Index of Gil Brewer's Unpublished Manuscripts | ||
The following manuscripts are available at American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming, where Gil Brewer's papers are housed. The titles listed are not currently associated with any published works. That does not mean they are all unpublished. It just means that published source has not been found yet. E-mail corrections and additions to admin@noirfiction.info. The collection includes several incomplete novels. The only complete, unpublished novels in the collection are Firebase Seattle (247 pages), House of the Potato (248 pages), and The Paper Coffin (225 pages). | ||
Title |
Word Count |
First Line |
As I Lay Screaming |
About 60,000 (incomplete) |
I kept thing about Vivian. |
The Bargain |
|
|
"Beetle's Bottle" | About 4,000 |
The office was one of several fronts for Sam Peronti's various enterprises: Stockton Stipping Co. |
Bloodflower |
His discharge from the U.S. Army read "Other Than
Honorable," and he tore it up just outside the |
|
Blue Dusk |
He had been staring intently at the book in his lap for
perhaps forty-five minutes, before he realized he |
|
Caprice |
|
|
Clean Sweep (1976) |
|
|
Colony of Death |
|
|
Come Along with Me |
At eleven o'clock that night Herb Lait was still working
overtime in the office of The Patterson Supply |
|
Companion in the Dark |
I, Monkhaus Reaver, unmoral, enormously fit, ugly, but
captivating, too tall for conventional |
|
A Curious Bird |
|
|
"Daylight Dynasty" (1976) | About 3,500 |
Heaving a deep sigh, he closed the entrance door, which
gleamed with gold filigree and silver leaf, then |
"Death Is a Private Eye" | About 20,000 |
I walked into it with my eyes wide open . . . . |
"Death Is the Sweetest Thing" | About 4,000 |
Open your mouth, stick out your tough , and say, "Ah!" |
"Death Window" | About 4,000 |
It was past midnight. |
"Death with a Ten Foot Pole" | About 4,500 |
I was in Florida that July, licensed, bonded, with a palm-frond hat business on the side. |
Death's Head |
|
|
Death's Indian Summer |
|
|
Decision |
They had not spoken since entering the hotel room. |
|
Desperate Illusion |
About 60,000 (incomplete) |
He flicked on the bathroom light, blinking against its sudden glare. |
Devil in the Sunset |
It was dark. The rain had ceased. |
|
"Devotion" | About 4,000 |
Looking at Jeanne, across from me in the booth at The
Pyramid Club, I couldn't help cursing my lot as |
"Die Once -- Die Twice" | About 5,000 |
Mrs. Loretta Brady called me on the intercom. |
The Doll |
|
|
Early Darkness |
About 60,000 (incomplete) |
I remember well how it started. . . . |
Encore |
|
|
"Errors" | About 2,500 |
Caroline Boswell checked again to make sure her husband
was in the shower, then hurried downstairs |
Escape to Never |
|
|
Exchange |
|
|
"The Explanation" | About 2,000 |
Addy clicked the inset lock on the apartment doorknob, stepped out into the hall, and closed the door. |
The Evil Autumn |
"What is it?" |
|
The Evil Innocents | About 55,000 |
He crested the hill over the railroad underpass through
the first hint of this Wednesday evening's |
"Fiasco" | About 4,000 |
Herb Forrester shifted nervously in the straight-backed
leather chair and looked across the vast |
Final Gesture |
|
|
Firebase Seattle (1974) |
|
|
Follow Me to Hell |
About 55,000 (incomplete) |
It was a hot Florida morning. |
Fountain of Night |
About 70,000 (incomplete) |
Violence slowly became a part of Cullen Hammett, until
he lived out his harried nights and day |
Free Air |
About 60,000 (incomplete) |
I spotted the dog over by the edge of the woods. |
"Friendly Persuasion" | About 1,500 |
Love Me Too walked up to the middle-aged man who was
seated on the shadowed bench by the railing |
Friendship |
|
|
"The Ghost of the Hermit Key" | About 3,000 |
"It's a squall!" Chuck shouted. |
The Glitter Man |
About 55,000 (incomplete) |
I made up my mind I was going to rob the damned jewelry
company right while Henry Linkton was |
The Golden Scheme |
|
|
He Wouldn't Believe |
|
|
Heartbeat |
Sam Dillon sat with strained immobility in the big
gold-and-black wing chair in the living room of his |
|
"Hell House" (1975) | About 4,000 |
He whispered to her in the fragrant darkness of their bedroom. |
The Hook |
|
|
House of Dolls |
When I left the apartment that morning, out at Calcutta
Shores, I saw the black Olds convertible |
|
House of Rage |
The rain slanted down is sheets. |
|
House of the Potato | About 75,000 |
Elmer Webb stared at Gramp, who was seated on the sun-drenched, paintless boards of the back |
"Hung Up" (1977) | About 3,500 |
Sheriff Reb Klayville had it strong on his mind all the
time he was talking with Deputy Cliff Waters this |
"I Couldn't Tell You" | About 3,000 |
Des Brady hugged the wall of the shadowed hotel room,
watching the side window where the fire |
I Know You |
She turned to him in the front seat of the parked car. |
|
"The Idols' Secret" | About 3.500 |
Jimmy Hartman quickly crossed the trophy room of his
father's lodge, high in the Sandia Mountains, |
Incident at Lucerne |
|
|
"Incident at Snake River" | About 3,000 |
Dread breathed through camp with the coming of the soft night wind. |
Inheritance |
|
|
The Intruder |
|
|
The Invalid |
|
|
It's the Kid |
|
|
Jackdaw |
He picked up the kid on The Tamiami Trail, not too long
out of Hollywood, where he'd held up three gas |
|
"The Journal" | Close to 1,000 |
Tonight I saw Miriam for the first time in a month. |
"Junk Yard Blues" | About 2,500 |
Brinker yawned and lumbered to the front of the shack,
which was fashioned of old billboards and |
The Killer |
|
|
Killer in the House |
Caruthers was in the basement stacking old newspapers when he heard Rose scream. |
|
The King |
|
|
The Knife |
|
|
Knife-Job |
|
|
"Lapse" | About 3.500 |
He came upon the hanging boy in the woods, at three-thirty that afternoon. |
"Lion-Eyed Moon Girl" | About 3,500 |
I saw this old wreck of a '59 Cad creeping along the road, but really didn't think much of it. |
Long |
|
|
Looking Around |
|
|
Love Is for Angels |
About 60,000 (incomplete) |
Owen told me she looked like a young Jayne Mansfield. |
Lover |
|
|
Love's Weekend |
|
|
Luna Caprice |
|
|
Macrame |
It took him two and a half years to make the break from a prison farm in Illinois. |
|
The Mad Scramble |
|
|
The Man Who Collected Dolls |
Anxiety touched him with sickening familiarity as the door chimes echoed through the apartment. |
|
Mantis 36 (1976 & 1977) |
|
|
"The Mark" | About 2,000 |
The phone rang. |
The Mask |
|
|
Meet Me in Hades |
|
|
"Meeting" | About 1,500 | The Florida vacation hadn't worked, and we had three more days before I returned to the grind. |
Memento |
|
|
The Milkman |
|
|
Minus 196 C |
Martin Saxe leaned at the wind-torn open door of the
Cessna 182, and gazed straight down at the tiny |
|
Moment |
|
|
Moment in Gehenna |
|
|
"The Monster" | About 4,500 |
A steady, misting rain freckled the windshield as Oliver Coe drove through the night. |
The Narrow House |
I stopped the coupe on the Gulf beach road out near Indian Rocks and looked across at this place. |
|
"Nepenthe" (1974) | About 5,000 |
Megs said, "No, we can't. |
Nethra |
|
|
"Number One" | About 1,500 |
He looked at me with those frogs' eyes of his. |
Oh Wow |
|
|
Pain Is a Four Letter Word |
|
|
The Paper Coffin |
|
|
Patriarch |
|
|
The Peeper |
|
|
Pig in a Blanket |
|
|
Pigeon |
Florine pouted. |
|
Pillow Face |
|
|
"The Present" | About 2,000 |
I was new. You gotta understand that, and about that panda. |
A Present for Cleo |
|
|
Recollection in Red |
About 55,000 (incomplete) |
They have allowed me paper and pen, and thought I am in
this cell for the time being, at least I have |
Reunion |
|
|
The Right Man |
Wilson Shay leaned against the bar at the Palmdale
Country Club, and tried to keep his excitement |
|
"Rope Enough" | About 3,000 |
Roy felt only slightly nervous about the whole matter. |
Sara's Place |
|
|
Satisfaction |
|
|
A Season of Change |
|
|
The Secret |
|
|
Shalimar |
|
|
Should a Body Cry |
|
|
"The Sickness" | About 4,000 |
The African sun was a blister in the pale sky. |
The Skeleton (1982) |
|
|
Sleep with Satan |
Morey Budd's season in hell really began on a shadowed
October street in Ybor City, the old Spanish |
|
Soap Suds and Sable |
|
|
Someone is Listening |
|
|
Something Special for Benny |
|
|
Sometimes I Love You - Sometimes I Hate You |
|
|
"Southbound" | About 2,000 |
They had only been married a month, and were on their way to Key West. |
Southern Comfort |
|
|
Stranger at the Door |
About 60,000 (incomplete) |
He could almost taste the gloriousness of the day in
late May beyond the dirt-grimed curtainless |
Stand Them on Their Heads |
About 55,000 (incomplete) |
This Florida morning was a freshly peeled blister. |
Strangers Knock on Doors |
About 60,000 (incomplete) |
It was a fine August morning. |
Summer's Lease (1974) |
|
|
Sunflower |
|
|
Sunrise |
|
|
"Suppertime" | About 3,000 |
It was pretty much of an out-and-out ruckus, what with
my three deputies chasing Herm Lolly in the |
Surrender the Dead |
|
|
The Take |
|
|
"Tell Me" (1976) | About 1,500 |
My sister phoned and told me Dad was dead. |
The Test |
|
|
Thunderhead |
|
|
The Tiger's Heart |
We were down to or last Cadillac, with a trunk full of
expensive clothes and eighty-three dollars in the |
|
Time (1976) |
|
|
A Time for Evil |
|
|
"Too Long" | About 1,500 |
"There must be some piece you can go," Lucille said. |
Toothache |
Attenberry saw the blue steel automatic lying on the sidewalk as he left the dentist's office. |
|
"True Love" | About 2,000 |
"Truth was, I'd always been leery of Uncle James. |
"Tryout" | About 3,000 |
Suddenly, then, Carlton was standing on a vast, endless plateau of white sand. |
The Tube |
|
|
"Tweak" (1977) | About 3,500 |
Oh, man, look at that! |
Twilight |
|
|
Ugly |
|
|
"Understanding" (1978) | About 3,500 |
I did not really notice any change in the way Elsa
thought about me until the thirtieth year of our |
[untitled] |
About 60,000 (incomplete) |
I remember well how it started . . . . It was three weeks before Christmas. |
Up..Over...And |
|
|
Venuto's Castle (1976) |
|
|
Victimized |
It was a cheap hotel. |
|
A Visit from Morse (1977) |
|
|
Vivalda |
About 55,000 (incomplete) |
She was up to no damn good. |
Vote for Me |
|
|
Waiting |
|
|
A Water Bed for Marlene |
|
|
"Whittle Whittle" | About 2,500 |
Clarence Klutts started out his bedroom window at the ice storm. |
Window of Deceit (1978) |
|
|
"Wit of the Gods" (1977) | About 2,000 |
At first he could feel only a cold darkness, a wind that
neither increased nor decreased, but breathed |
With a Ten Foot Pole (1977) |
|
|
The Zoo (1978) |
|
|
One way to determine the age of a manuscript is by the return address. If the return address
pre-dates the use of zip codes, it is from the early 1960s or earlier. Most of the manuscripts have the return address of Brewer's agent Scott Meredith. During the mid-1970s, the Scott Meredith Literary Agency moved from Fifth Ave. (zip code: 10036) to Third Ave (zip code: 10022). Manuscripts with the Third Ave. address are among the most recent. The directory Literary Market Place first lists Meredith's Third Ave address in its 1976 edition. The following color code is used to indicate rough age: Pink - no zip code; Green - Meredith's 10036 address (Fifth Ave.), and Dark Blue - Meredith's 10022 address (Third Ave.). |
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