“The Mutilators,” by Basil Heatter

The Mutilators, by Basil Heatter (Gold Medal, 1962), featuring cover artwork by John McDermott.

According to a write-up on the Web site of Stark House Press (which has so far republished two of his novels), “Basil Heatter, the son of radio commentator Gabriel Heatter, was born on Long Island on March 26, 1918. He attended schools in Connecticut, then went abroad when was 16 for a two-year travel stint through Europe. Returning to America, he went to work for a New York advertising agency. He enlisted in the Navy in 1940 and during WWII served as a skipper on a PT (patrol torpedo) boat in the Southwest Pacific.

“Besides being a news commentator himself, Heatter wrote twenty novels of intrigue and adventure—beginning with The Dim View in 1946, the story of a young PT boat skipper—as well as several non-fiction works revolving around his love of the sea. In fact, he lived for years off Key West on his own self-built sailboat, The Blue Duck. He passed away June 12, 2009, in Miami, Florida.”

READ MORE: “Basil Heatter and the Great Comma Awakening,” by Robert Fromberg (Los Angeles Review of Books).