Comments on: The Best of Howard Waldrop

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 17 May 2006 00:35:24 +0000

He does have a habit of killing off publishers :) I think the book is a very cool one, and can’t wait to see it.

By: Michael Walsh

Michael Walsh — Tue, 16 May 2006 21:58:05 +0000

One minor correction: the collection goes up to 2005, not 2006. I think I had 2006 on the brain.

and it’s all reprints, but Howard plans to write intros/afterwords or whatever tothe pieces. Well, atleast that’s the *current* plan.

I suspect Howar will make note that one of the his last sttories in Ellen Datlow’s SciFiction was published on Dec 7th. Whoops, there goes another market!

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Sat, 13 May 2006 00:08:11 +0000

I’d have loved to get “You Could Go Home Again” in there. I love that story, but it’s long. I think, with no restrictions, the book could have been longer, but the point, to some degree, was to keep it short. I can say 10 of those stories are in the book.

By: Bruce Chrumka

Bruce Chrumka — Fri, 12 May 2006 15:12:34 +0000

Hi Jonathan – A good call on the limitations from ‘Howard Who?’, IMHO, considering the Small Beer reprint. Great cover! Given fifteen pieces and the restrictions you mention, my thoughts:

The Ugly Chickens
Heirs of the Perisphere
Flying Saucer Rock and Roll
The Lions are Asleep This Night
Night of the Cooters
The Passing of the Western
Fin de Cycle
You Could Go Home Again
The Effects of Alienation
The Sawing Boys
Heart of Whitenesse
Mr. Goober’s Show
Major Spacer in the 21st Century!
Calling Your Name
The King of Where-I-Go

Not an easy task at all! Very tough leaving out two of the Utley collaborations, ‘One Horse Town’ and at least four others from Howard Who?

Any word on a title for the Robert Howard novella? Any update on ‘The Search for Tom Purdue’?

Thanks, Bruce

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Fri, 12 May 2006 05:45:06 +0000

Hey Bruce – My understanding is that the book will be somewhere around the 100-110k mark. If I recall properly, there’s maybe fifteen or so stories in there, starting back with “The Ugly Chickens” and working forwards. There were some limitations on selections. First, only two stories from Howard Who?. Small Beer is reprinting that collection next month, and HW wanted them to have a decent chance with it. Second, no collaborations. The main impact on this is that there’s no “Custer’s Last Jump”, but also no “Ike at the Mike” or “God’s Hooks”.

By: Bruce Chrumka

Bruce Chrumka — Fri, 12 May 2006 05:32:45 +0000

Thanks, Jonathan. How many words [roughly] do you know the HW Reader are budgeted? [I probably should just surf over to Old Earth and ask...]

Just for fun, I’ll draft my own selection and forward to you and Mike Walsh off-line if o.k.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Fri, 12 May 2006 02:04:29 +0000

I’ve seen a rough ToC, which is getting close to final. I’d like to get the okay from Mike before I leak it, though. I know there’ll be omissions and stuff people would have added or dropped, but I think it’s basically a very good cross section of Howard’s career.

By: Bruce Chrumka

Bruce Chrumka — Thu, 11 May 2006 16:58:18 +0000

Hi Jonathan,

The Best of Howard, eh? About time – even if I have all the books. So you’ve seen the ToC?! Are you at liberty to fire off a copy?

Cheers, Bruce
Calgary, Canada