A Writer's Tale (42 page)

Not exactly a bunch of retards and perverts, as my detractors might expect.

Over the years, several of them have become good friends.

In addition to the fans I actually get to meet at book signings, there are those I know only from letters.

I receive a moderate amount of fan mail.

A word about fan mail…

Headline sends it to me very promptly. Most other publishers, however, take their time.

Fans need to be aware of this. If they mail a letter to an author in care of his publisher, it probably won’t reach him for at least two or three months. God only knows what takes the publishers so long. (I guess they’re busy screwing up the lives of mid-list authors.) I enjoy getting fan mail. Most of it, anyway. It’s exciting to find out that there are so many strangers all over the world who can’t wait for my next book to come out.

Of those who send letters, most became fans according to the pattern I described above; they read one of my short stories or books, then went out and grabbed every Laymon book they could lay their hands on. Most of them have read all my novels. Those who’ve only read fifteen or twenty complain because there are certain titles they haven’t been able to find.

After telling me how they became my fans, some tell me a little about themselves and ask me a few questions.

Some ask me
a lot
of questions. These are usually aspiring writers, and I often take the time to respond in some detail.

Most other letters, I answer with a few sentences on a picture post card. (On my travels, I spend lots of time in search of nifty cards for that purpose.) I almost always, eventually, send responses to my fans. Eventually.

Back to the letters
they
send.

A couple of questions pop up in nearly every one of them.

1.
 What am I working on now, and when will it be coming out?

2.
 Why haven’t there been any movies based on my books or stories? They would
love
to see a movie of…  then they name a couple of their favorite novels.

Fairly often, the author of the letter claims to be my “Number One Fan,” then tries to reassure me by denying any resemblance to Annie Wilkes or Kathy Bates.

And, oh yes. While we’re on the subject…

Hardly a letter arrives in which the fan doesn’t claim to prefer me over Stephen King.

Some fans even maintain that I’m better than anyone.

What can I say? They’re
my
fans.

Bless ‘em.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that they’re the minority opinion.

It does a lot for my ego, anyway.

Especially considering the position of my career in this country not a few rungs down from King, but off the ladder completely.

Every now and then, fans tell me wonderful things about my effect on their lives. They’re personal stories, and I don’t feel like telling about them.

Nor do I feel like complaining about my fans. If you want to read about fans who are nuisances, try reading Harlan Ellison or Stephen King.

I find it amazing, wonderful and delightful that, for whatever reasons, there are so many people in this world who value my fiction.

Who can’t get enough of it.

Who crave it.

Before leaving the subject of fans, I must mention three of them: Martin White in Scotland, founder of the “Richard Laymon Fan Club”; Steve Gerlach in Australia, creator of the “Richard Laymon Kills” website on the Internet; and Vince Fahey of Arizona, creator of “The Official U.S. Richard Laymon Page” on the Internet.

Terrific chaps.

I thank them.

The Summing Up

BY PURE COINCIDENCE IF ANY COINCIDENCE
IS
PURE I FOUND myself writing this book about myself during the fiftieth year of my life.

Fifty is, in itself, something of a milestone.

For me, another milestone is the creation of
The Midnight Tour. A Writer’s Tale
delayed the completion of
Tour,
which is the third book of the “Beast House” series.

The Cellar
started my career.
Beast House
came several years later. Finally, here comes
The Midnight Tour.

So now, fifty years old, I’ve written what amounts to an autobiography and I’m winding up the “Beast House” trilogy.

Time to call it quits.

Nah.

The only way I call it quits is when they pry my cold, dead fingers off the keyboard.

With any luck, that won’t be for a while.

The confluence of these several events has conspired, however, to make me think a lot about my life and career.

Assess things.

And boy, did I blow it!

Kidding. Whatever might’ve gotten blown was mostly out of my control.

If a thing or two had happened differently, its not unlikely that my books would’ve been residing on bestseller lists in the U.S. for the past seventeen years. I would have made millions of dollars.

But who would want something like that?

(Me.)

The deal is, it didn’t happen that way.

Maybe it’s for the best.

(Sure.)

As things stand, it’s easy to remain somewhat humble.

And happy.

Real happy.

If someone had come up to me when I was a fifteen year old kid and explained what would happen by the time I hit fifty, I would’ve been incredulous… and overwhelmed with delight.

Then I would’ve wanted to kick his butt for telling me ahead of time and ruining all the fun surprises.

At fifteen, I daydreamed of being an author.

I didn’t exactly expect it to happen.

And never in my
wildest
fantasies did I imagine being read all over the world (in English and approximately fifteen foreign languages), making bestseller lists, writing novels that would be main selections of book clubs, becoming friends with some of my favorite authors, being nominated for awards alongside several of the major writers of our time, or having so many deeply devoted fans.

I never even dared to hope for such things.

But they’ve happened.

It boggles my mind.

So where do I go from here?

My intention is to keep on going.

Write one novel after the next.

Write each one as well as I can.

Play around with them. Experiment. Search for new angles on traditional ideas.

Try to discover deeper secrets and truths.

Take chances.

As you should know if you’ve read this book, taking big chances led to some of my most significant books
(The Cellar, The Stake, Savage, Body Rides, Island and After Midnight,
for instance). Sometimes, I thought I couldn’t write them. Sometimes, I thought I
shouldn’t.
But I wrote them, regardless. Each time, the risk paid off.

Because of that, because the number of my fans continues to increase and because Headline has stood by me, my confidence has grown over the years. I find myself more and more welling to follow my inclinations about what and how to write.

So far, I haven’t written a book that has been widely proclaimed by my fans to be a disappointment.

I would like to keep the streak going for as long as possible. In my opinion, the best way to keep it going is to write stuff that pleases me.

My fans obviously like what I like.

So as long as I remain true to myself, I’m fairly sure that my fans ‘will stay true to me.

While my intention is to keep on doing what I have been doing, I am obviously not pleased by the course of my career in the United States.

I would like to be as popular here as I am in the rest of the English-speaking world.

How might that happen?

1. A film based on something I wrote becomes a hit, or; 2. a fan of mine takes control of a major U.S. publishing firm, or; 3. for some other reason, a major U.S. publisher decides to get behind me the way Headline is behind me in the U.K.

One or more of the above is almost certain to happen eventually.

I am held back, now, only by the
perceptions
of people in the major U.S. publishing firms. Many have publicly acknowledged that I am a “star” in Great Britain. They assume, however, that I can’t be a star in America.

Why?

They seem to think (I’ve heard it with my own ears) that I’m successful “over there”

because humans who reside in such areas as England, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, etc. are
different.

Actually, the difference is not in the tastes of the readers, it’s in the attitudes of the publishers.

Over there, they stuck with me.

Here, time and time again, they’ve dropped me like a Wallenda.

I expect the situation to change, someday. When it does change, when a publisher gives me publicity and some loyalty, my books will sell very well indeed. Not just my new novels, but my backlist. At this point, I own the U.S. rights to all my adult novels. That’s more than twenty-five, so far. If handled properly, the backlist will be a gold mine for whatever publisher manages to get it.

In the meantime, I’m fine and dandy with the way things are.

Even without sales in the U.S., I’m well off.

I have no problem with waiting. My books won’t go away.

They’re like parcels of real estate. I’m holding them for the right buyer.

I do, however, feel bad for my American fans. In order to obtain my books, they have to hunt out a British contact, then pay through the nose. Most of the current Headline paperbacks go for $15 to $20 in this country. The hardbounds are usually about $40.

That’s a lot more money than my fans would need to pay if my books were published in the U.S. And the British hardbounds skyrocket in price as soon as they go out of print.

Many of my fans can’t find all of my books.

If they can find them, they can’t always afford them.

I don’t like that.

But I salute them for their devotion and persistence.

Someday, all my books will be in print in this country.

In the immortal words of William Goldman, “Until that time, Eustis… ”

Books

THE CELLAR
(Warner Books, 1980) Sold at least 250,000 copies in the U.S. at that time, four weeks on B. Dalton bestseller list. Published by NEL in England, reprinted by Paperjacks in 1987 and published in Italy, France and Spain, Germany, Bulgaria, and Lithuania (in Russian). Reprinted in June, 1989 in England by Star. Reprinted in March, 1990 by Headline. Bought by Turkey and Japan 1995. Limited edition hardbound published in December, 1997 by C.D. Publications.

THE WOODS ARE DARK
(Warner Books, 1981) Also published in England (NEL) and France. A new, fully revised edition was printed by Headline, March, 1991. Purchased for publication in Italy, 1991; Hungary, 1993; Spain, 1994; Russia, 1994; Bulgaria, 1995.

OUT ARE THE LIGHTS
(Warner Books, 1982) Also published in England (NEL) and France. Reprinted by Headline with short stories added, hardbound, June, 1993. Approx. 9,000 hardbound copies to Book Club Associates. Purchased for publication in Spain, 1994; Russia in 1994; Hungary in 1995.

NIGHT SHOW (New
English Library, 1984) U.S. publication by Tor, 1986. Also published in France. Reissued by NEL in 1992. Bought by Headline, 1993. Also purchased for publication in Lithuania (in Russian), 1994; Bulgaria, 1995.

BEWARE!
(New English Library, 1985) Reprinted by Paperjacks in 1987. Also published in France. Reprinted in 1991 by NEL. Hardbound limited edition published by Kinnel, 1992. Reissued in 1992 by NEL. Bought by Headline, 1993. Bought for publication in Russia, 1994; Taiwan for Chinese (Mandarin Traditional script) language, 1995; Bulgaria, 1995.

ALLHALLOW’S
EVE
(New English Library, 1985) Reprinted by NEL in 1991. Hardbound limited edition published by Kinnel, 1992. Reissued in 1992 by NEL. Bought by Headline, 1993.

THE BEAST HOUSE (New
English Library, 1986) (Sequel to
THE CELLAR)
Reprinted by Paper) acks in 1987. Also published in France and Bulgaria. Reissued in 1992 by NEL. Sold to Headline, 1993. Bought by Japan, 1995.

TREAD SOFTLY
(W.H. Allen hardcover, 1987) under Richard Kelly pseudonym. U.S. publication by Tor, 1987, as Richard Laymon book. Star paperback in England, 1988. Published as Richard Laymon book,

DARK MOUNTAIN,
by Headline in 1992.
DARK MOUNTAIN
sold to Spain, 1992; Lithuania, 1994.

FLESH
(W.H. Allen hardcover, 1987) U.S. publication by Tor, 1988. Paperback published in England by Star. This book was named Best Horror Novel of 1988 by
Science Fiction Chronicle
and was nominated by the Horror Writers of America for a Bram Stoker Award. Reprinted March, 1990 by Headline. Sold to Turkey, 1991; Poland, 1992; Lithuania (Russian), 1994; Japan, 1995; Bulgaria, 1995.

MIDNIGHT’S LAIR
(W.H. Allen hardcover, 1988) under Richard Kelly pseudonym. Picked up by Smiths/Doubleday Book Club in England. Published by Headline 1992 as Richard Laymon book. Picked up by Book Club Associates. Large print edition by Magna Large Print Books (England). Purchased in US by Tom Dunne for St. Martin’s and published in February, 1993. Doubleday Book Club selection in U.S., 1993. Paperback rights to Zebra, 1993. Sold to Russia, 1994.

RESURRECTION DREAMS
(W.H. Allen hardcover, 1988) Star paperback in England published in 1989. U.S. publication by New American Libraiy (Onyx) in 1989. Reprinted by Headline, 1990. Sold to Turkey, 1991; Denmark, 1992; Spain, 1994; Russia, 1997.

FUNLAND
(W.H. Allen hardcover, 1989) Published in paperback in U.S. by New American Library (Onyx), 1990. Sold to Germany, 1990; Italy, 1990. English paperback published in 1990 by Headline. Nominated by Horror Writers of America for the Bram Stoker Award, 1990. Purchased for publication in Russia, 1994; Hungary, 1995; Turkey, 1995.

THE STAKE
(Headline, 1990) Headline published simultaneous hardcover and trade (C-format) paperback editions, followed by mass market paperback edition in 1991. U.S. hardbound edition published by Thomas Dunne, St. Martin’s Press in June, 1991. Optioned by Tri-Star (New World) TV and okayed for development in January, 1992. Sold to Italy, 1992; Spain, 1992. Paperback rights to Zebra, 1993. Sold to Russia, 1994. Published by Zebra in May, 1995.