"Mike Resnick - Frankie the Spook (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

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_Boil and Bubble_ won the Edgar, the Shamus, the Marlowe, and
even the coveted Jacqueline Suzanne Memorial Trophy (for Positive
Contributions to the American Cultural Scene). It also sold 21
million copies, and was made into a feature film, a video series,
a computer game, a role-playing game, and a chain of soup
kitchens.
"'An almost perfect melding of high Shakespearean tragedy and
down-to-earth Chandleresque drama,'" read Marvin, holding up the
_New York Review of Books_.
"Again?" shrieked Bacon. "Am I never to be rid of that
meddlesome fool?"
"You're getting on my nerves," said Marvin. "I'm the best-
selling author of the decade, except maybe for Fritz Hauer, and
all you can do is complain."
"I've read Fritz Hauer's books," retorted Bacon. "They're
trifles, nothing but trifles. They can't begin to compare to what
I've written."
"Then why don't you relax and feel triumphant or something,
instead of harping about Shakespeare all the time?" complained
Marvin.
"Don't you understand? The credit should be _mine_, not his!
My work is revered throughout the world, but it is his name that
is worshipped, not mine. Don't you realize what that can do to a
sensitive artistic spirit?"
"_Boil and Bubble_ outsold his entire body of work five-to-one
last month. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
"Not if every word, every precise turn of phrase, every
poetic fantasy that I create, is to be credited to _his_
influence," responded Bacon.
"You are getting to be a regular pain in the ass," said
Marvin.
"You can always turn me off and write these masterpieces
yourself," said Bacon with a nasty smile.
"Don't push your luck, fella. I may just do that one of these
days."
"I, for one, would thank you. Then I could return to that
limbo in which Shakespeare's name is never mentioned."
"Not quite yet," said Marvin. "I just signed to do a
michener."
"A michener? Is that like a mystery?"
Marvin shook his head. "No. You choose some obscure city or
country, spend 300 pages making up its history, and then follow
five or six generations of your hero's family. They're very
popular."
"I have it!" cried Bacon. "I'll write of my own family, and
then the world will know who Shakespeare really was!"
"I thought the notion might appeal to you," said Marvin with