WITHOUT GRACE by Carol Hoenig is an iUniverse title that is likely to sell better than most of the company’s self-published novels. It’s not because of Pod-dy Mouth’s rave review, or the blurbs from Malachy McCourt and Michael Malone, or even this casual mention. So why might it sell to more folks than just Hoenig’s friends and relatives? Because Hoenig has an edge most POD authors don’t have: she’s National Events Specialist for Borders Group…and already has signings set at five Borders stores with, undoubtedly, more to come.
Lee Goldberg
Marvin H. Albert
You may recall that I’ve got a guilty-pleasure-passion for the Frank Sinatra’s TONY ROME and LADY IN CEMENT movies, both of which were based on books by Marvin H. Albert (who also co-wrote the screenplay for LADY). Novelist, editor and paperback collector Bill Crider has written an interesting article about Albert for this month’s issue of Mystery*File magazine. The article includes a complete bibliography of Albert’s work, compiled by Steve Lewis. Albert was an amazingly versatile, if unappreciated, writer whose work included screenplays, novels in several genres, and even movie tie-ins. He was one of a dying breed.
Judging Books By Their Covers
I have to apologize to Kit Tunstall for making fun of her name…it was a cheap shot (I gambled that there was a 50/50 chance that it wasn’t a pen-name and I lost). Her comment about all the money in e-book erotica made me curious about her…so I checked out her site. There may be, as she claims, a oodles of cash in the smutty e-book biz, but obviously none of the profits are going towards cover art. It turns out that the cover of her e-book PHANTASIE, so brilliantly lampooned by the Smart Bitches Who Love Trash Novels, is not half-as-bad as some of her others…
I Found a “Fucktard’
Each Sunday, my brother Tod dissects the letters to Parade Magazine’s Walter Scott and, from among that collection of idiots, christens someone a "fucktard." But this week, I’ve got Tod beat, whether he picks Jan G. from San Diego ("Robert Redford is as blond as ever. Why doesn’t he let his hair go gray?") or E. Zimmerman of Amana Iowa ("What’s with those tabloid photos of Jennfer Aniston cuddling Vince Vaughn? Are the two lovers?").
Because the biggest fucktard of all this Sunday won’t be found in Parade but in the TV Q&A column in the TV Times. J. Higa of Carson, California asks:
I see former Sen. Fred Thompson in the news and he looks just like the Fred Thompson on the TV show "Law and Order." Is he the same person?
No, Mr. or Mrs. Higa, it’s not the same person. They are identical twins with identical names, you fucktard.
Another Doppelganger
My friend Jan Burke stumbled on this other Lee Goldberg. What gives me the creeps is how many of the people who share my name happen to be newscasters (sportscasters & weathermen) and writers…considering that my father was a TV anchorman and I’m a writer.
What is Foreplay?
Here’s some sex advice from my sister Linda, amateur Sex Inspector:
While most women in America (or at least every woman we know) seem to be
totally irritated by their husbands making moves on them while they
make dinner, do dishes or are otherwise engaged in anything that requires both
hands (putting the cover on the duvet), women in England don’t seem bothered by
it. What is that about? Being groped while you chop carrots is not
foreplay! Foreplay would be the husband coming into the kitchen and
announcing that you should go watch all those episodes of Oprah and Laguna Beach
that you TIVO’d while he does the dishes and folds the laundry.
My Checkbook is Open, My Pen Is Poised…
…but the movie rights to JT Fisher’s PublishAmerica title LAS CRUCES still haven’t come up for auction on Ebay for the bargain-basement price of $1.3 million. I’m sure that Francis Ford Coppola, Joel Silver, Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg are, like me, waiting anxiously for the auction begin today as promised.
The Eye on THE MAN
Many thanks to Jim Winter for his rave review of THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE in the new issue of "Reflections in a Private Eye," the official newsletter of the Private Eye Writers of America.
Goldberg is funny in this rip on pop culture, PI cliches, and California culture…a laugh-out-loud example of what the best PI novels should be."
Doug Lyle Likes to Kill People
Doug Lyle may be Orange County’s most prolific serial killer.
He’s smashed 18-wheelers into station wagons, tossed dynamite into mine
shafts, hung victims by their ankles, or plain, old-fashioned shot them.He is also a willing accomplice to hundreds – perhaps thousands – of other
murders.
That’s the opening of a great profile of Dr. Doug Lyle in today’s Orange County Register and his work as a consultant to mystery writers like me. Without him, Dr. Mark Sloan would be an LA screenwriter in his early 40s.
Crimetime Television
From Variety today…
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES creator Marc Cherry is teaming up with CHUCKY creator Don Scardino to develop an "hour-long suspense" drama for ABC called KILL/SWITCH (which features a "dead heroine"). Cherry is also mulling a DH spin-off called VICIOUS CHEERLEADERS.
24 creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran are developing a private eye series for FOX. The series is described as a modern-day LA CONFIDENTIAL and will track a single case for 13 episodes.
Surnow said he and Cochran were also inspired by everything from "The Maltese
Falcon" to Raymond Chandler."We’re going to steal from as many movies as possible," Surnow quipped.
"There’s a wonderful, visual style to it that we haven’t really seen on TV. What
we like about film noir is it’s very sexy – we hope to do to that genre what we
did with the spy genre."
Meanwhile, things aren’t looking good for the critically savaged E-RING, which was fourth in it’s timeslot, and the ratings for CSI:NY were down 37% compared to last season.