Larry L. King: A Writer's Life in Letters, Or, Reflections in a Bloodshot Eye Book

From the archives of the Southwestern Writers Collection at Southwest Texas State University, former curator Richard Holland has selected from among thousands of Larry L. King letters those dealing with the daily warp and woof of an American writer alternately giddy with success and doubting his own talents.. "King has feuded in public print with Burt Reynolds, Norman Podhoretz, Tommy Tune, his own book editors and publishers, Universal Picture moguls, his collaborators in writing projects, professional critics, and some "fans" who had the temerity to write less than admiring letters. Even King's caustic letters are often full of dark fun. Those to intimate friends - including other writers and a few favored politicians - are laced with gleeful opinions and observations about his work, the work of others, life's many absurdities and current events.. "Norman Mailer, William Styron, Willie Morris, Dan Jenkins and Bud Shrake are just a few of the many writers with whom King long has corresponded. Politicians include former House Speaker Jim Wright, Congressman Mo Udall and Senator Ralph Yarborough. Show-biz types count directors Mike Nichols and Peter Masterson, actors Dan Blocker and Henderson Forsythe. But it is to old Texas friends that King truly lets his hair down in telling intimate secrets of the salts and sours of the literary life that has been his for almost fifty years.