Publishers Lunch
Author of the Arkady Renko novels Martin Cruz Smith revealed
to the NYT that he has been suffering from Parkinson's disease for the past
18 years, and that his newest book, TATIANA,
was produced with the help of his wife, Em, who typed the words as Smith
dictated them to her. "I didn’t want to be judged by that," Smith
said of his Parkinson's, which he hid from his publisher and editor at Simon
& Schuster until recently. "Either I’m a good writer or I'm not. 'He's
our pre-eminent Parkinson's writer.' Who needs that?"
As to the collaborative process on the new
book, Smith had been doubtful it would succeed. "It's like playing
football, except you’ve got two quarterbacks. It promises confusion, complication,
and loss of immediate contact. You want to keep that ball moving, keep that
idea within your grasp." Smith has also since undergone brain surgery to
alleviate some of the Parkinson's symptoms.
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