RARA-AVIS: Re: April is Month of the Disappeared

From: m23to53 ( library.john@virgin.net)
Date: 28 Mar 2008


Maxwell was the pseudonym of Thomas Gifford, 1937-2000, author of some great 1970s titles such as 'The man from Lisbon', 'The Wind Chill factor' and 'The Cabanaugh Quest'.Also wrote as Dana Clarins.

Regards John

--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "jchocking" <jchocking@...> wrote:
>
> To kick things off early, in honor of the New Month and new topic,
I
> have a question that's bothered me for some time.
>
> Does anyone know what became of Thomas Maxwell?
>
> It was commonly understood that the name was a pseudonym, but I've
> never learned who he really was.
> He appeared on the scene in 1987 with the entertaining, emotional,
> film-noir pastiche KISS ME ONCE. Followed it with the even more
> emotional, and far less pastiche, THE SABERDENE VARIATIONS.
> 1988 brought the (to me, cruelly disappointing) sequel, KISS ME
> TWICE.
> Then, in 1990, Maxwell produced THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME, which I
> found even less satisfying than KISS ME TWICE.
> And then he disappeared.
>
> I read these when they were first issued, and I was a younger man,
> but the author's first two books struck me as remarkably
> accomplished works that managed to balance homage to noir works of
> the past with a genuine emotional intensity that gave them a
> resonance quite a bit beyond that of most pastiche.
>
> Does anyone know any more about this author?
>
> John Hocking
>



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