M. D. Schutzman: Historical Novelist and New York City History Writer
A Leiden Novel · Coming March 3, 2027
The Hell Gate Treasure
Two siblings from the South Bronx, a family that can travel through New York’s past, and the British gold that helped save a nation. Twice.
Learn moreThe Hell Gate Treasure · Launch day
Tuesday, March 3, 2027
Early readers
Read it first.
Join the early readers and I’ll send you a sample now, Chapters 1 and 7, plus a few behind-the-scenes notes before launch and an email the day the book is out.
The first 50 early readers can also claim a free advance e-book copy.
A note from the author
Welcome.
I’ve always been the one asking how and why. I grew up near the Stony Point Battlefield in the Hudson Valley, a hotbed of Revolutionary War activity, hearing stories of “Mad” Anthony Wayne, and I was a teenager during the 1976 Bicentennial. My family left the Bronx when I was a month old, and I’ve spent a lifetime wondering what life there was like.
A high school teacher showed me that words can carry an idea long after the writer stops speaking. I’ve wanted to write ever since. A career in Manhattan at PwC and EY came first. Now the stories get their turn.
The novels, 400 STORIES and the Parallax Pages share one thread: people. The choices they made, what they won and lost, and the hope that carried them. The past is the best teacher we have for what comes next.
If you’re curious by nature, you’re in the right place. Tell me what brought you here, and I’ll write more of it.
Novels
The Leiden Novels
Time, family and the Leiden Time Council: New York across four centuries.
Coming March 2027
Explore the series
Novels
The Cannon Novels
Spring 1775. The American colonies are ready to fight a revolution, but they have almost no gunpowder.
Coming Fall 2027
Explore the seriesShort stories and poems
The Parallax Pages
by Anson Decker
Short stories and photographic interpretations reflecting on life and painful experiences, encouraging a hopeful outlook.
Read the stories
New York City history
400 STORIES
True stories from four centuries of New York, every Tuesday and Friday.
Read 400 STORIES400 Years of New York
True stories from 400 STORIES, the moments the Leiden family stepped into them, and the stories still waiting to be told. Scroll sideways or use the arrows to travel through the centuries, and filter by what interests you most.
Henry Hudson sails the Half Moon into the harbor and up the river that will carry his name.
Petr Timplou, born 1601, arrives with the first Dutch settlers of New Netherland. Every Leiden descends from him.
The Leiden novels →The Zenger trial
A printer is tried for libeling the royal governor. The jury’s verdict becomes a founding moment for a free press.
Vote for this story →The Battle of Golden Hill
Sons of Liberty and British soldiers brawl on John Street, six weeks before the Boston Massacre.
Vote for this story →HMS Hussar reaches New York carrying British gold.
About the novel →The British land at Kips Bay. Upriver, the Hussar strikes Pot Rock in Hell Gate and sinks off Morrisania.
About the novel →Nathan Hale is hanged near the Beekman House. A wounded Hessian captain writes a note about the gold.
About the novel →
New York Lost the US Capital and Won Wall Street
Read the story →The Buttonwood Agreement
Two dozen brokers sign a short agreement on Wall Street. The Stock Exchange traces its start to it.
Vote for this story →Burr and Hamilton
Aaron Burr shoots Alexander Hamilton at Weehawken. Hamilton dies in Greenwich Village the next day.
Vote for this story →
The Knicks Got Their Name From an 1809 Hoax
Read the story →
Arrested for Measuring Manhattan
Read the story →The Erie Canal opens
Water from Lake Erie reaches the Hudson, and New York becomes the nation’s port.
Vote for this story →
The City That Couldn’t Drink Its Own Water
Read the story →The Great Fire
In bitter cold, fire burns through much of lower Manhattan.
Vote for this story →The Astor Place Riot
A feud between two Shakespearean actors ends with troops firing on a crowd.
Vote for this story →The Great Police Riot
Two rival police forces fight each other on the steps of City Hall.
Vote for this story →The city that tried to leave
Mayor Fernando Wood proposes that New York City break from the Union as a free city.
Vote for this story →Boss Tweed buys a small island off Greenwich, Connecticut.
About the novel →The Draft Riots tear through Manhattan. As they end, the Leidens arrive.
About the novel →Beach’s secret subway
A one-block pneumatic subway, dug in secret, is unveiled under Broadway.
Vote for this story →
The Murder of Wall Street’s Jim Fisk
Read the story →
Liberty’s Arm Spent Six Years in Madison Square Park
Read the story →The Great Blizzard
The storm buries the city and strands its trains for days.
Vote for this story →The Triangle fire
A fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory kills 146 garment workers.
Vote for this story →
New York Was Going Broke. It Rebuilt Yankee Stadium Anyway.
Read the story →In the South Bronx, Cassie and Rico Acosta are in trouble, and Kyle Leiden has a way out that runs through 1776.
About the novel →A new true story every Tuesday and Friday. The timeline grows with each one.
Get them by email →You choose
Which story should I write next?
Twelve stories from New York’s past are on the list. Pick the one you most want to read. The most-wanted stories move up the queue, and when one is published it takes its place on the timeline.