Adam Selzer

Adam Selzer (born July 13, 1980, in Des Moines, Iowa) is an American author, originally of young adult and middle grade novels, though his work after 2011 has primarily been adult nonfiction.

Adam Selzer
Selzer in 2015.
Selzer in 2015.
Born (1980-07-13) July 13, 1980
Des Moines, Iowa
OccupationAuthor
NationalityAmerican

Biography

Adam Selzer's first novel was How To Get Suspended and Influence People, a 2007 Random House novel which was included on the Chicago Public Schools 2007 Summer Reading List.[1] It was also nominated for a Cybils 2007 Young Adult Fiction award,[2] and, in 2009, made national news after attempts were made to have it removed from an Idaho library;[3][4] it was included in the American Library Association's Banned Books Week packet in 2010.[5] In 2013, his 2011 novel Sparks (published under the name "SJ Adams") was named a Stonewall Honor book,[6] as well as being placed on the ALA's "Rainbow List."[7] His Smart Aleck's Guide to American History (Random House 2009) was nominated for a YALSA award for nonfiction by the American Library Association in 2011,[8] and his novel for younger readers, I Put a Spell On You: From the Files of Chrissie Woodward, Spelling Bee Detective (which was based on Watergate) was nominated for a Great Lakes Book Award[9] and short-listed for an Edgar award nomination. It became a notable choice for classroom reading.[10] A 2009 short film he co-wrote, At Last, Okemah!, won awards at multiple festivals.[11][12]

In 2009, Adam's editor at Random House asked him to write a book based on "I Thought She Was a Goth," a song he had written a decade earlier. The resulting book, I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked It was released in January 2010.[13] to acclaim from trade reviewers, who described it as "smart," "original," "hilarious," and "a scathing parody (of the paranormal romance genre)".[14] Film rights were optioned by Disney Channel Original Movies[15] A follow-up (to both that book and I Put a Spell On You) entitled Extraordinary* was released by Delacorte in 2011,[16] the same day as he published Sparks with Flux under the name SJ Adams.[17]

His first nonfiction book for Random House was The Smart Aleck's Guide to American History,[18] and was selected as a Junior Library Guild selection. Critics frequently compared the humor to that of The Daily Show and Mark Twain.[18][19]

Most of his books (and many of his songs) take place in Cornersville Trace, a fictional suburb of Des Moines.[20]

In addition to his book work, Adam works as a historian, tour guide and ghost investigator in Chicago. In 2009, his first adult nonfiction title with a major publisher, Your Neighborhood Gives Me the Creeps, told stories of his life and work as a ghost tour guide and as a skeptic in the ghost-hunting field. He stepped down from his position with Weird Chicago Tours after the Halloween season in 2009.[21] In 2011, he returned to tour guide work for the Chicago Hauntings tour company and continued with them until 2015.

In 2017 he released the first comprehensive biography of Chicago multi-murderer HH Holmes.

List of works

Novels
  • How to Get Suspended and Influence People, Delacorte Press, 2007 ISBN 978-0-385-73369-4
  • Pirates of the Retail Wasteland, Delacorte Press, 2008 ISBN 978-0-385-73482-0
  • I Put a Spell On You, Delacorte Press, 2008 ISBN 978-0-385-90498-8
  • I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked I, Delacorte Press 2010 ISBN 978-0-385-73503-2
  • Andrew North Blows Up the World, Delacorte Press, 2009 ISBN 978-0-375-89375-9
  • Extraordinary: The True Story of My Fairy Godparent, Who Almost Killed Me, and Certainly Never Made Me a Princess Delacorte Press 2011 ISBN 978-0385736497
  • Sparks, Flux 2011 (writing as S.J. Adams) ISBN 0738726761
  • Play Me Backward Simon & Schuster 2014 ISBN 9781481401029
  • Just Kill Me Simon & Schuster 2016 ISBN 978-1-4814-3494-2

Nonfiction
  • The Smart Aleck's Guide to American History, Delacorte Press 2009 ISBN 978-0-385-73650-3
  • Your Neighborhood Gives Me the Creeps: True Tales of an Accidental Ghost Hunter, Llewellyn Press, 2009 ISBN 978-0-7387-1557-5
  • Weird Chicago: The Book (with Troy Taylor and Ken Melvoin-Berg), Whitechapel Press, 2008 ISBN 978-1-892523-59-4
  • Fatal Drop: True Tales of the Chicago Gallows White Chapel Press January, 2009 (under the name William Griffith)
  • Speaking Ill of the Dead: Jerks in Chicago History Globe Pequot Press 2012
  • The Ghosts of Chicago Llewellyn Press September 2013
  • The Ghosts of Lincoln Llewellyn Press 2015
  • Flickering Empire: How Chicago Invented the US Film Industry Columbia University Press 2015 ISBN 9780231174497
  • Mysterious Chicago Skyhorse Publishing 2016
  • HH Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil Skyhorse Publishing 2017
  • Graceland Cemetery: Chicago Stories, Symbols, and Secrets[22]

Ebook Releases
  • Chicago Unbelievable Presents: The Murder Castle of H.H. Holmes (mini ebook) (editor), Whitechapel Press, 2008[23]
  • Bobcat Nation: Life among the Dylan Fans A Goon Attack Press (ebook) October, 2004 [ASIN B004GKMP5I]
  • The Smart Aleck's Guide to Grave Robbing [Open etc.] 2011)
  • The Smart Aleck's Guide to Shakespeare: Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth [Open etc.] 2011
  • The Resurrection Mary Files Llewellyn Press 2013
  • Devil Babies: Hull House and Beyond Llewellyn Press 2013
  • Inside the Murder Castle Llewellyn Press 2013
  • Just Kill Me 2016

Screenplays

References
  1. http://www.cps.k12.il.us/aboutcps/departments/libraries/pdf/2007_Summer_Reading_List.pdf%5B%5D
  2. "2007 Nominations Young Adult Fiction". Cybils. October 2007.
  3. "Idaho mom protests 'How to Get Suspended and Influence People' library book for teens". oregonlive. Associated Press. October 22, 2009.
  4. Press, Idaho (28 July 2023). "Complete news coverage". Idaho Press.
  5. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-09-23. Retrieved 2010-08-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "ALA Press Release | American Library Association". Archived from the original on 2013-01-31. Retrieved 2013-01-28.
  7. "2013 Rainbow Book List".
  8. "2011 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award Nominations". Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). November 29, 2010.
  9. "2009 Great Lakes Book Award winners". AnnArbor.com.
  10. "I Put a Spell on You | Instructional Technology Services". Archived from the original on 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2009-01-09.
  11. michaelgloversmith (2011-05-02). "At Last, Okemah! wins two awards at the Bare Bones Film Festival". White City Cinema. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
  12. "Chicago International REEL Shorts Festival (2009)". IMDb. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
  13. "Adam Selzer's Astonishing Chicago Tours – "That astonishing Chicago.. always achieving new impossibilities" – Mark Twain".
  14. "跑狗论坛香港正版彩图-香港六和跑狗图-跑狗论坛解跑狗图". Archived from the original on 2021-11-04. Retrieved 2022-06-08.
  15. http://literaticat.blogspot.com/2010/05/more-zombiriffic-news-yay.html
  16. "Book Page - Tabbed". Penguin Random House Secondary Education.
  17. "Flux - Sparks - S. J. Adams". Archived from the original on 2011-12-18. Retrieved 2011-12-24.
  18. "Smart Aleck's Guides: Subversive Study Aids".
  19. Scott, Lee. "Wacky U.S. history book will make trivia lovers chuckle". The Florida Times-Union.
  20. "SJ Adams: We Drill For This: Cornersville Trace".
  21. "Your Neighborhood Gives Me the Creeps by Adam Selzer: TOURS".
  22. Selzer, Adam. "Graceland Cemetery". www.press.uillinois.edu. Retrieved 2023-07-24.
  23. "Weird Chicago: H.H. Holmes Murder Castle Ebook!". Archived from the original on 2008-04-08. Retrieved 2008-03-17.
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