A SLANT OF WIND
"[Fitzgerald] had taken a shot right in the main vein of that potent blend of aphrodisiacs and amphetamines and steroids, that most wonderful of legal drugs: success."
—A Slant of Wind
"A Slant of Wind is wonderfully readable: funny, illuminating, informative, gossipy, wise. Arthur Vanderbilt writes so convincingly of the paradoxes, perils, and pleasures of the writing life, with reference to such notables as Scott Fitzgerald and Gore Vidal, that one would swear he’d lived among them as a close friend. The most beautiful of the recollections is 'My Huckleberry Friend: Memories of Gloria Vanderbilt'—an account of a late-in-life (for Gloria) friendship with her writer-cousin Arthur from a distant branch of the Vanderbilt family. Highly recommended.”
—Joyce Carol Oates
CONTENTS
“A Slant of Wind” and Some “Vampire Erotica”
From “Send Me a Man Who Reads” to “Who Reads? Send Me a Wide Receiver”
The Baffling Case of F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Mystery of Best Sellers
An Author in Search of a Character—and Himself: Gore Vidal Meets Denham Fouts
A Character in Search of an Author: The Last Lord Tredegar
De Gustibus Non Est Disputandum: On the Folly of Reviewing Books
Jacqueline Susann: Patron Saint of Writers?
“My Huckleberry Friend”: Memories of Gloria Vanderbilt
“Apply it to the Problem, Gentlemen”
PRAISE FOR THE AUTHOR
Mr. Vanderbilt's book is teeming with lore and advice and warnings and imprecations. It is a joy as a book to read.
WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR.
Publishing a book is something like going to the track. There's a favorite—but you never know. It's a mystery—though Arthur Vanderbilt's book goes a long way towards penetrating it. Apart from scrutinizing the mystery, Mr. Vanderbilt guides us, with wit and erudition, through the Byzantine world of publishing.
FRANK MCCOURT
A blurb—for a man who knows about blurbs and everything else that goes into the making of best sellers, even including the writers thereof.
TOM WOLFE
