Comments on: The Garden of the Plynck

By: Jonathan McMillan

Jonathan McMillan — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:45:58 +0000

Amazing how, without even leaving our dens or bedrooms we can be reading something that Mr. Sturgeon achingly may never have been able to relocate. He possibly never even knew that Mrs. Baker was indeed a woman and named after an uncle who had pre-deceased her birth. In 1996, I contacted the head librarian at the Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas; who obtained written permission from the author’s daughter, Charlotte Baker Montgomery (who would’ve been in her mid-80’s) to photocopy the book for me. They also have a circulation copy that they can send anywhere in the world; rather, in “Zeelup,” as the widowed teacup would correct me.

By: Dave from Toronto

Dave from Toronto — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 08:52:45 +0000

I too came across Sturgeon’s occasional references to “Plynck” some time in the 1980s, and had no luck finding it until I visited Washington, D.C. in 1986. I read about half of the Library of Congress’s copy while sitting in their reading room.
I’ve been wondering for 20 years how it turns out, so I’m pleased that the Gutenberg Project has made it available.

By: Passages: Karle Wilson Baker « STEVENHARTSITE

Passages: Karle Wilson Baker « STEVENHARTSITE — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 22:54:38 +0000

[...] A recent post from Joe inspired me to take the book down for a look, and while I wouldn’t put Sara in the same class as Alice as a literary heroine, she rules a patch of literature that’s worth visiting. Now that I’ve printed out the Gutenberg version, I’ll try it out on Dances With Mermaids and she if she, like her dad, learns to stop and read the rose-petals wherever they might fall. [...]

By: joseph.zitt

joseph.zitt — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 09:17:12 +0000

Hm! If memory serves, that might have been John Zorn's Spillane, or maybe Naked City. If the book resembles that, I'm even more intrigued!

By: Bobby

Bobby — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 05:11:07 +0000

I got the PDF… This story somehow reminds me of the music from some composer you played for me on Jordan Lane one evening (possibly more than one evening..) The music was the most disjointed thing I ever heard (before or since). Utterly fascinating.

By: Steven Hart

Steven Hart — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 18:24:36 +0000

Copies of the original hardcover turned up on ABE every once in a while. They usually went for about a C-note apiece. It really is a charming book, and Karle Baker’s work deserves better than the regional-writer limbo it now inhabits.