Behind the Green Curtain: True Crime Stories From Mendocino County
by Bruce Anderson, Bruce McEwen, Ronald Rhea, Mark Scaramella & Tim Stelloh
paperback: 320 pages
published August 4, 2012
Mendocino Noir: Crimes Large and Small
by Bruce Anderson & Mark Scaramella
illustrated by Frederick Sternkopf
paperback: 342 pages
published July 4, 2009
The Mendocino Papers
by Bruce Anderson
paperback: 214 pages
published February 19, 2008
Boonville: A Novel
by Robert Mailer Anderson
paperback: 272 pages
published November 1, 2001
Am reading Boonville currently. Very enjoyable. Are the characters based on real folks or are they products of Robert’s wonderful imagination?
PS. I visited Boonville for the first time this past spring when my son had a baseball game vs Anderson Valley High.
Steve,
Glad you are enjoying Boonville, the novel and our town! It is just out again with a new cover by Sandow Birk.
Most of the characters had a seed of truth from “real people” but more composites than individuals. It is definitely fiction and so the seed grew from my imagination into the tall tale. Though the truth is way more violent and crazy, along with the people… Personally, I feel closest to the Sarah character, but I’m not a woman or a hippie, so… But most of the craziest stuff actually happened in one way or another, and more than once. For example, I had several folks from Boonville and Mendocino County tell me they thought I stole their story of chainsawing a door in their house when they had been locked out by their wife/girlfriend and then hit a power line. A half dozen hippie women thought they were Pensive Prairie Sunset, and they were ALL right!! Yes, there was a real Blindman who umpired softball games and who used to hunt and his friend walked off a bridge. The Waterfall commune was based on several communes I had been to as a kid, and where my friends had lived. Yes, there was a giant at one of them that wore sarongs and did acid and was a predator and completely nuts. Yes, there were “Future Primitives” (though they didn’t call themselves that, they just said, “We’re going primitive.”) at several communes all taking a shot at nakedness, being none verbal, and not standing erect. Yes, a local Krazy glued his lip back on and sprayed carburator cleaner on it to help the healing. Yes, The Lodge was a real place (and pretty accurate, if I do say myself, though erring on the humor than the alcoholic darkness). Yes, The Hotel was a restaurant as described along with the back story. Yes people used to head butt in the middle of highway 128. Yes, they also laid out drunk in the middle of highway 128 to stop the tourists from coming, because I did that myself… Lots more, but I won’t bore you. If you have any questions, maybe I can answer them at a reading or book signing for my latest graphic novel My Fairy Godfather… http://www.myfairyg.com