The next book or story I'm going to write will not be in the first person or second person or third person. I'm going to write it in the fifth person where each sentence begins with –
I heard from this guy who told someone ...
That's a joke from stand-up comic/actor Demetri Martin so he gets credit for it. I do think it would be cool and a helluva challenge. Demetri Martin is the same guy who wants to go to a beach frequented by guys with metal detectors. He'll go early in the morning and bury objects with the inscription, "Get a life."
What happened to Frank Yerby's literary estate?
When I was a kid, my father read a lot of Frank Yerby paperbacks – The Foxes of Harrow, The Vixens, The Golden Hawk, Benton's Bow, The Saracen Blade, Jarrett's Jade and others. By the time I was out of college and reading what I wanted to read, instead of what was assigned, I didn't get around to Yerby. I should have. His books are out of print today. Amazon and EBay sells old hardbacks and paperbacks but there are no eBooks or audiobooks and no new editions of his works. My public library (an excellent library) does not carry any Yerby books. The Foxes of Harrow may be obtained via interlibrary loan.
Frank Yerby left the U.S. in 1952, in protest against racial discrimination, living in France then Spain. His ancestry was African, Native American and White. He died in 1991.
That's all for now.
www.oneildenoux.com
My parents were big fans of Frank Yerby's novels, too. I believe the profits from them actually saved one of his publishers.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm the weird kid who taught herself to make arrowheads and then buried them in the avocado groves so that some day a future archaeologist would assume there was a primitive Native American culture flourishing in the SoCal suburbs...
ReplyDeleteMy mother had Yerby books - "The Foxes of Harrow" and "The Devil's Laughter". (Which are probably the best) I read them both on the sly, and more later. For the time they were super hot stuff. They were also super-formulaic: super-alpha male surrounded by women who all panted for him, but all his attention focused on 3: the Pure One, the Evil One, and the One Who Lacks Courage to Go With Him.
BTW, in the interests of fairness, "An Odour of Sanctity" ranks among the worst novels ever written...
My folks had some of Yerby's books, so I read them as a young teenager. He told some good stories.
ReplyDeleteI get a lot of books from Thriftbooks & Edward R. Hamilton.
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