At some point, an enterprising journalist will strike bestselling gold by writing a history of the dozens of end-of-the-world prophecies — all of which, so far, seem to have been wrong.

There was the Halley’s Comet panic of 1910, of course. Nostradamus famously predicted the “King of Terror” would arrive from the skies and usher in Doomsday in 1999. And the Mayan calendar was interpreted by many serious-minded folks to suggest December 21, 2012, would be earth’s farewell.

Regarding the latter: As autumn dwindled toward winter in 2012, what was writer Cristina Negrón’s first thought when informed of the impending Mayan scenario?

“Oh my God! I’ve never read ‘Moby Dick’!” Seated in the small library of her Mystic home on a rainy summer afternoon, Negrón laughs. “That’s really true. I’d always thought I had plenty of time to read not just ‘Moby Dick’ but a lot of the classics. The world didn’t end, so I gave myself a deadline.”

Negrón slowly made it through Herman Melville’s masterpiece and, to help propel herself through the process, wrote reactive and amusing chapter-by-chapter accounts in the form of a blog. A longtime marathoner who appreciates the support of crowds who gather to encourage runners on a mile-by-mile basis, Negrón figured there might be other frustrated “Moby Dick” aspirants who could serve as a sort of cheering section.

One of those supporters was Deb Martin, a longtime friend of Negrón’s. “Deb has the driest sense of humor that absolutely kills me, and she was the one who kept pushing me to keep reading and writing and turn the entries it into a book,” Negrón says.

This could be a book

At a certain point, Negrón switched from the blog format to manuscript and, though the process took a few years, she finished “Moby Dick” and her own reflections and decided to try to get a contract to publish her musings as a humorous faux study guide similar to Cliff Notes or SparkNotes.

When a protracted period of sending queries to agents and publishing houses wasn’t successful, Negrón decided in 2018 to print the book herself. The idea was, rather than to use her real name, authorship would be credited to The Classics Slacker — and “The Classics Slacker Reads ‘Moby Dick’” became the first of what is now a series of similar efforts.

So far, The Classics Slacker has tackled “The Scarlet Letter,” “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” “Pride and Prejudice” and “Madame Bovary,” all of which are very funny, with a clever blend of snarky humor and genuine respect. Built largely through word of mouth and selected events and appearances, the series is sufficiently successful that Negrón regards it as a full-time job.

And then there were three

But this is far from a solo project. After publishing her “Moby Dick,” Negrón took on two partners, Martin and another old friend, Heather Mastrogiovanni. All three contribute to manuscript content with a round robin approach to writing and editing chapters according to an outline. The other responsibilities of operating a small press — business and marketing, for example — are shared according to each partner’s area of specialization.

The results are terrific. The Slacker books, as crafted by Old Mystic designer Trish LaPointe, are beautiful, with a sleek, consistent look: colored borders with a Classics Slacker logo and a reclining and bespectacled stick figure icon transfixed by the open pages of a tome. Inside, each chapter is illustrated by thematic cartoons drawn by Negrón’s stepdaughter-in-law Kris Wraight.

Clearly, this collective Slacker is onto something — and the three partners agree that the sense of giddy fun in what they do is the key to the ongoing series. And to read the Slacker efforts is to experience an easy and consistent narrative flow that focuses on applying jokes to every possible plot development in the original books.

It’s quite possible -- though beside the point -- to flip through any Classics Slacker and laugh at the tone and commentary. For example, in their analysis of Chapeter 7 in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter,” the team writes:

“Most authors deftly and seamlessly introduce new characters into an ongoing story. Not our Hawthorne, he of the ‘Hey! I found a red piece of fabric in the shape of an A on the floor of the Custom-House.’ When he discovers that a few chapters have gone by without any mention of Hester’s daughter, he opens the next chapter with, ‘We have as yet hardly spoken of the infant...’ No, not ‘we,’ Nate, ‘you.’ Or thou. Or thee. The Classics Slacker respects whatever pronoun your choose for yourself but refuses to let you implicate the Classics Slacker in the misogynistic nightmare.”

And in “Moby Dick,” when Ishmael interrupts story momentum to engage in a 15-page “matter almost indispensable to a thorough appreciative understanding of the more special leviathanic revelations and allusions,” the Slackers reconfigure the arcane marine biology data into a “Jeopardy” category complete with clues and correct responses.

It’s about the fun

In an email, Martin, who lives in Pennsylvania, says, “I’ll just go ahead and ascribe (the collaborative process) to magic. We really work well together, and it’s a joy to be part of such a supportive and hilarious team.”

From her home in California, Mastrogiovanni emails, “The editing and blending involved may or may not be a lot by generally accepted standards, but whatever level it is, it goes so easily and joyfully that it truthfully never seems like work.”

How they met

Negrón, a Pennsylvania native, met Martin when the two both worked for Rodale Publishing, an in-state outfit specializing in wellness publications like Men’s Health. When Rodale acquired Runner’s World magazine, Negrón went to work for that publication, which is where she met her husband, writer, editor and local running legend Amby Burfoot. Ten years ago, the couple moved to Mystic inasmuch as Burfoot had grown up in the area.

When Negrón had a local launch party for “The Classics Slacker Reads ‘Moby Dick,’” her sister Olivia, who lives in Los Angeles, insisted on hosting a similar event back in California. It was there that Negrón met Mastrogiovanni — a close friend of Olivia’s. With a shared sense of wicked humor and The Classics Slacker as a connective, Negrón, Martin and Mastrogiovanni eventually developed the team they productively enjoy today. And it certainly helps that all three are enthusiastic readers who nonetheless regard certain works with reluctance.

So many classics

“I’m a longtime reader and lover of books,” Martin says. “When Cristina began scaling the mountainous ‘Moby Dick,’ it was so much fun following her blog that I was inspired to read it myself. And, of the books we’ve tackled so far in the series, ‘The Great Gatby’ is the only one I’d read before. Probably because it’s the shortest.”

“I would say all of us are voracious readers,” Mastrogiovanni says. “And this project has definitely inspired me to read books I wouldn’t have read otherwise. Spoiler alert for a future edition of the series: No one should subject themselves to reading ‘Wuthering Heights.’ That’s why Team TCS is doing it for you. You’re welcome.”

As for whether a Slacker project can go forward if one or even two of the members don’t like the book, the answer is a definitive yes. “That dislike makes it into the TCS edition to HUGE comic effect because vitriol can be hilarious,” Mastrogiovanni says.

Even so, Negrón acknowledges that both James Joyce’s “Ulysses” and Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” are intimidating.

“We have to do them. They’re at the top of every greatest-books-in-literature list,” says Negrón, who remains the team member who selects titles for Slacker “treatment.” “There’s no question about ‘Ulysses.’ And we’ve got to have one of the Russians, right? Who knows? Maybe I’ll like them.”

A reason they’re classics

Remember how much Negrón hated “Moby Dick” when she started that first effort?

By the time she reached the end of the book, when the Pequod was trashed by the great white whale and Ishmael floated towards shore on Queequeg’s coffin and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five-thousand years ago, Negrón had come to love the book. In fact, she’s now a regular participant at Mystic Seaport for their annual “Moby Dick Marathon” public reading of the book and considers it one of the best books she’s ever read.

It’s perhaps interesting that the women who comprise The Classics Slacker learn to appreciate certain immortal literary works only by, first, enduring them and making fun of them. Perhaps theirs is another viable path to learning an appreciation of greatness — one that could be used by teachers and students. Whatever works, right?

And in that context, Negrón says, “There are three classics that will never get The Classics Slacker treatment. ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,’ ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and ‘The Grapes of Wrath.’ They are too beloved by me to ever get mocked.”