Your host:

• Welcome! I am a mystery enthusiast and pleased to serve as your host for this challenge. Here is my personal web page and my Mystillery blog. You can email me at rickmills9@gmail.com - Rick Mills

Game or Challenge?

This is called a Game, not a Challenge. What's the difference?

• A Mystillery Game is intended for those who are already participating in one of our Challenges. It is meant to be a fun after-hours "break" which does not involve a lot of time, tracking, or reporting. The Mystillery hosts two games: Ten Pins (October-March) and Abra Cadavers (April-September). These alternate, so one is always available.

• A Mystillery Challenge is open to anyone and involves some sort of tracking reading and reporting. The Mystillery hosts four challenges: Medical Examiner, Six Shooter, Beachcomber, and Century Club.

Instructions:

• Announcer: Ladies and Gentlemen, please stand and remove your caps for the National Anthem today performed by the U. S. Army Band.

• Get a Single by reading one book. Now how hard is that?

• Get a Double by reading two books by a second author (Different author than the single)

• Get a Triple by reading three books by a third author (Different author than the single or double)

• Get a Home Run by reading four books by a fourth author. (Different author than the single, double, or triple)

• You have hit for the Cycle once you complete a single, double, triple, AND a home run.

• Get a Foul by giving up on a foul one with the dreaded DNF (Did Not Finish)

• Get a Bunt by reading a short story.

• Get a Stolen Base by stealing (reading) a book which has been submitted to any of our previous or current challenges - in any year - by someone else. This is an incentive for you to browse the readings of the other challengers. Browse all the archived challenges at The Mystillery or search for specific authors/titles right here:
  Enter Author or Title:
  

• Strike Out when a book physically strikes out of your house (back to the library, loaned out, mailed out, given away, sold, traded, composted, thrown out, audiobook taken outdoors for a walk, book taken elsewhere to read, etc.)

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Rules:

• Spring Training is during March 2023.. During this period, note your readings you have completed since January 1, so you will be prepared to step up to the plate when the season opens April 1.

• The official Abra Cadavers baseball season is from April 1 to September 30 2023!

• Any reading starting Jan. 1 2023 counts.

• Honor system, no need to document or report titles/authors. However, if you use a tracking page. a link to it can be provided.

• Any genre may be read, not limited to mysteries.

• Plate Appearances may be completed in any order.

Archive:

• 2020 Abra Cadavers
• 2021 Abra Cadavers
• 2022 Abra Cadavers

Search:

• The title/author search engine function is only indexed on the first day of each month. Any submissions you make cannot be found by the search engine until the next first day of the next month passes.
• The search engine is provided free by a third-party service, in exchange for displaying a banner ad on the results page. The content of the banner ad is determined by the provider, not by your host.
• While we use this search engine as a title/author search, it actually searches every word on this site; so you can use other terms or names as well.

Messaging:

If you wish to contact another challenger, first try the Goodreads message system:

1. Click on the Goodreads icon on the challenger's line on the main page. This brings you to their Goodreads profile.
2. Click the MORE button (with the down arrow)
3. Click MESSAGE. This - hopefully - brings up a message form. Just fill it out!
4. If the challenger does not have Goodreads, or is not accepting Goodreads messages, send an email to me (rickmills9@gmail.com) indicating who you wish to message. I will inquire of that challenger if they wish to message with you.

Privacy:

• Your name: You can choose how you wish your name to appear. If you wish to change it, just let me know.
• Your image: You can choose your icon image. Initially, this is set to a publicly available image if I can find one (Google account, Goodreads profile, etc.) If you do not wish your image to appear, a generic icon may be used. Just email it to me. Keep in mind they are tiny (50 px wide).
• Your location is optional.
• Your preferred pronouns will be used if provided.
• Your email address is never posted, and is not shared with other challengers unless you specifically allow.

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Back to the challenge page • Revised Mar 31 2023