Books

At Least Tod Isn’t Up Against George Pelecanos Again

by

My brother Tod is a finalist for the Southern California Booksellers’ Assocation Award for Best Fiction…a list that includes Aimee Bender (his friend since he was 11), Susan Straight, Carolyn See and the team of Jennifer Kaufman & Karen Mack.  In the mystery category, my friends T. Jefferson Parker, Paul Levine, Barbara Seranella,  Jacqueline Winspear and Denise Hamilton all snagged well-deserved nominations.

Speaking of awards, I just got word over here in the Berlin that  Tony Shalhoub snagged a third Emmy for his performance in MONK, and my friend Terry Winter snagged his second (or is it third?) Emmy for his writing on THE SOPRANOS.  Howard Gordon also copped an statuette for his amazing work running 24 this year. Congratulations one and all!

Discipline, Deadlines and Creativity

by

Yesterday, in my post "Going Hollywood," I wrote:

You can’t always force creativity, regardless of the immutable reality of a production deadline. But I have to believe that if I have a bad afternoon or a completely wasted day, that I’ll make up for it later.

After reading author Loreth Ann White’s thoughts on the subject, I realized that I needed to clarify my comments. In TV, you can’t wait for inspiration to strike…the show is shooting on Monday whether you are feeling creative or not.  A deadline is a deadline. The pages must be written. A professional TV writer will get them done.

The same is true of my MONK and DIAGNOSIS  MURDER novels. I have 90 days and, in some cases, less to write them. I may not feel motivated or inspired today, or even tomorrow, but I will make up for it later…because I am a professional writer, and that ‘s my job. Some days are better than others. I try not to sweat the bad ones too much (though I do).

What I should have said is that I have faith that if the writing is going badly at any particular moment, I will "get inspired" in time to meet my deadline, whatever that deadline may be.

It’s amazing how inspired I am the closer I get to a deadline. The reality that something has to be done at a certain point forces you to focus and to silence your inner critic.

If I don’t have a real, honest-to-God, make-or-break deadline, then I have a much harder time focusing…which may be Paul’s problem with his pilot.

Lori’s Ever-Changing Claims

by

Oneimage_1
Lori Prokop, online huckster and the originator of the Book Millionaire scam, posts this claim on her website:

“I’ve never seen anything like your four hour book signing at Barnes and Noble in Las Vegas. More than 1,174 people gladly stood in line for hours to meet you, buy your book and have them autographed. The line wove through the aisles of the store. Barnes and Noble
removed floor displays to make room for your book buyers. The Las Vegas NBC
affiliate covered the event and said they had never seen anything like it.
That’s amazing in Las Vegas, the city of excitement and entertainment.”
— Tali Mauai, Co-Author of the audio book
From Zero to Hero

I thought it was pretty amazing too. So, in the spirit of fairness
and accuracy, I checked into Lori Prokop’s claim (made through Tali Mauai) with friends in Las Vegas and my book industry sources and, as far I can tell, there was never any such booksigning event for her at a B&N there in the last five years nor the corresponding booksales that she implies she made. Perhaps she would be kind enough to provide the
exact date of the event and specific store where it took place so we can corroborate her claim?

Oddly enough, Lori uses the same claim from Tali, slightly reworded, to push her "Chiropractic Best Seller Book Program," a scheme to convince chiropractors that it would be a good idea to pay her vanity press to publish their articles and books. Note the significant differences (which I’ve boldfaced and italicized) between the two versions of the claim:

"I’ve never seen anything like our four hour book signing at Barnes and Noble in Las Vegas. More than 1,100 people gladly stood in line for hours to meet us, buy our book and have them autographed. The line wove through the aisles of the store. Barnes and Noble removed floor displays to make room for our book buyers. I felt like a local celebrity and my life has never been the same. I love it. The Las Vegas NBC affiliate covered the event and said they had never seen anything like it. That’s amazing in Las Vegas, the city of excitement and entertainment.” Tali Mauai, bestselling co-author, Zero to Hero

There is yet a THIRD version (again, with the differences in italic and bold-face) of the quote, this time pushing her seminars that will allow you to  "discover your powers to heal yourself, achieve abundance and create what you want in your life."

“Lori, I’ve never seen anything like your four-hour
book signing at Barnes & Noble in Las Vegas.
More than 1,100 people stood in line for hours
to meet your authors, buy their books and have
them autographed. Barnes & Noble removed floor
displays to make room for your book buyers.
National media covered the event and said they
had never seen anything like it.” Tari Mauai, Bestselling Author, from Zero to Hero.

I wonder which quote is "the truth."  Again, perhaps Lori would be kind enough to clarify for us exactly when which author, selling what book,  had this mobbed Las Vegas booksigning that made members of the local (or it was it national? Perhaps even GLOBAL) press corps faint with astonishment.

A Vacation in the Badlands

by

2113b2c008a08e5b80946010l
I took a vacation — a day-trip, if you will. It’s 1:30 in the morning and I  just finished reading Richard S. Wheeler’s western novel BADLANDS, the story of a group of naive paleontologists researching fossils in the heart of the Sioux nation. It’s not nearly as dry a story as that description sounds… though I’m choking on the dust kicked up by Wheeler’s remarkably vivid, and yet keenly economical, prose. I couldn’t go to bed without getting to the end. Yes, I know it’s a cliche, but it’s the truth. He’s taken a surprisingly fresh and unique approach to a time-worn and familiar set-up, the foolhardy easterners led into the untamed west by a wizened, half-Indian guide. But there’s a good reason why Richard S. Wheeler is considered a legend in western literature. He takes the seemingly familiar and makes it brand new by leading you to what appears to be a cliche or stereotype — and deftly playing on your expectations, twists them and takes you instead to a realization of character or place that you didn’t see coming. Don’t let the traditional, western cover fool you.  BADLANDS is more about science, religion, and culture than it is about horses, injuns and shootouts and I loved every minute of it…and found the relaxation and escape I craved to recharge myself creatively for the tasks that lay ahead (it was far more satisfying than Larry McMurtry’s TELEGRAPH DAYS, which I read a couple of months back).  Now I have to tackle Richard’s beloved Skye series from book one onward…and considering how many there are, that alone could end up being a lifetime pursuit.

Mr. Monk and the Funk

by

Super prolific novelist James Reasoner says that MR. MONK GOES TO THE FIREHOUSE got him out of a funk. You can’t get much higher praise than that. He says, in part:

MONK is
maybe my favorite current TV series. MR. MONK GOES TO THE FIREHOUSE
does a fine job of capturing the same things that make the TV show so
appealing: the twisty plots, the colorful characters, the
laugh-out-loud humor. While the plot in this novel is entertaining, its
real strong point is the way Lee has nailed the voices of the
characters, especially Monk. My funk was forgotten as I raced through
this book and had a great time reading it.

Thanks, Jim!

The End of Book Warehouses?

by

Newsweek reports that publishing legend Jason Epstein is one of the backers behind the Espresso Book Machine, a new device that can print-out a bound book in minutes for "a penny a page." A 300 page book can be produced in just three minutes.

Imagine if there were a magic machine that could print entire books in
mere minutes. You could go to a bookstore or coffee shop, choose a book
online from millions of digital titles and then—poof!—out would come a
fully bound book. You could get rare and out-of-print titles, in any
language, and for less because the inventory isn’t stored on site.

The machine is now being tested at the World Bank Bookstore in Washington D.C.

Crafty Advice

by

Alex Epstein’s CRAFTY TV WRITING is a terrific new book full of great advice about the craft of episodic writing and insights into the business of television (and I’m not just saying that because he quotes liberally from me and this blog).  If I didn’t have a book of my own, SUCCESSFUL TELEVISION WRITING, to recommend, this is the one I’d tell every aspiring TV writer to buy. I’d also strongly recommend WRITING THE TV DRAMA SERIES by Pamela Douglas. Tell you what, buy all three. You’ll thank me later.

Done at Last

by

I just finished writing the first draft of DIAGNOSIS MURDER #8: THE LAST WORD. It was actually due yesterday, but my editor kindly gave me an extension until Monday. It’s the first deadline I’ve ever missed —  I didn’t even have two broken arms this time as an excuse. Life just sort of conspired against me on this one — and it turned out to be a much longer book than I anticipated. I wrote this one in many different places, from my home in Los Angeles to a hotel room in Cologne, Germany. If this does turn out to be the final DIAGNOSIS MURDER novel, I think I’ve left my characters in a good place, facing new lives and new challenges. If there ends up being more adventures, then I think created the opportunity to "reinvigorated" the franchise, which will allow me to tell fresh and exciting stories with these characters without trodding over old ground.

Mr. Monk Basks in the Glow

by

Three more bloggers have given MR. MONK GOES TO HAWAII kudos. Gerald So says:

Mr, Monk Goes to Hawaii is an
ideal summer read, a rambling tale to match an exotic setting. Several
side mysteries show Monk’s quirks as seen by the more practical
Natalie, yet Goldberg keeps a confident hand on the story, eventually
putting every strand in place just as Monk and his fans would have it.

Meanwhile, the folks over at MyShelf enjoy seeing things from Natalie’s POV:

Natalie’s point of view provides an unexpected and delightful twist. Goldberg nails Monk’s intriguing and complex character. Natalie and Monk’s interactions are laugh-out-loud funny. Find
Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii and take a humorous trip through murder and deceit!

Cynthia Clark at Future Mystery Magazine says: 

        You don’t have to be a fan of MONK or to have ever watched an episode
        on television to enjoy this fast paced, witty, quirky, yet charming suspense.
        Mr. Goldberg has once again captured the nuances and idiosyncrasies of
        Mr. Monk and of OC (obsessive compulsive) sufferers. Mr. Goldberg makes
        us laugh as he takes us on Monk’s wild Hawaiian ride solving numerous
        crimes. Only Monk could find a paradise like Hawaii to be a health risk,
        and barbaric — roasting a pig in the ground? Mr. Goldberg gives us just
        enough clues to let us be MONK if we dare….I read this book in one sitting
        and loved every moment of it. I felt the tug of heart strings with Mitch
        and Trudy. I laughed, I was sad, I plotted who done it, but mostly, I
        loved it! An excellent escape, a great read.