If you head over to my official site, you’ll see on the welcome page a link to explore “The Secret Files of Donovan Creedy.” It’s something a little different to mark the release of PRINT THE LEGEND on Feb. 16.
Creedy, a dangerous and calculating man, reported directly to J. Edgar Hoover for nearly six decades. But he secretly served many masters and combined many surprising roles in his time of service not just to the FBI, but apparently to the CIA, perhaps to the post-Batista Cuban government…maybe to other foreign powers.
Creedy was also a published—albeit straight-to-paperback—thriller writer. Across many decades, the lives of crime novelist Hector Lassiter and Donovan Creedy crossed, often in subtle exchanges. In 1965, Creedy finally edged onto Lassiter’s radar in a very major way — a war of wills that drives the plot of PRINT THE LEGEND.
Through the secret Donovan Creedy files, you can access some of the action of the novel that’s implied between the lines in PRINT THE LEGEND.
You’ll receive some glimpses of Hector Lassiter, Ernest and Mary Hemingway, and of Hannah Paulson that you won’t find in PRINT THE LEGEND, the published novel.
The fact is, HEAD GAMES and TOROS & TORSOS, the first two novels in the Hector Lassiter series, were printed about 99-percent as written. Every book goes through an editing process, but those two volumes appeared substantially as initially crafted.
As originally conceived, PRINT THE LEGEND would actually have run a good number of pages over its final printed length. So the “Creedy Files” consist of materials cut not because they weren’t up to snuff or because they were rendered moot by other editorial changes. Rather, these are vignettes that were largely omitted to bring the book into a more manageable length.
In all, those who care to explore the Creedy files can gain access to approximately 10,000 words of previously unseen material.
Of course making these pieces available in this format also gives some potential insight into the finishing work of shaping the novel: just the sort of insight into process I usually try to obscure.
But some of the chapters contain passages I cut with real reluctance. I’m curious what those who’ve read the finished novel and take the time to explore these “secret files” make of these extras: Did they add to your reading experience? Did they enhance or detract from your estimation of the finished book?
Explore Creedy's dark and private world HERE.
WOODY HAUT REVIEWS PRINT THE LEGEND
Woody Haut (author of the excellent crime fiction studies PULP CULTURE, NEON NOIR) reviews PRINT THE LEGEND.
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