It's my pleasure to welcome Kent Harrington to the list as
guest of honour for September. He's the author of five
novels:
DARK RIDE (1996)
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS (1997)
THE AMERICAN BOYS (2000)
THE TATTOOED MUSE (2001)
RED JUNGLE (2005)
If you haven't read any of them, you'll at least remember all
the people enthusing over RED JUNGLE earlier this year and
the periodic mentions of DIA DE LOS MUERTOS as the one with
the scene where the fellow's eyes bleed. Read it and it'll
stick in your memory, too. Believe me.
Kent Harrington was first mentioned on the list back in May
of 1997, just four months after we began: "As far as new
writers may I suggest DARK RIDE by Kent Harrington (St.
Martins Press) it is fantastic and if you want to pay cover
price ... get it now." In May 1998 Mr. Taboada reviewed it
and said, "[I]t's a stunning book, a nightmarish ride of sex,
violence, and corruption the likes of which I hadn't seen in
a "long time." Terrill Lee Lankford followed up to say he
agreed: "Both of his books are terriffic."
Both Mr. Taboada and Mr. Lankford are still here, and we're
still enjoying and admiring Kent Harrington's books. RED
JUNGLE, his latest, had excellent reviews from all over even
though it was rejected by major publishers not for its
quality (high) but its content (political). Dennis McMillan,
who published all of Harrington's earlier novels except DARK
RIDE (which was from St. Martin's) ended up handling it and
we thank him for it.
I said this about the book in February: "It's extremely noir,
with shades of THE MALTESE FALCON, but it's set in Guatemala
a little bit in the future, I think, and the lead is a
newspaper reporter who gets into a whole load of trouble.
He's half American and half Guatemalan, related to much of
the ruling class of the country, and ends up getting
seriously involved in the country's politics. He also gets
into a very dangerous relationship with a woman, and he's
searching for lost treasure with an archaeologist. He's
headed for trouble a dozen different ways, and knows it, but
can't stop."
It's an autobiographical novel in some ways, and perhaps
we'll get to hear about that. Also, I think our guest may be
involved in turning one of his books into a movie, and if so,
we all want to hear about that too.
Welcome to Kent Harrington! I know many people on the list
have really been looking forward to this and I hope we'll all
make him feel at home. Some of us have been saving up
questions for him and he may have some for us, too. Enjoy
September!
Bill
-- William Denton : Toronto, Canada : www.miskatonic.org : www.frbr.org
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