Gold, Glen David 1964-

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GOLD, Glen David 1964-

PERSONAL: Born 1964, in Hollywood, CA; married Alice Sebold (a writer), 2001. Education: University of California, Irvine, M.F.A., 1998.

ADDRESSES: Home—Long Beach, CA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Hyperion Books, 77 West 66th St., New York, NY 10023.

CAREER: Novelist, screenwriter.

WRITINGS:

Carter Beats the Devil, Hyperion Books (New York, NY), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS: Glen David Gold is a journalist and screenwriter whose first published novel, Carter Beats the Devil, received excellent reviews. Gold's protagonist is none other than Charles Carter, a.k.a. Carter the Great, an illusionist whose skill rivaled that of Henry Houdini's. The story begins in 1923, a time when the United States was obsessed with magic acts. In an interview with Bookreporter.com, Gold explained, "Magic was especially potent from 1890 to 1920, which was also the rise of the assembly line and the explosion of technology in everyday life. I don't think that's a coincidence. The current take on Houdini is that he railed against the increasing discontent and sense of confinement that civilization bred. Magicians certainly blow the doors off reality, and that's still great fun to see....Asa society, we really wanted science to improve our lives, to dazzle us. We really didn't know what was or wasn't possible. But it also made people insecure and what they really wanted, at the end of the day, was a marvel that science couldn't explain."

Carter Beats the Devil begins with Carter at the top of his career and as the headliner for a San Francisco theater. In the audience is President Warren G. Harding, who is trying to imcrease his public support with his "Voyage of Understanding" tour. The president agrees to participate in the grand finale, complete with scimitars, a card table, a devil in black tights, and a lion named Baby. Just before the act is to begin, Harding confides something to Carter, and then he is diced up with swords and eaten by Baby. He reappears on-stage moments later, smiling and well. Of course, it is only magic, but when the President dies hours later, Secret Service agent Jack Griffith is sure Carter is the guilty party. Others thinks so too, including some political cronies who fear Harding was about to blow the whistle on his own scandal-ridden administration.

The plot is complex, historical personalities make appearances, and things are not what they seem. "Here is a book—a first novel no less—to blow you away. It seeks to stun and amaze and deceive and, always, to entertain, and it seldom misses a trick in 600 pulsating pages," wrote Peter Preston in Guardian. Mark Rozzo in the Los Angeles Times acknowledged that in Carter Beasts the Devil"Gold creates a foreboding, dreamlike aura of Americana."

To keep things rolling along, Gold has, he explains in the novel's epilogue, "subjected history to vanishes, immolations and other acts of misdirection." Mike Cavency, a renowned magician, wrote in his own Carter the Great, wrote: "I've been a practicing magician for over forty years, and Glen Gold has completely baffled me. Carter Beats the Devil is layered with accurate descriptions of strange-looking apparatuses, the distinct language used by magicians, and eccentric personalities that existed only during the heyday of vaudeville. It's a secret world that, by necessity, was closed to outsiders, and yet Gold's relentless research has allowed him to slowly untangle his tale of murder and intrigue in an environment that so accurately recreates the Golden Age of Magic that one sometimes forgets that this story is simply a product of Glen Gold's devious mind."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Caveney, Mike, Carter the Great, Magic Words (Pasadena, CA), 1995.

Gold, Glen David, Carter Beats the Devil, Hyperion Books (New York, NY), 2001.

PERIODICALS

Atlanta Constitution, October 21, 2001, Mark Luce, review of Carter Beats the Devil, p. D5.

Booklist, July, 2001, Gavin Quinn, review of CarterBeats the Devil, p. 1948.

Christian Science Monitor, September 20, 2001, Ron Charles, review of Carter Beats the Devil, p. 16.

Daily Telegraph (London, England), August 4, 2001, Helen Brown, review of Carter Beats the Devil, p. 96.

Fortune, October 15, 2001, Erik Torkella, review of Carter Beats the Devil, p. 280.

Guardian (London, England), September 29, 2001, review of Carter Beats the Devil, p. 13.

Los Angeles Times, October 7, 2001, Mark Rozzo, review of Carter Beats the Devil, p. 10.

New York Times Book Review, October 30, 2001, Stephanie Zacharek, review of Carter Beats the Devil, p. 35.

New York Times, August 27, 2001, Janet Maslin, review of Carter Beats the Devil, p. PE6.

New Yorker, September 24, 2001, Ben Greenman, review of Carter Beats the Devil, p. 94.

People, October 15, 2001, Julie K.L. Dam, review of Carter Beats the Devil, p. 55.

Publishers Weekly, November 22, 2001, review ofCarter Beats the Devil.

Sunday Telegraph (London, England), November 18, 2001, Julius Flynn, review of Carter Beats the Devil.

Sunday Times (London, England), October 21, 2001, Adam Lively, review of Carter Beats the Devil, p. D5.

Times, (London), September 5, 2001, James Eve, review of Carter Beats the Devil, p. 16; August 25, 2001, Amanda Craig, review of Carter Beats the Devil, p. 20.

Washington Post, September 2, 2001, Dennis Drabelle, review of Carter Beats the Devil, p. T05.