In a week or so Michael Gruber’s new thriller, Tropic of Night, is going to arrive in bookstores. It’s supposed to be a big book—huge press, lavish praise from the usual suspects like Publishers Weekly and Kirkus, Book of the Month selection. I haven’t read it, so I can’t tell you whether I think all the hype is warranted. When I get it I’ll report back.
No, the part I find interesting is that this is not Gruber’s first book, it’s just the first under his own name. (I happen to know this for the same reason Brian Dear does; we’re both on the Well, as is Gruber.) For years he has been writing legal thrillers for Robert K. Tanenbaum. I haven’t read any of those, either, but they’re supposed to be quite good. Evidently some readers guessed that Michael Gruber had quite a lot to do with them, because the acknowledgements page always said something like, “Thanks to Michael Gruber, without whom this book wouldn’t exist.” Which was, apparently, literally true. Gruber wrote all the novels, stem to stern, by himself, without editorial input or outlines or other interference from Tanenbaum. (Although evidently on the last few books Tanenbaum changed the policy of allowing Gruber to ship the manuscript to the editor, taking it first himself and probably having it retyped so as to appear it originated with him.)
Anyhow, a couple of years ago Tanenbaum quit being a lawyer to be a writer full-time. But he wasn’t writing the books. He’s also given interviews about what it’s like to be a successful novelist.
My question: what kind of cognitive dissonance that does cause? To have a public image completely based on a lie? I know that I have a hard enough time with Impostor Syndrome without actually, you know, being an impostor. Or do you figure that since your reputation as a great trial lawyer (which Tanenbaum was) is the reason for the book series and probably for the success of the books (at least initially), that it’s okay and you really are an “author”? I don’t know, I don’t pretend to know. I wonder, that’s all.
Yes, I know Tom Clancy doesn’t write his books either. And Steve “I’m smarter than you, I’m smarter than everyone!” Allen didn’t write his mysteries either. Any other impostors?
I read a mystery about an established writer who ends up having another author write his latest bestseller: Donald Westlake’s _The_Hook_. It’s fiction, but it does deal with the weird cognitive dissonance going on…oh but it’s a mystery so it has a murder or two in there too.
I have to wonder what kind of actual dissonance it creates in his life — he’s “found out” — people now know. It’s weird to think this guy retired so he could sit around… pretending… to be writing the books that he didn’t write, but I’d be curious what kind of reactions and how it impacted his life when people realized he’d lied.
I wonder about this guy Gruber – why did he do the ghost writing? Did he figure it was the only way he could get published? Did he get a really good deal? Obviously the books must be good, at least by publisher’s standards.
(I’m on the Well too but didn’t know or care about this because I don’t read the books conf much.)
This reminds me of Frederik Pohl’s discussion of the process of writing. To summarize it crudely he said that authors are concerned with getting their names on books, and writers are concerned with writing the books. Having to discuss how the book was written does sound strange, but if he goes over it with the writer it shouldn’t be too hard. He’s not trying to pretend to be Ernest Hemingway, just a writer, all of the public’s knowledge of whom comes from him, so there’s not any risk of falling out of character. If he phrased his answers carefully he wouldn’t even need to lie, and it may well be he finds the whole thing very amusing, and a good balance for him, Gruber, and the public, most of whom have no interest in the actual process of writing.
The story, as I understand it, of how Gruber got involved:Tanenbaum’s a relative of his and had a nonfiction bestseller (about one of his cases??) c. 20 years ago. Decided to get into legal thrillers, wrote a book, asked Gruber to critique it for him. Gruber said it was so bad that for half the money he’d write a whole new one for Tanenbaum. And so it went from there. Evidently the once close relationship became mightily strained by this arrangement.
The only person I can think of who probably didn’t write most of his work is William Shatner. But that really should go without saying. You could also mention Isaac Asimov, who’s been dead for years yet still publishes.
Then there’s Carolyn Keene and Franklin W. Dixon, but they don’t really count.
Don’t forget Fabio. Supposedly, he only wrote one word in each of his books. The title. Stuff like, “The Pirate.” And “The Whatever-else-sounds-sexy.” I don’t remember since I didn’t read them. But they claimed that they asked him what he thought each of the books should be about, and he said, “A pirate, a this, a that.” And they got written.
The odd part is that this was done quite openly, the romance magazines named which romance writer was ghost-writing the books, and women bought them anyway. Snapped them up. Fabio was a best-selling author and people knew he didn’t write the books.
Just finished Tropic of Night, and I thank you all for the information about Mr. Gruber writing for Tanenbaum; I’m going to read those next. His writing style is very enjoyable, and I loved this book. Really (underscore) loved it. I do wonder why he hasn’t published more of his under his own name. He does great work!