 SURROGATE
ISBN 0-935716-12-2 Published in 1982 by Lord John Press 300 Standard Copies 50 Deluxe Copies (All copies are numbered and signed by the author.) SYNOPSIS: Brenda Loring comes to Spenser for help after being raped by a thug hired by her ex-husband. The 50 copy Deluxe Edition is presented wine-hued leather over decorative boards with vignette of pistol grips which is echoed on the title page. It is housed in a black cloth slipcase (Top Right). This is an elegant fine press rendering of a Spenser short story. The 300 copy edition is presented in beige paper-colored boards with a lavender cloth spine in rose-colored cover printed in black with a drawing of Brenda Loring on front panel (Below Right). THE STORY BEHIND SURROGATE: Surrogate remains one of the most asked about of Parker's works related to Spenser with a deluge of email arriving in my in box requesting info on the subject whenever it is mentioned in one of the public forums. It is for this reason that I have developed this page to provide you with as much info as I have available. According to a story told by Parker at an Atlanta book signing that I attended in 1991 where he was promoting "Pastime," Surrogate was originally written after Parker received a request from Playboy Magazine for a Spenser short story. Parker was reluctant to attempt to produce such a work saying, "I have never liked writing short stories. For me, it just isn't a form in which I can develop a satisfactory story." In spite of his reluctance, Parker accepted their offer and went to work. Once complete, Surrogate was submitted to the editor at Playboy and "promptly rejected." Parker says, "My first Spenser novel, "The Godwulf Manuscript," was written while I was a professor teaching a class called 'The Novel of Violence' at Northeastern University. I sold it three weeks after it was finished. This was my first rejection notice as an author." In the mid 70's, Herb Yellin of the Lord John Press discovered the novels of Parker and became an immediate fan. he tells me, "I picked up a book by this author that I hadn't heard of before named Robert Parker. I really liked the books because of the references to baseball and other things in which I too had an interest. One day, and being a publisher, I decided to give the guy a call to tell him how much I enjoyed his work. We had a great conversation and Bob thanked me saying, 'You'd be surprised how often people call me up just to give me shit about something in one of the books.' Over the years, he an I became great friends and I expressed an interest in publishing something of his. he mentioned that he had a couple of Spenser short stories that I might be interested in reading. He sent them along and I purchased the rights to publish them in book form. In 1982 I released the two collectors editions of Surrogate. The other short was never published. I really didn't like it very much." Laughing, Parker continued his tale at the book signing saying, "Some years later I was contacted by another men's magazine that was interested in a Spenser short story for a special 'Private Eye Issue'. This was the same year that I first made the Best Seller list with 'Valediction' so there was increased interest in Spenser material. They ran it in an issue where the non-adult oriented material included an profile of me as well as a piece on other current writers whose main character was a private investigator. As I recall, it was run in one long column, adjacent to a rather poor illustration and immediately jumped to the remainder where it finished next to an ad for a 'fantasy rabbit suit.' Not the pinnacle of my literary career." Herb Yellin elaborated on this for me saying, "I was contacted by Gallery when they were working on their printing of "Surrogate" and asked to send them a copy of the book. Because of the limited nature of the publication, I told them that I couldn't do that, but xeroxed the text and sent that to them instead." Over the years since this encounter, I have heard Parker asked about Surrogate on numerous occasions and he has told the same story almost verbatim with the only variation being that he now describes the "fantasy rabbit suit" as a "crotch less mouse suit" quipping, "I don't know what that even is. Did anyone here know that mice wore suits?"  After reading a
messages posted to the RARA-AVIS
mailing list by Jiro Kimura, I
discovered that the un-named men's
magazine was a publication called
Gallery and that the Parker feature
was published in May of 1984. The
magazine contains a profile of RBP
entitled "The Case Of Robert B
Parker: The best selling writer talks
about his wife, his work, his hard
boiled alter ego names Spenser, and
his ability to beat the system."
 The article was
written by John Bowers, but quotes
extensively from a 1981 Boston Globe
Magazine article by Maria Karagianis.
Most notably, Joan recounting her
first meeting with "Ace" at the age of
three and their later re-introduction
at a college dance in 1950. "This
revolting guy with slicked-back hair,
a greaser in a glen plaid suit with
wide lapels and a narrow tie, with
cordovan shoes, chewing gum, rapid
fire, like this," says Joan, going
click, click, click to demonstrate.
"He came up and asked me to dance
because he said he thought I looked
loose. He was terrible, with roaming
hands that wouldn't stop, a real
animal. I said to my friend, See that
guy. Don't get near him. He's bad
news,' and I didn't talk to him for
the rest of freshman year."
• CLICK HERE TO VIEW A SCAN OF THE PARKER PROFILE FROM GALLERY.  "Surrogate" begins on
page 60 of the magazine and is in fact
accompanied by a rather poor
illustration that seems to have little
connection to the story. Two men,
supposedly Spenser and Hawk (with a
70's afro and beard) are in the
foreground with their backs to the
viewer, with a partially clothed
Brenda Loring lying on a couch in the
background. The story is introduced
under the title with text saying,
Raped twice by the same man, brenda
was hungry for justice. She turned to
Spenser. Spenser wrote the book on
justice. Fiction by Robert B Parker."
Pages 62 and 63 contain the bulk of the text but then the story jumps to the rear of the publication where it concludes on pages 102 and 103. One interesting side note. Ads adjacent to the piece are for an "Illustrated History of Girlie Magazines" and for a fireworks company located in Ohio. Nowhere is there an ad for a Rabbit/Mouse suit. Personally, the story is more amusing when told that way. • CLICK HERE TO VIEW A SCAN OF SURROGATE AS IT APPEARED IN GALLERY.  Subsequently,
"Surrogate" was published in a 1991
anthology of mystery shorts entitled
"New Crimes 3" edited by Maxim
Jakabowski which was released in the
UK. Parker signed my copy at an
appearance promoting the release of
his first Sunny Randall novel, "Family
Honor." It was there that I first
heard the tale of "Surrogate" modified
with the joke about the "Mouse Suit."
Copies of this publication can be found ranging in price from $8 to $40 through any of a number of used book dealers. Copies of the 300 copy edition published by Lord John Press currently sell for as much as $400 with buyers of the 50 copy "Deluxe Edition" paying as much as $1000. BUY THIS BOOK Click Below to search for this book at various rare and collectable book dealers! Alibris Advanced Book Exchange Ebay  SPENSARIUM'S APHORISMS AND ALLUSIONS "Never knew somebody knew more stuff that didn't matter." Hawk to Spenser in Chapter 29 of Taming a Seahorse  "Faulkner," I
said. "Novel called Sanctuary. Ever
read it?"
She shook her head. The long exhale began to seep out. "Character in there called Popeye," I said. "He was impotent, had other people do it for him." "Yes," Brenda said. She was looking right at me now and her voice was richer. "That's what I think she said." William Faulkner Sanctuary 1931 Faulkner's dark story of the abduction of Mississippi debutante Temple Drake, who introduces her own form of venality into the world of her kidnappers. For more on Faulkner click here. For more on Sanctuary click here. "I know," May said. "I guess I loved not wisely but too well." I said, "May, you're not Othello nor were you meant to be." William Shakespeare Othello Act V Scene II Before he stabs himself, Othello speaks OTHELLO Soft you; a word or two before you go. I have done the state some service, and they know't. No more of that. I pray you, in your letters, When you shall these unlucky deeds relate, Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, Nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak Of one that loved not wisely but too well; Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose hand, Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes, Albeit unused to the melting mood, Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees Their medicinal gum. Set you down this; And say besides, that in Aleppo once, Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk Beat a Venetian and traduced the state, I took by the throat the circumcised dog, And smote him, thus. (Stabs himself...) For more on Shakespeare click here. For more on Othello click here. As I closed the door behind us I could hear Hawk whistling softly to himself, "Moody's Mood For Love," as he punched out a number on the phone. James Moody Moody's Mood for Love GRP/Chessmates 1957 The flute was a neglected jazz instrument until the mid-1950's when several influential reedman--most notably Frank Wess (a star soloist with the Count Basie orchestra); Bud Shank (of the West Coast Cool division); and the bebop tenorman James Moody-- took up its cause. Indeed, the first two LPs that Moody recorded for Argo, the jazz wing of the Chicago blues label Chess, featured his flute playing ("Flute 'N Blues" and "Moody's Mood For Love") Compared to later flute advocates with a round, rich sound--Hubert Laws, Lew Tabakin and Ali Ryerson come to mind--Moody's sound on MOODY'S MOOD FOR LOVE is thin and raspy and not entirely pleasant on ballads like "You Go To My Head" (nor for that matter is the out-of-tune studio piano). Up-tempo tracks like "Phil Up" and "Plus Eight," a 12-bar blues with an 8-bar bridge that is heard only once, are more forgiving. The album's one non-flute track, "Mean To Me," is the best of the instrumentals with Moody wailing on alto sax. And check out "Foolin' the Blues" if you've never heard an improvised jazz solo on the peck horn (mellophone). For more on Moody's Mood For Love. Click here to listen to "Swan Blues" |