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Glen David Gold

Author of Carter Beats the Devil

8+ Works 3,177 Members 81 Reviews 6 Favorited

About the Author

Image credit: By Mark Coggins from San Francisco - Glen David GoldUploaded by tripsspace, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9678272

Works by Glen David Gold

Associated Works

McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales (2002) — Contributor — 1,470 copies
The Future Dictionary of America (2004) — Contributor — 627 copies
The Great Glowing Coils of the Universe (2016) — Contributor — 448 copies
Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times (2005) — Contributor — 254 copies
The Best of McSweeney's {complete} (1800) — Contributor — 143 copies
Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus, Volume 3 (2007) — Introduction — 135 copies
Give Our Regards to the Atomsmashers! Writers on Comics (2004) — Contributor — 106 copies
Drivel: Deliciously Bad Writing by Your Favorite Authors (2014) — Contributor — 28 copies
Secrets in the Shadows: The Art & Life of Gene Colan (2005) — Introduction, some editions — 13 copies
Welcome to Night Vale [podcast] (2012) — Contributor — 5 copies

Tagged

1920s (28) 20th century (9) 21st century (10) adventure (12) America (17) American (28) American fiction (10) American literature (15) ARC (15) California (20) Chaplin (10) Charlie Chaplin (25) contemporary (9) fantasy (14) fiction (467) first edition (11) historical (37) historical fiction (131) history (11) Hollywood (18) Houdini (13) Indiespensable (15) literary fiction (11) literature (16) magic (134) magicians (54) movies (11) mystery (68) novel (70) own (14) read (37) San Francisco (30) signed (27) thriller (12) to-read (164) unread (40) US (10) USA (26) vaudeville (15) WWI (19)

Common Knowledge

Members

Reviews

Fantastic. Houdini, the Marx brothers, political intrigue, mystery, Pirates, animals, magic, this book has it all. A well developed story with sympathetic characters, an adventure story and a love story, or 2 or 3. Marvelous
 
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cspiwak | 55 other reviews | Mar 6, 2024 |
You'd think that a murder mystery, favorable reviews, magic, glorious San Francisco, and the first BMW motorcycle in the US would have been able to capture my imagination, but finishing this rambly book was a chore.
 
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emmby | 55 other reviews | Oct 4, 2023 |
Carter Beats the Devil is a marvelous, rolicking, sometimes frightening novel set in Prohibition era San Francisco, mostly, with occasional jaunts across the country and the world. Carter is based on a real magician and the acts he and fellow magicians who make appearances in the book including Houdini are based on those performed at the time. Glen David Gould hinges the story around the death of Warren G. Harding and also manages to involve Philo Farnsworth who invented television. I loved it from beginning to end.… (more)
 
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witchyrichy | 55 other reviews | Aug 31, 2023 |
You cannot blame Gold for lacking ambition: this novel attempts to sum up the state of America during the late 19-teens, and in doing so he goes off on narrative tangents that seem tenuously connected. The two major events portrayed here are the birth of the Hollywood film industry and America's entry into WWI; both are important in that they are the beginnings of the U.S. as the dominant military and cultural power in the world, a state that we have become accustomed to in the modern era. Some of the characters are drawn better than others: Charlie Chaplin's pathos, woman troubles and genius are on brilliant display. Others veer more towards caricature, especially Hugo Black, who seems to be written into the novel to present a staged meeting between insular American old money and the (literally) dying Russian aristocracy. Gold's themes are large and subtly disseminated throughout the novel - but he asks patience on the part of the reader to see the big picture in the books final pages.… (more)
 
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jonbrammer | 23 other reviews | Jul 1, 2023 |

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Statistics

Works
8
Also by
12
Members
3,177
Popularity
#8,045
Rating
3.8
Reviews
81
ISBNs
53
Languages
7
Favorited
6

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