FAT BUT SLOW

In his May 17 “Trust Me On This” column, John Schulian extolled Leonard Gardner’s “Fat City” but lamented the fact that Gardner has published comparatively little since the appearance of that novel. “The word that filtered back from his editors . . .,” Schulian wrote, “was that Gardner was slow. Painfully, agonizingly slow.”

Those words reminded me of a story I heard from Margaret Cummings, who for many years administered the James D. Phelan literary awards from the Phelan offices in San Francisco. According to my friend, Gardner wanted to enter “Fat City” in the 1968 competition in hopes of winning the $1,000 prize.

Just before the competition closed in March, Margaret received a call from Gardner, who was then living in Mill Valley, asking for an extension. She gave him two weeks. As that deadline approached, Gardner called again to ask for still more time. Mrs. Cummings, always a stalwart supporter of young writers, gave him another extension.

As the second deadline approached and Margaret was about to give up on ever seeing “Fat City,” a young woman who identified herself as a friend of Gardner appeared with the typescript of the novel. “How did you manage to get it away from him?” Margaret asked. “Leonard fell asleep,” the young woman replied, “and I just took it.”

Needless to say, the novel Leonard Gardner couldn’t let go of was a winner in the Phelan competition, and, as John Schulian makes eloquently clear in his review, it remains a winner today. Trust him on this.

TED LABRENZ

THOUSAND OAKS