Jack London's San Francisco Stories
Jack London's San Francisco Stories is an anthology of Jack London short stories set in the San Francisco Bay Area. The book was edited by Matthew Asprey. The preface is a reprint of Rodger Jacobs' 2003 essay Ghost Land, a personal meditation on Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon in Oakland, CA. The anthology is published by Sydney Samizdat Press through Amazon.com's CreateSpace print on demand service.
Background
Jack London was born in San Francisco in 1876 and wrote about the Bay Area repeatedly throughout his career. Those stories have never been previously collected in a single Bay Area-themed volume. As the back cover copy of the book states, "Although famous for his stories of the Klondike and the Pacific, London wrote extensively about his home base. This collection contains such classic stories as 'The Apostate' and 'The South of the Slot' as well as extracts from John Barleycorn and The Sea-Wolf. The overlooked 1905 story cycle Tales of the Fish Patrol is included in its entirety. London's vivid eyewitness report of the Great 1906 Earthquake and Fire - which destroyed forever the old city - stands as a fitting epilogue."[1]
The cover of the collection reproduces a photograph of Market Street in San Francisco circa 1900.
Rodger Jacobs discussed the book in an article for the Las Vegas Sun on September 26, 2010[2] and in an interview with Montreal's La Presse on November 20, 2010.[3]
San Francisco writer Don Herron reviewed the book on January 27, 2011. He said: "A meaty compactly packaged book. If you don’t have these stories, a great intro to a city that was lost in the 1906 quake and fire, by the most famous author born in town."[4]
Contents
The collection is divided into four parts with an epilogue.
Preface by Rodger Jacobs
Introduction by Matthew Asprey
I. YOUTH
- from John Barleycorn
- The Apostate
- From ‘Small-Boat Sailing’
- To Repel Boarders
- from John Barleycorn
II. TALES OF THE FISH PATROL
- White and Yellow
- The King of the Greeks
- A Raid on the Oyster Pirates
- The Siege of the ‘Lancashire Queen’
- Charley's Coup
- Demetrios Contos
- Yellow Handkerchief
III. THE BAY AREA
- The Banks of the Sacramento
- An Adventure in the Upper Sea
- Winged Blackmail
- When the World Was Young
- The Prodigal Father
- Benefit of the Doubt
IV. SAN FRANCISCO PAST AND FUTURE
- from John Barleycorn
- from The Sea-Wolf
- South of the Slot
- The Dream of Debs
EPILOGUE: 18 April 1906
- The Story of an Eyewitness
References
External links
Jack London
- Jack London's San Francisco Stories Official book website.
- v
- t
- e
- The Cruise of the Dazzler (1902)
- A Daughter of the Snows (1902)
- The Call of the Wild (1903)
- The Kempton-Wace Letters (1903, anonymously co-authored with Anna Strunsky)
- The Sea-Wolf (1904)
- The Game (1905)
- Before Adam (1906)
- White Fang (1906)
- The Iron Heel (1908)
- Martin Eden (1909)
- Burning Daylight (1910)
- Adventure (1911)
- The Scarlet Plague (1912)
- A Son of the Sun (1912)
- The Abysmal Brute (1913)
- The Valley of the Moon (1913)
- The Mutiny of the Elsinore (1914)
- The Star Rover (1915)
- The Little Lady of the Big House (1916)
- Jerry of the Islands (1917)
- Michael, Brother of Jerry (1917)
- Hearts of Three (1920)
- The Assassination Bureau, Ltd (1963) (Unfinished, completed by Robert L. Fish)
- "A Thousand Deaths" (1899)
- "The Law of Life" (1901)
- "Bâtard" (1902)
- "Moon-Face" (1902)
- "The Leopard Man's Story" (1903)
- "To Build a Fire" (1908)
- "The Dream of Debs" (1909)
- "A Piece of Steak" (1909)
- "The South of the Slot" (1909)
- "The Heathen" (1910)
- "The Mexican" (1911)
- "The Unparalleled Invasion" (1914)
- "The Red One" (1918)
- Lost Face (1910)
- South Sea Tales (1911)
- The People of the Abyss (1903)
- The Road (1907)
- The Cruise of the Snark (1911)
- John Barleycorn (1913)
- Charmian London (second wife)
- Joan London (daughter)
- Jack London State Historic Park
- Wolf House
- Jack London Lake
- Jack London Square
- Mount London
- Jack London (1943 film)