Bulwark 3: Clarifications
Chuck haplessly stumbles one step closer to the abyss…
TO: Oscar Kharm
FR: Charles Meade
DA: July 13, 2008
CC: Sam Herneson, Conrad Post
RE: Confusion within Soltare/Montgomery letters
[CM] I can’t seem to understand the issue of these letters-specifically a packet of nine letters wrapped with a gold-trimmed green ribbon. Consisting of scattered dates between June 1, 1947 and October 21, 1969,
[OK] Please detail where, how, and in what state you found said letters, as I wasn’t aware of anything beyond standard Bulwark mimeograph or photostat copies among your research materials for this project. I was not informed that you were in direct communication with AJ on this, but did he provide you with any direct correspondence? While I do want the book in question to be complete as per its publishing specifications, some of the gentlemen’s privacies should be respected.
Apologies, sir; I was unclear in my email and in previous discussions with Conrad on this matter. The letters in question are all from Montgomery TO Soltare with one exception-a brief one-sheet response from AJ to Monty on August 15, 1968. None of these appeared to be in-house memos or direct letters regarding materials in the publication pipeline, though such matters get discussed in asides. I’m not 100% sure, of course, as what appears to be on the page changes with each reading.
I didn’t receive the letters from Mr. Soltare; they were found in the mailroom with a Bulwark-standard sticky-note directing them to my office. The clerk said the note was typed but had no other routing information on it; that same clerk lost said note in transit between the mailroom and my desk, so I don’t know who sent the letters to me with any certainty. Despite the non-standard delivery method, I kept the materials because they directly related to my current assignment.
I did contact Mr. Soltare by phone months ago before breaking the wax seal holding the ribbon around the letters (phone contact from office on 06/17/08, 6 minutes). While he could not talk long, Mr. Soltare okayed my perusal of said letters but wished to review the contents of the letters before approving the release or publication of any information or materials. He mentioned being in the Midwest in July and we might meet to discuss this issue then.
In the past month, I’ve had no luck reaching Mr. Soltare by either phone (messages left on 0626, 0630, and 0702) or email (4 emails in the past 3 weeks) to discuss my personal issues and inability to transcribe the letters. As a result, I’ve locked the letters in my desk and will not move further on them until you or Mr. Soltare can help ascertain how to proceed with them.
[OK] I’ll be in your offices on August 3. At that time, I can speak with you directly on the matter of those letters and reclaim them for AJ, if he or Sam cannot come to Chicago any sooner to do the same.
If at all possible, I would like to meet with you, sir, whether I can reach Mr. Soltare or Mr. Herneson in the mean time. On that latter note, though, I noticed Mr. Soltare is the guest of honor at GreaLKon in Cleveland the weekend after this one. If it’s acceptable to you and Conrad, I can drive to Cleveland, meet with Mr. Soltare, and clear up this matter entirely. I assume that the company already has a block of hotel rooms reserved for staffers, given the launch of Online Thrills; I can easily share a room with someone, if there’s a spare bed to be had.
[OK] I’ll be interested in seeing how you’ve structured the book for comprehension and coherence.
As my deadline on the book is in mid-September, there is some time to delay, though not by much. With the redistribution of materials and cross-referencing of the actual letters, I’ll need an additional 4-6 days and another 3 to recheck and reshuffle the TOC and index. Thus, you must approve the use of these letters before August 12 if I am to have time to fully utilize their details.
Thank you again, sir. I’ll remain in touch on this before then, but I hope to see you in a few weeks.
Chuck Meade
Originally published at Steven E. Schend. You can comment here or there.