Talk:John D. MacDonald

The Busted Flush

The article says that he lived on The Busted Flush throughout the series, but I seem to recall that somewhere late in the series the real Fort Lauderdale changed their regulations and the fictional Travis McGee was forced to move elsewhere. Anyone know? [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith (talk)]] 18:04, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

There was a book where the characters thought this would happen, but at the end it turns out to have been a false alarm. Residents of the Bahia Mar such as McGee, Meyer and the Alabama Tiger were able to stay put because of an exemption applicable to permanent houseboat residents. 207.237.214.133 08:45, 12 Nov 2004 (UTC)

The book in question is The Scarlet Ruse. In a couple of the earliest books (especially A Purple Place for Dying, as I recall) he barely mentions the houseboat. Wspencer11 20:28, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Off-topic, but in some earlier books, McGee mentions that he has a secret hiding place aboard the Busted Flush and that he had an expert friend try to find it. His friend, he says, was "very, very good," but did not succeed. I remember how disappointed I was when, in a later book, the hiding place is revealed. IIRC it's somewhere where the hull has a double wall or something, and the hiding compartment is rigged so that water appears to be seeping "through" it or something like that. Yawn. One of the few times in my readership history where I've been disappointed by the revelation of a secret. Not that I think I would have been able to find it, but that doesn't prove much as I can put an object down on a desk in front of me and not be able to find it ten minutes later.... [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith (talk)]] 15:16, 12 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I'm not so sure that the hiding place you mention is the one that McGee mentions repeatedly. In The Scarlet Ruse he goes into great detail about the hiding place for himself (or another person as needed) behind the newly-installed false mirror between two bulkheads (the mirror got shot out in the final encounter with Frank what's-his-name, the heavy), but in other books McGee talks about a hidey-hole for money etc. that's in the below-decks area in the bilge, and I think that's the one he means as being impossible to find. --Wspencer11 (talk to me...) 17:32, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

The Scarlet Ruse, however, was one of the later books. I think that the super-secret, much smaller hiding place below the water line is the one that he mentions several times in earlier books about being so impossible to find. 18:02, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

• Dates on the novels would be appreciated... --squadfifteen Diego.)

Spider

That's an awful lot of words in a pretty short article about a fairly tenuous connection between Spider Robinson and J.D. Mac. Aside from die-hard S.F. fans, Spider is an unknown quantity I would say to the great public. I suggest it either be deleted outright, or greatly shortened, or put into a footnote format or some such. (And I agree with DPBS above -- I too was disappointed when I learned about the secret hiding place.) Hayford Peirce 00:17, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

External Links?

I would like to see us refer readers to the wonderful biography of John D. MacDonald called The Red Hot Typewriter, The Life and Times of John D. MacDonald, by Hugh Merrill, 2000, Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Minotaur. I don't know how to do it ... yet. Anyone who does know how, is this allowed? Lodgepole 19:52, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Oh, sure. On things like this, don't worry too much about formatting. You did the right thing by mentioning it here on the Talk page, but you also could just have been bold and put it into the article itself in any reasonable reasonable or sensible sort of way, and other Wikipedians will be glad to handle the technical and style details. Thanks for mentioning it, I didn't know there was a biography of him, and I'm quite interested in reading it. I'm already intrigued by Merrill's use of a cleverly MacDonald-like title. Dpbsmith (talk) 12:29, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Added as reference. Pepso 08:20, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

I would like to see a reference to the Literary Landmark (historical marker) placed at Slip F-18 at Bahia Mar in honor of Travis McGee and the Busted Flush. Like many of you, when I was in Fort Lauderdale on business a few years ago, I found the marker and took some pictures. Here is an article that discusses the marker ( http://www.newtimesbpb.com/issues/1997-11-20/news2_1.html) I wish it was given a little more attention and respect... Brant

There is an error: MacDonald's "The Crossroads" (1959) has a link to a wrong book-site [1]. This book has the same title - but is the site of the first children's novel by author Chris Grabenstein. May be someone knows how to delete the link? Regards from BTOYA (germany) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.157.27.99 (talk) 01:41, 11 January 2010 (UTC)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312209053/ref=nosim/sale-juicers-20

Dick Scalper (talk) 13:21, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Macdonald1.jpg

Image:Macdonald1.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

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Fair use rationale for Image:Macdonald1.jpg

Image:Macdonald1.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot 02:28, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

'A Flash of Green' is not Travis McGee

The article describes 'A Flash of Green' as a Travis McGee work. This is not so. The 'Green' Travis McGee book is 'The Green Ripper'; 'Flash' is unrelated, although it is set in Florida and concerns environmental issues like many McGee books do. Cwelgo (talk) 16:51, 24 March 2010 (UTC)

A Young Man of Promise

Can someone provide a citation (ISBN, Library of Congress, anything) to show that A Young Man of Promise is a novel rather than a short story or a condensation of a novel? Even the cite given just says that it was printed in Argosy magazine which implies (although does not prove) that it is a short story. I've never seen it published in novel form in a long career of JDM seeking. Cwelgo (talk) 21:57, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

Seeing none, I will remove this from JDM's list of novels. Cwelgo (talk) 21:44, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for doing that. I'd never heard of that novel either. Steven Walling 04:22, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Non-fiction business journalism

A John MacDonald worked in the 1950s on the staff of Fortune magazine as well as free-lancing as a business journalist, but I cannot find a bibliography of his writing anywhere, nor confirmation that this was in fact the same MacDonald. It seems likely given his (i.e., the novelist's) education in business and economics, and, as noted above, the prevalence of those themes in his novels (it seems like half the villains in the Travis McGee books are shady businessmen involved in Florida land deals of questionable legality).

Same issue with the seminal popular introduction to game theory Strategy in Poker, Business, and War.

Can anyone confirm/deny that this was the same person? Gribbles (talk) 16:01, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

You can tell a book by the cover

    I bought The dreadful lemon Sky, on the street in NYC, without knowing anything about him. I am a hard boiled detective fiction fan-Hammett, Chandler, Ross MacDonald, but for some reason John D. never came across my radar even thou he is not a strictly hard boiled writer. I think the fact that his books were paperbacks was a great disservice. Paperbacks tend to get thrown out, or torn apart, making them hard to find. They are even harder to find now. A complete set of reissues are in order, in hard cover. I bought The dreadful lemon Sky for the sublime title alone. Now I look far and wide for his books, with little to show for it. 
   Back to the titles, look at all his titles, not one clunker, just an observation.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.46.112.173 (talk) 17:59, 30 September 2011 (UTC) 

Copyright status

At least one of his books, "A Purple Place For Dying", is freely available on the web, e.g. "http://www.scribd.com/doc/90500918/03-a-Purple-Place-for-Dying-John-d-Macdonald" and "http://er.library.ums.ac.id/Pendidikan/2011/10/A_Purple_Place_for_Dying__Travis_McGee__No__3_.pdf" -- why is this? 72.179.53.2 (talk) 04:44, 6 July 2012 (UTC) Eric

Sequels

I am bothered by the new section on Travis McGee sequels. Not only is is 'way too long for the importance of the information, it is conversational in style, uses the first person, advertises a website, and has no references at all. Would anybody object to reverting it? Cwelgo (talk) 14:50, 25 October 2012 (UTC)

• Just passing through, saw the sequels bit, deleted it immediately. It absolutely does not belong on Wikipedia. Choor monster (talk) 18:16, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

This is Art.

What is interesting to me is his prose style.

"I should be pulling a big oar in the flagship of life." -- The Deep Blue Good-Bye

"People who censor books are usually illiterate." -- A Purple Place For Dying

"Waves can wash away the most stubborn stains, and the stars do not care one way or another." -- A Deadly Shade of Gold

Note the pentameter. Let's try a longer quote, and present it as poetry.

"A man should have one chance to bring something down.
He should have his shot at something, a shining
running something, and see it come a-tumbling down,
all mucus and steaming blood stench and gouted excrement,
the eyes going dull during the final muscle spasms.
And if he is, in all parts and purposes, a man,
he will file that away as a part of his process of growth
and life and eventual death. And if he is perpetually,
hopelessly a boy, he will lust to go do it again, with a bigger beast." -- A Deadly Shade of Gold

The last line in that could be fixed to scan better. It's good as it stands; Shakespeare did the same thing and no one complains.

This is why, IMHO, MacDonald is admired by other writers. They might not have realized why they admire him. It's merely an awesome use of the English language. Now, if we only had some authoritative analysis of his writing, from a thesis or dissertation.... 72.182.53.52 (talk) 04:57, 31 May 2015 (UTC)Eric

Early Pulp Stories

"Several times, MacDonald's stories were the only ones in an issue of a magazine, but this was hidden by using pseudonyms."

This has been claimed -by- several authors of pulp magazine stories and claimed -for- many others. But no example has ever surfaced. Richardpaulhall (talk) 19:24, 28 June 2017 (UTC)

Merger Proposal

I propose merging Travis McGee into John D. MacDonald. The McGee page is not up to Wiki standards and mostly fanboy fluff with minimal sourcing. The properly sourced, relevant bits should be merged into existing similar sections on MacDonald's page and the rest removed. Just Another Cringy Username (talk) 17:14, 30 April 2022 (UTC)

Reddit

bh#72TA3mRv-bJV 2601:447:C380:C720:44D0:4584:282C:8582 (talk) 14:33, 16 June 2022 (UTC)

Merger Proposal

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.

The result of this discussion was no discussion: merge under WP:SILENCE. Just Another Cringy Username (talk) 17:06, 29 June 2022 (UTC)

---

I propose merging The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything into John D. MacDonald. After shortening the plot summary to the appropriate length and removing unsourced material, there isn't a whole lot left. Just Another Cringy Username (talk) 21:03, 22 June 2022 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.