A Writer's Tale

Between finishing the first draft of Midnight’s Lair and receiving my contract for the finished manuscript, I split with Tor over contract problems, wrote all of Resurrection Dreams, started writing Funland, and experienced the major earthquake that provided the inspiration for Quake.

I received the contract from W.H. Allen on December 9, 1987.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., Midnight’s Lair was getting rejected by every publisher who saw it. My U.S. agent explained the book’s problem to me: “It’s too linear.” After he gave up on it, I tried Dark Harvest. They didn’t get back to me, but I was having lunch with the publishers at Dean Koontz’s house one day, so I asked them about Midnight’s Lair. I was told, “Oh, I see it as a really hot paperback for beach-goers. But it’s not the sort of thing we’re looking for.”

Apparently, my cave book wasn’t deep enough to suit his taste. Or too linear.

In England, however, things went along in the usual, wonderful way. Midnight’s Lair was published hardbound by W.H. Allen in 1988 with the Richard Kelly pseudonym. It was picked up by the Smiths/Doubleday Book. In 1992, Headline published the paperback version, dispensing with the pseudonym. It was picked up by Book Club Associates.

Also, a large print edition was published.

The attention given to Midnight’s Lair in England, combined with the efforts of my great British agent, Bob Tanner, led to Thomas Dunne’s purchase the book for St. Martin’s Press. They gave me an advance of $5,000. (Back in 1992, that was real money.) The book was published hardbound in 1993. The Publisher’s Weekly review (November 9, 1992) called it “fast-paced and tightly constructed,” a book that “combines the best elements of psycho-slasher thrillers, disaster epics and classic supernatural horror tales,” a book that “horror fans will relish.” It was picked up by the Doubleday Book Club.

But the St. Martin’s edition was not promoted at all, and only two or three copies ever seemed to show up in any major bookstore. So it didn’t exactly sell like hotcakes.

Later, without asking, St. Martin’s sold paperback rights to Zebra for $2,000, of which I would get half. In other words, I got a thousand smackeroos for the paperback edition.

Zebra did a pretty good job of publishing Midnight’s Lair.

They were nice enough to consult me about cover ideas, and they sent me a large number of free copies. They brought out the book in September, 1994, and it appeared to get very good distribution.

In the U.K., of course, Midnight’s Lair’ is still in print.

The original W.H. Allen version had a very small printing. It is extremely rare, and one of my most collectable books.

Here is my most recent experience in connection with Midnight’s Lair.

At a book signing at Dark Delicacies bookstore in Burbank earlier this year, a young woman came up to me and said, “You know your book, Midnight’s Lair? Was it inspired by Howe Caverns in New York?” I told her that it certainly was. “Thought so,” she said, and went on to explain that she’d been to Howe Caverns more than once, and had recognized them as the basis of Mordock Cave. Then she astonished me be saying that she had reread Midnight’s Lair in preparation for a return visit to Howe Caverns so that she could tour the cave as if she were visiting scenes from the novel. Made my day. Made my week.

RESURRECTION DREAMS

Zombie was my working title. All along, I knew it wouldn’t be the final title. In an attempt to come up with a final title for the book, I made the following list:

Spark

The Spark of Life

Vital Sign

The Dead and the Quick

Breath

Stir

Conjure

Hoodoo

Necromancer

NecRomancer

 Spellbound

Raise

Raising

Wake

I then narrowed it down to three finalists: Spark, NecRomancer, and Hoodoo. I decided to call my book Hoodoo, and the manuscript bore that title when I mailed it to my agents.

At this point, I don’t recall the details of the name change. Somebody -probably an editor, didn’t think my novel should be called Hoodoo. I’m fairly sure that I came up with Resurrection Dreams as an alternative title. But I wish it had remained Hoodoo.

Most authors have very little control over such matters as the titles of their books. If the publisher likes the author’s choice of title, fine. If not, the author usually gives in and changes it to suit the publisher. In the course of reading this book, you’ll find numerous instances in which I was pursuaded to change titles of my novels.

With Resurrection Dreams, not only did my title undergo a forced alteration, but so did the content of story itself.