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In the spring of 1968, Mr. Young's first short story entitled "Letter from Mindoro" was published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine's series of "First Stories," being stories by authors who had never before had a short story published. As always, the story was prefaced by editor Frederic Dannay's introduction: "The author, Alan K. Young, is a former junior-college English instructor, with a B. A. in English from Harvard and an M. A. in the same subject from the University of California (impressive credentials, indeed). At the time Mr. Young wrote "Letter from Mindoro," he was 39, single, and living in California (though a native of Pennsylvania, born and raised in a suburb of Pittsburgh). He has tried his hand "at a goodly cross-section of those jobs in which English majors who don't write The Great American Novel so often wind up" ... How can this man miss if he but persist?" Thus began Mr. Young's 13-year mystery-writing career.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Alan K. Young: My Brief Mystery-Writing Career; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Alan K. Young created these three 3-ring binders and entitled them "My Brief Mystery-Writing Career as recorded in documents collected, conserved, compiled, collated, captioned and clarified by Alan K. Young." In the spring of 1968, Mr. Young's first short story entitled "Letter from Mindoro" was published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine's series of "First Stories," being stories by authors who had never before had a short story published. As always, the story was prefaced by editor Frederic Dannay's introduction: "The author, Alan K. Young, is a former junior-college English instructor, with a B. A. in English from Harvard and an M. A. in the same subject from the University of California (impressive credentials, indeed). At the time Mr. Young wrote "Letter from Mindoro," he was 39, single, and living in California (though a native of Pennsylvania, born and raised in a suburb of Pittsburgh). He has tried his hand "at a goodly cross-section of those jobs in which English majors who don't write The Great American Novel so often wind up" ... How can this man miss if he but persist?" Thus began Mr. Young's 13-year mystery-writing career. In these three volumes, Alan Young has mounted the originals of his correspondence with Fred Dannay and others, tear sheets from EQMM, photographs, and all with a running commentary on the experience of being an Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine author.
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Gift of Alan K. Young, March 2017.
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Three 3-ringed binders containing originals of his correspondence with Fred Dannay and others, tear sheets from EQMM, photographs, and all with a running commentary on the experience of being an