I’ve been immortalized as a hitman in Victor Gischler’s new book SHOTGUN OPERA:
He was born Lee Goldberg in Sydney, Australia, but it had been many years since anyone had called him by that name. His stage name was Jack Sprat. He changed it after meeting the Fat Lady during a boardwalk carnival act in Atlantic City. Mavis was big and soft and beautiful, and Goldberg — now Sprat — fell in love.
They were married three months later and the stage names were a no-brainer. Jack Sprat was five feet five inches tall, all spindly hard muscle and sinew, a bald head and a big nose that gave him the appearance of a vulture.
He’s got my manly nose and sinewy bod down right, but the rest isn’t quite accurate. I’ve
returned the favor in my new book THE DEAD LETTER, where Victor shows up as a hitman, too:
Victor Gischler, known as The Do-er to the underworld of gun monkeys and the casual readers of the classifieds in Soldier of Fortune magazine, drove his growling ’68 Mercury Cougar up to the Monterey Bay
area from his home-base in Fontana, California, where he liked to hang out with his fellow members of the John Birch society, the Aryan Brotherhood, and the Boy Scouts of America.
[…] he’d show them both the glorious American eagle tattooed on his belly, its talons clinging to his hairy navel, and they’d be overcome by patriotism and lust. They might even fight with each other over who got to have him first.
I haven’t seen Victor’s belly but if he doesn’t have an American eagle tattooed on it, he should get one.
Heh. I was wondering about that.
So what’s accurate: The Did or the Done? 😉 I love those gymmiky background-stories.