© 1995-2001 Untangle Incorporated
Last Updated: Wednesday, December 1, 1999
Once not too long ago I was visiting a friend who just had one hip replaced with a prosthesis. She told me how she liked to read, and would need to spend a lot of time reading as she recuperated from her surgery. We swapped books that we liked, and then say mentioned that she did not usually like fantasy. "Sword and Sorcery" I opined. "Maybe" she responded. I reeled off about six or seven books of non Sword and Sorcery fantasy that I had liked. Then I pulled a distaste face.
I said, "I do not like Grail stories very much, except one captivated me and I did not stop after the first chapter. I don't remember the author or the title, but I do remember that it was set in England of the 1970's and it was about a detective who is reluctantly approached by the British government who has had the holy grail stolen from them. They have had the grail for years but that of course was a secret. The Mossad, and the CIA get involved too of course. But I very much was captivated by the step by step investigation, the destruction of the faux cover for the actual cup to be fenced, and the reluctance of the investigator to get involved in a matter both incredulous and full of government inspired danger."
"Sounds good" says my friend. And out of my mouth came this throw away line: "I'll see if I can find it." And so it was three days later that I was in the Lillian Smith Library in downtown Toronto trying to remember anything about the author or the title. Using their on line catalog I looked up authors who last name started with 'U' and then books with very short titles like "The Cup", "The Grail" and came up with no selections or way too many.
Desperate now, I went to the nearby information desk and asked the librarian there if she could help me. I gave a very brief account of what I knew or thought I knew about the book. The librarian was interested in this quest of mine and tried several more sophisticated searches on their catalog database and her general knowledge of books and how they get classified. She narrowed the list to half a dozen possible, and the author name of John, or David Saul. There is the "U" I thought to myself. And I remember thinking when I read it (some fifteen years before this search I am describing) that the author was someone I knew, or knew of, and was surprised they had written a detective novel. Before I went off to investigate these books the librarian cocked her head and said "Why don't you speak with the people in the Merrill Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy upstairs since it may be cross indexed under fantasy like Grail stories usually are. And they have very extensive databases and search facilities there. Do you want me to call Mary and see if she can see you now about this?"
"Sure" I replied grandly. And with eight quick double steps upstairs, and eight more across the floor through the glass door to the collection, I was telling Mary all the information I could remember about the story, even the surmises I thought I remembered about the story. Out came books about titles and authors of books about the Grail, and cross references by subject, category, year. There were online databases to be electronically searched, even one which could only be accessed through one machine and the not Mary's machine. Thirty minutes passed. As I recalled more details, other author names were suggested, searched, mainly rejected. After an hour there was one story that almost fit the bill, grail, detective (American) but it took place in Holland. And there was other facts not fitting with my memory. While my memory is not necessarily perfect the gestalt of the story I remembered did not fit this one. Another thirty minutes with calls to other libraries, and further searches. As in professional wrestling, one combatant, Mary, had to go for lunch, and her assistant jumped in to continue the quest battle with me. Another hour passed. After mentioning how grateful I was I said in frustration, "I remember enough detail now to write the book myself. If I publish the book on the internet then the publisher or writer will no doubt see it and I will be contacted by them to complain about copyright infringement. Then I'll know what it is called." We laughed and moved on. Finally Mary returned and we all agreed that her boss would put it on one or more SF/Fantasy newsgroups come Monday (as this day was Saturday) and if I left my name and phone number they would get back to me. I agreed to this, said I would try Grail newsgroups to post a query on and then thanked them again for all their time and effort.
Four days later I was in the library again. I searched the stacks of suspense novels they had especially for those authors who last name ended in "U'. No luck finding any matches, just teasing near misses. Then I searched the catalog again for the subjects mystery and suspense: reference. In this very library was a reference book cross indexing suspense novels with subject, author, title, time frame. I looked it up on the shelves, and started to look through it carefully. After an hour of reading I realized that it did not have the book I was interested in, but the title page mentioned the author was the librarian in charge of the large mystery collection of the Illinois public library system.
Back to the internet. I went on the public internet research computers they have in that library. I looked for the Illinois library system, and the mystery collection. Illinois library system I found, mystery collection within their pages I did not. I found an email address. I have free mail accounts. I used one to send a begging letter to the librarian in their library system who accepts public inquiries. My quest for the Grail book was definitely public and definitely an inquiry of weight. Have composed then sent that message I tried some commercial book sites, and search through them on subject. And sent an email to their chat site detailing the what I was searching for, why and a brief history of the quest to date. Then my time was up on the machine. But I had to find a way to send queries to Grail, and King Arthur newsgroups. I even have some on my own site but if one is not careful inquiries to them means you are subscribed for life receiving much mail that I did not want. And the request to post a question must be posed very carefully. Moderators of such sites can irritated very easily. Irritation leads to banishment, banishment to a life lonely.
Two days later I was passing another branched and stepped into it for thirty minutes to see what other 'suspense' reference works there were. Lo, there was yet another reference work. Nothing found except the name of the person writing it. Perhaps the internet would help again. I signed on to the internet and found I had received an email back from the Illinois public librarian who handled public inquiries. She asked me to contact another person within their library system, and gave their email and phone number. I sent of my begging missive to this email address. I searched how to send newsgroups messages without joining them. I was saddened to see that I could not find a method that would allow me to do it from a public access machine like the one I was on in this library.
A weekend and two days more passed. I received a message from the new contact at the Illinois library system. She informed me that I could contact a librarian researcher in their system, and gave me the email address and his phone number. Off went my missive again, to this new address. My friend was home now and starting her rehabilitation and wait. I sent off an email to her mentioning all the books I had recommended plus one which was to come. Maybe.
Another week passed, and the researcher contacted me. I was sitting in the Lillian Smith library steps from the Merrill Collection room, on a public access internet machine. Reading my mail. The researcher apologized for the daily explaining a high priority matter he had to deal with before dealing with my request ('was it life or death?' I wondered). However he had looked through 'novellist', some librarian database they had, and he felt the answer to my question was a novel which he described in some detail. Some of the details rang bells in my mind louder than those of a cathedral. The quest was over. I emailed him my thanks, my friend the information, and signed off, and walked into the Merrill Collection to thank Mary, her assistant and her boss. The grail I looked for was found.
