Michener says he was attracted to the idea because he wanted to show readers that the Klondike gold rush of 1897 had a ''Canadian dimension.'' This book is an odd way to achieve that goal.

But I suspect no one but James Michener could get it published. But I want to leave my wife a million dollars when I die.'' He did. One day I congratulated him for being on the best-seller list again. He specialized in blending history with sadomasochistic sex and gratuitous violence. One of the most refreshing exceptions in my acquaintance wrote under a pseudonym and sold millions of copies in paperback. There are very few writers who don't take their work seriously. They will note how seriously he takes the orchestration of his books, carefully building what he calls ''resonances'' into the material.

Michener they admire: an urbane professional, writing smoothly and authoritatively about the mix of luck and inspiration that went into researching ''Alaska.'' They will see how earnestly and diligently he scours the world for information. In ''Reflections,'' his fans will find the James A. Michener to remove it because, he says, they jointly decided not to let the big book get beyond 1,000 pages. Such are the thoughts stirred by James Michener's ''Journey.'' In a section entitled ''Reflections,'' Michener fans will discover this book is an enlarged chunk of the manuscript of last year's opus, ''Alaska.'' His editors persuaded Mr. He got 16 rejections, many in the scathing how-dare-you-bother-me-with-such-junk category. ''We published it and it was on the best-seller list for 16 weeks,'' the editor said.Ī few years ago, an enterprising would-be writer typed up the text of a short novel that had won considerable acclaim for another best-selling author. Three months later, he was back with another manuscript, worse than the previous one. To their immense relief, he accepted their advice and withdrew the manuscript. After days of agonizing debate, they summoned the courage to reveal their opinion to the author. $16.95.Ībout a year ago, an editor told me he had received a manuscript from a certain best-selling author that was so bad the editorial board of the publishing house went into executive session.

Alaska by James A. Michener