Patarei & book promo

Hello subscribers,

This week I managed to finally close the last gap for Tallinn on my main website, namely by uploading an updated and vastly expanded chapter for what now probably has to be regarded as the most significant dark-tourism attraction in Estonia: Patarei prison. The chapter comes with a substantial photo gallery too.

But, given that Patarei is such a photogenic place, in that grisly and dark sense of photogenic, I decided to give it a new blog post as well, with less focus on the history (that’s more for my encyclopedic website) and more focus on imagery. So I added several extra photos not included in the website chapter photo gallery, especially ones that I found rather atmospheric (while they are less essential for illustrative purposes in the website chapter).

And that includes the photo chosen for the top of this newsletter. I especially like this composition for the way in which the different light sources work against each other, the filtered daylight barely penetrating the barred window and the tiny yellow lightbulb at the top bathing the interior side in a dim orange glow. Best however is that incredibly incongruous net curtain hanging halfway down the window!

The post and chapter also reported about the changes that have already been made to Patarei as well as the even more substantial changes that are in the planning stage. The part that is currently publicly accessible and contains the exhibition “Communism is a Prison” (and the contents are indeed as heavy-handedly anti-communist as you would expect in a country like Estonia!) occupies only a small section of the complex, namely parts of the eastern wing of the main former sea-fort building and the ground floor of the south-east annexe. The current exhibition is only a stand-in. By 2025/26 a much expanded and more modern proper International Museum of the Victims of Communism is scheduled to open. Their website promises, though, that the original cell tracts are to be retained. We’ll see.

For the rest of the complex, however, the outlook is rather depressing from a dark-tourism point of view. It’s all going to be turned into a commercialized mix-use complex of offices, apartments, shops, restaurants and entertainment facilities … in short: a moneymaking machine. The whole look of the structure will be substantially altered, almost beyond recognition. Already lost are some parts of the former prison such as the set of ‘tiger-cage’ cells in the inner courtyard, which is currently used by a mix of pop-up bars/food stalls and art installations. The abandoned library and especially the former hospital wing, which until a few years ago were the highlights of the strong “urbex” appeal of the complex, are yet more casualties. All gone, as far as I can see. Bad for DT but good for business, I suppose …
  

Other than working on this website chapter and blog post I’ve mainly been busy with continued PR for my big book Atlas of Dark Destinations. I’ve managed to pitch it for a review and will also do more interviews, and a couple of media contacts are looking into ways in which to help spread the word. But overall the results of my efforts were rather sobering. Most recipients of my many emails have so far not even bothered replying at all. I did get an independent bookshop to stock the book, though, so that’s nice.

Generally I find that the book’s quality reveals itself properly only when you hold it in your hands and start browsing. It’s difficult to convey this in promo photos and textual descriptions. Still it would be good to have more readers’ reviews out. So if you bought a copy, and like what you got, maybe consider putting a reader’s review up on the relevant online platforms such as Good Reads or, for this purpose actually quite valuable: Amazon. So far there are only three reviews up there, rather short and general, but all give the book five stars. I hope that more positive reviews will appear because that in itself can have additional pull effects. (Is that a word? I’m a total amateur with regard to PR, but it does sound like marketing-speak to me …)
  

But so much for this time.

Have a good week – and stay safe!

Best

Peter