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[shavethewhales]

Our very own Mark Kumming has finally produced a formally published book about Rube Dugan's Diving Bell and his time spent working on the attractions team. It is available here on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0851MLYC1/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1582812490&refinements=p_27%3AMark+Kumming&s=books&sr=1-1&text=Mark+Kumming

Mark is an experienced author and is full of great memories about the park, so I am looking forward to reading this one.

[Duelist]

I won a pre-Amazon copy of Mark's book a few years ago on this site.  He did a Rube Dugan Trivia Contest and both I and Missing The Green Trams (whatever happened to her?) both won a rough draft.  I highly recommend the book.  I hope Mark sells a ton of them- he's a great guy and a great writer!

Duelist

[Junior, too!]

So...it has been a long time! Thanks, Steve, for starting this thread! I have got to say, when I started revising the draft for the diving bell book, I didn't realize how much more information I was going to include in it. The pre-amazon version needed a complete update. The book has over 260 pages, over 130 illustrations, and weighs a pound! Due to the cost of printing it in full color and having so many illustrations, the amazon price is higher than I had hoped for but I tell you honestly that if you are a fan of this old attraction or really want to know more about what it was like to ride it or work at SDC, this is the book to buy. I released the book a couple of days ago, and spent that evening going through all my social media contacts to do the initial promotion. Today I contacted a buyer in the SDC Merchandising Department and asked them to consider selling the book in shops on park this season. We will have to wait and see what they say. They have not carried too many books in recent years. I personally have only seen a handful of titles in a rack or two in the Ozark Marketplace the last few years. Anyway, the project is out now, and it does contain many illustrations not seen in the original or posted by me in social media. I contacted many of the former "Junior Dugans" and asked them to contribute illustrations. A few of them did, and what they gave me permission to use is really fantastic. Two of the original 11 chapters had to have complete re-writes, and all the other chapters have new or different information in places. I am in the process of contacting media outlets with a press release and hope a few newspapers, radio, and TV stations will carry the story about the book being out. On a side note, I must sincerely apologize for not posting here in forever, but as most of you know I keep pretty busy posting on FB pages that relate in some fashion to Ozarks history and folklore, or SDC and Branson tourism related topics. Steve made me an administrator of the SDCFans  FB page, so you'll see my posts there frequently. Feel free to visit any of those pages I contribute to and share the info about the diving bell book with anyone you think might be interested in it. Thanks for your support! God bless!

[Coaster]

I can't wait to get my hands on this! Congratulations on all your hard work, Junior.

I hope SDC allows the book to be sold in stores. Seems like a great piece of history to be sold with the launch of Mystic River Falls on the site of the former Diving Bell.

[Obviousdramatic]

I won a pre-Amazon copy of Mark's book a few years ago on this site.  He did a Rube Dugan Trivia Contest and both I and Missing The Green Trams (whatever happened to her?) both won a rough draft.  I highly recommend the book.  I hope Mark sells a ton of them- he's a great guy and a great writer!

Duelist

Dont worry, I still lurk on here.

[Duelist]

^  Good to know! 

[palallin]

Good to hear from you, Mark!  I don't FB, and I miss having you around.

[Junior, too!]

Thanks! I can tell you, life sometimes throws curveballs. I have been a busy fellow the last few years on the FB social media pages. I actually had to stop joining pages because I was getting stretched too thin. Also, I only have limited resources in my library and wind up posting the same things on several pages. I've had to slow down posting in the last few months. I think it is funny, too, how some folks get all wrapped up on a subject and go off into rants on FB. A few days ago I posted a 1969 photo of students at UA/Fayetteville protesting the Vietnam War and anti-war people and veterans went wild on each other. Administrators had to pull the photo from the two pages I posted it to. They said the chatter was too controversial. I post things that relate to Ozark history and folklore, and administrators have had to pull my posts on ghosts, strange creatures (like Bigfoot) and UFO encounters in the Ozarks because people post the wildest comments and get nasty with each other. I'm honestly just posting things to briefly discuss some tidbit of history and folklore. I don't really try to create any controversy. Anyway, most folk like the old photos and the history pieces I put out there. So I will keep posting.

[MCLFLN]

Mark, congratulations on finishing and publishing the book! I'm putting this on my Amazon wish list and sharing with my SDC visiting family members.

Mark/all - this made me think..... Are there other SDC related books? Do we need a dedicated post / sticky thread?

[Junior, too!]

The miller at Sullivan's Mill wrote a little book, Ralph Hooker, first SDC Marshal, wrote one. A Bio was available on Shad Heller at one time. There have been pieces done on Jack and Pete and Miss Mary. I'm sure there would have to be others.

[Junior, too!]

Elsewhere on the forums is a YouTube video that is about ten minutes long that discusses the diving bell book. It was funny to see it done from the view of someone familiar with the attraction, and someone who is too young to have experienced it. Thanks, John for doing the video!

[Junior, too!]

Thank you Joshua Clark of Branson Tri Lakes News for doing an article in the March 6th issue about the recent release of the diving bell book. The book is available now at amazon.com