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Frank Yerby

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Kveto from Prague
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Frank Yerby

Post by Kveto from Prague » Sun January 10th, 2010, 10:34 pm

I was a bit surprised that Yerby didnt have a thread. but then I hadnt heard of him till other boardmembers (well, Annis) pointed him out to me.

I read "saracen blade" and plan on looking into his other books. "Blade" was entertaining, not perfect by any means, but you do start to sense that Frank has a message behind what he is writing if you can just find it. now the book is set on the continent, especially Sicily, so theres no way i could pass it up. like a lot of older popular writers, yerby feels the need to have his character in on every inmportant event of the early 1200s which gets a bit tiresome. and get around his protagonist sure does. i accidently skipped a page and the characters were suddenly in Langudoc.
but lots of fun, nontheless.

Its a bit sad how unknown Yerby is nowadays. I read in his biography that he is the highest selling African-American author OF ALL TIME. surely he deserves to be remembered for that. especially as he was writing in the 1940s and 1950s. and his sales records still stand. and that he didnt confine himself to just one area/topic/theme.

one benefit is that his second hand copies look cheap on Amazon. anyway, Frank Yerby deserves to be remembered.
Last edited by Kveto from Prague on Sun January 10th, 2010, 11:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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donroc
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Post by donroc » Mon January 11th, 2010, 3:51 pm

I read his books while in my mid teens as they were published after seeing the first film based on his first novel, The Foxes of Harrow.

He is undeservedly forgotten as are so many other entertaining writers of HF from the early to late middle of the 20th century.

That Yerby was African-American was not generally known until more than a few of his books had been published. If I remember correctly, his photo did not appear on the jackets of his early novels, and the first one of him with his wife and children created quite a stir.
Last edited by donroc on Mon January 11th, 2010, 3:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Bodo the Apostate, a novel set during the reign of Louis the Pious and end of the Carolingian Empire.

http://www.donaldmichaelplatt.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXZthhY6 ... annel_page

annis
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Post by annis » Mon January 11th, 2010, 7:00 pm

It's strange how many writers of historical fiction seem to have disappeared, despite having been very popular in their own times.

I just found a new/old one the other day- Ronald Bassett, who wrote several historical novels in the 1960s. I found a copy of his book "The Pompeians" on my bookshelves the other day when I was looking for something else- I never even knew I had it! I think it was part of a collection of sci-fi I inherited from a friend who ran out of bookshelf space. Typical cheesy cover and lurid descriptions on the back cover- can't wait to read it :)

There is a Frank Yerby website which has some interesting articles, including this one on why Yerby choose to use the historical adventure genre;
http://www.frankyerby.com/whycost.html
Last edited by annis on Sat January 16th, 2010, 3:46 am, edited 3 times in total.

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Kveto from Prague
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Post by Kveto from Prague » Fri January 15th, 2010, 9:43 pm

[quote=""donroc""]I read his books while in my mid teens as they were published after seeing the first film based on his first novel, The Foxes of Harrow.

He is undeservedly forgotten as are so many other entertaining writers of HF from the early to late middle of the 20th century.

That Yerby was African-American was not generally known until more than a few of his books had been published. If I remember correctly, his photo did not appear on the jackets of his early novels, and the first one of him with his wife and children created quite a stir.[/quote]

interesting. but it doesnt seem to have hurt his sales afterward. im interested to have a look at some of his other stuff. any recommendations?

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Kveto from Prague
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Post by Kveto from Prague » Fri January 15th, 2010, 9:52 pm

[quote=""annis""]It's strange how many writers of historical fiction seem to have disappeared, despite been very popular in their own times.

I just found a new/old one the other day- Ronald Bassett, who wrote several historical novels in the 1960s. I found a copy of his book "The Pompeians" on my bookshelves the other day when I was looking for something else- I never even knew I had it! I think it was part of a collection of sci-fi I inherited from a friend who ran out of bookshelf space. Typical cheesy cover and lurid descriptions on the back cover- can't wait to read it :)

There is a Frank Yerby website which has some interesting articles, including this one on why Yerby choose to use the historical adventure adventure genre;
http://www.frankyerby.com/whycost.html[/quote]

nice article. Maybe Yerby moved to Europe to get away from African americans who were upset that he wrote "books for white people"

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donroc
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Post by donroc » Sat January 16th, 2010, 2:24 am

[quote=""keny from prague""]interesting. but it doesnt seem to have hurt his sales afterward. im interested to have a look at some of his other stuff. any recommendations?[/quote]

It has been decades since I read Yerby, but I remember enjoying The Vixens, sort of a sequel to The Foxes of Harrow, The Devil's Laughter,The Saracen Blade (film starred Ricardo Montalban), and a Sabatini style privateer novel, the title of which I forgot (too lazy to look it up) but came out in 1948.

His over use of "heaving bosoms" and "poppy red lips" made a lasting impression when I was a horny teen male with raging hormones.
Image

Bodo the Apostate, a novel set during the reign of Louis the Pious and end of the Carolingian Empire.

http://www.donaldmichaelplatt.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXZthhY6 ... annel_page

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cw gortner
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Post by cw gortner » Sat January 16th, 2010, 2:43 am

Very interesting article; I remember Judas, My Brother being huge. I used to love Frank Yerby's books when I was pre-adolescent and precocious, reading everything my father forbade me (including Harold Robbins, Jacqueline Susann, that Falconer guy who wrote sexy slave novels, and of course Yerby). His Southern gothic Floodtide made a lasting impression on me because of the villainess. My father actually hid his copy of The Girl from Storyville (about a prostitute in New Orleans); I found it of course, and if I recall correctly, it was rather daring in its explicitness. Oh, and then I found a copy of Goat Song (about ancient Greece) and I had to sneak around. I think it was the first book I ever read that had gay men in it. I own an hc first edition of his medieval Spain novel An Odor of Sanctity - what a title! ;) but I don't remember much at all, I read it so long ago. I picked it up at a second-hand store in Malaga years ago, and it's been traveling with me ever since in the big plastic bin of books I just can't bear to part with.

This was a great trip down memory lane. It is rather sad he is not remembered as much; he needs a revival or re-issue, like Georgette Heyer.
Last edited by cw gortner on Sat January 16th, 2010, 3:00 am, edited 2 times in total.
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THE TUDOR SECRET, Book I in the Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles
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Post by annis » Sat January 16th, 2010, 8:53 am

Wasn't the odour of sanctity associated with saints in the medieval Roman Catholic church? It was a flowerlike scent that was supposed to emanate from the body of a saintly person, providing proof of that person's perfect state of grace.

It is an unusual title for a book, though.

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donroc
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Post by donroc » Sat January 16th, 2010, 2:45 pm

Odor of Sanctity also was used sarcastically for unwashed clergy in Spain.
Image

Bodo the Apostate, a novel set during the reign of Louis the Pious and end of the Carolingian Empire.

http://www.donaldmichaelplatt.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXZthhY6 ... annel_page

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MLE (Emily Cotton)
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Location: California Bay Area

Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Sat January 16th, 2010, 3:58 pm

I liked Yerby as a teenager, mostly for the predictable sex. Recently I found one of his books used and tried to re-read just for a walk down memory lane. Hackneyed is the word that comes to mind. Two chapters into the formulaic, florid style, I decided that memories weren't a good enough reason to waste my time.

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