After reading through the posts on JDM, I started thinking about when I
began reading his books. I'm pretty sure it was long, long ago, when a
friend of mine told me he'd just read a hilarious SF novel. I was reading a
lot of SF at that time, 50 years or so ago, and my friend never read any at
all. I was surprised he'd read anything in that genre, so I borrowed his
copy of THE GIRL, THE GOLD WATCH & EVERYTHING. After that, I was pretty
much hooked. I read everything I could find by MacDonald from that day
forward.
My obsession with collecting paperbacks began when I realized that
MacDonald's books didn't come out in hardcover. I started grabbing all the
first printings of his books I could find. In the mid- to late 1960s, one
of the first fanzines I ever subscribed to was Len and June Moffatt's
excellent THE JDM BIBLIOPHILE. I missed the first issue, but I got the
second and subscribed at once. (Assuming that someone in the Texas A&M
library hasn't shredded them, that's where my copies now reside.) My
missives appeared in the letter column regularly.
So I owe a lot to JDM and his books. I haven't reread any within the last
few years, but I remember them all with affection. I realize that a lot of
people on this list don't like them, and I can see their faults, but I'm
still a fan.
Bill Crider
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