Re: RARA-AVIS: Southwest Month

From: James Reasoner ( james53@flash.net)
Date: 04 Apr 2004


Bill Crider wrote:

> James Reasoner (and he can correct me if I'm wrong about this) saw my name
> and address in The Mystery FANcier and noticed that I was living at that
> time in Brownwood.

I'm thinking it was a fanzine called The Not So Private Eye, published by Andy Jaysnovitch. That was my introduction to mystery fandom. I don't remember where I saw it advertised, but I bought the first dozen or so issues from Andy at one time and saw a bunch of letters and reviews from some guy in Brownwood. I remember going through the issues and making a list of authors I'd never heard of, like Jonathan Latimer. I *think* I know where those fanzines are, but it would take a day of digging to uncover them.

>He had relatives in Brown County, and it wasn't long
> before we were exchanging letters. Before too long we'd met in person,
and
> I still have a photograph of James, me, and my kids standing at the grave
of
> Robert E. Howard in Brownwood's Greenleaf Cemetery.

The kids have grown up since then, but Bill and I haven't aged a day.

> James's father sold TVs
> and VCRs, and I bought my first VCR from him. James delivered it and
> installed it. James and I, like Joe and I, have been friends ever since
> those days.
>
> I paid for the VCR with my half of the advance from THE COYOTE CONNECTION,
a
> Nick Carter book I wrote with a friend (Jack Davis). It was my first
novel,
> and it came out in January 1981, at about the same time Joe's ACT OF LOVE
> and James's TEXAS WIND hit the stands. (Note for our younger readers: in
> those days a top-of-the-line VCR with a wired remote ran about $1000.)

Yes, but you could tape a whole *two hours* on one of those babies.

I thought of another very noir book with a Southwestern setting: ARIZONA KISS by Ray Ring.

James

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