RosaliaPerSempre
First of all: happy New Year!!!
As from the post of the last 18 Dec. 2008, you will find the second edition of my book at the following link:
As you will see, reading till the end the present post, I have lost 10 months with my previous editor so I took the decision to publish with Lulu.com
How did Rosalia die? (post of 6 Nov.2008)
In writing my novel I have done a research concerning the diseases spread in the South of Italy at the beginning of the last century. I concentrated much on the infectious diseases since following a oral tradition Rosalia died from an epidemic flue. I selected the disease that provoked a high rate of child mortality. In acquiring some historical records I found really interesting an episode happened thousands of kilometres far from Palermo but indeed really near in time to Rosalia’s death, happened in 1920, while the following happened just five years later (1925).
I invite you to watch the documentary contained in the movie Balto (actually the documentary is available in the European version and not in the American one, so this is an occasion to watch it)
DEFINIZIONE DI BRONCOPOLMONITE (ENCICLOPEDIA TRECCANI)
E’ una malattia di natura infettiva caratterizzata da un’infiammazione catarrale che colpisce contemporaneamente bronchioli e alveoli polmonari, oppure si propaga in tempi successive dai bronchi ai bronchioli e agli alveoli. Essa può sorgere in modo primario o essere secondaria a un’altra infezione generale (influenza, morbillo, pertosse, tifo, difterite, ecc).
It is an infectious disease caracterized by an inflammation of the bronchi and alveoli, sometimes starting from the bronchi and then propagating to the alveoli. It can be a primary disease or secondary to another infection (such as flu, measles, pertussis, typhoid fever, diphteria, etc.)
What happened to the first edition of the book (post of 31 Oct. 2008)
I just reported a chronology of what happened to my book while trying to publish it in my country.
April 2007: the book was registered at the S.i.a.e. (to obtain a copyright)
Then, I sent the book to several Editors (actually not so many but indeed a good number)
I received some proposals to publish the book by paying to print it ( I realized the price was to high!)
I took part in some competitions and found out that my book was not even read!
In January 2008 I received a proposal to publish it without paying, I accepted and worked hard to make the book available to the reader as soon as possible.
June 2008: the first edition of the book has been printed in 1000 copies ready to be distributed.
July 2008: The book started to be distributed without any publicity (even in the website of the editor), put on some international distribution sites, sent to some libraries (that to me are still a mystery).
From then on I kept on working hard to have back my Copyright Royalty
Concerning Alfredo Salafia and my novel (post of the 27 August)
I have written this post since some insulting comments reached my blog following the issue of the First Edition of my book (funny thought that somebody has immediately read it even if it was not publicized yet, even in my blog). In any case, with the aim of not encouraging non-sense polemics I have deleted some comments and written this post to specify that in my novel what I wrote about Alfredo Salafia is not invented. I wrote it also to specify what in my novel is documented (Alfredo Salafia’s biography) and what instead is a hypothesis I have formulated on Rosalia’s embalming that is nevertheless based on historical research in a scientific perspective.
I have used outstanding sources concerning the biography of Salafia. One of those being a very well written and documented book by Christine Quigley on Modern Mummies where you can find a great chapter on Rosalia Lombardo and his embalmer.
