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Fast Copy (Texas Tradition Series)
In 1935 Betsy Throckmorton’s father lures her from a New York job with Time magazine back to Claybelle, Texas, with the promise that she can be the editor of his Claybelle Standard-Times . Betsy brings along her husband, Ted Winton, an easterner and Yale graduate to whom she is constantly explaining Texas. Ted will run Ben Throckmorton’s radio station, KVAT, where Booty and Them Others sing in rivalry with the better known WBAP Light Crust Doughboys.
In Texas, it’s the middle of the Depression and the Drought. And Prohibition is barely over, liquor still a controversy. Every city has its hobo camp, and Claybelle has the Star of Hope Mission. But it is also the time of new oil money, high living, infidelity, and tangled love triangles. Betsy and Ted chain-smoke and drink often and long, they wouldn’t miss a Paschal High School or TCU football game, they party at the Casino on Jacksboro Highway, and dine at Claybelle’s Shadylawn Country Club.
Betsy is a serious journalist though, and she sets out to change the paper, clashing with the managing editor when she claims international not state news belongs on page one. She clashes with the columnists when she tries to sharpen their leads.
The Texas Murder Machine becomes her big story, when she suspects that Texas Rangers may be killing innocent young men to collect rewards offered by the Texas Bankers Association. Betsy’s journalistic determination leads to a personal tragedy that changes her life forever—and makes her a determined, relentless newswoman.
Fast Copy is a page-turner that combines romantic comedy with the best of the thriller genre. But it’s much more. Dan Jenkins captures Texas in the mid-1930s with a clarity that brings it alive, and his affection for Texas, Fort Worth, and TCU are revealed on every page. Only a native like Jenkins would include the minute details of a TCU-SMU game, the new zephyr stainless steel railroad train, the T&P railroad station, the Fort Worth Cats, and LeGrave Field. His portrait of Claybelle and its leading society folks is tongue-in-cheek funny and right on the mark. Texans should treasure this book for years to come.
In Texas, it’s the middle of the Depression and the Drought. And Prohibition is barely over, liquor still a controversy. Every city has its hobo camp, and Claybelle has the Star of Hope Mission. But it is also the time of new oil money, high living, infidelity, and tangled love triangles. Betsy and Ted chain-smoke and drink often and long, they wouldn’t miss a Paschal High School or TCU football game, they party at the Casino on Jacksboro Highway, and dine at Claybelle’s Shadylawn Country Club.
Betsy is a serious journalist though, and she sets out to change the paper, clashing with the managing editor when she claims international not state news belongs on page one. She clashes with the columnists when she tries to sharpen their leads.
The Texas Murder Machine becomes her big story, when she suspects that Texas Rangers may be killing innocent young men to collect rewards offered by the Texas Bankers Association. Betsy’s journalistic determination leads to a personal tragedy that changes her life forever—and makes her a determined, relentless newswoman.
Fast Copy is a page-turner that combines romantic comedy with the best of the thriller genre. But it’s much more. Dan Jenkins captures Texas in the mid-1930s with a clarity that brings it alive, and his affection for Texas, Fort Worth, and TCU are revealed on every page. Only a native like Jenkins would include the minute details of a TCU-SMU game, the new zephyr stainless steel railroad train, the T&P railroad station, the Fort Worth Cats, and LeGrave Field. His portrait of Claybelle and its leading society folks is tongue-in-cheek funny and right on the mark. Texans should treasure this book for years to come.
404 pages, Paperback
Published April 1, 2001
7 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Dan Jenkins
80 books55 followersDan Jenkins was an American author and sportswriter, most notably for Sports Illustrated.
Jenkins was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, where he attended R.L. Paschal High School and Texas Christian University (TCU), where he played on the varsity golf team. Jenkins worked for many publications including the Fort Worth Press, Dallas Times Herald, Playboy, and Sports Illustrated. In 1985 he retired from Sports Illustrated and began writing books full-time and maintained a monthly column in Golf Digest magazine.
Larry King called Jenkins "the quintessential Sports Illustrated writer" and "the best sportswriter in America." Jenkins authored numerous works and over 500 articles for Sports Illustrated. In 1972, Jenkins wrote his first novel, Semi-Tough.
His daughter, Sally Jenkins, is a sports columnist for the Washington Post.
Jenkins was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, where he attended R.L. Paschal High School and Texas Christian University (TCU), where he played on the varsity golf team. Jenkins worked for many publications including the Fort Worth Press, Dallas Times Herald, Playboy, and Sports Illustrated. In 1985 he retired from Sports Illustrated and began writing books full-time and maintained a monthly column in Golf Digest magazine.
Larry King called Jenkins "the quintessential Sports Illustrated writer" and "the best sportswriter in America." Jenkins authored numerous works and over 500 articles for Sports Illustrated. In 1972, Jenkins wrote his first novel, Semi-Tough.
His daughter, Sally Jenkins, is a sports columnist for the Washington Post.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 27, 2020
A book I really wanted to like but that I ultimately found frustrating. In his years as a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, Dan Jenkins was one of the magazine's most recognizable and entertaining writers. A football fanatic, his best novels, Semi-Tough and Life Its Ownself, used the life of a pro quarterback to mine laughs, not least from his superfans. I noticed the writer's fascinations with his hometown of Fort Worth and football do not translate over so well to stories about non-gridiron stars. Yet much like John Irving's need to put Vienna and bears in many of his novels, Jenkins cannot leave them alone.
Fast Copy relies on these plot elements to tell a story of Depression-era Texas. Betsy Throckmorton returns home after several years working at Time magazine to take over her father's newspaper in a small town near Fort Worth in 1935. Her Eastern husband comes along to run the older man's radio station. This feels like the beginning of an enjoyable city slickers meets rustic types, fish-out-of-water story. If only it was. You see, Jenkins loves to have his characters speak in endless one-liners. Even worse, they are not particularly funny. To top it all, there is barely a plot until about 250 pages in, a disaster in a book less than 400 pages. Bereft of much in the way of a story, the book slumps along relying on TCU football fanaticism and funny lines. Because the latter comes up short, the book feels more like it should have been titled Texas Blowhards on Parade. I cannot help but believe a decent story could have been told here but can only regret the time I spent on this one.
Fast Copy relies on these plot elements to tell a story of Depression-era Texas. Betsy Throckmorton returns home after several years working at Time magazine to take over her father's newspaper in a small town near Fort Worth in 1935. Her Eastern husband comes along to run the older man's radio station. This feels like the beginning of an enjoyable city slickers meets rustic types, fish-out-of-water story. If only it was. You see, Jenkins loves to have his characters speak in endless one-liners. Even worse, they are not particularly funny. To top it all, there is barely a plot until about 250 pages in, a disaster in a book less than 400 pages. Bereft of much in the way of a story, the book slumps along relying on TCU football fanaticism and funny lines. Because the latter comes up short, the book feels more like it should have been titled Texas Blowhards on Parade. I cannot help but believe a decent story could have been told here but can only regret the time I spent on this one.
June 8, 2019
By far the best Dan Jenkins novel ever.
I want to be Betsy Throckmorton when I grow up.
You know, whenever that might be.
I want to be Betsy Throckmorton when I grow up.
You know, whenever that might be.
March 28, 2022
It's 1935, the height of the depression, and Darcy Throckmorton has returned to Claybelle, Texas, her hometown after graduating college in the east and working for Time magazine. She and her new husband Ted, a former Yale football hero, have been handed the reins of her father's newspaper and radio station and find it's tough sledding. Anyone who had Texans pegged as hapless peckerwoods are not likely to change their minds after reading this fast, funny and sometimes suspenseful story of life in Claybelle, a profane, bigoted and incestuous little Texas town.
June 16, 2020
Fun romp through the 1930s, Texas, football and newspaper journalism through the eyes of an ahead-of-her-time woman. I don't know how many more books I can read set in the newspaper world because of my previous experience and what might have been, but Jenkins always gets it right. May he (and Betsy Throckmorton, Bob Walker, Slop Herster, Florine Webster) rest in peace.
March 16, 2019
Quick read from funniest sports writer in history.
June 19, 2020
The program is good but not faster or robust than Gs Richcopy 360 in windows 10 as per my experience.
December 12, 2020
Read in 1990. Fast Copy combines romantic comedy with the best of the thriller genre.
April 16, 2022
A fun and fast read in a this happened and then that happened style with lots of Texas dialogue. To be honest, I skipped over most of the football stuff. Just not a fan of the sport.
June 4, 2009
The afterword by Jenkins' daughter Sally Jenkins, a noted sports columnist now at the Washington Post, sums up this book well... it is Jenkins' homage to his Texas childhood, growing up in the 1930s and 40s in the Ft. Worth area. Unlike most of Jenkins' books, which are social commentaries disguised as rather bawdy, sports-oriented comic novels, this book is more of a tragi-comedy and uses a "Texas murder machine" plot as a backdrop for his reflections on Lone Star life before WWII.
Like many of his books (his daughter notes this), the women are smarter than the men and usually funnier. That's the case here. The main character, Betsy Throckmorton, is a young self-described "news hen" who graduates from Barnard, works for Time magazine, and returns home to become editor of Daddy's daily paper in Claybelle TX. Betsy's personality includes elements of Dorothy Parker, Nancy Drew, and the characters played by Katherine Hepburn in movies like The Philadelphia Story and Pat & Mike. If I grew up in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, I'd put this book from the Texas Tradition Series on my must-read list for sure. The current edition is published by TCU Press as part of the Texas Tradition series. Here's the Barnes and Noble overview, which describes the heroine as "armadillo-tough."
Like many of his books (his daughter notes this), the women are smarter than the men and usually funnier. That's the case here. The main character, Betsy Throckmorton, is a young self-described "news hen" who graduates from Barnard, works for Time magazine, and returns home to become editor of Daddy's daily paper in Claybelle TX. Betsy's personality includes elements of Dorothy Parker, Nancy Drew, and the characters played by Katherine Hepburn in movies like The Philadelphia Story and Pat & Mike. If I grew up in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, I'd put this book from the Texas Tradition Series on my must-read list for sure. The current edition is published by TCU Press as part of the Texas Tradition series. Here's the Barnes and Noble overview, which describes the heroine as "armadillo-tough."
November 29, 2021
This story is set in Depression-era Texas. Betsy Thorkmorton, the strong-willed, smart, and beautiful daughter of the owner of a Texas newspaper returns from New York with her Yalie husband. Her husband is murdered, and she uses her editorial position and skills to battle a murder organization headed by a Texas Ranger. Things can get exiting and dangerous.
The writing is full of interesting characters, and as in Jenkins’ other novels, pays time and tribute to other Texas institutions—sex, drinking, country music, and football. Jenkins had a way of communicating the thoughts of everyday Texas folk. His dialog is pure, honest, and downright funny. While I enjoyed it, it started a little slow for me and did not get going until about a third of the way in. It is good, nevertheless.
The writing is full of interesting characters, and as in Jenkins’ other novels, pays time and tribute to other Texas institutions—sex, drinking, country music, and football. Jenkins had a way of communicating the thoughts of everyday Texas folk. His dialog is pure, honest, and downright funny. While I enjoyed it, it started a little slow for me and did not get going until about a third of the way in. It is good, nevertheless.
November 15, 2010
This was different than my usual reading and I enjoyed it.
June 9, 2012
Fast Copy will keep you glued to your seat.Great history of this part of Texas, by an author who was fully immersed in the story.
July 4, 2014
What a fun book! I loved the larger-than-life characters and the way the author brought the time period in the 1930s to live. Football and oil were alive and well in Texas!
September 7, 2014
Blurbs said it was funny. I don't know maybe the jokes were over my head. It was an alright story but took me forever to finish it.
February 1, 2008
Newshens, texas oilmen, and college football in the '30s in Fort Worth, Texas. Very funny.
January 29, 2016
Easy reading with fun characters and simple plot line.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews