By EDWARD GARNER
Eighteen years ago. Talmage Powell,
of Asheville, was featured in The
State Magazine as "the state’s most
prolific writer." At that time he was
grinding out around 350.000 words a
year. Perhaps his is still the largest
literary output. He hasn't grown weary
and still turns out a prodigious amount
of work.
A: times he rents an office, and
does his writing there. At the present
he has made a literary workshop in
the second story of his home in the
Kenilworth section of the city, and
turns out his flood of creations there.
"Do you do much re-writing?" I
asked him.
"No." he said, "the first draft
stands."
As an indication of the acceptability
of his stories in the mystery field, a
genre in which he specializes, is the
fact the Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery
Magazine now has five of his stories
in its inventory for future use. This
magazine and Ellery Queen's Mystery
Magazine are two in which his work
shows up frequently.
He still works through an agent,
Scott Meredith, who is also the agent
for Saroyan.
His professional authorship career
includes publication of 500 short stories
and novelettes in national magazines,
television stories and plays for Alfred
Hitchcock. Ken Murray, and John
Payne, and he is a writer under con¬
tract to Revue Productions, and Uni¬
versal - International Studios, Hol¬
lywood California.
His hard- and soft-cover books in¬
clude The .Smasher, The Killer is Mine,
A Homicide for Surfside, The Girl's
Number Doesn't Answer, With A
Madman Behind Me. The Girl Who
Killed Things, Start Screaming Mur-
1 2
Talmage Powell ... he jclli whol he wrilci.
der. The Girl From Big Pine, and
Man Killer.
His latest book is Corpus Delectable,
published in December. 1964. by
Pocket Books. Inc.
Powell's books, stories and novel¬
ettes have been reprinted in England.
France. Spain. Italy, West Germany,
Greece. Norway. Denmark. Sweden.
Finland, Australia, Union of South
Africa, Brazil, Mexico and Canada.
He has been anthologized in The
Fireside Treasury of Modern Humor,
Simon and Schuster, Best Detective
Stories of the Year, 16th Annual Col¬
lection. E. P. Dutton. Alfred Hitch¬
cock’s Once Upon a Dreadful Time.
Dell Books, Murder in Miami, edited
by Brett Halliday, Mink Is For a Minx,
1st Annual Edition, and The Best From
Mike Shay tie's Mystery Magazine,
edited by Leo Marguilcs.
He is biographed in North Carolina
Lives, published by the Historical Rec¬
ord Association, 1962 edition. Diction¬
ary of International Biography. Lon¬
don, England. 1963 edition. The
Author's and Writer's Who's Who,
publisher Burke's Peerage. London,
England, fourth edition, and Contem¬
porary Authors, 1964 edition.
Powell is now- 44 years old. an only
son. He has one son. too, who re¬
cently made his author father a grand¬
father.
(Continued on page 17)
Most
Prolific
Writer
THE STATE. JULY 1. 1965