Michael Crichton Pseudonym Novels Released

Eight of the ten pseudonym novels by Michael Crichton were released in digital format on July 23. Ebook releases of Grave Descend and Zero Cool have been pushed back to August 27, 2013. No explanation has been given, but the other books will provide plenty of reading for now.

I have print copies of all the titles. My favorites are Binary, Easy Go (aka The Last Tomb), Drug of Choice, and Scratch One. But all are fascinating reads, not only for what they reveal about Crichton as a writer, but in their own right.

Bonus
The ebooks contain a special treat for Michael Crichton’s fans—nine photos from the Crichton archives:

• A photo of Michael Crichton with his brother Douglas when they were boys. This photo was taken by their mother and appeared on the hardcover dust jacket of Dealing.

• A telegram informing Crichton of his acceptance to Harvard

• Crichton’s Harvard yearbook photo in 1961. He was in Lowell House. (I have a 1964 Harvard yearbook which shows Crichton in his senior year.)

• A photo of Crichton as an anthropology student at Harvard. He’s measuring some statues that I believe are the Elgin Marbles.

• Cover page for a paper Crichton published with the Peabody Museum

• 1969 Harvard Crimson article about Michael Crichton. As I documented in an earlier post, Crichton also wrote a number of articles for the Crimson.

• A photo of Crichton as a postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute in 1969

• A photo of Crichton scuba diving, which was taken for his autobiography Travels

• A photo of Crichton “hiking while doing research for his novel Micro”. This choked me up a bit. As you know, Crichton died before he could finish the novel. Micro was published in November 2011 after Richard Preston completed the novel based on Crichton’s drafts and notes.