In my library the novels of Jack Saunders go right next to MOBY DICK, ISLANDIA, and THE RECOGNITIONS. His latest, EVIL GENIUS, is an astonishing feat--like watching a man lay eight hundred miles of track single-handed, without ever once stopping, or faltering, or resorting to adjectives. Dr. Al Ackerman
You are a force of nature, a dreadnaught, ploughing on through rough seas. Anything I say or write will not distract you, I know this. It will not divert you from the goal one day. This is good. But, I hate to see you tearing yourself apart. Jack Remick
As exasperating and slippery a "read" as they come. This work is totally unpretentious (and thus honest) and yet its theme is the total unrelenting pretension of a life. That life is excruciating and unavoidable, unedited and ambiguous, squalling and scrawling, elegant and vulgar, ordinary and completely out of the ordinary. Read it; you'll never forget it. John M. Bennett
Received Evil Genius in the mail. Thank you I am really enjoying it. You get better & better it's terrific. Hazel the Delta Rambler or Larry Schlueter
I can't know if anything is going to come of this work in re the indifferent world of publishers any more than the others, but I feel it has more substance, weight and variety than anything I've read of yours so far & that alone makes it kind of a breakthrough for me. I like the fact that you castigate yourself in an often very engaging way about self-pity, too--wittily, which is a big change from former whines that didn't seem to be leavened by your much better developed self-deprecating humor, to which all we strugglers after some notoriety can, believe me, relate. Laurel Speer
All this, however, is a mere quibble. Why? Because Saunders is genuinely doing his best to figure out what he is all about and get it onto paper. Moreover, he truly casts his harangue every which way against the evils the undiscovered artist has to contend with: the financial success of tenth-raters, the cheap shots of unsympathetic fellow unknowns, the government's and big business's sanctimonious pseudo-support of the arts (or should I say genuine support of pseudo-art, and obsolete art?) and all the rest of it. I applaud this because I feel, as an unrecognized universal genius myself, that what he's saying ought to be said; and I'm glad he's saying it so energetically that I don't have to. Bob Grumman
PR words for Evil Genius? I took nearly a year out of my own writing time to work on SCREED, on its production, what more need to be said for how I feel about your worth? You're a diamond in the rough, Jack. You've got an intrinsic worth worth more than the realized worth of about 99% of the writers in this country lumped together. I'm not going to get caught up in the debate about whether what you're doing is in itself of any worth or is it the best you can do, etc. etc. That's your business, to look into your heart of hearts. If you feel in your heart of hearts that what you're doing is what you must do, then that's settled. Settled with nothing further implied. I'd say your chances of being treated with any sort of kindness, your chances of being recognized for your intrinsic worth, are worse than mine, and mine are Virginia slim. John Bennett
EVIL GENIUS, SO CLOSE TO THE TRUTH THAT IT ALMOST APPEARS TO BE FICTION, IS THE UNCOMPROMISED BOOK WHOSE PAIN AND PLEASURE ARE IN EXACT BALANCE. YOU'RE DAMNED LUCKY JUST TO GET YOUR HANDS ON IT.**** GENIUS TURNS EVIL WHEN TRUTH HAS TURNED TO LIES. IN A SOCIETY BUILT ON DECEPTION, COMMON SENSE IS ICONOCLASTIC. SAUNDERS, IN HOME WIT, STALKS THE SEWERS OF LITERARY CORRUPTION AND EMERGES HOLDING THE RAT BY ITS TAIL. CHEW, THEN SWALLOW, THIS BOOK.**** David Cole
Jack Saunders is an American original and his life is an open book. His dedication and commitment are evident throughout, and his abundant energy enlivens every page. Lawrence Block
All fine hard hitting work. The works of Jack Saunders give us hope. Hope that our lives won't be horrible wasted foolishness. Even when it seems that hope is all we have left, if you feel you can live a fuller life and spend your days in a more profitable way for yourself AND MANKIND you should read Jack Saunders for a ray of hope and a great deal of enjoyment and amusement. OK it rings so true that you'll forget you're reading & think you're talking to yourself. Larry Schlueter or Hazel the Delta Rambler
So it's not really a novel. There hasn't been a word invented yet for your work. Maybe once people invent a word to describe what you're doing, then the appreciation of it will be a bit more broad. Pete Horobin
Keep me on your mailing list. Robert Gover
Take me off your mailing list. Philip Zuckerman
Nothing studied about this one. He just knows. And does. It hangs together, flows together, makes a lot of sense. Cooking like a Tasmanian Dervish. All I can do is tip my hat. Carl Weissner
Please don't stop. I loved how it's so really true to life...so relaxed...yet crisscrossed with real fears and frustrations...and real tenderness...and true love. Now that I'm thinking about it, that seems to be the true appeal of most of your work for me...that it's TRUE, so true, so different from reading the "news" or watching T.V., where I'm constantly asking myself, "Do they really suppose we're buying all this shit?" About your "whining" about not being able to find a publisher to print your work--I think it's probably worth whining about. In fact I sort of admire your efforts. It takes a lot of energy to keep that whining up, and frankly I wore out years ago. It's hard to be the only dog barking up the tree. Omahaha (Dazar)
Hey it broke me up--I imagined someone calling here and asking what I was crying about. I was not crying, kid. I was laughing at Jack Saunders' new movie. David Zack
dazar, you mention "great literature". jack talks a lot about that, and what he says is spot on. it was spot on the first time he said it and the second time and the third...i've already told him that i thought the first chapter of EVIL GENIUS is brilliant, maybe "great", it's a sign that if jack DID get published, if he saw another dimension to his purpose, if he could make a living by what he wants to do, then there might be talent there of the stature of steinbeck or hemingway, or kerouac or thoreau, or whoever he rates as GREAT. but when jack whines (your word), even though what he says is honest and true, do you ever feel that you are reading "great literature" as you lament with jack its passing? i don't think i do. in the middle of it all is something special, a perception, a descriptive talent, a genius for dialogue. it hasn't quite synthesized, not yet anyway. not as "great literature" anyway. it's bloody marvelous SOMETHING ELSE though. in your letter too i notice that you finish your piece to jack and start on franny mae, but jack creeps back in there. that happens to me too. i can't get jack and the possibilities of jack out of my head sometimes. i told him too, that what he did was somehow some universal analogy, applicable in any situation, especially those that deal with frustration, hope...the sheer volume of it has a lot to do with it. DJ at FOMT, c/o Dark Hopes
I just finished EVIL GENIUS & found it touching, if I may use that word without sounding ridiculous. I am always moved by what I perceive as genuine autobiography. Also, so much less complaining this time. I realize you have raised complaining to the level of art, but still it gets tiresome. Darlene Fife
Thank you for sending me EVIL GENIUS, which I read last night. I didn't really want to stay up so late, but the book moved forward with a momentum that was overpowering and almost tragic. Your fiction can also be very annoying--which is a virtue, I think. Richard Grayson
I liked it. I think it's one of your best. You sent me two books by mistake so here's one of them back. Also $5. Keep at it. Gettin' better all the time. Richard Ettelson
So I gave him your book to read, because the same things you write about are on
his mind--on every artist's mind--it's universal to all artists of all disciplines.
That's why I really believe that your books will eventually take off--not so much
with practicing artists, who can gain psychological reinforcement from reading you,
but among the college set, if you can ever get by the instructors. I think that's
where your market is--telling the young starry-eyed kiddies what they can expect
from the world after they get their art degrees. Lon Spiegelman