Tell you what, I'll try "From here" as soon as I have time. September, maybe; I'm barely keeping up with my current series as it is. I won't knock it til I've tried it, but... well, everyone has different tastes. That's what makes things interesting. Insulting SF will make it even more interesting, for you.... ;-)
Yeah. I ran into him late at night at a Hughes Market in La-La Land. My impression? First class nut case. He was running up and down the cereal aisle in apparent outrage about the sugar content in the cereals and was rapidly writing stuff down in a notepad while muttering to himself angrily. He acted like the fact that supermarkets selling Cocoa Puffs was one of the great crimes against humanity.
"The only one of my contemporaries who I felt had more talent than myself was James Jones."
Mailer also proclaimed From Here To Eternity to be the best novel about WWII and better than his own The Naked And The Dead.
And knowing just how incredibly egotistical Mailer is/was, this is an ASTOUNDING admission.