The SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 

And now a letter from Jack Story, one of our most highly esteemed contributors to the Blake saga: -

AUTHOR/READER RELATIONSHIP

As an author I find the readers’ letters feature most diverting. It must surely be a unique experience for a writer to be in such close (and sometimes uncomfortable) touch with his readers’ reactions to his work.

Sometimes encouraging, sometimes chastening—and sometimes an hilarious experience.

In any other field of fiction but the S.B,L. one writes for an inarticulate and anonymous public whose opinion can only be guessed at by falling sales or the odd rude word chalked on his front door. But when dealing with Blake and Co. I find myself continuously aware that I am treading on sacred ground.

Indeed it is sometimes necessary to pause in the climactic middle of some turgid situation with the awful thought: “Heavens! This will never do for Mrs. Newton of Liverpool! Or Miss Cooke of Manchester.”

Just how far this integration of author/readership can go might be judged from the fact that in my last story, Invitation To A Murder, inadvertently included amongst the protagonists were three of our regular readers ! (Editor’s note: I took them out !)

But still—and seriously—a writer is lucky to find himself in such good company and with the assured feeling that somebody is waiting to read his stories. Brickbats and bouquets are all welcome, especially when it becomes apparent that for every critic there is a champion ready to take up the pen and defend the integrity and the sanity of the Blake author.

SOMETHING NEW

I have been a science-fiction fan for quite a few years now and would very much like to see a Sexton Blake story on this theme.

There’s no need to send our hero out into space, or have him travelling through time. Many excellent and logical stories have been set in the present-day world. New discoveries are being made almost every day, in the fields of nuclear physics, medicine and the mind. There seems to be a certain amount of prejudice against science-fiction in some circles—­a prejudice generally baseless because the people involved have never bothered to read an adult S .F. story.

Some Sexton Blake followers tend, I feel, to live permanently in the past—scoffing at and rejecting anything which is new. But I feel sure that the bigoted few are in a very small minority and that their negative approach to any new innovation does not represent a large percentage of the S.B.L. readers.

The popularity of authors like Ray Bradbury, John Wyndham, John Christopher or even H. G. Wells and Jules Verne speaks for itself. The viewing figures for the recent Quatermass TV serial were, by all accounts, fantastic.

So why not get into the trend—let’s have Sexton Blake dealing with the Unknown. If there’s anyone capable of handling a peril from Outer Space or anything else along these lines it’s certainly Sexton Blake.

  Mike J. Moorcock, 30, Benhill Wood Road, Sutton, Surrey.