Jack Finney

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| Biography | Works | Publishers | Similar Authors |

I have had a number of questions about the television movie "The Love Letter," which aired on CBS on February 1, 1998. The movie was based on Finney's short story of the same name and may be found in his book "I Love Galesburg in the Springtime." The book is out of print, but should be available in many public library systems. You may also try one of the sites for out of print books that I include below under the "Works" section.

The story may also be found in the book "Tales in Time," edited by Peter Crowther. This book contains short stories about time travel from a number of authors. Published by White Wolf Publishing, Inc. in April 1997, the book's ISBN number is 1565049896. The book is unfortunately currently out of print, but you might try a public library or one of the online out of print bookstores listed below.

I have also been told that the story may be found in the January/February 1988 issue of "The Saturday Evening Post," which should be available at many public libraries or try Book Castle's Movie World, which has back issues of the magazine.
Biography

Jack Finney was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on October 2, 1911, with the given name John Finney. His father died when he was three years old, and he was renamed Walter Braden Finney in honor of his father. Yet the nickname Jack remained with him throughout his life. He spent his childhood in Forest Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. His stepfather, Frank Berry, worked for the railroads and later for the Illinois phone company. Finney's mother never worked, although she was a very accomplished seamstress and woodworker. Finney has a half-sister, Elaine Mitchell, who lives in Alaska.

A graduate of Knox College, his first short story, "The Widow's Walk," won a contest sponsored by Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in 1946. In addition to publishing novels and short stories, he also contributed articles to a number of popular periodicals like "Cosmopolitan," "Good Housekeeping," and "Saturday Evening Post." He moved to Marin County, California, in the early 1950s with his wife, Marguerite Guest, and their two children. Several of Finney's novels were adapted for the big screen, according to his filmography in the Internet Movie Database. Finney died of pneumonia and emphysema in 1995 at age 84 not long after finishing the long-awaited sequel to his classic novel "Time and Again."

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Works
1954, "Five Against the House"
1955, "The Body Snatchers"
1957, "The Third Level"
1959, "Assault on a Queen"
1963, "Good Neighbor Sam"
1963, "I Love Galesburg in the Springtime"
1968, "The Woodrow Wilson Dime"
1970, "Time and Again"
1973, "Marion's Wall"
1977, "The Night People"
1983, "Forgotten News: The Crime of the Century and Other Stories" (nonfiction)
1986, "About Time"
1987, "Three by Finney"
1995, "From Time to Time"

Please note that these dates are the years in which the books were first published. I have included the editions that are still in print below. Unfortunately, "Forgotten News" is out of print. "I Love Galesburg in the Springtime" is also out of print, but about half of the stories in it, along with half of those in "The Third Level," are in "About Time." "Three by Finney" includes "Marion's Wall," "The Night People, and "The Woodrow Wilson Dime." Your best bet for locating a copy of Finney's out of print books is in a large public or university library. If you want to purchase one of the books still in print that are listed below, take the ISBN number (0-2343-5435-2, for example), the publisher's name, and the book title to a large bookstore in your area and ask them to order it for you. If, like me, you read one of Finney's out-of-print books and just have to have your own copy, try one of the following companies that specialize in locating rare or out-of-print books:

| The Advanced Book Exchange | Bibliofind | Alibris |

Keep in mind, however, that you may have to pay both for the cost of locating the book and the book itself if you choose this option.

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Publishers
"About Time," 1986, Simon & Schuster, 0-671-62887-9, $11.00 (pap.)
"The Body Snatchers," 1993, Bucaneer Books, 0-89968-428-9, $25.95
"From Time to Time," 1996, Simon & Schuster, 0-684-818442, $12.00 (pap.)
"From Time to Time," 1995, Simon & Schuster, 0-671-89884-1, $22.50
"Invasion of the Body Snatchers," 1998, Simon & Schuster, 0-684-85258-6, $10.00
"Invasion of the Body Snatchers," 1989, Simon & Schuster, 0-671-69211-3, $8.95 (pap.)
"The Night People," 1994, Buccaneer Books, 1-56849-414-9, $24.95
"Three by Finney," 1987, Simon & Schuster, 0-671-64048-8, $12.00 (pap.)
"Time And Again," 1997, Simon & Schuster, 0-684-835940, $11.00 (pap.)
"Time and Again," 1995, Simon & Schuster, 0-684-80117-5, $25.00
"Time and Again," 1995, Simon & Schuster, 0-684-80105-1, $12.00 (pap.)

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For suggestions or comments on this and all Jack Finney pages, e-mail Leah Sparks at LeahJ@aol.com

From here you may also go to:
"About Time"
"Three by Finney"
"Time and Again"
"From Time to Time"
The Little-Known Literaries Main Page

This page was last updated on July 3, 2006