New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-03-18
BOOKS AND AUTHORS.
Current Talk about Things Present
and To Come.

The title OF Jack London's new novel. which
Macmillan is to publish in May. will be 1.-THE
Came
Herman Whitaker whose new stories OF the
Canadian Northwest under the title of THE
Probationer" have just been published by the
Harpers. is keenly interested in social and
economic problems. For seven years." he said
recently, 81 studied biological science and phil
osophy, putting in all my spare time and sun
days with my books" Mr.. Whitaker is now In
the wilds of Mexican jungles, trying to appease
his nature hunger. and Is continuing his social
studies at the same time. In a letter just re-
ceived-the mailing of which necessitated ten
hour horseback ride-he writes follows:
These lines are written from a solitary plantation
on a lonely tropical river. From where sit can
aligators take the water strange birds fly over
Insects crawl vi underfooP aboat the unss
Seea cons It's 9TeR % on snort month have
seen killed and two desperately wounded
that the wit of man ever devised-the contract
labor system Last Sunday l joined In a man,
from his he'll joined the hunt trusting That II
not, however. caught. Miserable beingI Without
food shelter he will falter through the jungle
have seen men logged with machete blades, and
women whipped At night they are herqed IN sreat
tanglements; by day. they watched in the fields
60 per cent These are matters of daily life here.
matters of course. No one thinks them of mo-
ment But to me they are startlingy cruel; and
hope yet to turn my pen in the direction OF their
easement.
Another R L. Stevenson book is on the wayi
will they ever cease? This volume-which is
to be called "Recollections of Robert Louis
Stevenson in the Pacifc''-wiu contain some
verse; by Stevenson Mr.. Arthur John
stone, mentioned as a friend of the novelist dur
ing the years he spent in the Pacific islands. is
the author Of these recoIlections.
Guy Boothby, the English Colonial novelist,
who died fortnight ago at the age of thirty
seven. was. from the point Of view Of book
sales, one of the most successful of the pro-
ducers of sensational fiction. He extremely
modern in that fashion of modernity which
Is even now passing. THE London Chronicle"
says Of him:
Taking his reputation shade more seriously
pleasure in relating the story of his trials and
and was probably frequently photographed
and interviewed than any other writer of the same
pRonograph and the transcribing by secretaries-
were gravely communicated 70 his circle of ad-
mrers, were also his likes and dtslikes in the
matter of horses and dogs
chief hobbies. and his love OF sport and outdoor
exercise found outlets in fishing, driving, cycling
aver. O9 and In his launch Lone Star was well
known figure year or two ago on the upper and
middle reaches of the Thames
Mr.. Boothby, who published his first story in
1894, brought out, altogether, seventeen novels.
According to the figures compiled by THE
Publishers Weekly" the number of new novels
and volumes Of stories published in the United
States in 1904 was 1907 nearly two hundred
more than were recorded in 1903. The number
of new editions of fiction published in the same
period SD