Maybe I'll Call Anna [Paperback]

William Browning Spencer (Author), William Browning Spencer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 1998

It's a hot summer night in a small town in North Carolina. A pretty girl named Anna Shockley has arrived in the emergency room after a drug overdose.

And so, David Livingston, emergency room orderly, fledgling artist, and incorrigible romantic, meets the obsession of a lifetime.

When he moves into the communal house where Anna lives, David soon discovers that Anna Shockley is dangerous to herself and others--and that there are those around her, drawn by the "doomed shout" of her beauty, who are far more dangerous.

Winner of a New American Writing Awards, Maybe I'll Call Anna is a novel of obsession and suspense in which madness, betrayal, and the machinations of a cunning, powerful murderer keep the reader turning pages as a compelling story of love and revenge unfolds.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An intriguing story." -Publisher's Weekly --Publisher's Weekly

Powerful writing. - Booklist --Booklist

"The word bittersweet was invented to describe Maybe I'll Call Anna...One of the dozen best fiction titles published in 1990." W.P. Kinsella, The Vancouver Sun --The Vancouver Sun

About the Author

William Browning Spencer was born in Washington, D.C., and now lives in Austin Texas. He is the author of the novels Resume With Monsters, Zod Wallop, and Irrational Fears. He has also written a short story collection, The Return of Count Electric & Other Stories. His short stories have appeared in The Year's Best Science Fiction (Dozois), The Year's Best SF (Hartwell), and The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (Datlow/Windling).

Product Details

• Paperback: 213 pages
• Publisher: The Permanent Press (September 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157962054X
• ISBN-13: 978-1579620547
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,269,197 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Page Turner, March 22, 2002

By 

Frank Hamaty (Rahway, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maybe I'll Call Anna (Paperback)

I have read all of Spencer's other books except for Irrational fears. "Maybe I'll Call Anna" was as fantastic as the others. It doesn't have any fantasy/horror elements like "Zod Wallop" or "Resume With Monsters" but it has genuine characters that come to life just like the other books and a killer plot that wont let you put the book down. If you like his other works read this one.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another great read by Spencer, March 30, 2006

By 

D. Berdanis "endymion9" (Joliet, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Maybe I'll Call Anna (Paperback)

Wish he would write more books. I discovered him in the pages of Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine and ran right out and got Resume With Monsters and Zod Wallop. Loved them both then read Irrational Fears, my favorite of his. Picked up his short story collection The Return of Count Electric and throughly enjoyed it also. I waited several years for this one, hoping to find it on a bookstore shelf. Finally ordered it from Amazon.

You can see a lot of the elements here that he reused and refined in later novels. Very captivating characters and storyline.

One personal judgement: I identify with the main characters in a book while reading and if I don't like any of them, usually do not enjoy the book or stop reading it. For me the mark of an excellent writer is when I don't personally like any of the characters and still want to know what happens to them. Mr. Spencer. Please don't stop writing or resume if you have stopped!

2.0 out of 5 stars An early work, not worthy of his later books, June 13, 2009

By 

sgtbuk1 "sgtbuk1" (Knoxville, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maybe I'll Call Anna (Paperback)

I'm sure it got better, but the first 50 pages bored me to tears and I just put it down.