THE HAWKLINE MONSTER: A GOTHIC WESTERN  

By Richard Brautigan

Publisher: Simon Schuster, New York;

1974 First Edition First Printing

with printing number line 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 *

This Book is a brown HARDCOVER in near fine condition and a Dust Jacket in near fine condition (slight edgewear).

This book has 216 pages. Dust jacket illustration by Wendell Minor.**

First published in 1974, The Hawkline Monster was Richard Brautigan's fifth published novel, and the first to parody a literary genre.

Subtitled "A Gothic Western," the novel was well received by a wider audience than Brautigan's earlier work.

As in earlier novels, Brautigan played with the idea that imagination has both good and bad ramifications, turning it into a monster with the power to turn objects and thoughts into whatever amused it.

Writing History == Brautigan wrote this novel in 1972-1973(?) in a rented tourist cabin at the Pine Creek Lodge and Store in Pine Creek, Montana,

in Paradise Valley, just south of Livingston.

He went there at the invitation of writer Thomas McGuane (92 in the Shade). Living nearby were writers Jim Harrison (Farmer) and his wife, and William R. Hjortsberg (Falling Angel) and his wife Marian. Actors Peter Fonda and his wife Becky (Portia Crockett; McGuane's ex-wife), Jeff Bridges, and Warren Oates, film director Sam Peckinpah, cinematographer Michael Butler, and painter Russell Chatham also lived nearby. Other visiting writers (like Guy de la Valdene), artists, and musicians often visited. The group called itself "The Montana Gang." Brautigan was impressed with the machismo and the ability of some members to achieve financial security by turning their novels into movies.

Livingston, Montana, members of "The Montana Gang," and others were profiled in several newspaper articles, some of which mentioned Brautigan.

REVIEW == The vastly popular, bestselling, irrepressible   author's fifth novel. Beautifully evocative, funny and observant "The time is 1902; the setting, Eastern Oregon. Magic Child, a 15-year old Indian girl, wanders into the wrong whorehouse looking for the right men to kill the monster that lives in the ice caves under the basement of Miss Hawkline's cold yellow house".

The Hawkline Monster's tight and exciting plot marks a departure in Brautigan's work. Its haunting blend of mystery and magic makes it possibly his best book yet.

WILLARD AND HIS BOWLING TROPHIES: A PERVERSE MYSTERY 

By Richard Brautigan  

Publisher: Simon Schuster, New York;

1975 First Edition First Printing

with printing number line 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 *

This Book is a brown HARDCOVER in Near Fine Condition (remainder mark, faint trace of foxing at top page edge)

and a Dust Jacket in near fine condition (one short tear). This book has 167 pages. Dust jacket illustration by Wendell Minor.*

Noted photographer, Jill Krementz  took the author's photo on the back of the dust jacket.*

Background First published in 1975, Willard and His Bowling Trophies was Richard Brautigan's sixth published novel and the second to parody a literary genre:

sado-masochism in this case. The novel, as all others by Brautigan, dealt with the isolation of people from each other.

Inspiration for the Novel == In real life, Willard was a papier máché sculpture, a bird about three feet high painted red, white, and orange with big, round eyes, a pot belly, and long beak created by Brautigan's friend Stanley Fullerton as a satire of Brautigan's resemblance of a stork. Fullerton gave the sculpture to Price Dunn who named it "Willard" and placed it on a shelf in his Pacific Grove, California, home. Price and his brother, Bruce, added bowling trophies left over from one of their moving business jobs, creating a shrine for Willard. When Brautigan visited Dunn in 1967 he was enamored of Willard and he and Dunn developed a spontaneous fantasy concerning his background and life. At the end of his visit, Brautigan took Willard to San Francisco. Whenever Dunn visited Brautigan they turned the fantasy surrounding Willard into a game, each working out elaborate ways of leaving the other stuck with Willard. As Brautigan saw Dunn less frequently, he continued the game with other friends as well, leaving Willard with Curt Gentry when he traveled to Japan in the 1970s. Later, Brautigan gave Willard to actor friend Terry McGovern, who currently keeps the sculpture in his home.

REVIEW == The inimitable, bestselling author's sixth novel at the mid point of his career. " Bizarre ,brilliant, funny and frightening novel by the author of "Trout Fishing in America" set in a San Francisco apartment house.

A typical, virtually indescribable Brautigan novel, this one set in an apartment house on Chestnut Street in San Francisco The principals are Constance and Bob, the couple upstairs who read Greek Anthology and play the Story of O game; Pat & John, the couple downstairs who eat turkey sandwiches naked and watch Johnny Carson; the three Logan brothers, whose bowling trophies have been stolen; and Willard a three-foot-high paper-mache bird about three feet tall with long black legs. The Logan brothers have vowed to recover their bowling trophies at any cost and seek vengeance on those who stole them."

THE TOKYO-MONTANA EXPRESS 

By Richard Brautigan 

Publisher Simon Schuster, New York;

1975 First Edition First Printing

with printing number line 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 *

This Book is a HARDCOVER in very good condition 258 pages.

and a price clipped dust jacket in good condition (some edge wear & few short tears).

Preface = Though the Tokyo-Montana Express moves at a great speed, there are many stops along the way.

This book is those brief stations: some confident, others still searching for their identities.

The "I" in this book is the voice of the stations along the tracks of the Tokyo-Montana Express.

First published in 1980 (special Targ edition published 1979), The Tokyo-Montana Express, a collection of one hundred and thirty-one "stations" inspired by memories short stories of Japan and Montana, January-July 1976 to 1978 during a period when he was dividing his time between Japan and his ranch house in Montana. Brautigan's ninth published novel that seems to form a somewhat autobiographical work. Brautigan, defending the unique form of this novel, said each section of the novel represented a separate stop along a journey, a station along a metaphorical rail line joining Japan and Montana. Common themes running through these stations include Brautigan's disillusionment with aging, the search for identity, the diversity of human nature, and cultural differences between Montana and Japan. A few stations deal with Shiina Takako

owner of The Cradle, a Tokyo bar patronized by writers and artists, and Brautigan.

Back cover photograph by Nakai Keisuke of Brautigan and Shiina Takako. The caption reads, Richard Brautigan and Shiina Takako lolling in a small boat off the coast of Japan. It was a hot afternoon and they were tired of fishing.