KoK was first released in theaters, but was not a success, and didn’t stay there long. That’s probably why you don’t remember it as a theatrical release. I made sure not to miss it, because I’d been so impressed by Raging Bull.

My knowledge of film these days is more Wikipedic. You too can know what I know, through a simple Google search. ;)

I can’t agree. While Parker is certainly my favorite continuing character of Westlake’s (under any name), he’s just one facet of a writer who would have made a name for himself with or without Parker.

I went from Parker and Grofield to Mitch Tobin, to Dortmunder–but in many ways, the best Westlake’s I’ve read are the one-shots he wrote under his own name, where he had the most freedom to say what he was trying to say.

How many of those have you read? Westlake wrote some incredibly dark, bloody, hard-boiled stuff under his own name. If you think he’s just writing comic capers as Westlake, you need to dig deeper.

As to his writing more Parkers–he wrote as many as he had in him. He wasn’t one of those guys who cranked stuff out just to fill a quota. Okay, maybe when he was doing the softcore stuff. ;)

You haven’t read a FEW of his novels? Are you saying you’ve read MOST of them? I count 50 (including The Comedy is Finished) that have been published under his actual name, as opposed to a pseudonym.

I will be most impressed if the only ones you haven’t read are The Mercenaries, Comfort Station, or Under an English Heaven, plus the few republished by Hard Case. As well as having read all his Starks (I’m still missing two of the Grofields), his work as Tucker Coe, as Samuel Holt, Curt Clark, and etc? I mean, how many books could you read in two years?

Sorry I misunderstood your earlier remark, but I was just saying I don’t think the Dortmunders are the best work he did under his own name (bearing in mind that to date I’ve only read The Hot Rock so far, and I loved it, but I’d still take The Axe or 361 any day). The Dortmunders are almost certainly his best-known works–I suspect many more people know him for Dortmunder than Parker.

Anyway, glad you eventually checked out PKD. Might I recommend Alice Sheldon (aka James Tiptree Jr.)? Another pseudonymous spinner of tales–much less prolific than Westlake, but when she was on top of her game, there was nobody else like her, and never will be again.

Now that you mentioned it, I do have quite a few more DEWs to read! Aside from the Starks/Dortmunders, I’ve read–Put a Lid on it, Smoke, Kahawa, The Ax, the angel book (can’t remember the title offhand), God Save the Mark, Dancing Aztecs, Sacred Monster… I think that about does it, although I could be forgetting a couple. I just downloaded The Cutie, which is really The Mercenaries. But I do indeed have a few more to go.

I generally read 3-4 books at once, if that makes any sense. You know, read a few chapters of one book, then the next, etc.

I am currently reading:

HOLLYWOOD’S HELLFIRE CLUB by Gregory William Mank. (Great bio of the Bundy Drive Boys–John Barrymoore, W.C. Fields, Errol Flynn, John Decker, John Carradine, etc.)

SINISTER FORCES: THE MANSON SECRET: a grimoire of American political witchcraft by Peter Levenda. (I highly recommend this trilogy of non-fiction books about… Oh, boy, just trust me, it’s good stuff. This is the third and final one; I’ve read the first two and loved them.)

TIME ENOUGH FOR LOVE by Robert Heinlein. (What can I say? Lazarus Long is one bad m**herf**ker –literally.)

Plus, I often reread certain books just for the pleasure of the artistry the author has with language.

Example: DOG SOLDIERS by Robert Stone. I’ve probably read that book seven times since discovering it. The last part of the book, where Hicks is walking down the train tracks, slowly dying (inspired by Neal Cassady’s real life death) is one of the most touching passages ever commited to paper.

Chris, I will definitely check out Alice Sheldon. Any particular book you would recommend I start with?

Thanks, Chris, I’ll read “Her Smoke Rose Up Forever” as a start. She sounds fascinating–she must have had a good sense of humor to use the “Racoona” handle;-) lol

I’m actually the oposite when I discover I’m reading a wonderful new book–I read slowly, savoring every word. Not wanting the experience to end. Anticipating the next installment with … well, anticipation;-) lol

As you are a longtime science fiction fan, I was wondering what you think of Mr. Westlake’s science fiction. I don’t think there are many writers who are truly excellent in different genres.

I think there is more to be said about “The Comedy is Finished. It you read the preface carefully, you will see that it says that the similarity to the Scorcese film was only one of the reasons Westlake decided not to publish it, but we aren’t told what the other reasons were. You will also note that the Westlake estate apparently was unaware of this book until Westlake’s friend turned up a copy of the ms. Normally, the estate of an author as prolific as Westlake will include several unpublished mss. I also note that, although the plot is up to a point a very typical Westlake plot, in which plans go awry owing to human failings (sometimes with comic effect, as in the Dortmunder series, and sometimes very seriously, as in the Parker novels), in the last part of the novel a new element is introduced that is not typical Westlake (which, in order not to be a spoiler, I will simply call a highly emotional family story.)
I propose the hypothesis that some of Westlake’s reason for not publishing the novel lay in this last part of the story, about which he had reservations either on artistic grounds (the writing is not as detached as his writing usually is) or (pure guess) because it touched too closely on something personal in his life. If it is the latter, that could also explain why no copy was found among his literary remains. Yes, whole manuscripts can get lost, but that is rare; generally authors are compulsive about saving anything that might eventually prove usable.