I plan to buy DARK HIGHWAYS but my choice of which two
sections to post from the list of writers would be William
Lindsay Gresham and John Franklin Bardin. I did not choose
Kersh because of the excellent material Paul already has on
the Ellison website. By the way, I need to reread Kersh's
PRELUDE TO A CERTAIN MIDNIGHT to see if it is as good as my
memory of it.
Gresham's nonfiction book on carnivals is superb. A decade
and a half ago I met the carnival expert with the Smithsonian
Institute and he raved about the Gresham book. He was,
however, unfamiliar with Fred Brown and carefully made note
of the titles that involved the carney world. One of the most
interesting afternoons of my life was a behind the scenes
tour of a large carnival set up by the Smithsonian expert. We
spent a lot of time at the
"freak show" talking with the old woman in charge. She had
been in the business for forty years and took over management
of the freak show (think it was also termed a "seven in one"
show) when her husband died some years back.
She bitterly complained about the difficulties in
recruiting freaks in the modern era. It was a combination of
modern medicine and abortion reducing the pool to choose from
and social welfare programs that meant "they don't have to
work to earn a living now that the government will send them
a check every month." But she had hope for the future. "With
all the drugs kids take these days, I know a lot of freaks
are being born and things will be easier for us soon."
Remembering it now for the hundredth time a chill still goes
down my spine. Talk about hard boiled!
Bardin wrote several interesting, somewhat surreal novels.
Its hard to describe his novels...reminded me of Woolrich in
some ways and now and then a touch of Philip Dick. Penguin
did a three novel omnibus a decade ago that I recommend. I
also have his later PURLOINING TINY, which I have yet to
read, nor have I tried his mundane-appearing novels published
under a pen name
(Gregory Tree?). TINY certainly looks interesting. Any
opinions out there?
Richard Moore
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