HUNTING LAKE
by Mike Resnick
In my life, I have written a grand total of three fan letters
to writers. One of the recipients, Barry Malzberg, became my
closest friend and occasional collaborator. Another, humorist Ross
Spencer, also became a good friend. The third was African writer
Alexander Lake, who died on Christmas Day, 1961, a month before I
wrote to him. I've always regretted not meetiing Lake, who has
been virtually forgotten by the American reading public, despite a
number of bestsellers.
I recently moved THE RESNICK LIBRARY OF AFRICAN ADVENTURE
from St. Martin's Press over to Alexander Books, an offshoot of
WorldComm Press. The primary reason was to bring Lake back into
print.
Sounds simple, right? I mean, hell, all editors do is sit on
their judgment all day and see what comes in the mail.
Well, sometimes it's not _quite_ that easy. Take Lake, for
example.
Hell, take the whole damned chronology:
1954: I buy the paperback edition of KILLERS IN AFRICA at age
12, take it to summer camp with me, read it in its entirety once a
week for two months. From that day to this, I am fascinated by all
things African, I take 5 safaris, I write 13 books and 18 short
stories set in Africa, and I never forget that it is Alexander
Lake who awakened this passion in me.
1988: St. Martin's Press buys Tor Books. St. Martin's also
publishes Peter Capstick's LIBRARY OF AFRICAN HUNTING, a series of
classic reprints.
1989: IVORY becomes a Nebula and Clarke nominee for Tor right
after SANTIAGO hits #3 on the bestseller list, and the nice people
at Tor look about for ways to keep me happily in their stable. I
tell them that if Capstick ever dies or gives up editing the
Library, I want to take it over.
1991: St. Martin's informs me that Capstick has moved to a
different publisher, and I can edit the Library. I tell them that
the first two authors I want to bring back -- they've each written
two books -- are Alexander Lake and John Boyes, a scalawag who was
one of the Kenya pioneers and at one time was the white king of
the Kikuyu. They reply that they'll reprint the Boyes books, which
were written in 1910 and 1928 and are in the public domain, but
with so many classics available for free they won't spend a penny
to purchase the Lakes, which we all assume are still under
copyright. I reluctantly agree -- after all, no one else is
beating down my door to edit books about killing animals in this
Politically Correct year of 1991 -- and I select three books, by
Boyes, F. C. Selous, and Arthur Neumann, for publication, writing
new introductions for each.
