End Notes
I’ve been writing fiction so long now that I’d almost
forgotten about end notes, but I’ve been working on an essay about literary
emotions that I’d like to get in the mail soon and now the time has come to
sort out my citations. I know that you’re supposed to get your bibliographical
information right the first time, but it’s hard to do because the first time
around you don’t know what you’re really going to need and you’re in a hurry
and you can always go back to the library and retrace your steps.
About two years ago I trolled through the paperback racks at
the Galesburg Public Library looking for examples of the kind of review clips
that publisher put on the back of paperback thrillers to entice readers. But
when I went back to my notes a couple of days ago, I discovered a real mess. I
had copied the same review-clip for two different novels; I hadn’t always noted
the source of the clip; and I hadn’t kept bibliographical information about the
books on which the clip appeared.
When I went back library to sort out this mess I discovered
that one of the books was missing—a paperback that had probably fallen
apart—and that I’d put down the wrong title for another book. A computer search
turned up the Publishers Weekly review
of the paperback book that had disappeared, but I couldn’t be one hundred
percent sure of what exactly had been printed on the back cover. Time for
interlibrary loan. I asked the reference librarian if we just ask the lending
library to photocopy the back cover instead of sending the whole book, but we
figured that would be too complicated because the system is not set up for that
sort of request.
When I got home the bank statement had arrived, and I was
glad to have something else to think about.
Here’s what I came up with:
“Extraordinarily suspenseful… Those with weak hearts may
want to try some other novel altogether.”[i]
“Delivers the shocks.”[ii] “MOVES LIKE
A ROLLER COASTER WITHOUT BRAKES.”[iii] “Harrowing
… terror builds and the ending … is a dizzying jolt.”[iv]
I still have to go back to the library to get the bibliographical information for Kill You Twice.
[i] Los Angeles Times on Lawrence Block’s All the Flowers Are Dying: A Matthew Scudder
Crime Novel. New York: Harpertorch, 2005. The review is quoted on the back
of the 2006 paperback edition.
[ii] The Miami Herald on Chelsea Cain’s Kill You Twice.
[iii] Denver Post on Dean Koontz’s The Husband. New York: Bantam Dell,
2006. On back of the paperback edition.
[iv] Publishers Weekly on Thomas H. Cook’s Mortal Memory. New York: Bantam, 1994.