Month: September 2008

James Crumley Dies

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I have just heard from a friend in Montana that author James Crumley passed away yesterday. He wrote some of my favorite private eye novels, including THE LAST GOOD KISS, DANCING BEAR and THE WRONG CASE. He will be missed.

UPDATE:  TV Writer John Schulian's 2001 review/interview wonderfully captures Crumley's jagged charm.

UPDATE:  You can find links to tributes & remembrances from other authors and past interviews with Crumley at Sara Weinman's blog.

Annie Proulx Says No to Fanfic

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Author Annie Proulx, who wrote BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN,  tells the Wall Street Journal that the fanfic ripped off from her work by "remedial writers" is a "source of constant irritation."

There are countless people out there who think the story is open range
to explore their fantasies and to correct what they see as an
unbearably disappointing story. They constantly send ghastly
manuscripts and pornish rewrites of the story to me, expecting me to
reply with praise and applause for "fixing" the story.  […] They do not understand the original story, they know nothing of
copyright infringement—i.e., that the characters Jack Twist and Ennis
Del Mar are my intellectual property

Defamer comments on all the insipid BROKEBACK fanfic.

We can see Proulx's point; after all, it somewhat dilutes the gist of
the original story if a sequel just happens to involve Ennis Del Mar
meeting the slain Jack Twist's identical twin (coincidentally, also
gay!). When will the internet accept that Proulx's simple, elegant tale
simply can't be done justice by a poorly written Livejournal follow-up?

(Thanks to Sue for the heads-up!)

Potter Fan Tries to Cast Spell To Free His Book

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The Detroit Free Press reports that the publisher and author of the "Harry Potter Lexicon" aren't giving up trying to make a buck off of Harry Potter — even though a judge has barred publication of the book. Now they are seeking to publish the book without the copyrighted content that the judge determined was lifted from Rowling.

Roger Rapoport, a Muskegon publisher, and Steve Vander Ark, a Grand
Rapids area librarian and author, expect their attorneys this week to
file a notice of appeal preserving the men's right to continue the
legal battle for their Harry Potter book.

U.S. District Judge
Robert P. Patterson Jr. ruled Sept. 8 that the book violated Rowling's
copyright and blocked its publication.

In a 60-page opinion,
Patterson said the work quotes too directly from the Potter books and
dwells too much on a pair of books written by Rowling to explain
aspects of the wizarding world she created.

Rapoport and Vander Ark are considering whether they could edit the book to pass the judge's muster.

Brand Awareness

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The raves keep coming in for my buddy Axel Brand's new book THE HOTEL DICK. Axel is the pen name of a very successful author stepping into a new genre (hence the new moniker). Library Journal says:

With a narrative voice reminiscent of Dragnet's Joe Friday and a spot-on 1940s style that subtly slips modernisms into the smooth, often humorous telling, Brand has written a sound period piece featuring Lt. Joe Sonntag. Sonntag maintains a cool approach when movie star Spencer Tracy appears to be the only viable suspect in the murder of a hotel detective. The plot is as devious as any of Donald Westlake's and hard-boiled enough to please Bill Pronzini fans. The end result is pure entertainment.

And author & reviewer Bill Crider loved it, too:

Sontagg is a detective who wouldn't
fit into today's world of hotshot crime-solvers, but his dogged
approach gets the job done. It was great to read a book like this one,
an effective throwback to another era that still feels fresh and new.

It's great to see Axel's first hardboiled detective novel doing so well.

The Wild Wild Ross Martin

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Aandj03
Writer/producers David Simkins and Marc Scott Zicree have teamed up for a  series of podcast interviews with writers, producers and actors. They came over to my house and taped one with me the other day. But I'm sure my interview isn't going to be nearly as unique and interesting as this one:  a recording of a 1978 interview Marc did with actor Ross Martin, who played Artemus Gordon on WILD WILD WEST (and, strangely, had a recurring role as a Hawaiian mobster on HAWAII FIVE-O).  Martin was also the star voice of the cartoon SEALAB 2020…you can hear his opening narration here.

The Mail I Get — What Happens After You Turn In Your Book?

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Charmi congratulated me on turning in MR. MONK AND THE DIRTY COP and asked:

Out of curiousity, how much work will you still have to do on it? At this point in writing Monk novels, do you get many change requests from the editor? Or, can you pretty much consider this "done"?

I'm sure that's a question a lot of you have, so here's what I told her:

I usually don't get any major notes from MONK creator Andy Breckman or my editor, so the next step will be to go through the copy-edited manuscript. That's basically my own manuscript sent back to me, all marked up, after my editor and the copy editor have gone through it, spotting typos, punctuation errors, inconsistencies, awkward phrases etc. They will make suggestions on the page for corrections,  changes and clarifications. They will also suggest trims or places where I might want to go into more detail…but the choice is mine. For the most part, it's very minor stuff and I get through it very quickly. It's also my last chance to do any rewriting that I want to do for creative reasons…which usually only amounts to a line or two, here and there.

A month or two after that, I will receive the typeset galley, also known as the advance proofs, which is basically an unbound version of what the final book will look like. The editor, copyeditor and I read through it for errors (although we inevitably miss two or three big ones, much to my embarrassment) and send it on to production.

At that point, my job on the book is done…if you don't count promotion (like going to book signings, attending conferences, speaking at libraries, etc.)

Mr. Monk and Finished Manuscript

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Doit1
I just turned in my manuscript for the eighth Monk novel MR. MONK AND THE DIRTY COP, which will come out next summer. This is the first Monk
novel in several years that wasn’t written on several different computers in
various cities, countries, and modes of transport. I wrote it all at my desk at home.

I'm going to try not to think about the next Monk book for a few weeks. The outline isn't due until mid-November and I honestly have no idea what it will be about.

I will use the freed up Monk time  to work on my next "standalone" novel, which I haven't started writing yet….though I have a file with a very rough, very broad outline, some relevant newspaper clippings, and some notes to get me started.

But not this week. I have some pitches to prepare for and I want to give myself a break to maybe read a book, catch up on the new fall TV shows, and go to sleep at a decent hour.