Tuesday, August 14, 2012

John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee Coming to Kindle

Barring accident, act of God, the collapse of Amazon, or a catastrophe to be named later, most of John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series will be released as Kindle ebooks on January 8.  Sixteen of the twenty titles are listed as being available on that date, and I imagine the other four will either be released the same day or very soon thereafter.

For some time now, the only MacDonald titles in print have been the McGee series and (if memory serves) his novels A FLASH OF GREEN and THE EXECUTIONERS (perhaps better known as CAPE FEAR, and better than either of its film versions).  With any luck, Kindle releases of his work won't be limited to the Travis McGee novels; MacDonald was a giant in the mystery and suspense field, and books like THE EXECUTIONERS, THE END OF THE NIGHT, APRIL EVIL, THE NEON JUNGLE, THE DAMNED, MURDER IN THE WIND, and CRY HARD, CRY FAST are not to be missed.


And speaking of APRIL EVIL, that novel (again if memory serves) contained a bit of description that poet Donald Justice used in writing his poem "The Tourist from Syracuse."  It's worth a look, a nice short piece with just the right touch of chill at the finish.  Find it at:
The Tourist from Syracuse, by Donald Justice




6 comments:

  1. Hi Tony, I've just discovered John D. Macdonald and think he's amazing! I looked yesterday - and just a few minutes ago - and I couldn't see any reference to the books being published for Kindle. I looked on the Amazon John D. Macdonald page. Do you have some other source?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Darren
      The link's a bit cumbersome, but going to the Kindle store and searching on John D MacDonald and sorting the results by publication date should give the list.

      If not, try this:

      http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st?keywords=john+d+macdonald&qid=1349318783&rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Ajohn+d+macdonald&sort=daterank

      If you're still not getting the results, let me know & I'll get some individual links to you. Since this post, they've added the Travis McGee titles that weren't listed in the initial batch -- the whole series should be issued for Kindle in January. I have to say, though, I haven't checked the Kindle stores for the UK or elsewhere -- you're a US customer?

      Again, let me know if you still don't get a list & I'll post individual title links.

      All the best,

      --tr

      Delete
    2. Hi Tony,

      No, I'm in Australia. And, as bad luck would have it, they're not available for me to buy. Not happy! I've heard about a workaround however where I can create a new US amazon account and use a gift certificate. I'd planned on getting a bunch of the Trav McGee books for Xmas; I'm not sure now if I'll be able to do that. I'm currently on the line with Amazon to find out what the deal is. It's incredibly unfair, really.

      Delete
    3. Darren,

      Ouch! Those geographical restrictions are a pain in the kazoosis, and I'm afraid I don't know a way around them. (If I did I'd have quite a few titles from the UK on my own Kindle at the moment.) Availability outside the US will probably be held up until arrangements can be made with the publisher and perhaps MacDonald's estate. Sorry to hear about the problem.

      But I'd be optimistic about it, though. The McGees are only now becoming available as ebooks, and I'd be surprised if there were no discussions going on regarding release outside the US.

      Bests,
      --tr

      Delete
    4. Darren, if you can purchase from the Amazon UK Kindle store, you may be in luck here. The first five Travis McGee novels are listed as April releases. Hope this helps.

      Bests,
      --tr

      Delete
  2. Hi there. Never ran across that Kingsley Amis comment before, but that does seem to be how it works. I've read both MacDonald and Bellow -- I revisit MacDonald, but I don't expect to go back to Bellow any time soon. MacDonald at his frequent best was good at human heart stuff, and he could do that in the context of suspense fiction that kept you up into the small hours even when you had to work the next day. No small feat.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are welcome. Keep 'em clean and civil and we'll all be happy.