Why was The Night Boat McCammons second novel written, but third one published?
After Baal was published, McCammon wrote The Night Boat, and Avon accepted it for publication. But then an Avon executive heard about a movie that had something to do with Nazis living underwater. He assumed that the storyline of The Night Boat was too similar to the movie, so he decided Avon would not publish McCammon’s novel. McCammon scrambled for something else to sell and managed to write Bethany’s Sin in about 3 months. Meanwhile, someone else at Avon saw the Nazi movie (Shock Waves, 1977), decided that The Night Boat was nothing like the movie, and in the end, Avon bought both books. Bethany’s Sin was released in January 1980 and The Night Boat followed in August 1980. New!!
