Spenser's Shorts |
AKA "Cheap jokes R' Us"
Latest update 30 March 2007
I originally made the case that Surrogate was the only real Spenser short story that I was aware of and considered the other material simply fluff. Pretty narrow minded as I look back on it now and I've rewritten this several times, but now I've decided to kick it up another notch.
I would never copy anything here that is available in bookstores, but some of these are almost impossible to find and if you did purchase them on the second hand market neither Dr. Parker nor the original publishers would gain a single farthing in their purse, so until the "Cease and Desist" orders come in from the copyright holders, here they are. BTW you can take the fast route and see them at Shorts, a previously hidden page I used to share only with my closest friends.
The Godwulf Manuscript
In every copy of The Godwulf Manuscript the copyright page states that ""A portion of this book appeared in the October 1973 issue of "Argosy." This has led to some discussion about when Spenser first appeared in print, since the book has a copyright date of 1973 but actually hit the bookstores in January 1974. It seems that as a promotion Dr. Parker cut down the novel to novella size and submitted it to this men's magazine, which for 75 cents included it as a "$5.95 Book Bonus" (the cost of a hardcover at that time.) They've been out of business since 1978, although a few issues were published in the early 90s.
Surrogate is still the only Spenser short story I respect as such. It was written as a stand-alone piece of fiction involving the elements of plot/conflict/resolution/change in or a revelation about the characters involved. Brenda Loring has been brutally raped and turns to Spenser in her plea for justice.
The details about the circumstances under which it was written and how to get a copy take up too much space to include here so I'm keeping them on a separate page. See Surrogate
Spenser's a Fan, Too
I like to call this adventure "The Case of the Curious Copyright." Legend has long had it that Parker wrote a short about Spenser and Susan at a Red Sox game but the details were a bit fuzzy. Kevin Coupe wrote in to note:
"If I'm not mistaken, Parker wrote a short story about Spenser that appeared in a special Boston Globe section on baseball...it featured major Boston writers and pieces about the Red Sox."
In fact, Kevin did a massive search through his files and came up with the issue in question, which he kindly photocopied and sent my way. Dated October 6, 1986 and titled "Literati on the Red Sox," it had pieces by eleven local writers, including George F. Will, John Updike, and Stephen King. Parker's story is subtitled Susan sees a Yankee game. It's Spenser and Susan taking in a ball game at Fenway Park and talking about rules and life. Read ch. 5 of Early Autumn and ch. 6 of Mortal Stakes and you've got the whole thing covered.
And unless you stored away a copy as Kevin did forget about ever seeing it. It's not in the Globe online archives and although they might dig it up for you at 135 Morrissey Blvd. I rather doubt it.
Now we come to Lord John 10. [1988, edited by Dennis Etchison] Lord John's Press is a small printer specializing in high quality limited editions. On their tenth anniversary in 1988 they put out a volume of short stories by authors whose books they had published . Parker contributed a four page number called Spenser's a Fan, Too. The mystery is that it lists a copyright date of 1988. Did they even know Parker was sending them a used story?
The book is long out of print but you can sometimes find it on the used book market. I lucked out on a $12 copy at Amazon.com but the prices go up sharply from there. As of this writing www.alibris.com had a few starting at $19.95, www.bibliofind.com starts at around $25.95, and first editions signed by all the authors top out at close to $700.00.
An excerpt that sums it up:
"I drank some more beer, sampled a Fenway Frank, explained the infield fly rule to Susan, explained it again, joined in a salute to the Marshfield Little League that flashed on the scoreboard.
'I still think it's a dumb rule.' Susan said. She shelled a peanut and ate half a nut.
'In a sense all rules are dumb.' I said. 'They're arbitrary. It's what creates sport. It's not just trying to win. It's trying to win under these circumstances, within these rules, under these conditions.'
Susan looked at me while she ate the other half of one peanut. 'Reminds me of someone.' she said.
I shrugged. 'It's a way to live,' I said.
She started on her second peanut.
"Except here the rules are absolute.' Susan said.
'What makes it a game,' I said."
Spenser's Boston. [1988] A photographer's impression of Spenser's home area by Kasho Kumagai. Parker includes a few pages of Spenser and Susan showing Rachel Wallace some local sites of interest.
Long out of print and hard to find. I borrowed a copy from my local library network and you may want to try the same yourself. Available for $45 to $90 at the same sources as above. I also looked through a copy of the Japanese edition in Spenser's Mystery Bookshop on Newbury St. in Boston that the owners keep in their private collection.
Boston: History in the Making. [1999] An oversized "coffee table" book, it contains photographs of the local area and puff pieces on local companies. It's part of an "Urban Tapestry Series" put out by Towery Publishing. To quote:
"As they follow their suspect, Spenser and Hawk deliver a guided tour of the city, from the shops and restaurants of Beacon Hill to the swan boats at the Public Garden to the Italian enclave in the North End. Spenser figures the duo is about 'as inconspicuous . . . as two tarantulas on a wedding cake,' but they manage to solve their case and, in the process, introduce us to Boston as only they could. Accompanying Parker's introduction are hundreds of outstanding images culled from the collections of the area's finest photographers."
Using all of my resources I found only one copy on www.Alibris.com for about $50, which will surely be gone by the time you read this. It's not all that good; if you know the books you could knock off something resembling it in half an hour.
The Kitchen Caper appeared in the Boston Globe Magazine on 16 March 2003. It was available in their archives for a while but it has since disappeared. Read Susan's attempt at beet risotto in chapter 52 of Small Vices and you can get the idea.
Murder's Row. [2001] An anthology of baseball stories edited by Otto Penzler and published by New Millennium Press in 2001 to which Parker contributed Harlem Nocturne. Set in 1945, it involves a private detective hired by Branch Rickey, general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, to protect his newest player Jackie Robinson from those who are outraged at the concept of a "negro" in the major leagues.
This is a very rare example of Dr. Parker taking a chapter of his novel-in-the-writing and contributing it to a compilation. It's pretty much chapter 17 of Double Play released by Putnam Press on 24 May 2004. No transcript here, it's available at your local bookstore.
There's No Business. Parker wrote this very short piece for the Audiobooks web site. It seems that Susan's friend "Bob" has written a detective story and thinks it would be wonderful to have a real detective voice the audio version. See if this link still works: www.audiobookstoday.com/FtrDtl.cfm?FtrCod=242 Whether or not it does, visit their web site and poke around at what they have to offer.
The Picnic. In 1998 Parker wrote a short story for a special issue of "Fashions of the Times" magazine of the New York Times. You can purchase a copy for $2.95 at http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30D1EFA3C5E0C708EDDA10894D0494D81 but it's not much more than a rewrite of Taming a Sea-Horse chapter 19. Thanks to Fred Gillis for sending me the link, and Paint Shop Pro for letting me have a little fun with a classic painting.
Here is a real rarity, a program from a Harvard-Yale football game in 1984. Jim Pattison bought this at Spenser and Marlowe's (an earlier incarnation of Spenser's Mystery Bookshop) sometime in the mid eighties and was kind enough to scan it and pass it my way. Two pages of extremely light-weight banter but a wonderful addition to my collection.
Murder at the Foul Line. [2006] An anthology of basketball stories to which Bob and Joan Parker contributed Galahad, Inc. Nick and Holly are a wisecracking detective couple (much like Nick and Nora Charles in the Thin Man series of movies.) Once again, no transcript here, it's on the shelf at your local bookstore.
A biography of Spenser written by Robert B. Parker. This is part of a series commissioned by The Mysterious Bookshop of fictional characters by their authors as a favor for their customers. Spenser and Susan talk with a Harvard professor friend of hers who wants to write a book called Men Who Dare with "profiles of men who are strong and tough and do dangerous work." It's an interesting restatement of what you learned from the last several dozen books, and a nice addition to any collection.
There was a print run of 1000 paperbacks and you can get one with any order (while they last) and 100 signed and numbered Hardcover editions. See more info at http://www.mysteriousbookshop.com/newsletter/newsletter.php And even better ask about the other authors involved, some of whom are the finest in the business.
