--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "capnbob@..."
<capnbob@...> wrote:
>
> Didn't William Campbell Gault have two of his series
characters
appear in the same book? Joe Puma
> and Brock Callahan?
>
>
> Robert S. Napier, author
> LOVE, DEATH, AND THE TOYMAN
Yes, it was THE CANA DIVERSION (1982) which I will never
forget because Gault got me booed at a Bouchercon over it.
Both Gault and I had sold novels to the Raven House line
published by Worldwide/Harlequin around 1980. The publishers
thought they could establish a subscription service for these
novels as they did their Romances. The fact that they failed
to do this in science fiction with Laser Books did not
discourage them.
The books would also be published for news stand/book store
sales. The publisher was committed to a certain date for the
subscription deliveries but some market research indicated
designs would die lousy in the street on the news stand. So
the company published a subscription edition but held off on
distribution to the book racks until a redesign could be
accomplished.
So Gault and I had copies of our books but no one other than
the trusting fools who subscribed early had ever seen the
novels. Gault had sold them a trunk novel (THE BAD SAMARITAN)
but had written THE CANA DIVERSION fresh, and I think it was
the best of his later day novels. He and I shared an editor
and ended up being penpals because the editor asked me to
write Gault. I had been very enthusiastic when I heard Gault
was among the authors and she asked me to write him because
he felt he was completely forgotten by the mystery world,
which he had left more than 15 years before. Believe it or
not, she thought he needed encouragement.
So we began to correspond quite a bit via snail mail and I
urged him to attend the 1981 (or was it 1982) Milwaukee
Bouchercon. Milwaukee had been his hometown and it was a
natural place to celebrate his return to mysteries. Neither
of us had ever been to a mystery convention before but
figured we could pal together no matter who else showed
up.
Back in those early days the Bouchercons were small
groups--350 folks is my guess for Milwaukee--with the mix
being die-hard mystery fans and collectors and a few local
walk-ins. Later on an old pulpster like Gault could appear
and be littled noted by 80% of the attendees (Dorothy B.
Hughes attended several conventions without notice or
tribute) but in 1981 (or 1982) in Milwaukee most of the
attendees knew exactly who he was. As happened with all the
old writers in the early days of Bouchercon, they were
shocked and flattered at anyone knowing them and dumbfounded
at meeting people who knew their career in depth. Such a
contrast to today when some first book writers bitch about
not getting a better panel.
So Gault arrives in Milwaukee and there is an event put on by
the Milwaukee Press Club and Gault is given a special award.
When Bill graduated from high school, he managed about a year
in college and then went to work in a shoe factory. He worked
in that shoe factory until his story sales made that check
unnecessary. The press club gave him an award that featured
the sole of a shoe. Tough old Bill was blown away. That and
the detailed knowledge of his work by so many fans touched
him deeply.
Back in 1981 (or was it 1982) publishers didn't know
Bouchercon or mystery conventions from beans and most of the
writers who showed up were fans themselves, in the area, or
had been courted by the organizers. At the Milwaukee
convetion, the big name was Mickey Spillane, who came because
he wanted to come and because Miller Lite paid his way as a
promotional appearance.
Gault had expressed mixed feelings to me about Spillane
because Mickey had always claimed to have been a pulp writer
and none of the old pulp writers believed the claim. He had
written one and two pagers for comic books, which met some
requirement or other for mailing privileges, and this was a
sharp drop from the prestige of the pulps (at least in the
view of the old pulp writers).
But Mickey, bless his heart, knew exactly who Gault was and
was very generous with the comments. Both had been published
by Dutton. It turned out Mickey was a big fan of Fred Brown,
another Dutton writer, who was a long-time poker pal and
mentor of Gault's. I have to say that regardless of anyone's
view of Mickey's achievements as a writer, he was a standup
guy and in every way a class act.
One other writer in Milwaukee was Helen McCloy, who was the
guest of honor. McCloy is not much remembered today but she
was the first woman to serve as president of the Mystery
Writers of America
(1950). When McCloy spoke to the convention I was seated next
to Gault. Most of her talk dealt with her ex-husband the late
Davis Dresser, better known as Brett Halliday. The same Raven
House line about to publish novels by Gault and myself also
was republishing the first Michael Shayne novel DIVIDEND ON
DEATH with the promise of bringing them all back into print.
This never happened and I am not certain that the one Shayne
novel was ever published beyond the small printing for the
subscribers.
It is true that McCloy and Dresser had been a mystery genre
power couple for years doing joint book reviews, founding
Torquil Books and a literary agency but it is also true that
they divorced in the early 1960s and Dresser remarried.
Gault had known Dresser after he moved to Santa Barbara (and
after the divorce). He had also complained to me that Dresser
had approached him at one point about leaving his current
publisher for Dresser's Torquil (distributed by Dodd, Mead)
and when he said no, Dresser as a reviewer panned every Gault
novel after that.
So as we listened to Helen McCloy ignore her own
accomplishments
(for which she was being honored) to praise her ex-husband,
Gault leaned over to me and whispered "Do you think she's
forgotten about the divorce?" It was all I could do not to
burst into laughter.
Ah, but I am forgetting what started me on this journey of
recollection. So we reach the point in the convention when
William Campbell Gault is on the stage after talking briefly
about his career and asks for questions. As is often the
case, no one jumps out with an immediate question and for
friends I like to jump into the silence and give them
something that will stimulate conversation.
So I helpfully asked Gault: "Could you talk about your latest
novel where Brock the Rock Callahan investigates the murder
of your other private eye Joe Puma?"
Now let me point out here that Puma is dead before THE CANA
DIVERSION is more than four or five pages old and the death
is mentioned on the novel's blurb. Any reviewer would mention
Puma's death without worrrying about a spoiler alert--and
when the novel finally appeared on the stands this proved to
be true. But at the time of this convention the only two
people who had seen the novel beyond the line's subscribers
were Gault and myself.
So my comment was to the audience (dominated by die-hard
mystery fans) a very shocking statement as many of them
preferred the Joe Puma novels to those featuring Callahan.
All of this possibility escaped me as I made my hopefully
helpful question. I only realized what I had done when I
heard the gasps from the audience as I said the words "...the
murder of your other private eye Joe Puma."
As the gasp went through the room, Gault looked at me with a
knowing, evil glint in his eye and put his finger to his lips
as he went "Shssss..."
And at that moment I was booed and hissed like I have never
been before or since. And there was no opportunity to
explain. I was a bum who violated the spoiler rules. Gault
got a huge kick out of it.
Richard Moore
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 02 Nov 2007 EDT