A Writer's Tale

Oct. 7-20 I wrote a story called “Friend,” which would become the title story of the Deadline collection, “A Good, Secret Place.” (The title, of course, is a play on the title of Hemingway’s classic short story, “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.”) Oct. 14 I met agent Dominick Abel for lunch at Coco’s in West Los Angeles. He seemed willing to take me on as a client, but he thought I would be a tough sell because of my track record. (It’s all computerized, so if your books are not smashing hits, you can’t escape the record and your career inevitably goes down the toilet.) Mr. Abel thought it might be a good idea for me to escape from my record by writing under a pseudonym.

Oct. 28 After smoking a pipe since about the age of sixteen, I gave it up. For a while, I thought I might not be able to write without smoking a pipe, but I managed.

Oct. 29 I started work on a new novel, The Caller (never finished).

Nov. 4 In my quest for a U.S. agent, I talked to a man from William Morris. I was informed, however, that the agency wouldn’t take me on as a client unless I allowed them to handle the whole world, including the U.K. Which would mean dumping Bob Tanner.

So I didn’t go with William Morris.

It may have been at this point that I decided to quit looking for an American agent, and have Bob Tanner handle the whole works. He’d done such a fine job everywhere else, that it made sense. And still does.

Nov. 6-13 I wrote the short story, “The Fur Coat” for Richard Chizmar’s anthology, The Earth Strikes Back.

Nov. 12 Bob Tanner called to inform me that Blood Games would be the main selection of Book Club Associates, Britain’s most important book club.

Nov. 17-23 I wrote the short story, “Phil the Vampire,” for the Gorman/Greenberg anthology, Vampire Detectives.

Nov. 27 - Dec. 2 We went to Bullhead City, Sedona and Cottonwood with the De Larattas.

Dec. 2-9 I wrote the short story, “Dracuson’s Driver,” for the Gorman/Greenberg anthology, Dracula, Prince of Darkness.

Dec. 10-13 I wrote the short story, “Kitty Litter” for the Gorman/ Greenberg anthology, Cat Crimes II. Dec. 14 I started writing my novel, Quake.

1992

Jan. 15 The Stake went into development for Tri-Star TV.

Jan 26 - Feb.2 In Florida, we went to Disney World, Daytona Beach, Cape Canaveral, and Gatorland where I ate alligator.

March 19 The trial of the police officers who subdued and arrested felon Rodney King began. Though still working on Quake, I took time to watch the complete trial on television.

March 25 Headline gave me a new and wonderful three-book contract.

March 30 My Headline editor, Mike Bailey, asked for a plot synopsis of Quake, so I wrote one up and sent it to Bob Tanner. (I send just about everything to Bob Tanner, and he delivers it all to Mike Bailey.)

April 3 I stopped working on Quake, leaving it unfinished. April 4-28 I wrote my novella, “Wilds.”

April 29 The jury found the police officers not guilty of charges brought against them in connection with the Rodney King arrest. The verdict wasn’t appreciated by some segments of the population, and the Los Angeles riot started. Reginald Denny was pulled from his car and nearly beaten to death by a mob of black hoodlums while we watched it happen live on television.

April 30 The riot was continuing. Armed with a pistol and video camera, we piled into our Jeep and drove to the Target store on a mission to save our Disney World photos from the rioters. Though we passed through areas that had already been hit, we succeeded and returned home safely.

May 1-3 The National Guard finally came in. With such a massive show of force, the riot tapered off and ended.

May 6 I started working on a new novel, Sleep Over, which would be published as Endless Night.

May 8 We went to a local gun shop and began to improve our home defense capabilities.

May 16 We went to Venice Beach, where we saw a fellow threaten another guy and chase him around with a big knife. We reported the incident to a couple of nearby LAPD officers.

May 23-25 The ABA was in Anaheim. We had breakfast with Bob Tanner, dinner with Anne Williams of Headline and Bob.

June 28 Two big EARTHQUAKES. A 6.5 demolished much of the city of Big Bear, and a 7.4 hit in Yucca Valley. We felt them both, but they were too far away to do any damage in Los Angeles.

June 29 We had dinner with Sian Thomas of Headline.

July 10 We had dinner in Sacramento with Steve, Kathy and Sarah Adamovich of Cobblestone book store. We stayed at a motel that night, and I signed books at Cobblestone the next day.

July 21- Aug. 10 We flew to Ann’s hometown, Clayton, New York and took a side trip through the Finger Lakes area to Niagara Falls. We also had an adventure in Clayton, in which we stumbled onto a possibly illegal dump site, were caught there on a back road, and feared for our lives.

Aug. 14-17 I worked on an interview for Samhain magazine.