| The Ken Grimwood Library |
| Excerpt from Mike Herson's Website |
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** Editor's Note **
Mike Hershon set up a small website
dedicated to Ken Grimwood and Replay with the domain name kengrimwood.com.
In the summer of 2006, Mike discontinued the support for the website. With Mike's
permission, I excerpted (with some formatting and editing) one page because it not only has
a really interesting question/answer session with Tom Atwill (a personal friend of Ken)
but it also shows the enthusiasm that many of us Replay fans have.
This web page is homage to Ken Grimwood who wrote the greatest
"time travel" novel ever, Replay. After doing endless internet
searches on Ken's life, and coming out totally empty and clueless,
I started this site hoping that people who knew him and/or people
who've actually seen articles and interviews with Ken, can come
forward so we'll actually know something about him.
Stop the Presses - Great News - at last someone who knew Ken Grimwood
and in fact was a good friend of his, Mr. Tom Atwill, who is a
relative of the great immortal actor Lionel Atwill of Son of
Frankenstein, Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman and my favorite,
Murders in the Zoo, fame, took the trouble to email me and answer
a bunch of my questions about Ken Grimwood that I think most of you
will find quite interesting and revealing. Amongst the most surprising
things he said was that Ken Grimwood had several other books published
under a different name, among them, Alan Cochran (Tom recommends reading
his Two Plus Two book). Tom and Ken also co-wrote a book that as yet
hasn't been published.
Ken, to me, is the Kurt Warner of writing. As far as I know he was a "relative
unknown" who to the rest of us appeared out of thin air, created a masterpiece,
Replay, then never achieved that success again. I read Replay in the 80's in
one sitting, couldn't put it down, thought wow this is going to make a great
movie! I can't believe it hasn't been made though Butterfly Effect
(which I totally recommend renting as it was a great movie and I think got
undeserved bad reviews just because Ashton Kutcher was in it. Ashton was very
good in the movie-I'm sick of him too but give him his due for doing an excellent
job with this movie) and Groundhog Day seemed to be influenced by it
and don't recall ever reading anything about the author, Ken Grimwood, himself.
In July 2004, I did an internet search and was shocked to learn that Ken Grimwood
died at the age of 59 in the summer of 2003, sadly of a heart attack, which is how the
hero of Replay died ironically as well. For someone who wrote such a
masterpiece, I could find absolutely nothing on his life. I wonder if he
died contently knowing he wrote one of the great masterpieces of all time
or was he frustrated in not being able to duplicate his great work of
genius or not getting the mass adulation he deserved. Its better to have
loved and lost then never to have loved. I am curious as to how an apparently
decent writer could one day turn into a creative genius and then not duplicate
his magic. It reminds me in a way of the great songwriters and musicians of
the 60's such as John Sebastian of The Loving Spoonful who wrote great songs
in a brief period of time and then in my opinion, never wrote them again.
MIKE: What did Ken do for a living before, during & after Replay? Was he a
full-time author?
TOM: He always wrote after college and had several books published before
Replay but did work until the success of Replay. He was working as the
news director for KNX Radio in Los Angeles when Replay hit. That gave him
enough money to not work again.
MIKE: What inspired him to write Replay and was he immensely proud of his
accomplishment? Did he think he wrote a once in a lifetime classic like
Catch 22 that he would never be able to duplicate again? Did he consider
Replay the apex of his literary career?
TOM: He was a little embarrassed from
all the accolades he recieved and felt it was just one of many books he wrote
that he was proud of. He wrote several good books under assumed names.
MIKE: Was Replay financially rewarding for him more so than his other
books? What did he do after the book came out to such great success? Did he
take a breather from writing and just enjoyed the fruits of his labors?
TOM: Replay was very financially rewarding especially when Warner Brothers
bought the movie rights to it for a huge sum. He spent the next 10 years
spending it and having a great time traveling which he loved and we did
often. He knew how to enjoy the fruits of his work.
MIKE: Why did Replay not come out as a movie? Did this frustrate Ken?
How did he feel about Groundhog Day? Was he aware of the movie
TOM: This was a VERY sore point with him. Replay almost got made several
times and at one point with Brad Pitt playing the main character, but something
always happened at the last minute. He had sold the rights for 500K and
hated that they used it in so many rip-offs. It was the only time I
really saw him angry.
MIKE: How come he didn't have a higher public eye profile, i.e., I don't recall
seeing or reading about any PR on him?
TOM: He was a loner, almost a recluse. He liked small gatherings of
friends. We had many dinner parties with him and some friends and he would
always be the one to keep the evening hilarious. He was a great story
teller. He did not like publicity and was actually quite shy.
MIKE: How did he feel in regards to his previously written books compared to
Replay, which I confess I'm finally going to get around to read?
TOM: He was proud of all his works. Read Two Plus Two by Alan Cochran.
That was actually Ken. He wrote under several assumed names.
MIKE: Where did he go to college and what did he major in?
TOM: Bard, English (Ken Attended Emory in Atlanta, '61 to '63; graduated from Bard in '70)
MIKE: Where did he grow up?
TOM: Mainly Pensacola, Florida
MIKE: Was he married? Did he have any kids?
TOM: Married once, no kids, a free spirit lifestyle
MIKE: What were his influences, e.g., favorite books, authors, movies, rock
groups, albums, TV shows?
TOM: He was a media junkie. He owned the first Beta Max sold. He had
the largest video library I've ever seen. One of his favorite things
to do was for he and I to watch some old movie in the afternoon. We
did that often.
MIKE: Was his death unexpected or did he have some health problems?
TOM: It was a terrible shock.
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