A Writer's Tale

Sept. 13 A full, two-page ad for The Cellar appeared in Publishers Weekly.

Sept. 22 Jay Garon informed me of “strong movie interest” in The Cellar. (Nothing came of this.)

Oct. 6-7 I attended a Bouchercon in Culver City, and recall playing a lot of poker with Bill Pronzini.

Oct. 22 The Cellar was bought by New English Library for $24,000.

Oct. 23 I resigned my position as librarian at John Adams Junior High School in Santa Monica. The resignation would become effective January 31, 1980.

Dec. 4 I mailed the manuscript of my novel, The Woods Are Dark, to Jay Garon.

1980

January The Cellar was published by Warner Books!

Feb. 7 At the old, dark house of our close friends, Chris and Dick Boyanski in Clayton, New York, we fooled around with a Ouija board and it seemed to give us coherent messages. This incident eventually led to my Ouija board novel, Darkness, Tell Us.

Feb. 13 In New York City, Ann and I had lunch with my Warner Books editor, John Kinney. Then we went to dinner at York, and Jay Garon’s party.

Feb. 14 We had lunch with Jay Garon at Sardi’s. That evening, we had dinner with our friends Bill and Marie Chambers.

April 1 I sent a revised version of The Woods Are Dark to Jay Garon.

June 1 We went to a poolside party thrown by Harold Moskovitz, my new film agent and Garon’s protege. (He never sold anything for me.)

July 7 My novel, The Woods Are Dark, was accepted by Warner Books.

July 29 I mailed my finished novel, Out Are the Lights, to Jay Garon.

Aug. 12 I mailed the manuscript of my second young adult novel, Nightmare Lake, to Jay Garon.

Aug. 16 Back in upstate New York, we drove up to Gananoque, Canada. There, we went into a memorable House of Horrors that inspired quite a lot of my material, but especially some of the ideas I used in the final sequence of Funland.

Nov. 14 I went to my first and last P.E.N. meeting. The folks at P.E.N. seemed largely stuffy, self-important and pretentious.

Nov. 21 The Pink Tea meeting was held at Gary Brandner’s house. He invited Dean and Gerda Koontz. I had never read any of Dean’s books, but I’d recently read Funhouse by Owen West, so I was impressed to meet him. I blurted, “You’re Owen West!!!” He admitted to a fondness for The Cellar, and we started a friendship that has continued to this day.

Dec. 20 Though Ann had to stay home because we couldn’t find a babysitter for Kelly, this was our first invitation to Dean and Gerda Koontz’ house. I couldn’t bring myself to miss the opportunity, so I went alone.

1981

Jan. 13 I received an advance for Out Are the Lights from Warner Books.

Jan. 15 I finished writing Allhallow’s Eve.

Jan. 16 The Woods Are Dark was bought by New English Library.

Feb. 24 I mailed the manuscript of my novel, Allhallow’s Eve, to Jay Garon. It was supposed to be book three of my three-book contract with Warner Books. But it was rejected.

March I worked on screenplays for The Cellar and The Woods Are Dark. (Nothing has come of them, so far.)

March 13 I began writing my invisible man novel, Beware!

April 2 I mailed the finished two screenplays, plus the manuscript of my novel, The Hag to Jay Garon. (The Hag was a revision of Dead Corset)

In my letter, I told Garon about a new idea. “This is a horror story that is not occult or supernatural. It also, I think, has great series potential. The protagonist is an agent of a small, secret government department that investigates and “deals with” SPECIAL OCCURRENCES reports of such matters as alien sightings, ghosts, satanist activities, or other strange circumstances that would not fall within the bailiwick of normal law enforcement activities.” (Golly, sounds a bit like The X-Files.) April 28 - May 5 Ann and I traveled to New York City for the production of the play, Ah, Men. Its producer, my agent Jay Garon, had talked me into investing in it. Nobody told us that the opening date had been changed, so Ann and I showed up a week early and missed it. We got to see a rehearsal, though.

June 9 I received the contract from New English Library for Out Are the Lights.

June 19 Finished the first draft of Beware!

June 25 Mailed Beware! to Jay Garon. This was supposed to be the third book of my three book contract with Warner Books. But it was rejected.

June 27 I began making notes for a sequel to The Cellar.

July 14 I received the contract for The Lawmen, to be written under the pseudonym Lee Davis Willoughby. I started working on The Lawmen, postponing work on my sequel to The Cellar.