GLATZER, Hal 1946-

PERSONAL: Born January 31, 1946, in New York, NY; son of Harold (an attorney) and Glenna (a teacher; maiden name, Beaber) Glatzer. Education: Syracuse University, B.A. (English), 1968; University of Hawaii, M.A. (communications), 1979; also attended graduate courses at Hilo College. Politics: Democrat. Hobbies and other interests: Playing banjo, guitar, fiddle, mandolin, autoharp, and dulcimer in the style of traditional mountain music and Bluegrass; reading, watching television, gardening.

ADDRESSES: Home—476 Hickory St., San Francisco, CA 94102-5607.

CAREER: Honolulu Advertiser, Hilo, HI, bureau chief, 1971; Orchid Isle (magazine), Hilo, HI, editor, 1972-74; KITV-News, Hilo, HI, reporter, 1975; Oceanic Cablevision, Honolulu, HI, news director, 1976; television producer in Honolulu and Seattle, 1976; People, New York, NY, Hawaii correspondent, 1976-80; The Printout, Honolulu, editor, 1979-80; Words and Pictures, Seattle, WA, chief executive officer, 1980; computer consultant in Seattle, 1980; Software News, West-borough, MA, West Coast correspondent, 1983; Key Thinkers, Inc., Oakland, CA, partner, 1985. Former member of Big Island Committee on Crime Prevention. Delegate for the Democratic Convention in Kansas City, MO, 1974.

MEMBER: American Association for the Advancement of Science, Union of Concerned Scientists, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Computer Press Association (vice president, 1985-87), Hawaii Professional Writers.

AWARDS, HONORS: Media Award, American Cancer Society, 1978.

WRITINGS:

Kamehameha County (journalistic novel), Friendly World Enterprises (Pepeekeo, HI), 1974.

Introduction to Word Processing, Sybex (Berkeley, CA), 1981.

The Birds of Babel: Satellites for a Human World, H. W. Sams (Indianapolis, IN), 1983.

Who Owns the Rainbow?: Conserving the Radio Spectrum, H. W. Sams (Indianapolis, IN), 1984.

The Trapdoor, 1986.

Murder on the Kona Coast, 1987.

Too Dead to Swing: A Katy Green Mystery, John Daniel (Santa Barbara, CA), 2002.

Also contributor to local magazines and to Christian Science Monitor.

ADAPTATIONS: Too Dead to Swing was originally performed as an audio play for Audio-Playwrights in 2000.

SIDELIGHTS: Hal Glatzer is a former journalist who has often written books on technical subjects such as computers. However, he has also penned mystery fiction. His Too Dead to Swing, for example, was originally performed as an audio-play, but it was based on an unpublished novel from the 1940s. The story centers around an all-girl 1940s swing band. When one of the members is attacked, musician and amateur sleuth Katy Green joins the band. As the band travels by train, members of the band are murdered one by one. Library Journal reviewer Rex E. Klett wrote that the novel's "simple, easy-going style" was engaging and recommended Too Dead to Swing to fans of Forties noir mysteries.

Glatzer once told CA: "I am an eclectic radical thinker. . . . I believe in God and Mankind. I do not believe in owning land. I believe in beating swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks. I do not study war."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 15, 1982, review of Introduction to Word Processing, p. 1052; May 1, 2001, review of Too Dead to Swing, p. 1617.

Book World, October 3, 1982, review of Introduction to Word Processing, p. 11.

Journalism Quarterly, autumn, 1985, review of The Birds of Babel, p. 675; summer, 1985, review of Who Owns the Rainbow?, p. 425; spring, 1986, review of The Telecommunications Revolution, p. 204.

Library Journal, March 1, 2002, Rex E. Klett, review of Too Dead to Swing, p. 143.

Publishers Weekly, December 4, 2000, review of Too Dead to Swing, p. 32.

San Francisco Review of Books, September, 1982, review of Introduction to Word Processing, p. 30.*