The Sight. Her dreams can relive the past and foresee the future... "Dandola's storytelling gift...entertains us with quirky, eccentric [characters].…fun, believable people who have personalities that really tick…Dandola has perfected [Kirsten's] dream technique and uses it like a movie camera for the reader…" —Libro The protagonists of these novels are school teachers and their professional experiences are based on actual incidents within the West Orange School System. CLICK HERE for details |
Angel the cat returns to assist in solving a third mystery |
"I had a writing companion, a cat named Angel. She was a stray who adopted us. She
used to sit or sleep on my desk while I worked. If she craved attention, she walked across or plopped herself down on the computer keyboard so that she could be petted. Angel passed away on March 10, 2021. Her loss is profound. To deal with that, I made her a character in my Wind novels so that I can keep her with me." ---John Dandola You can read about what happened to Angel by clicking HERE |
The Play's the Thing... CLICK HERE for John's produced stage plays |
John has relocated to Florida |
"...where the water's warm ; the drinks are cold; and I don't know the names of the
players." |
* The Thomas Edison-Henry Ford Winter Estates museum in Fort Myers, Florida, is extraordinarily well-maintained, public-friendly, and community-conscious unlike the usually adversarial Edison National Historic Site in West Orange, New Jersey. |
CLICK HERE |
CLICK HERE |
West Orange Connection |
Hammond Castle Connection |
To Order John's Books Directly from the Publisher |
CLICK HERE |
Copyright © 2000–2024 John Dandola, Ltd. All rights reserved. |
Author-Screenwriter-Playwright-Historian |