Postscripts

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Popular Literature

No one was more surprised than local romance writer Evelyn Palfrey to read that "Popular Books" was going to reissue her series of self-published books, which is what Michael Corcoran's Tuesday, December 7 "Austin Inside/Out" column in the Statesman stated. Palfrey, who says "romance is even sweeter with a little gray at the temple," actually signed with Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster (and since there is no "Popular Books," "Inside/ Out" seems to be an apt description of that column). In the November 8 edition of Publishers Weekly, a paragraph was devoted to Pocket's acquisition of Palfrey's three titles (Dangerous Dilemmas, The Price of Passion, and Three Perfect Men), which have attained bestseller status on the Essence Blackboard bestseller list. Pocket will begin reissuing Palfrey's books with The Price of Passion in August 2000. They also have first-look rights on Palfrey's future writings. In 1997, Palfrey, who was appointed Austin's presiding municipal court judge last month, attended the Austin Writers' League's annual Agents! Agents! Agents! & Editors Too Summer Conference, where she had paid for a private consultation with a literary agent, which Palfrey says panned out as nothing more than a "learning experience," since it quickly became clear that the agent didn't have much of an interest in romance. "It may have been a lack of knowledge on my part, and probably was, of how that whole agency thing ties into the publishing industry," Palfrey says. The following year, she volunteered during the conference (as she often does at Writers' League events) and, as she says, just happened to be talking to Jane Chelius of the Jane Chelius Literary Agency, who ended up becoming her agent. Since May, Palfrey has been finalizing and negotiating her contract with Pocket. What's behind the desire of so many writers to keep their "day job" separate from their writing life? If you're a presiding municipal court judge (or anyone else for that matter), you need the quality of your writing to speak for itself. "I guess some people would think that the fact that I'm a judge has some more interest than if I were something else. But to me, you know, a good book is just a good book," Palfrey says. Judging from the following incident, Palfrey has worked particularly hard to keep her two lives distinct. When she published her first book, Three Perfect Men, she says she sold it mostly to family and friends because that's what tends to happen when you self-publish a book. But one day she was at a function at the Convention Center "and there was a woman attending the function coming from Ft. Worth and I was taking her a copy of the book and I walked up and I just had it in my hand and I stopped at the information booth to find out where this woman would be -- she was going to be a presenter -- and the lady there, a woman about my age, said, "Ooh! Have you read that book?" And I said, 'Well ... ' and she said, 'Girl, that is the best book. You're going to enjoy that.'"... Insufferably high-minded literary types make mistakes, too. A few weeks ago, I wrote that Neal Barrett Jr.'s Interstate Dreams had just been re-issued by Mojo Press -- a bizarre thing to say since Interstate Dreams is brand-new (Mojo Press is re-issuing Barrett's The Hereafter Gang and publishing Interstate Dreams simultaneously. Both are in paperback for $14.)... I do know most indubitably that Everyman's Library has released Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy in one volume for $30... Jerry Jeff Walker will be signing copies of his new CD and book Gypsy Songman at Congress Avenue Booksellers on Wed., Dec. 15, from noon-1:30pm.