Preview of The Midnight Examiner Summary:

Howard Halliday, a self-described "good-natured zany," is a writer and editor for a sensational tabloid magazine empire whose flagship publication the weekly MidnightExamineris William Kotzwinkle's conception of the ultimate National Inquirer. He is a man approaching middle age, who, in the company of other ex-literature students and would-be writers, has found a job that permits him to use his gifts with language, his humanities background, and his active imagination.

Their situation is not one of diminished expectations, but is instead a sideways movement in their lives. It has opened an entirely new field of experience for people who are a bit too sensitive and reflective to live comfortably amidst the inexplicable chaos of the modern megalopolis. In The Fan Man (1974; see separate entry), the city of New York was a fantastic source of wonder and excitement, the city's dangers and frustrations balanced by its...