Daniel Pinkwater serializes Bushman Lives! sequel on Twitter

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I’m finding it increasingly difficult to resist signing on to Twitter, but if anyone can push me over the edge it’s Daniel Pinkwater. He’s been pushing me over the edge since I was ten.

I’m sorry to say that I understand exactly why Pinkwater’s publisher reacted this way. You can only write so many novels chock-full of chaotic, random & unrelated events that finish up with a big party attended by all the book’s characters before it grows incredibly stale.

I like Pinkwater. And I like many of his books - The Neddiad & The Yggyssey included. However, Cat-Whiskered Girl & Bushman seemed… unfinished. Not in a way that made you long for more - but in that unsatisfying ‘why didn’t he resolve the goddamn story’ way that smacked of ‘Holy shit! I’ve painted myself into this corner… how am I gonna get out of… PAR-TAAAY!!!’

I don’t s’pose this is connected at all, but I just learned this morning that the Bushman of Fisherman’s Wharf recently died. However, he was apparently one of two Bushmen who worked the Wharf. So, indeed: Bushman lives!

Thanks Mark23 for your thoughtful comment. It’s a special pleasure for me to be in a position not to feel any need to structure books I write along the lines of TV movies, not that I have anything against stories made that way, or writers and readers who like that sort of thing. I have never said, nor can I imagine saying “PAR-TAAAAY!!!” I note you say you liked two of the four books you mention, meaning you felt I resolved the goddamn story for you rather than leave you to think about it without any help from me? All I can tell you is I will try harder in the future.

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