When Patrick O'Brian was Irish.
 When Patrick O'Brian's fans were awaiting
his 19th novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series, I contributed an article to a
national magazine called Nautical World. Entitled "Patrick
O'Brian: Nautical Author and Cult Figure," I had hoped it would broaden POB's
audience. I could stop here and say, "The rest is history," but in
fact I attribute POB's success in his SECOND publication appearance in the US
to: 1, POB's writing abilities, 2, Starling Lawrence's brilliant gamble to
reprint all existing novels in paperback so that readers could find them, and
3, the Snow review. POB's earlier 1994 visit led to an interview in San
Francisco by Carl Haas on stage before hundreds of POB fans in the audience.
A recording with a very limited distribution exists of this interview and must
be a collector's item by now. The magazine cleverly included many of
Aubrey-Maturin book covers featuring the paintings of Geoff Hunt, some of
which appeared in the Art show at NYC South Street Seaport also covered in
that August 1998 issue. Unfortunately, although one of the few outlets
for writers of marine topics, it is now defunct.
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