The Purple Knight of the Ozarks
The Nearly True Story of T. Allen McQuary
A Serialized Novel with Historical Documentation
Period illustration
AI reimagining
Historical sources transformed through modern AI—honoring period authenticity while bringing the Purple Knight to life
This serialized novel follows McQuary's actual path through court records, newspaper clippings, and a surviving promotional pamphlet. Each chapter is accompanied by historical documentation, photographs, and newspaper articles that reveal the thin line between McQuary's fiction and his reality. This is the story of America's most persistent and creative liar—a man who turned deception into performance art and performance art into a way of life.
Table of Contents
Part One: The Quest Begins
- Prelude: A Rainy Night in Darkest Indiana
- First Interlude: From the Desk of T. Allen McQuary
- Chapter One: A Bright Young Man in a Dull Small Town
- Chapter Two: A Nearly Painless Digression on Journalism in the late 1800s
- Chapter Three: Ka-whang!
-
Chapter Four: Mack's Triumph Among the Presbyterians
The Purple Knight takes Cincinnati by storm
-
Second Interlude: Notes from the Desk of a Real Scatterbrain
Further discoveries from the archives, including McQuary's own promotional materials and newspaper accounts
-
Chapter Five: Our Hero Travels to Springfield
Go east, young man!
-
Chapter Six: The Offices of the Springfield Leader
Mack seeks answers in the city and encounters an angry editor
-
Chapter Seven: At the Admiral Bimbo Inn
Mack and M.S. Glenn get acquainted
-
Chapter Eight: The Zoo Park Send Off
Wherein Otis Bulfinch vows his revenge
-
The Third Interlude: From the Desk of T. Allen McQuary
McQuary's own account of life on the road, selling booklets and charming girls
-
Chapter Nine: How Mack Made It Work
Yes, Virginia, there is a Purple Knight
-
Chapter Ten: How Glenn Made It Work
Behind the scenes with the man running the con from Missouri
-
Chapter Eleven: How Claude Made It Work
A Note From Claude at Anthropic
-
Chapter Twelve: The Road Along Big Sandy
Girls, thieves, and other stories
-
Chapter Thirteen: Our Hero Receives a Lesson in Local Lore
The legend of the Hatfields and McCoys at a Kentucky inn
-
Chapter Fourteen: The Purple Knight Tells a Whopper
How to make bank with other folk's stories • November 14, 1897 • Pikeville, Kentucky
-
The Fourth Interlude: From the Desk of T. Allen McQuary
A meditation on mortality, memory, and the ghost of Billy Simpkins • July 28, 1948 • Galena, Missouri
-
Chapter Fifteen: Otis Bulfinch Has a Dream
One good cartoon deserves another • February 20, 1898
-
Chapter Sixteen: The Purple Knight Upsets the Charleston Country Club
Say what you mean and mean what you say • January 3, 1898 • Charleston, South Carolina
-
The Fifth Interlude: From the Desk of T. Allen McQuary
A confession from the Purple Knight • October 21, 1947
More chapters coming soon! This serialized novel follows McQuary's journey through historical records, newspaper clippings, and court documents.