tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post115374925162676077..comments2024-03-28T16:17:20.965-05:00Comments on Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: Happy Birthday, John D. McDonald!mybillcriderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350478005243505108noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-1153784681546055502006-07-24T18:44:00.000-05:002006-07-24T18:44:00.000-05:00I suspect that very few writers under 35 have read...I suspect that very few writers under 35 have read much MacDonald at all. He wasn't in print for a while there, and I'm not sure that he is now. Gold Medal revived the McGee books a while back, with new introductions, but I don't think they did the non-series stuff.mybillcriderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02350478005243505108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-1153784307345509232006-07-24T18:38:00.000-05:002006-07-24T18:38:00.000-05:00I would be curious to know how many writers under ...I would be curious to know how many writers under the age of 35 find McDonald to be an influence.<BR/><BR/>I'm in that age group, and I must admit to finding the one McGee novel I read to be pretty dated, especially the female dialogue. Of course, you could argue that America was a very different place in the 1960s in all sorts of ways.<BR/><BR/>I am heavily influenced by writers who hold McDonald up as a favorite, such as Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Carl Hiassen, etc.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-1153762489935047512006-07-24T12:34:00.000-05:002006-07-24T12:34:00.000-05:00Even the philosophical rambling didn't bother me b...Even the philosophical rambling didn't bother me back in the day.<BR/><BR/>By the way, Todd, that JDM spelling error on the link isn't mine. It's spelled that way on the link page. I'll fix it on mine, though.mybillcriderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02350478005243505108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-1153762184276710452006-07-24T12:29:00.000-05:002006-07-24T12:29:00.000-05:00McDonald was the writer whose work drew my attenti...McDonald was the writer whose work drew my attention to Gold Medal as the center of a school, and while he's (probably) still "only" the second best-selling of US cf writers to have come to prominence in the 1950s, he is still probably my favorite. Definitely agreed about the latter-day awkwardness of some of the dialog, and some of the monologs as well (McGee was a little too convenient a mouthpiece for philosophical rambling at times), but, damn, THE EXECUTIONERS alone would put him high in my pantheon (forgiving both the CAPE FEARs which are corruptions of the novel, whatever their virtues). Mac over the Mick, certainly, to make it plain; though that might be as against the current today as Hammett over Chandler.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-1153761754531704262006-07-24T12:22:00.000-05:002006-07-24T12:22:00.000-05:00Bill,Enjoyed your post. Timely, also. I just fin...Bill,<BR/><BR/>Enjoyed your post. Timely, also. I just finished reading THE DECEIVERS (non-Travis McGee, 1956). The storyline kept me intrigued even with the philosophical asides to the last page.<BR/><BR/>Ed LynskeyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com