DJ,
The publishing world of 1967 was vastly diffferent.
Publishers did not want we who wrote many series to use the
same name for all of them. They had not yet decided that an
author could be a brand name in genres. They certainly did
not want a mainstream author to use his own name if he
entered the genre field, witness Gore Vidal, C. Day Lewis and
others.
I was writing mainstream under Dennis Lynds so Ray Bond at
Dodd Mead wanted a pen-name for the Fortune books. I chose
Michael Collins in honor of the Irish revolutionary. It was a
big mistake, the name is extremely common in Ireland so there
are many Michael Collinses who wrote books.
When I decided to do a second series for Dodd Mead featuring
an industrial spy named Kane Jackson, I needed a new name and
got it off the milk truck that delivered to our door.
Then I sold a third series to Random House, about a PI who
worked for a big-time Madison Avenue firm, Paul Shaw, and
they did not want any Dodd Mead names, so Mark Sadler was
born, primarily because it had the ring of
"Chandler."
Next Random wanted a second series, so for the Buena Costa
County books I came up with John Crowe---I wanted it to sound
"Western," have the ring of an Indian name.
Finally, I sold a series idea to Bobbs-Merrill, and decided
on Carl Dekker in honor of the Elizabethan playwright Thomas
Dekker. But that series never got off the ground and died
after one book.
Of course, the different names did serve to identify
different protagonists as well.
Also there were times I would have multiple stories in the
same nagazine and they always wanted pen-names for that
situation, which is why I invented a handful of one-shot
names such as John Douglas and Sheila McErlean (my wife at
the time's name)
My biggest mistake was not using Dennis Lynds for the Fortune
books, if I had it would have lessened the confusion.
Sometimes the publisher would copyright the peudonymous books
in my real name, so the reader could check there, but they
didn't always do it.
I'm glad you liked both the Collins and Sadler series. Have
you tried the William Arden and John Crowe?
Hope you enjoy UPTOWN DOWNTOWN, but remember that it's a
mainstream novel, and semi-autobiographical. The title wasn't
my choice. I called it MAN WITH GUITAR.
That clear up anything?
With luck, PontBlank is going to reissue many of my books
under the name of Dennis Lynds writing as . . .
Dennis-Michael
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