I don't know if Joseph Hansen is dead or not but ran across
this letter by him in a 2001 newsletter from Portland,
Oregon's Friends of Mystery that refuted an earlier report of
his death:
September 2001
Joseph Hansen--alive and well! The Executive Committee of
Friends of Mystery apologizes for the incorrect notice of the
death of Joseph Hansen that was printed in our May
Blood-Letter. One of our editors, who gave the newsletter a
final review, had read that Hansen had died recently and
inserted a sentence into a review Stan Johnson wrote of
Hansen's latest collection of stories, Blood, Snow, &
Classic Cars. Happily, Mr. Hansen is alive and well in
Southern California, and wrote the following letter to FOM
Founder Jay Margules in response to Jay's letter of apology
Dear Jay This is not the first time I have been reported
dead. In 1990 I got a letter from a reader in the
Philippines. "They are saying you are dead. Dear Mr. Hansen,
please tell me you are not dead." I told him by return mail.
But the next weekend I was lunching in a Hollywood Boulevard
cafe, when a bookseller friend walked in. I saw him as he
caught sight of me. He peered at me and went pale. "Dear
God," he said, "you're still with us." Turned out he too had
heard that I was dead. The next week came a worried letter
from Europe. I was never able to learn where the rumor
started. But of course I turned the situation into fiction in
the very first scene of the next Dave Brandstetter novel, A
Country of Old Men. A friend has pointed out that I am now
positioned to quote Mark Twain's response when he was wrongly
reported dead. But I won't. It has been cited often enough.
What I will do is ask that the next issue of The Blood-Letter
post a note that I am after all alive, in reasonable health
for my age, and still writing. This may disappoint a few
readers, but that can't be helped. Facts are facts. Someone
recently put forth on the Internet the "surprising fact" that
Joseph Hansen is not gay. To correct that was not easy, but
it is even harder to undo the impress of the printed word.
The readership of The Blood Letter is small, I expect, but so
is the world of mystery buffs, and it has a fearsomely active
grapevine. Please do what you can to set the record straight.
Thanks, Jay. It was nice to hear from you again. With good
wishes - Joe
___________________________________
Again, this 2004 report may well be true but the earlier
incident should be a caution on any such reports.
Richard Moore
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 29 Nov 2004 EST