"Jack London in Paradise"

Since Jack London's mysterious death in 1916, he has been, like one of the frozen men in his Klondike tales, a writer encased in his own reputation: We know him as the dog writer. Whether it was Buck in "The Call of the Wild," coming to terms with his inner-wolf, or the husky in "To Build a Fire," edging out his master in a Darwinian struggle against the cold, London could lock our emotions onto canines without making it feel like a sentimental exercise.

London was a man of contradictions. Born in San Francisco in 1876, he was raised partly by a former slave, though he later bought into scientific racism. Jack London rushed for gold in the Yukon. He found none but made a fortune mining his experience for stories, becoming one of the first American writers to live solely off his prose. Paul Malmont's new novel, "Jack London in Paradise," fictionalizes London's late-in-life entanglements with Hollywood and films while creating a rich characterization of a "bigger than life" writer who has become a legend.