Jap Herron

The main character is Jasper James Herron, whose nickname serves as the book's title. The New York Times, in the aforementioned 1917 review, described the book's plot and provided comment: "Jap Herron," without Mark Twain's name, would find ready sale as an interesting story in which humor and pathos are mingled. Had Mark Twain written it while he was alive it is probable that his publishers would have advised against its appearance, for in no way could it do anything but detract from his reputation. The style is not Mark Twain's, the choice of words is not his, and to the lover of the humorist, the book is in no other way his. == Production history ==

The novel rose to fame when The New York Times ran a review of the book on September 9, 1917. The work was claimed to be authored by the spirit of late Mark Twain by two mediums, Emily Grant Hutchings and Lola V. Hays, with Hays being the passive recipient whose hands guided the Ouija board. against Hutchings and her publisher, Mitchell Kennerley, on June 8, 1918. Because Clemens and her publishers were unable to prove that the book was not written by the ghost of Twain, a lawsuit was filed to have Hutchings either admit the book was a fraud or surrender all profits to the Mark Twain estate and Harper & Brothers, who at the time had sole rights to the publication of Mark Twain stories. While Hutchings never retracted her claims, the lawsuit was eventually dropped when Hutchings agreed to destroy all existing copies and cease publication. == References ==