Cedar Rapids author Justin Beahm will be selling and signing copies of his new book Roadside Memories: Beloved and Bizarre Attractions from North America's Past at Half Price Books on Sunday, May 25 at 2pm. Of local interest: the book includes a chapter on Chapman Fun World.
Book synopsis:
Roadside Memories: Beloved and Bizarre Attractions from North America’s Past presents fascinating stories of daring entrepreneurs driven to create unforgettable experiences for North American travelers, all now gone and lost to history. These pioneers transported visitors to new worlds, delighted with inhuman feats, terrified with homemade monsters, thrilled with heart-stopping rides, and offered rare encounters with wild animals, fantasy environments, and bygone eras. Here you embark on a journey to long lost amusement parks, enchanted forests, houses of horror, strange motels, frontier shootouts, staged train collisions, alien homes, and characters from film, television, and comic strips brought to life Some of these attractions endured for generations, others lasted mere months, and a doomed few ended in shocking tragedy, but all left an indelible mark on everyone who passed through their turnstiles.
Presented in this volume are the first 27 entries of the Roadside Memories column from ReMIND magazine, expanded with new stories, details, and images, Take a trip down memory lane and indulge in the spirit of adventure alongside some of history’s most fearless showmen and women in this unique collection that celebrates the power of tenacity and boundry-defying imagination.
Justin Beahm is a member of the Producer’s Guild of America, a director, editor, and writer. His Reverend Entertainment creates content for Paramount Pictures, Shout! Factory/Scream Factory, Umbrella, Arrow Video, Anchor Bay, Studio Canal, Ronin Flix, and other studios and distribution companies. Beahm has spearheaded theatrical releases in partnership with Screenvision and Trancas International Films, and his documentary ‘You Can’t Kill the Bogeyman’ ran nationally and internationally with the 2012 re-release of John Carpenter’s ‘Halloween’. He is a feature writer for cinema publications Fangoria, Famous Monsters of Filmland, Delirium, Horrorhound, Rue Morgue, Scream (UK), TVGuide’s ReMIND magazine, and several tourbooks for the band KISS. He is a speaker at events and film festivals, is the host of The Justin Beahm Radio Hour podcast, and co-host of Get Me Another podcast.
Half Price Books is located at 1400 Twixt Town Rd in Marion.
