Did You Know?
1
The first book of the Joy in Life series, Joy in Life, was originally intended to be part of a trilogy of books. A. P. Dunar conceived the idea of writing three separate books, each dealing with the same event as seem from the viewpoints of three vastly different people. The event being the Las Vegas night fundraising event to benefit Irv’s escape from Chicago and his upcoming paternal responsibilities.
However, even though Joy in Life was always intended to be the first book of a trilogy it was written to be able to stand alone. A.P. feared that with the low possibility of getting one book published the idea of three was a fool’s folly. Yet he did write all three books. A. P. Dunar began writing this book in 1973. By 1980 it was pretty much as it stands today and rejected several times. Looking at the Rainbow was also written during this time and remains to this day as it was finished in 1980. Sweeter than Candy was not even started until 1990.
Joy in Life was intended to present the events as mostly seen from the viewpoint of Doc. The next book Looking at the Rainbow views that events from the viewpoint of Milo Franklin. Milow being, perhaps, the most normal of all the characters in the entire series of books. Although, Candy Miller starts out pretty normal but is corrupted by her relationship with Doc.
The third book Sweeter than Candy was originally intended to be the conclusion of the trilogy and A.P. Dunar’s last book. Thanks to Amazon it was not.
Sweeter than Candy looks at the events from Candy’s viewpoint and is probibly the most romantic of the three books.
At this point A. P. Dunar was sick and tired of Doc and his sick friends. He decided to write a more or less autobiographical book named I Never Loved Shannon. After the publication of the Joy in Life trilogy A.P. decided to have test readings done of I Never Loved Shannon. Much to Dunar’s surprise the general consensus of opinion was that I Never Loved Shannon would make a great prequel for the Joy in Life books. Shannon was changed to Cheryl and the first chapter was extensively rewritten and most autobiographical material removed. And thus A. P. Dunar now had a series. Two years and eleven books later A. P. Dunar goes back on his word to never write another Joy in Life book and gives the world A Taste of Brandy. Both of the last two books in this series have very little to do with the event that centers the first three. There is almost no hope that there will ever be another book in this series.
2
DeCeagliono’s Italian Restaurant shows up in the Joy in Life series, the Tech Support series and in the Phyllis Clark Detective Series. Also making appearances in all three series is Pauli DeLuca, the consigliere for Godfather Vincenzo DeCeagliono. And we see Franky Fingers popping up in Joy in Life and Tech Support.
3
All of the precautions for security at the 1968 Democratic National Conventions described in the book Tech Support are real, including the Army troops stationed with flame throwers.
4
Author A. P. Dunar actually did witness the caravan of military vehicles heading south on Halsted Street in Chicago, in preparation for the 1968 DNC. He was coming home after dropping off his girlfriend who lived on Halsten Street.
5
Except for the main story line of every Tech Support book, including Warriors of the Blood Feather all of the terrorist activities described are actual events, as are all of the racial and homophobic riots. In Fact, most everything that happens in the background of every Tech Support, Phyllis Clark, and Joy in Life series books are real events. Nearly all the places in these books do or did exist, see the section of this website titled The World of Phyllis Clark.
6
On the night of July 20th, 1968, A. P. Dunar and his girlfriend, now wife, were on a date. They were at Grant Park’s Buckingham Fountain. Just after 11:00 pm the two heard a huge “booming” sound that seemed to shake the ground. It was the sound of a gas explosion, just over a half mile away, between Dearborn and Federal streets on the south side of Van Buren Street. The entire block was leveled by the explosion, including Macklie’s Army-Navy Surplus Store. Dunar had frequented this store since he’d been in seventh grade. The next day an older friend of Dunar’s related that he was having dinner at the restaurant in the Marina Towers, three quarters of a mile away from the explosion, when he and other patrons were thrown from their seats by the force. This is the event that sets the scene for chapter three of the book Tech Support.
7
The tenth book of the Phyllis Clark Detective Series; Phyllis Clark: Devil’s Sun (February 2021) is considered by both A.P. Dunar and his editor to be his best book ever. The inspiration for this book is taken from the Rolling Stones’ song Paint It Black.
8
The Old Candle Shop 5 - Dream Girls (September 2021) Could be considered a spinoff of the Phyllis Clark Detective Series as in this book author Nick Finnegan is secretly in love with the heroine of his series of detective books. A.P. Dunar largely bases this character, Karen Connors on his own detective series heroine Phyllis Clark. A.P. Dunar is the first to laugh and deny any comparison between him and Nick Finnegan. He does admit that he thinks that this is a fun book and he enjoyed writing it a lot.
9
A. P. Dunar was first published in 1960. A fictional story by him entitled The Reporters appeared in the Oscar Mayer Elementary School bi-yearly newspaper in that year.
10
As a library assistant in fourth grade, A. P. Dunar told the librarian, Miss. Stumph, that he wanted to become a writer someday. Her advice to him was to always write about something that you know about. When he asked her what to do if you didn’t know about anything, her response was: “In that case become a journalist.”