Deals with the Devil (Book Distribution and Film Rights)

I was writing an e-mail to Scott Nybakken of DC Comics, suggesting jokingly that Chris Nolan must have done a “deal with the Devil,” since his Dark Knight movie has made $400 million but most of the cast is now dead, fictionally-dead, arrested, or (in Morgan Freeman’s case) hospitalized from a car crash.

I could imagine enjoying an Alfred vs. Commissioner Gordon showdown, though, if they’re the only ones left intact.

But in any case, as I was writing said e-mail, a book from my 70s childhood that I ordered used online arrived at my office: Susan Price’s creepy 1973 horror tale, purportedly for kids, The Devil’s Piper (in which the kid heroes end up visiting Satan, a goatheaded fellow on a throne in Hell, which is depicted with unnerving blandness as a sort of empty 1600s cabin, or so I recall — I’ll refresh my memory in time to make it my July 2009 Book Selection — in the meantime, note the author’s diabolical photo atop this entry).

And stamps in the front of this copy of The Devil’s Piper suggest that its previous owners were the Belmont, MA public library (which discarded it) and a religious elementary school: specifically, the Armenian Sisters Academy of Lexington, MA — and wasn’t I just griping about a seemingly Hitler-respecting Armenian in my blog entry two days ago?

I’m not a believer in the supernatural — or even in fate/synchronicity (despite planning to see the Police in their final concert tomorrow) — but if I were, I’d say there’s only one conclusion I can draw from this odd confluence of events:

It is my unholy destiny to become the Batman of Armenia (not to be confused with the actual Batman Province of Turkey, of course).