Destroyer [*SIGNED*; his Hollywood agent's copy]
Fisher, Steve
Sold by ReadInk, ABAA/IOBA, Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.
Association Member:
AbeBooks Seller since 24 February 1998
Used - Hardcover
Condition: Used - Good
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketSold by ReadInk, ABAA/IOBA, Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.
Association Member:
AbeBooks Seller since 24 February 1998
Condition: Used - Good
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basket[a one-time agency copy (with stamped agency name on all three sides of the text block plus the front endpaper (where it's lined through), shelfworn but still a good solid copy; the jacket is a bit of a mess, however, having once been scotch-taped to the inside covers (old tape now removed but leaving marks behind) and tape-reinforced across the top and bottom of the spine (ditto), with several splits along the front hinge, severe fading to the spine, etc.]. INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the author on the front endpaper: "For Lennie -- / Very best / to a swell guy / Steve Fisher." This "starkly realistic story of an obsolete American submarine in war time [is a] poignant, profoundly emotional account of men inside the firing pits of a battleship's 14-inch turret guns -- fighting the last desperate fight for Democracy." Here's the setting: "The United States has declared war on Germany, Italy, and Japan. The invading navies of these countries prepare for an advance on the Panama Canal. A terrific naval battle takes place." -- all of which reveals this book, "starkly realistic" though it may be, as a piece of speculative fiction, since it was published in September 1941, a full three months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor precipitated America's entry into World War II. (I love this little squib from a contemporary newspaper: "In the original manuscript, Russia was included in the alignment against the U.S., but current events made a last-minute revision necessary." Oops.) The agency whose name is stamped all over this copy, by the way, is H.N. Swanson, Inc., Fisher's longtime representative, and the premier agency for writers in Hollywood during the 1930s and 1940s. (They never succeeded in selling this one to the movies -- possibly because no such grand naval battle for the Panama Canal ever took place -- although the film version of Fisher's previous novel, "I Wake Up Screaming," was about to be released at the time, and a later war yarn, "Destination Tokyo," would also be turned into a successful film.) Signed by Author.
Seller Inventory # 30056
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