What exactly happened with McCammon's career?

External Since: Nov 18, 2007 Posts: 1

I know this is a Stephen King group, but there has been some McCammon
discussion lately, so I thought I'd ask and see if anybody knew. When I was
a teenager and into my early 20's, McCammon's paperback originals were some
of the best reading I could find. No, it wasn't classic literature, but it
was very readable and was a lot better than some contemporaries (John Saul
for example). I even thought Swan Song (ducking as I say this) was better
than The Stand. And when McCammon moved from paperback originals to
hardbacks with Mine and Boys Life and Gone South, I figured he was set and
on his way. Then, for a long time, maybe more than a decade, nothing. And
when he did release a book, Speaks the Nightbird, it was from a publisher
I'd never heard of. Looking the book over, I'm almost inclined to think the
book was self published or, God forbid, vanity published. Now I'm hearing
his new book is a trade paperback.

I honestly believed this guy would be the next Stephen King in terms of
popularity. So, what the hell happened?

Thanks

External Since: Jun 21, 2007 Posts: 8

JMT wrote:
> I know this is a Stephen King group, but there has been some McCammon
> discussion lately, so I thought I'd ask and see if anybody knew. When I was
> a teenager and into my early 20's, McCammon's paperback originals were some
> of the best reading I could find. No, it wasn't classic literature, but it
> was very readable and was a lot better than some contemporaries (John Saul
> for example). I even thought Swan Song (ducking as I say this) was better
> than The Stand. And when McCammon moved from paperback originals to
> hardbacks with Mine and Boys Life and Gone South, I figured he was set and
> on his way. Then, for a long time, maybe more than a decade, nothing. And
> when he did release a book, Speaks the Nightbird, it was from a publisher
> I'd never heard of. Looking the book over, I'm almost inclined to think the
> book was self published or, God forbid, vanity published. Now I'm hearing
> his new book is a trade paperback.
>
> I honestly believed this guy would be the next Stephen King in terms of
> popularity. So, what the hell happened?
>
> Thanks
>
>
I'm sure Hunter will be in soon but from what I've heard he apparently
was having trouble getting his publisher to publish any of his works
that weren't in the "horror" genre. Unlike some other authors who don't
seem to have trouble getting their other non-specific genre published he
was so he almost quit completely. Fortunately for all of his fans(of
which I count myself)he didn't follow through and has published Speaks
the Nightbird and most recently it's sequel The Queen of Bedlam.
Hopefully this helps until Hunter can elaborate.