response 175 of 207:

Dec 8 18:53 UTC 1998

a wild guess - JFK

response 177 of 207:

Dec 8 21:07 UTC 1998

Updike is indeed alive and still writing.

Not John Cheever, not JFK.

response 179 of 207:

Dec 9 01:42 UTC 1998

Not Robert Penn Warren.

response 181 of 207:

Dec 9 22:23 UTC 1998

Sounds like it might be Raymond Chandler (The lady in the lake?)

response 183 of 207:

Dec 10 01:02 UTC 1998

Shucks. Did they have the news at 10, then, because people went to bed
earlier?

response 185 of 207:

Dec 10 21:35 UTC 1998

So to zero in on dating, we need to know that it was late enough for TV news
and early enough that $200 was a lot of money for clothes.

response 187 of 207:

Dec 11 10:45 UTC 1998

To my knowledge John D Macdonald is still alive. But that may be the 
other one, I think there are two of them in the literary field. I know that
one of them is a rather obscure author of young-adult sci-fi books. Hmm, 
I'll have to do some checking on that the next time I'm at the library. 

response 189 of 207:

Dec 11 13:40 UTC 1998

No, John D. MacDonald did write some young adult science fiction novels.  
I have one of them, though I don't remember the name of it.  I'd read it 
as a kid, then later tracked it down in a used bookstore.

A lot of well-known authors have written science fiction.  Dean R. 
Koontz was a B-grade science fiction author in the 1950's and 60's.  
(They were *awful*.  They gave me hope; if those novels got published, I 
figured I too would be able to write salable science fiction.  When I 
discovered he was a best-selling horror writer, I was pretty surprised.)  
Howard Fast wrote some wonderful science fiction novelettes.

response 191 of 207:

Dec 11 19:37 UTC 1998

I happened to be in Dawn Treader a little while ago, and I looked to see 
if they had the MacDonald book I mentioned earlier.  They didn't, but 
they did have a few books in the science fiction section by John D. 
MacDonald.  I opened one of them, and saw a list of his other works, 
including the Travis McGee series.  This isn't proof of anything -- I 
wasn't familiar with the book I opened, or any other books I saw there 
by MacDonald -- but maybe it's some indication.

response 193 of 207:

Dec 11 20:59 UTC 1998

well i never!  what a set of mixed emotions - i was delighted when 
sekari said he was still alive, and then secretly rather glad he was 
dead after all since it meant i was right... sorry, john d!  definitely 
more by luck than good judgement, i must admit, although i've enjoyed 
the travis mcgee ones i've read - really excellent characterisation, i 
think.  very dark, though, aren't they?  in terms of the violence, i 
mean.

okay, here's something from a book i was surprised to see on sale at a 
ridiculously cheap price today, which lead to me buying it and taking it 
round to the dinner party i was on my way to, and being rather less 
social than i should have been...

'And now there was an end of path or road.  More than ever the camel 
seemed insensibly driven; it lengthened and quickened its pace, its head 
pointed straight towards the horizon; through the wide nostrils it drank 
the wind in great draughts.  The litter swayed, and rose and fell like a 
boat in the waves.  Dried leaves in occasional beds rustled underfoot.  
Sometimes a perfume like absinthe sweetened all the air.  Lark and chat 
and rock-swallow leaped to wing, and white partridges ran whistling and 
clucking out of the way.  More rarely a fox or hyena quickened his 
gallop, to study the intruders at a safe distance.  Off to the right 
rose the hills of the Jebel, the pearl-grey veil resting upon them 
changing momentarily into a purple which the sun would make matchless a 
little later.  Over their highest peaks a vulture sailed on broad wings 
into widening circles.  But of all these things the tenant under the 
green tent saw nothing, or at least, made no sign of recognition.  His 
eyes were fixed and dreamy.  The going of the man, like that of the 
animal, was as one being led.'

well, i hope *some* of that will prove to be misleading...)[but of 
course that statement itself might be a double bluff...)]

ps i think i'd rather be simon than sjones - would i have to go back and 
create a new account altogether to be able to do that, or is there any 
way i could shortcut it?

response 195 of 207:

Dec 12 06:16 UTC 1998

 re #193:  If you spend enough time encouraging people to call you "Simon"
 it will eventually stick but a lot of people around here (myself included)
 tend to refer to people by login id in the absence of any indication to the
 contrary.  If nothing else it's unlikely to cause serious offense and is
 almost always unambiguous.

 You could always change your name in this conference to "Call me Simon"..
 :-)

response 197 of 207:

Dec 12 13:00 UTC 1998

Re resp:191 - The John D. MacDonald who wrote the Travis McGee series
also wrote some scifi and fantasy, but I suspect it's a different
MacDonald who wrote the young-adult stuff. A web search turned up a
number of fan sites on the "McGee" MacDonald, and some bibliographies,
but nothing about any young-adult scifi that I could spot. I wait
clarification from sekari.

Re Simon's new quote in resp:193 - Great imagery in that passage. I'm
not familiar with it, although I've a guess as to who the author might
be. Since I just gave a quote, I'll refrain.

response 199 of 207:

Dec 14 05:51 UTC 1998

it turns out that I was mistaken. The author I was thinking of is James
D. Macdonald. He has written three or four young adult horror novels 
with his wife Debra Doyle.