grimhaven's literary worth aside, it is crucial to keep in
mind that willeford wrote the thing in response to a
publisher's suggestion that he write a sequel to the first
hoke. he was disinclined to do so, extremely, and wrote
grimhaven very quickly as a deliberate attempt to make his
agent drop the request. you want a sequel? I'll give you a
sequel. how's this???
At 02:54 PM 1/1/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>John Lau wrote:
>
>". . . also, I don't think anyone who's aware of
Grimhaven's existence
>requires a spoiler alert on what the book is
essentially about."
>
>I have to agree with this. The first mention I ever
saw of Grimhaven
>was in Lawrence Block's American Heritage article
about the great
>hardboiled writers. It is always described by its
ending, the book
>where Hoke . . . Just as John D. MacDonald's rumored
(has anyone found
>out for sure whether or not it actually exists?) last
McGee novel with
>Black in the title (which I also found out about in
Block's article).
>Hell, that was its alleged value, the threat to kill
off Travis was a
>negotiating tool with publshers.
>
>I also agree with John on Grimhaven's worth. Plus
it's fascinating for
>how Willeford used a lot of it in the later Hokes
that were published,
>for instance, the taking off his daughter's braces
with pliers to save
>orthodontist money.
>
>Mark
>
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