Veronica and My Father’s Chair are the earliest published Westlake stories in Don’s personal collection. In May of 1951, Don was still two months shy of his eighteenth birthday. He was the author of two short stories in his high school’s literary publication, The Vincentian, as well as one of two literary editors for the magazine. The two stories represent what is likely the very first Westlake stories ever published. Click on the gallery to read the story in full in its original form. You can also see the cover, title, contents and attribution pages, as well as messages from friends written in the margins. This wasn’t the yearbook for the school but Don appears to have treated it as such to some degree. And why not?
Paul: Quite by accident I discovered that you were now maintaing the DEW web site. Bravo. Multo Bravo.
It was the Gold Medal paperback reissue of The Hunter that introduced me to Richard Stark, and, in fact, made me an addict. I caught up with the earlier Stark PocketBook editions (which I bought from, of all people, Harlan Ellison). Love those Harry Bennett covers on the PB’s.
One of my fondest memories is the mis-quote from Anthony Boucher on the cover of Butcher’s Moon, “Nobody tops Stark in his portrayal of a world of total immorality.” Mr. Boucher properly wrote amorality.
Is there any chance of you posting the scathing good-bye to science fiction that DEW reportedly wrote.
Nice job on the site!
–PF