When Elspeth Martins’ agent first sent me the proposal for From Crash to Conspiracy in early 2012, I was immediately intrigued. I had read and admired Elspeth’s first book Snapped, and I knew that if anyone could come up with a fresh perspective on the events surrounding Black Thursday and The Three, it was Elspeth. As the book started taking shape, it was clear we had something very special on our hands. We decided to rush it into production, choosing to publish in early October before the landmark 2012 election.
Within a week it went into a second, then a third printing. To date, despite the worldwide recession and a massive drop in book sales overall, more than 15 million print and digital editions have been sold. And no one–least of all Elspeth herself–could have foreseen the furore the book would cause.
So why an anniversary edition? Why republish the book that the Rationalist League has dubbed ‘inflammatory and dangerous’ in these deeply troubled times?
Apart from the most obvious reason–that the book itself has cultural and historical significance as it undoubtedly influenced the 2012 US presidential election–we were granted the rights to some exciting new material that forms the appendix to this edition. Many readers will be aware that on the second anniversary of Black Thursday, Elspeth Martins disappeared. The facts are these: after travelling to Japan, Elspeth left her hotel in Roppongi, Tokyo on the morning of 12 January 2014. We can only speculate what transpired afterwards, as later attempts to trace her last movements have been hampered by the escalating tension in the area. It does not appear that her credit cards or phone were used after this date, although a self-published book, Untold Stories from Black Thursday and Beyond, by ‘E. Martins’, appeared on Amazon in October 2014. Speculation is rife as to whether the author is actually Elspeth herself or an impostor eager to cash in on FCTC’s notoriety.
For this anniversary edition, we have permission from Elspeth’s former partner, Samantha Himmelman, to publish her last known correspondence, which is included below.
Elspeth, if you are reading this, please get in touch.
Jared Arthur
Editorial Director
Jameson & White
New York
(January 2015)
TO: <Samantha Himmelman> samh56@ajbrooksideagency.com
FROM: <Elspeth Martins>elliemartini@fctc.com
SUBJECT: Please read
12 January 2014, 7.14 a.m.
Sam,
I know you asked me not to contact you again, but it seems fitting to send this to you on the second anniversary of Black Thursday, especially as tomorrow I’m going to the Aokigahara Forest. Daniel–my contact in Tokyo–is desperately trying to dissuade me, but I’ve come this far, may as well go all the way. I don’t want to sound melodramatic, but people do have a habit of going into that forest and not coming out again, don’t they? Don’t worry–this isn’t a suicide note. Not sure what it is. Guess I thought I deserved a chance to make things right, and someone needs to know why I’m here.
No doubt you think I’m crazy travelling to Japan right now, specially with the spectre of the tri-Asian alliance on the horizon, but the situation here isn’t as dire as you might have heard. I didn’t pick up any hostility from the customs officials or from the people milling around the airport Arrivals area; if anything, they were indifferent. That said, my hotel in the ‘Westerners’ Sector’, which used to be a mega-star Hyatt–gargantuan marble lobby, designer staircases–has seriously gone to seed. According to a Danish guy I spoke to in the immigration queue, the hotels assigned to Westerners are now being run by Brazilian immigrants on limited visas and minimum wage–i.e., zero initiative to give a crap about standards. Only one of the elevators is working, several of the light bulbs in the corridors are dead (I was seriously spooked walking to my room) and I don’t think anyone’s bothered to vacuum the carpets for months. My room stinks of stale cigarette smoke and there’s black mould on the shower tiles. On the upside, the toilet–a sci-fi style thing with a heated seat–works like a dream (thank you, Japanese engineering).
Anyway–I’m not writing to you to whine about my hotel room–see attached. I can’t make you read it, for all I know you’ll scan the subject line and delete it. I know you won’t believe me, but despite all the cut n pasted stuff and transcripts in it (you know me, old habits die hard), I swear I’m not planning on using the content in another book–or at least I’m not now. I’m done with all that.
xx