Preface
A Bit of History
A few years ago, Mike and I saw a revival of Guys and Dolls—a play based on one of Damon Runyon's short stories. Over the next few months we both read a lot of Runyon stories; Mike loved them and so did I. When I couldn't find any new stories I hadn't read, I complained to Mike and thus, Harry the Book was born.
As you'll notice, Harry and his crew inhabit the same Manhattan as the Stalking books and very occasionally run into some of the characters from them. I think that adds a richness to the stories and it means that when you've finished reading these stories, pick up one of the Stalking books; they're longer but just as much fun.
I'm writing this on Valentine's Day. Mike wrote most of the "Harry" stories because I loved them and I nagged for more. I consider them Mike's valentine to me.
– Carol Resnick
Introduction
by Lezli Robyn
When I started re-reading The Hex Is In, the first thing I noticed was the unabashed joy that seemed to be woven in the writing of Harry the Book’s story. To be the winner of five Hugos (from a record thirty-seven nominations!), the author of over eighty novels, three hundred stories, three screenplays, and the editor of over forty anthologies and fifty issues of science fiction magazines, Mike Resnick clearly had to be a natural-born storyteller and to enjoy his vocation. To truly know Mike was to know that writing was as integral to him as breathing. The aforementioned accolades were no small achievement, and a testament to Resnick’s multi-faceted talent as an author and editor, but he had become so well-known for his serious works—his Kirinyaga stories and the like—that people often did not realize that what he loved to do the most was write humor.
And, damn, was he good at it.
If you ask many an author, they will tell you writing humor is hard. For most it is harder than writing an award-worthy story full of angst and heart and bittersweet resolutions, because the timing has to be just right. Yet, for Mike, writing humor pieces was second nature—he had the largest funny bone and the brightest twinkle in his eye I have ever known.
This was no doubt because Mike was the consummate entertainer. Many a night, Mike would be holding court at a convention bar, telling stories about the field and its authors with an almost space-operatic bravado and larger-than-life quality. He might have been the winner of many awards, but he always made his peers, writer children, readers and fans feel like they were the real winners just to be in his orbit.
Mike was just plain fun.
With his sharp mind and shrewd intellect, Mike was quick with humorous one-liners that lifted people up, even when they had been down. As his frequent collaborator, I was often privileged to read his work early. I’ve been incalculably sad at his passing away from cancer, and missing our daily communications even more, so re-reading this manuscript helped remind me of the emails I would receive from Mike in the middle of the night with the enthusiastic sharing of each new story the minute he had typed The End at the bottom of it. He wanted me to read them while he was still in the euphoria of having written them. There was something endearing about that almost childlike joy he experienced, his need for me to understand why these stories were important to him.
This book was no different. In fact, The Hex Is In was especially meaningful to Mike because it contained his wife’s favorite ensemble of misfits. Carol was everything to him, and knowing how much she loved Harry the Book’s escapades meant that Mike loved creating them for her—he put his whole heart into the effort, gifting these words to her, these larger-than-life characters.
And these characters definitely lived large. Along with Harry the Book, the bookie, you had Big-Hearted Milton, the mage with an almost shapeless blob of a nose and a red velvet cloak with the zodiac emblazoned on it; Benny Fifth Street and Gently Gently Dawkins, Harry’s flunkies, often more of a hazard than an aid; Dead End Dugan, an impossibly tall zombie with bullet holes in his chest and head who spent the bulk of his time standing off in a corner thinking dead thoughts; and since so many scenes took place within the local tavern, no story was complete without the obligatory bartender, Joey Chicago.
Despite the almost-exaggerated descriptions of the rest of the characters, Joey Chicago was never described, so I was tickled pink when the publisher decided to use Mike’s likeness as the physical appearance for the bartender on the back cover of this collection. For when you think about it, what is one thing that everyone knows about bartenders? They hold all the stories, everything they have ever heard within the bar. They are the storytellers in the making, the witness to all the drama unfolding, the re-tellers of all the bawdy tales. (The bawdier the better!) Even if Mike had not realized it, Joey Chicago was very meta for him, emulating the role he often held at conventions, in the bars at night. I would like to think that had been deliberate—Mike having also come from Chicago, just like the character—but even if it had not have been, I know he would be delighted with this take, given this is one of his last and lasting gifts to his wife.
While this book could easily have been called The Fix Is In, it is the hexes—all the things that could go wrong—that make Harry’s story so lovable and funny. While the exaggerated personalities make the characters entertaining, it is their flaws that make them endearing, that help Mike’s words get in under your skin to tickle your fancy and make you keep coming back for more.
So go forth and enjoy this tome. Be entertained and enjoy your memories of the man behind the words. They say that laughter is the best medicine. I also think that it is one of Mike’s greatest legacies to his readers.