A Writer's Tale

Somewhere along the line, Dean Koontz read a copy of the manuscript. At that time, it contained some sort of involved subplot full of international intrigue, or something. Dean gave me a very good piece of advice. He said it’s not a good idea to overload readers with too much stuff that’s far out. My main character was invisible. That’s enough weirdness for one book.

Lose the oddball subplot. (Dean didn’t actually use those words, but that was the jist of his suggestion.) I not only wrote a major revision based on Dean’s advice, but I’ve been keeping it in mind ever since. And I think the revised version of Beware! was a major improvement over the original.

It was bought by New English Library in 1982 (at the same time as Night Show). Because NEL had a backlog of my books, however, Beware! wouldn’t be published until 1985.

I’ve always been a bit surprised that anyone dared to publish it at all.

At book signings, I usually get into conversations with the people who’ve shown up for autographs. To break the ice, and because it interests me a lot, I usually ask fans what they do for a living. They’re normally glad to tell me. But they’re even more eager to tell me which of my books they like the best.

Every so often, the favorite book is Beware!

I usually laugh and say something like, “Uh-oh. Gotta watch out for you! If Beware! your favorite, you must be a pretty weird guy.”

Nowadays, I usually advise the Beware! enthusiast to run out and find a copy of Endless Night.

I haven’t actually studied my books. But my impression is that Beware! and Endless Night are probably my most vicious, nasty excursions into bad behavior.

While Endless Night is about a gang of horrible thrill-killers, Beware! is about just one fellow. He’s a sadistic homicidal maniac hitman rapist who is also invisible.

Though there have been several “invisible man” books and movies, they generally avoid the sort of activities that my guy, Sammy Hoffman, engages in.

Visits to shower rooms, for instance.

And much, much worse.

Sammy Hoffman has no conscience, figures he is invincible, and goes on his merry way doing whatever pops into his sick little mind.

A very unsavory character.

But loads of fun, if you like that sort of thing.

THE LAWMEN

Almost immediately after mailing off Beware!, I started writing The Lawmen. I’d been all set to embark on The Cellar II (Beast House) at the time the contract for The Lawmen arrived on July 14, 1981. The completed manuscript was due on November 15, 1981.

That gave me only four months. I dropped everything else, wrote the book, and sent it Express Mail on November 16, 1981.

The Lawmen, a western novel to be published under the pseudonym Lee Davis Willoughby, was a big detour for me. It would be my first novel to take place entirely in an earlier historical period. It would be, by far, my biggest novel so far. And it would be my first “ghostwriting” job. That is, I would be paid to write under a pseudonym and tell a story conceived by someone else.

My agent, Jay Garon, had arranged the deal. He told me I could earn $10,000 by writing a book for The Making of America series. The series was being packaged by a friend of his, James Bryans (who had once worked with Jim Thompson, I recently learned) and published by Dell. Garon was asking several of his clients to do books for the series.

At that time, my “real” stuff was getting rejected by Warner Books a little too often and I needed the money. Also, it seemed wise to branch out and try some non-horror material.

Plus, I’d always been a fan of the western genre and was eager for the challenge of making my own contribution to it. So I agreed to write the book.

I was sent a fairly involved plot outline about a real-life Pinkerton man named Charles Siringo who spent many years on the trail of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. My book was supposed to be based on the outline. However, I was encouraged to veer off on my own if I felt the urge.

As a result, I pretty much wrote The Lawmen my way.

I began by doing a lot research. I studied the old west and especially Butch Cassidy and his Hole in the Wall gang. To my chagrin, I discovered that Butch was generally considered to be a very nice, friendly guy.

But I couldn’t let that get in the way of my story.

I turned him into a horrible, murdering sadist.

Though the book is full of real historical characters including most of the well-known members of the Hole in the Wall Gang I threw in a lot of fictional extras. Including a one-eyed psycho named Snake who would’ve been more at home in a horror novel.

I threw in a few plot twists that I think were pretty nifty, too.

I’m especially happy with the book’s ending, which I’ve always thought should include a footnote such as: “With my thanks and apologies to William Goldman.”