The Washington Post Democracy Dies in Darkness

A CASE OF GREED? CRICHTON CALLS PUBLISHER'S REISSUE OF '68 NOVEL 'DESPICABLE'

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June 21, 1993 at 8:00 p.m. EDT

Michael Crichton denounced a publisher yesterday for reissuing in hardcover a 25-year-old novel he wrote under a pseudonym, saying Dutton was making a "despicable" attempt to trick readers into thinking the book was new.

"They can make whatever kind of smarmy, self-justified explanations they want, but it's very clear," said the author of "Jurassic Park" from his Los Angeles office. "They're exploiting the audience."

It's a huge audience too. Not only is Crichton's novel of dinosaurs-run-amok by far the most popular paperback in the country -- 6 million in print and climbing -- but he has two other books in the Top 10: "Rising Sun" and "Congo."

Dutton, seeking a piece of this lucrative action, dug up "A Case of Need," a long out-of-print medical mystery it had published in paperback and still controlled the rights to. Bookstores have ordered 150,000 copies, an unprecedented number for a hardcover reissue.

The writer's agent, Lynn Nesbit, called the publication "outrageous... . It's an attempt to mislead the public." Both Nesbit and Crichton said they hadn't known of the reissue plans until they received a letter from Dutton Publisher Elaine Koster on May 14.

Crichton wrote back that it would be "inappropriate," "shoddy," "wrong" and "fundamentally deceptive" to reissue the book in hardcover, a format that traditionally signals to readers a new publication.

"I urge you in the strongest terms to abandon this reissue plan," he wrote.

Yesterday, Crichton said in disgust that "obviously this is something they had been planning for some time. What I thought had the appearance of a discussion was in fact a fait accompli. The book was already in production."

His anger was increased by the book's jacket. "A Case of Need" doesn't have the typical cover design: More than two-thirds of the front panel is taken up by Crichton's name, with the book's title filling most of the remaining space. "You need pretty good glasses to see the line 'Writing as Jeffrey Hudson,' " he noted.

Koster, the publisher, said that "I'm proud of what I'm doing. Here he is a major author, and the book is one of his major books. It won the Edgar Award {for best mystery novel}. It's a first-class book. We've got such incredible reactions. So many people said -- and I don't think they said it to flatter me -- that it was their favorite Michael Crichton."

Asked if the book had Crichton's blessing, the publisher said: "It's best if you don't ask me. However, we have a very cordial relationship."

That might depend on how you define "cordial." Crichton said he had "a special feeling in my heart for Dutton. As Mark Twain once said about someone who sold him a bad horse, if the person's funeral occurred when he was in town, he would postpone all other recreation to attend it."

"A Case of Need" is one of 10 pseudonymous books Crichton wrote in the beginning of his career, when he was attending medical school. None of the others is in print. While rights to a book typically revert to the author after it goes out of print, that didn't happen in this case.

"I was a kid, and this was not my primary business," said Crichton. "I hardly had the time to write the books, let alone be involved in niceties of contractual issues."

Dutton is a division of Penguin USA, one of the country's biggest publishers. The company can take a chance on alienating Crichton because none of its divisions publishes him in any form. The author made clear yesterday that as a result of this reissue, they never will.

"Many publishers complain about the difficulty of working with authors," he added. "All I can say is, it's this kind of experience that shapes adversarial attitudes."

Booksellers agreed with Crichton that there was at least the potential for misleading readers. "I think it will be confusing to the customer, sure," said Karen Bell, a hardcover fiction buyer with the Waldenbooks chain. "They might think it's a brand-new hardcover."

Bob Wietrak, director of merchandising for the Barnes & Noble chain, echoed that comment, but added: "Any retailer purchasing the book knows it's not new. I think most book retailers will communicate that to the customer."

Both retailers said it was highly unusual to republish a novel in such large numbers in hardcover. But then Crichton isn't exactly your typical author. In fact, he seems to be taking over the title of "America's hottest writer" from John Grisham.

While they each have three paperbacks on the bestseller list, Crichton has two major movies out this summer (the other is "Rising Sun"), as opposed to one from Grisham ("The Firm"). And last week Crichton's forthcoming novel was sold to Warner Bros. in a deal that could be worth as much as $3.5 million, a sum that eclipses the previous record of $2.5 million -- held by Grisham.

"I'm certainly enjoying all this, but it's a little bit of a roller coaster ride, and you've got to hold on to the bar," Crichton said. "And, in the case of this reissue, you occasionally have to fight down some nausea."