The Making of Ripper Beach: An Introduction

I started writing this book by accident, as I wanted something that wasn't Torn Pages to write as 2024 began its slow, withering end. Post-election-season, I'm sure we were all at wit's end. Funnily enough, though, this is much more a book that looks askew at Britain, and London, in particular, than it does America (or California, where it is set). In a way, it has so much blood and red, amidst those snowy-white waves, that it is a Christmas book of sorts.

The book's original end was Jack the Ripper's ghost showing up to save Billy. I changed this, though, as it felt like an endorsement of Jack the Ripper: making him a hero. Instead, I had a girl deliver the final word.

It also got me a chance to flex my Sondheim love and, way more than Jack the Ripper, Billy's vision of Victorian London comes from Sweeney Todd.