Re: RARA-AVIS: Day Keene; Farewell, My Lovely

James & Livia Reasoner (liviajames@itexas.net)
Fri, 19 Dec 1997 23:02:59 -0600 > Can anyone tell me why, in the 1952 collection _Maiden Murders_, which is
> supposed to contain authors' first stories, the Keene story is from 1943
> when he apparently wrote a few things before that date? The intro to the
> story in _Maiden Murders_ ("A Great Whirring of Wings") is written by
> Keene himself, so did he just lie or what?

I have no idea why Keene claimed that 1943 story was his first, as he was
definitely publishing regularly in the pulps before that. I own a copy of
the January 1941 issue of Ace G-Man Stories, in which the Keene novelette
"Wake Up, America!" appears. (The blurb for the story, from the table of
contents page: "How could John Lone Wolf, Indian G-Man, organize that
rag-tail, bob-tail squadron of do-or-die commercial pilots in time to turn
back the swarms of winged invaders--while he himself posed as Federal
Traitor Number One!") I also have the April 1942 issue of Detective Tales,
containing the Keene story "Murder Is My Sponsor". ("When the Homicide
Squad finds your boss murdered, right after you've been fired; when they
find your wife slain, right after her infidelity has been revealed, you're
on a spot like Jim O'Hara--whose only friends were a stout-hearted girl and
a non-existent radio detective!") I noticed that two of the Keene stories
I've looked at in the past day feature ethnic heroes: "Wake Up, America!",
mentioned above, and "Herr Yama from Yokohama", from yesterday's post,
which has a Japanese-American hero. I don't know if that means anything,
but I noticed it anyway.

The Keene Western novel was indeed _Guns Along the Brazos_, published by
Signet in 1967. Another pulp I dug out of my collection today is the
November 25th, 1943, issue of Short Stories, which features the Keene story
"Seven Against the Gods", which is about an escape from a French penal
colony.

Changing the subject to _Farewell, My Lovely_, I ran across this passage
that I like: (Marlowe is answering a question about being a PI) "There's
not much money in it. There's a lot of grief. But there's a lot of fun,
too. And there's always the chance of a big case."

Now, my question is: was that just Marlowe talking about being a PI--or
Chandler talking about being a writer?

James Reasoner
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