I Sent a Fan Letter to Mark Helprin Once,

but it came back to me. I guess the way to reach an author is not through their publisher. Duh. What was I thinking? It's the only fan letter I ever wrote. I wrote it because I love Mark Helprin. Reading his book Winter's Tale was such a gift, I wanted to thank him. I probably picked it up on impulse in a used book store, needing something in the evenings while working on the road. I remember less about the story line than the experience of reading it. The book was beautiful, fanciful, and rich with wintry images. Cold seeped through every page, which was good, because it was brutally hot while I was reading it. We were digging fireline near Lake Koocanusa, MT on steep slopes, and camping near the lake in a shadeless area. We would swim every night. It stayed light until after 9 and there was little chance of sleeping before dark. In my memory it was a magical time, it was the right combination of the book, the lake, and probable near sunstroke.

I only bring this all up to help explain why, when walking by the used bookstore while taking the shortcut through the strip mall from my parents' condo to the library, I felt compelled to buy the 50 cent copy of A Soldier of the Great War which was sitting on the table outside, practically blocking my path. If you'd been around when I was going through the painful process of unloading 90% of my library in South Dakota, or during one of my tirades against books longer than 200 pages, you might wonder why I felt it so necessary to purchase this 700+ page book.

Mark Helprin wrote it. I love him.