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.

Michael Crichton “The Med School Years” video

To promote and celebrate the release of Michael Crichton’s pseudonym novels, the Crichton website now features a short video giving some background on these books. Interviews with Michael Crichton are included, as well as some comments by Crichton’s longtime agent Lynn Nesbit. (I believe I read that she became his agent on the second John Lange novel, Easy Go. Will have to find the reference.)



The main page of “The Med School Years” contains links to order the books from Amazon or Apple. I get my books from Barnes & Noble, so I’ll post the links for any who want to go there.

Easy Go

Odds On

The Venom Business

Drug of Choice

Binary

Scratch One

Grave Descend

Zero Cool

A Case of Need

Dealing or The Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues

Michael Crichton—The Med School Years

The Michael Crichton website has a new section on his pseudonym novels:

Michael Crichton “The Med School Years”

It contains a good deal of fascinating information. Although the phrase “The Med School Years” is a little misleading as four of the novels—Grave Descend (1970), Drug of Choice (1970), Dealing Or The Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (1970), and Binary (1972)—were published after Crichton graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1969.

I've always wondered why he published the last few John Lange novels after he published the highly successful The Andromeda Strain (1969) under his own name. Did Crichton already have them written or did he have a contract for a specific number of John Lange novels?

Alert! John Lange Novels to be Released as Ebooks

It was announced today that Open Road Integrated Media will publish the ten novels Michael Crichton wrote under pseudonyms as ebooks. Release date is July 23rd, 2013 (the day before my birthday). This will include the eight books Crichton wrote under the name “John Lange”, plus the one he wrote under the names of “Jeffery Hudson” and the one he co-authored with his brother Douglas Crichton under the name “Michael Douglas”. Here is a list of the titles:

The eight novels published under the pseudonym “John Lange”:

Odds On (1966)

Scratch One (1967)

Easy Go (1968) – later republished under the title The Last Tomb

Zero Cool (1969)

The Venom Business (1969)

Grave Descend (1970)

Drug of Choice (1970)

Binary (1972)

The novel Crichton published under the pseudonym “Jeffery Hudson”:

A Case of Need (1968)

And the novel Michael Crichton wrote with his brother Douglas Crichton – published under the pseudonym “Michael Douglas”:

Dealing Or The Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (1970)

I've long suspected that the pseudonym novels might be released as ebooks. It’s a very cost efficient way to do it.

Two of the John Lange novels were recently republished. Hard Case Crime republished Grave Descend as a paperback in 2006, and Zero Cool in 2008. They were published under the name “John Lange” with no indication that they were written by Michael Crichton. But 2008 edition of Zero Cool had a fascinating addition. Crichton wrote a prologue and epilogue in which the main character’s grandson is interviewing him and recording it on a camcorder. It’s as though Crichton was reflecting back on his early writing.

Those sections of Zero Cool are the last publication of new material by Crichton before his death.

Stay tuned for upcoming posts about what Michael Crichton has said about these earlier works.