Characters in The Plant

The real issue is lack of confidence. All right, okay, fine. Second call was to Alan Williams, a senior editor at Viking Press. Williams is one of the best in the business, and save your nasty ("Then how do you know him?") question.

… The Oak Cove dead have been identified as Norman Ableson, twenty-six; John Piet, forty; and Alicia Penbroke, thirty-four. State Police Lieutenant Arthur P. Ford was surprisingly gloomy when asked if he expected to recapture General Hecksler …

I can't take your call right now. If this is about billing or accounting, you need to call Andrew Lang at Apex Corporation of America. The number is 212-555-9191. Ask for the Publishing Division.

… the hall to the glorified closet that's his office (on the wall is a poster-sized photo of General Anthony Hecksler which Herb throws darts at when he's bored), and came back with a sheaf of paper. He looked uncharacteristically shy as he put them in …

… Zenith House is hardly Alfred A. Knopf (our lead title for February is Scorpions from Hell, by Anthony L. K. LaScorbia, his follow-up to Rats from Hell), but still...you hope... Detweiller, at least, followed protocol and sent a query letter. Herb Porter, …

… State Police Lieutenant Arthur P. Ford was surprisingly gloomy when asked if he expected to recapture General Hecksler quickly. "We hope for a quick arrest, naturally," he said, "but this is a man who trained guerilla units in World War II and in Korea, …

I went back down the stairs like a man in a dream, and when Aunt Olympia laid her hand on my arm and asked what was wrong up there, I smiled and said nothing, we were just talking over old times and got a little …

It was just a cheap little thing; like Aunt Susan herself, now that I think about it. I kept that diary, off and on (mostly off ) for almost three weeks.

… in the accident, the first in Ocean State's four-year history, were John Chesterton, the pilot, and Avery Goldstein, the copilot, both of Pawtucket. Robert Weiner, Tina Barfield, and Dallas Mayr have been identified as three of the downed aircraft's five …

you ask. The answer is, yes he is. I got the letter yesterday and rang up Barton Iverson of the Central Falls Police almost at once (after getting Roger's grudging approval for the long distance, I might add).

Herb Porter, Sandra Jackson, Bill Gelb, and I divvy those that came in the week before each Monday, and I had the misfortune to get this one.

… a poison ivy plant sounds like something that would tickle the bejabbers out of a fellow like Carlos Detweiller, but I have handled it, felt its leaves and vines, and have no rash. Nor am I immune. I had some killer cases of poison ivy when Floyd and …

"No," she said, "I smell Shalimar. That was the first perfume I ever had. My Aunt Coretta gave it to me for my birthday, when I was twelve." Then she looked at Bill, and smiled warmly. "That was what dreams smelled like to me.

Robert Weiner, Tina Barfield, and Dallas Mayr have been identified as three of the downed aircraft's five passengers.

I even have a writer in mind — Dawson Postlewaite, aka Nick Hardaway, the Macho Man himself.

One, I regret to say, is of having my sister Deidre first diaper me and then accommodate me after I have made weewee in my didy. Ah, sex is the great comedy, all right. No doubt about that.

She was no longer hungry. “Then what is it?” It was a voice in her head, calling. But if she told Dina that, her niece would probably think she was crazy. Especially if she told her it was a green voice.

I used to do the "OUIJA" with my mother, Mrs. Barfield, Don Barfield (he is now dead), and sometimes a friend of mine named Herb Hagstrom (also now dead, poor lad).

… is believed to be Hecksler's close friend General Douglas MacArthur. "It was Iron-Guts, all right," the Post's source claimed, adding that in addition to the lighter, searchers found a number of items amid the bone-dotted clumps of ashes in the death oven that have been positively identified as belonging to …

"Yassuh!" He said, flashing that obscene grin again. "And if you want my cousin Eddie's phone numbah—" But by then I had escaped into the hall. It's always a relief to get free of Riddley.

… I haven't kept a journal since I was an eleven-year-old girl with mosquitobumps for breasts and a love-life that consisted of moaning over Paul Newman and Robert Redford with my friends Elaine and Phyllis, but here goes.

In a brief press interview, Ellen K. Moors, the doctor in charge of Hecksler's case, agreed. "He had a great many enemies," she said, "or so he imagined.

… brother...or for anyone who did not think the stars pretty much changed their courses to watch Evelyn Walker Hance in her enchanted walk through life. "It's hard to point fingers successfully when your hands are full of stolen goods. You might drop your …

FELIX …

… submission letters, manuscript reports, and a personal letter (although typed) which begins Dear Fergus. Hecksler tears it all up and sprinkles the pieces on top of the desk like confetti. Next to the IN/OUT is an envelope marked GOTHAM …

If not for the "nigger reaction" (Floyd Walker)—or the "human reaction" (his brother Riddley)—I might really have dumped the thing...but after that fit of the shakes'it seemed to me I …

… would so honor me, should be given without regard to race or religion, as all during my life I, Fortuna Walker, have believed Whites to be every bit as good as Blacks, and Catholics almost as good as Southern Baptists." How we chuckled at that nearly …

… Frank DeFelice obligingly holds the door and they cross the lobby together, heels clicking and echoing. “People shouldn’t be allowed to be late on Saturdays,” the young man says, and DeFelice gives an agreeable, meaningless little smile.

… which crashed had less than 9000 hours on its clock, according to Ocean State Airways President George Ferguson. Officials from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have launched a joint investigation of the …

The editor who signed off on it was one George Flynn, who left publishing to set up his own job-printing business in Brooklyn about a year ago.

… all, and they’ve kept him ahead of the curve (as mid-level executives such as Frank DeFelice and George Patella might say) in most respects. One of the respects in which they have been a trifle behind the curve has to do with Iron-Guts Hecksler’s …

… whiskey and "memorating" (Mama's word for reminiscence) with some of her cousins, and Orthina and Gertrude, from her book-circle (both ladies decorous but undoubtedly tiddly), and Jack Hance, Evvie's husband. No sign of Evvie herself, or Sophie, …

… with Roger Wade after work tonight in Four Fathers (Roger claims that the owner, a genial man named Ginelli with a soft voice and these odd, gleeful eyes, is a mafioso) and told him about Herb's visit to me that afternoon. I pointed out to Herb …

It was, in fact, my copy of Harlow Enders's memo, the one with the maniacal demand that we pull three New York Times bestsellers either out of thin air or from our own asses, …

… I used to do the "OUIJA" with my mother, Mrs. Barfield, Don Barfield (he is now dead), and sometimes a friend of mine named Herb Hagstrom (also now dead, poor lad).

I know how strange that would sound to John, who probably thinks Herb Porter is from another world (Planet Reagan), but Herb isn't. Herb Porter is just one more fucked-up Earthling. Know what I really think?

His victim was Albany bus driver Herman T. Schneur, whom Hecksler claimed in a signed statement to be "one of the twelve North American foremen of the antichrist."

… , and Orthina and Gertrude, from her book-circle (both ladies decorous but undoubtedly tiddly), and Jack Hance, Evvie's husband. No sign of Evvie herself, or Sophie, or Madeline. I went looking for them, worried that they might not be all right.

… if ever there was a name that sounds as if it should belong to a writer, that name is James Saltworthy. My next thought was to just put the top back on the box and leave whatever was under the title page, good or bad, until I got home. But …

By James Whitney Special to The Times CENTRAL FALLS, RHODE ISLAND: A Cessna 404 Titan commuter airplane owned and operated by Ocean State Airways crashed shortly …

I don't know if poor little Jenny Flannagan was a greedy-guts or not, but I know that's what we looked like right then, the five of us: a bunch of greedy-guts editors sitting around in Roger Wade's office.

I went to lunch with Jinky Carstairs, who is novelizing the lesbo-vampire piece of shit we're stuck with (burgers at Burger Heaven, how chi-chi) and had a drink after work with …

Killed in the accident, the first in Ocean State's four-year history, were John Chesterton, the pilot, and Avery Goldstein, the copilot, both of Pawtucket.

My name, as mentioned above, is John Edward Kenton; I am twenty-six years of age; I attended Brown University, where I majored in English, served as President of the Milton Society, and was …

The Oak Cove dead have been identified as Norman Ableson, twenty-six; John Piet, forty; and Alicia Penbroke, thirty-four.

With my help you can use him to achieve your dream. If you doubt me think of this: Kevin Anthony 7/7/67. I am sorry if this upsets you but there's no time to spend convincing you that I know what I know.

LaShonda Evans came in before they did, complaining that the reception area smelled funny.

… reading of my Mama's last will and testament on the day between her wake and her burial, and how Law Tidyman, her lifelong friend, allowed most of it to stand in her own words. It struck me passing strange then (although I did not put it down, …

Herb went on, a little more subdued. "Lisa left me when I was twentyfour, because I couldn't satisfy her as a woman. I never hated her for it; she gave it her best for two years.

Evvie turned her head, and Madeline did, too. The color left Maddy's cheeks, turning her rich complexion dull. "And how were you going to split it?"

Yowza. Hecksler pulls out the cardboard, then the picture of Herb and his beloved Marmar, which was taken at the twentyfifth anniversary party Herb organized for his parents out on Montauk in 1978.

These are the ones I told you about, City of Para. Please get that damn Mintz off my back and CRUSH THESE SOME-BITCHES MONDAY 1st thing! Thanks Buddy, “I owe you 1.”

We could commission it. I'm thinking maybe Mort Yeager, he's got a touch for that sort of thing. Remember Teenage Lingerie Show?

The other two dead were Mr. And Mrs. Hubert D. Leekstodder, owners of the Shady Rest.

According to Mr. Ferguson, OSA has suspended operations at least until the end of the week and perhaps longer. "I'm devastated by this," he said.

… drawn a pitcher, and he thinks Mrs. Ellis will ask him to show it to the rest of the kinnygarden. Mrs. Ellis likes his pitchers. Then, suddenly, Maddy stops. From the north comes a rising rumble. She looks at him solemnly. “Those are the bombers,” …

"Whatever was wrong must have gone wrong right away," said Myron Howe, who was cutting weeds between Barker Field's two runways when the accident occurred. "He got upstairs and then he tried to come on back.

The Oak Cove dead have been identified as Norman Ableson, twenty-six; John Piet, forty; and Alicia Penbroke, thirty-four.

… thing: Riley checked on the guy in the "sakrifice photos," and came up with a name I know: It was Mr. Norville Keen, the same guy, I'm pretty sure, that Detweiller mentioned in his first two letters ("Why describe a guest when you can see that guest," and …

"She'll stay clean," Herb said grimly. "For the next three weeks, I'm Olive Barker's personal sponsor. She gets calls three times a day. If I hear so much as a single slurred s, and I'm over there with a stomach-pump.

Hi-ho, it's Oren Anderson, off to the Bahamas with his chippy of the month." I felt as if I'd been sucker-punched. I looked at Floyd. "Is that true?"

… love-life that consisted of moaning over Paul Newman and Robert Redford with my friends Elaine and Phyllis, but here goes. I'm going to skip writing about the plant, as I'm sure John and Roger will have covered that pretty completely (having read …

She laughed, but her eyes were frightened. "Just something else you didn't know. Sophie's Randall is a little better off—" "We keep even, but get ahead?" Sophie also laughed. "Not likely.

My best friend in the fifth grade was a kid named Randy Wettermark. And one day, when we stopped in the candy store after school for Pez or something, Randy hawked a Spiderman comic-book.

Aboard the Silver Meteor Question: Has Riddley Pearson Walker ever in his life been so confused, so disheartened, so shaken, so downright sad? I don't think so.

One mildly interesting thing: Riley checked on the guy in the "sakrifice photos," and came up with a name I know: It was Mr. Norville Keen, the same guy, I'm pretty sure, that …

Robert Weiner, Tina Barfield, and Dallas Mayr have been identified as three of the downed aircraft's five passengers.

"Losers or not, they are real crispy now," said Police Lieutenant Rodney Marksland of the Long Island Police Department.

… of shit we're stuck with (burgers at Burger Heaven, how chi-chi) and had a drink after work with Rodney Slavinksy, who writes the Coldeye Denton westerns under the name of Bart I. Straight. The Coldeyes don't do diddly-dick in the U.S. market, but for …

I had a drink with Roger Wade after work tonight in Four Fathers (Roger claims that the owner, a genial man named Ginelli with a soft voice and these odd, gleeful eyes, …

… or that I'm prematurely balding, or that I'm engaged to marry a pretty miss from Pasadena named Ruth Tanaka...not any of those things (and please God, not my home address, never my home address), but he knows I'm the editor who had him taken into …

… actually made this reader believe such a show could become a national obsession.) Only one person, Sally Stamos (the Good Young Mother), suspects how evil Tracy Nordstrom really is. Eventually Nordstrom realizes she's onto him, and sets out to silence …

And all I can do here is stick to the facts. One of them is this: something about Sandra Georgette Jackson turned Herb on enough to inspire a number of covert seat-sniffing expeditions. And that has turned me on.

They were expecting me; a Sergeant Tyndale met me in the reception area and took the envelope of photographs.

Bill asked. “Make it sixtyfive,” Sandra proposed giddily. After all, it was Sherwyn Redbone’s money Roger was spending. “No,” Roger said, “no need to be vulgar, not the first year, anyway. I think fifty thousand will be fine.”

“Tell it!” Bill cried savagely, and that gave me a shiver. It was what Sophie had said to my sister Maddy, when Maddy accused me of playing nigger up in New York. Like hearing a ghost, in other words.

… I'd seen Sophie and Evelyn and Evvie's Jack laughing and talking with Law Tidyman and Law's wife Sulla not half an hour before. Best of friends, they'd looked like. "You don't know how she got these last few years, Rid," Madeline said. She …

Listen, babes, I took a meeting last Fri with Teddy Graustark, the Apex veep in charge of Print Media.

I work at the Central Falls House of Flowers for Mrs. Tina Barfield, who knew my mother when my mother was still alive. I was born on March 24th, which makes me an Aries.

Maddening images of her and the odious Toby Anderson cavorting together—the locale which keeps recurring is a hot-tub. So I'll call her. So much for willpower.

… There was this kid who lived up the street from me, not the world's nicest one by any means—Tommy Flannagan. He was skinny as a rail. He had a sister, maybe a year or two younger, who was much heavier. And sometimes he would chase her until she …

… enough so I have burned to read the rest ever since leaving the office; my mind keeps going back to Tracy Nordstrom, the charming psycho who is apparently going to be Saltworthy's main character. There's a war going on in my head, the armies of Hope on …

… TURK! These are the ones I told you about, City of Para. Please get that damn Mintz off my back and CRUSH THESE SOME-BITCHES MONDAY 1st thing! Thanks Buddy, “I owe you 1.” FELIX …

And I, God help me, felt an insane urge to scream: No! It's not okay! Get up here! You and Uncle Michael both get up here! Get up here and rescue me! Save me from the pecking of the carrion birds!

… 'd always greet me with 'Hey, I'm Uncle Ray from Green Bay.' To which it was my job to reply, 'Hey, Ray, what do you say?' And he'd come back with 'Can ya stay, or do ya have to leave today?'" I suffered this rather bizarre reminiscence in …

I said—I knew perfectly well by then that it was Zenith she was smelling, just as I know that Zenith the Common Ivy smells like no ivy I ever came in contact with in my life. "Because if you are," she said, "I want my share." "But Miz Jackson!