Finally…all the Repairman Jack short fiction – many hard to find, one nigh impossible – collected for the first time. I compiled QUICK FIXES at the insistence of Repairman Jack fans, especially the completists. A number of small presses have approached me to do a signed, limited first edition, but I’m not comfortable with charging a premium price for previously published material. Through the years a number of these stories have been incorporated into Repairman Jack novels:
“Home Repairs ” into Conspiracies
“The Last Rakosh” into All the Rage
“The Wringer” into Fatal Error
If you’ve read those three novels, you have, in effect, read versions of those three stories. For those who are newcomers to the character…
Who is Repairman Jack?
He’s an urban mercenary in Manhattan, a self-made outcast who lives in the interstices of modern society. A ghost in our machine: no official identity, no social security number, pays no taxes. He has a violent streak he sometimes finds hard to control. He hires out for cash to “fix” situations that have no legal remedy.
The name Repairman Jack comes from his gunrunner pal, Abe. Jack’s not crazy about it, but he lives with it. He’s not a vigilante, not a do-gooder. He’s not out to right wrongs. Nor is he out to change the world or fight crime. (He’s a career criminal, after all, as are many of his friends.) He’s not Batman. He’s just a guy with a devious mind who likes his work best when he can see to it that what goes around come around. If you follow him carefully you’ll see he gets a real jolt out of running a scam or setting up someone to be hoisted on his own petard.
He came from a dream. The scene on the roof in The Tomb was that dream. I worked backward and forward from there to create a character who could survive that situation. I decided on an anti-Jason Bourne – with no black-ops, SEAL, or Special Forces training, no CIA or police background, no connection to officialdom. In other words, no safety net. No one in officialdom he could call on. He has to rely on his own wits and his own network.
I’ve been a libertarian forever, so I figured I’d act out my libertarian dreams, you know, make this guy an anarchist with no identity. But as I’ve continued his adventures, I’ve learned that it takes a lot of effort to live below the radar, especially since 9/11.
I intended Jack as a one-shot, which is kind of obvious at the end of The Tomb. As I finished that novel, I thought, “Well, this character is definitely series material, so I gotta make it look like the guy is dead or they’ll want more.” I had books planned out and didn’t want to get locked into a series.
Then, later on, Jack became a way out of a trap I’d got myself into with a medical thriller contract. I’d become bored with writing them after doing three and I was contracted to do a fourth… but I had this idea for a techy thriller and thought, why don’t I rework this and use Jack again? It’d be great for him. I named it Legacies and made his client a doctor so I could call it a medical thriller. The publisher was happy I was bringing back a character my fans wanted to see again, and I was happy to revisit Jack. A win-win.
Legacies was fun and sold well, so I had to do another, and then another, and before I knew it, Jack had taken over my writing career.
But before Legacies, I brought him back in shorter works.
QUICK FIXES includes:
“A Day in the Life”
“The Last Rakosh”
“Home Repairs”
“The Long Way Home”
“The Wringer”
“Interlude at Duane’s”
“Do-Gooder”
“Piney Power”
plus introductions to each story
You can find all e-formats HERE
The paper edition is HERE
F. Paul Wilson's Fast-Forward Movie Reviews 
Don’t say “no” to a printed edition of this collection, yet. Something may come up to change your mind. Trust me on this, your fans would buy the collection in either trade paperback or hardcover format.
Wayne C. Rogers
I intend to have a trade pb, but it’s a more involved process. We’ll get there
Glad to hear it–I’m not opting for ebooks until they pry the last printed on paper book from my cold, dead hands! Loved “The Dark at the End”–I’ve been reading you (and recommending your books to everyone I know) since “The Keep” was publishing in 1981.
I finally have the hardcopy proof (delayed by stubborn cover problems) and hope to approve it today. The trade paperback should go on sale later this month for sure.
What about item three on the writer’s creed?: Write once sell as many times as possible.
I’m a firm believer, but by this route, we all win.
just another plug for a published version. i don’t own an ebook reader and wouldn’t sit at the comp and read these, but i would buy a nice hardcover in an instant.
Great idea! Bought it immediately.
I am one of those people who bought the “Do-Gooder” broadside and had a very nice custom frame made for it. In fact, the guy who did the framework enjoyed the story so much, he went out and bought every RJ book available at the time in 2006.
Another convert!
Unfortunately, the .epub version (downloaded directly from Smashwords) is rife with format issues. Sometimes the text is normal, then very small, then in boldface then normal etc.
I spent 4 hours re-coding (correcting the errors) the html files (using Kompozer) and re-compiling it all back into an .epub.
Any chance of correcting the Smashwords .epub for those out there who don’t know how to do it themselves?
Sorry for your trouble. A new version has been uploaded. We thought we had all the glitches out (the Kindle version looks fine) but apparently not. Assembling this from so many sources and versions of Wordstar, Wordperfect, and Word used over the years was a challenge.
Repairman Jack is by far my favorite series. Since I started reading them, I have gotten my wife, my two sons, and numerous other family and friends addicted to the storyline. As with all of my favorite authors, I prefer to have a hard cover of the entire collection. I would be very excited to get a limited edition of the quick fixes.
I love this series. These are books I read over and over. I am so sad that the end is coming… are there any other authors out there that write along the same lines as you do? Is there a chance for a sequel?
Most people who like my Jack like Lee Child’s Jack.
I have been a Repairman Jack fan since you first introduced him way-back-when in The Tomb. I love how you have developed him and incorperated him into the adversary series. All I can say is keep up the fantastic work, and I would be delighted to see Quick Fixes in book form. I would snatch it up in a minute!
Yeah, Jack is cool…but JACK is the coolest!!!
This sounds cool. I’ll definitely get the TPB when it comes out. It also reminds me that I should really look into getting a custom frame for my copy of Do-Gooder.
I would love a trade paperback. I’m old school and have sworn to never own an “e-reader.” I want a book I can hold, feel the pages, use a book mark and see on a shelf. On another note, my name isn’t taken from the character, it is my real name.
I’m old school myself, but I also feel it’s the content that counts, and an ereader is a very efficient means of delivering content.
Since I travel a lot for business, I tend to do a lot of reading on a plane – and the times I tend to read the most are taxi, takeoff, landing – all the times I can’t have an e-book turned on. Once the plane reaches altitude and settles into normal flight I get a drink, read a little more, then try to catch up on sleep. A paperback fits nicely in my carry-on, and I can read it any time I want. Save the Paperbacks!
please print in hard cover, I purchased your Dark at the End, received yesterday, and stayed up unil 3 AM to finish reading. Now cannot wait for the final 3 books before Tomb.
Mr. Wilson,
I love the Repairman Jack series, in fact I’ve read everything you’ve created that I could get my hands on, kept them all as well, turned my now 20 year old son onto your books and he like me is a huge fan.
Thank you for the entertainment
Thanks for those kind words.
I will really miss Jack…Love the series!!! I don’t think there is a better, cooler, bad ass…than Jack!!!
Repeating a reply above: I finally have the hardcopy proof (delayed by stubborn cover problems) and hope to approve it today. The trade paperback should go on sale later this month for sure.
Just spent nearly $100 at Barnes & Noble to replace dog-eared, warn and missing copies in the (Repairman Jack) series and don’t regret spending one penny. Thank you!
I should say, Thank you.