mikegust

I got to meet Jack Cady at a Haystack writer's workshop in Cannon Beach, Oregon back in the late 80's. He was one of the most gracious, and down to earth people I have ever met. His short story, "By Reason of Darkness", the last story in this collection is still probably my favorite horror short story of all time. It had just come out in the fantastic 1988 horror anthology, Prime Evil, and I had just read it a few weeks earlier. When I heard that he was going to be a guest speaker at the workshop I was thrilled. When I told him that "By Reason of Darkness" was my favorite horror story of all time, he just smiled and said something like, "That's the highest compliment any writer can get." I didn't understand what he meant at the time but now, all these decades later I do. Critics and editors and agents are all well and good, but a true writer writes for the reader and if the reader is thrilled, the writer has done his job.

I can't remember much about what he said that evening but he did end the night by reading The Velveteen Rabbit out loud to us.