I just finished reading this. Been meaning to for ages, but I have so little time to read novels. Not bad at all. Was it a challenge to write a novel JB?

I liked the various nods to your friends. Naming neighbors The Sterns, The Simonsons, The Carlins, The Gruenwalds. Gary Cody was referenced. There seemed to be quite a bit of autobiographical stuff thrown in too. The action takes place in "Fairharbor, CT", and the main characters just moved to the estate there, from their brownstone in Brooklyn Heights. Sam Dennsion lived in Evanston, IL, before that. He's a commercial artist, IIRC. At least I remember him saying something about where he wanted to put his drawing board.

Were there any other autobiographical elements to the story that you'd care to share?

The bit with the crawlspace is autobiographical. My parents didn't lock me in one, certainly, but when I was about 13 my father bet me I could not sit in the crawlspace under our house for ten minutes with the lights out. (I was a big, big chicken when I was a kid.) I summoned up those memories and magnified them to describe Sam's ordeal.

Incidentally, I won the bet.

JB-)

JB -

I just ordered "The Whipping Boy" from Amazon a couple of days ago, and now I'm reading here about "Fearbook." Are there any other novels/short stories/non-comic book writings you've had published? If so, would it be possible to list them here if this hasn't been done already?

Thanks!
-Mark

I just ordered "The Whipping Boy" from Amazon. . .

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Hope you get what you're after. There's no definite article in my title, and there are a couple of other books called "The Whipping Boy".

Novels:

Fearbook! -published by Warner Books
Whipping Boy -Abyss/Dell
Wonder Woman: Gods & Goddesses -Prima Publishing

Short stories:

Hotter Blood-- story entitled Nocturne -Pocket Books
Shock Rock-- story entitled Hide in Plain Sight -Pocket Books

Illustrations:

Proteus Voices for the 80's-- story entitled The Jennerization of H Truman Buster by Reginald Bretnor -Ace

Illustrations:

Proteus Voices for the 80's-- story entitled The Jennerization of H Truman Buster by Reginald Bretnor -Ace
 
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Which file under "Never Agree to do Illustrations for a Science-Fiction Anthology Until You Know What the Story is Going to Be!"

Thanks Dave and JB!

JB, "The Whipping Boy" was how Amazon had it titled, but it is your book, I think. I did see that there were other books titled "The Whipping Boy" or "Whipping Boy," but this was the only one you were the author of, and some of the reviews on there referenced your comic book career. Of course, I'll find out for sure when I get it, I guess!

Thanks again,
-Mark

. . .some of the reviews on there referenced your comic book career. . .

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Both "Fearbook" and "Gods and Goddesses" got bad reviews in one "professional" magazine. I use the word advisedly, as indicated by the quotes. When I read the reviews I was stunned. The "reviewer" had obviously not read the books , but instead had just written "reviews" of the sort of novels it was assumed someone who "just wrote comicbooks" would write. One science-fiction magazine reviewed "Fearbook" and praised it for the well layered and defined characters. The non-reading "reviewer" described this as "the kind of 2 dimensional characters you would expect to find in a comic book". It was really an eye opener. I have never been much of one to base my judgement of something on a review, but by golly the likelihood of my doing so shrank even more!

JB-

Got my copy of Whipping Boy in the mail yesterday and it was definitely yours - it had a quote by Chris Claremont on the cover! I've read the first few pages and I'm already sucked in. I will have to track down Fearbook after...

Regarding your statement about reviews, I have often heard that "professional" book reviewers are among the worst, and are notorious for not reading what they review. I read and interview with Anne Rice (haha) years ago where she complained about this very thing!

As I become more attuned to biases presented by the media and sources like reviewers, the more I take such things with a grain of salt...

-Mark