Books

Lipstick Chronicles Finally Lives Up to Its Name

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Author Sarah Strohmeyer talks about what she used to do for her husband all the time…but isn’t doing much lately.

I am speaking, of course, of that act one does for another in which
most of the sexual gratification goes to one partner. Oh, sure, you can
argue there’s some satisfaction for the provider. But let’s be honest.
One half gets all the treats. That’s why they call it a job.

When my husband and I were dating, I would impulsively perform this
act wherever, partially for the thrill of seeing the pure shock on his
chiseled face. Here he was, Ohio born and raised, an active member of
the Episcopal Church, a graduate of a staid all-boys school, and I was
doing this to him in a parking lot! The woods in broad daylight! On
Shaker Boulevard!

And he never had to ask. It just happened. I was like the magic girlfriend. Yippee!

In fairness, I never promised that this would be a permanent part of
our relationship. But was I going to point this out when he slipped
onto my finger a diamond-and-emerald ring with gold filigree (that he
designed)? Hell no.

This anecdote prompted author Harley Jane Kozak to reveal:

My husband, when we were dating, came to see me in Lincoln, Nebraska,
where I was doing a play one summer. I took him to Lincoln’s landmark
building, the state capitol, AKA "The Penis of the Plains" . . . and in
view of its nickname, and because we found a hallway on a floor that
seemed to have no occupants …

I can’t wait for more blow-by-blow accounts.

Running from The Walk

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I’ve been too busy to post as often as usual…preparing for a pitch meeting (it went well), preparing for a meeting for a possible writer/producer gig (it also went well), and I’ve been working hard on MR. MONK AND THE BLUE FLU (going well as well…and I’ve now broken my personal record for using the word "well" in a single paragraph).  I’m also a judge in a short story contest and been reading hundreds of submissions. Anyway, that’s a long-winded way of justifying yet another rerun post from my blogging past…

This is a true story.

I was in  the offices of a major movie producer who had just read  my book THE WALK
and wanted to talk about a possible screen version. The story is about
a TV producer who is stuck in downtown Los Angeles when a major
earthquake decimates the city and has to walk back home to the suburbs.

The executive loved the book, the human drama, and the action-adventure elements. He only had a few thoughts and concerns.

“Does the guy have to be a TV producer?” he asked.

I
was prepared for that question. I knew the character might be “too
inside,” meaning too much a part of the entertainment industry, to
connect with a wider audience.

“No,” I said, “Of course not. We can give him a different profession.”

“How about if the TV producer was a team of cheerleaders instead?” the executive asked.

I laughed, thinking he was joking. He wasn’t. But he wasn’t done with me yet.

“And what if the earthquake was a tidal wave?”

The book remains unfilmed.

Reader Love

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My friend Paul Levine, the notorious novelist and screenwriter,  got this delightful email today from a reader of his widely acclaimed new book A DEEP BLUE ALIBI:

Mr. Levine,

Please either do some actual research before
you write your next book, or get a publisher that has proof readers
with a TINY bit of technical and/or scientific
expertise. A Glock has no safety lever…… the only
safety on a Glock is built into the trigger
itself.  After I finally got past that error….. I
get to a FIVE FOOT CORAL SNAKE?!?!?!?

I
cannot even give you an opinion as to the writing of the rest of the book, as it has been converted into carbon in my fireplace.

The thoughtful writer of the email also copied Paul’s agent and publicist, whose addresses are on his site. It’s a good thing, Paul says, that his Mom’s address wasn’t on the site, too. Paul took this email in stride, replying good-naturedly:

Thank you for your kind and thoughtful note
pointing out the errors in  "The Deep Blue Alibi."

You
are quite correct, of course, about the Glock.  It has the built-in trigger safety, not the little lever.  I own a 9 mm Beretta  with the lever, and I was picturing that gun while my fingers typed "Glock."  My mistake. You could have pointed out also that the sheriff of Monroe County 
doesn’t actually carry a Glock, and he never smuggled pot.  Just made
that stuff up, which is what we do in fiction.  I also had the mayor of
Key West growing marijuana, and to the best of my knowledge, he doesn’t
do that, either.

Now, as for the snake  I am well aware
that the longest coral snakes are in the 4-four range, and most are
smaller.  Well, shoot me with a Glock because I stretched that snake
out a foot.  At least it seemed that long in a scene written from the
POV of Victoria Lord when she discovers the snake in the
bathroom.

A book with 110,000 words has probably a couple
thousand facts —  geographical, meteorlogical, historical,
sociological and others — and if  I only made two mistakes in this one,
well that’s hitting the ball out of  the park.   The folks at Bantam
found a bunch more and corrected them.

I am very pleased that
you found a use for the book, however, and hope that it provided ample
warmth on a chilly night.

Dem BONES

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BONES may just be the most unusual notion for an tie-in novel since THE SPY WHO LOVED novelization (a novel based on the movie based on the book by Ian Fleming). BONES: BURIED DEEP is an original novel by Max Allan Collins based on the Fox Television Series BONES created by Hart Hanson featuring the character created by Kathy Reichs from her best-selling series of novels. Whew. I’m winded just typing that.

What I don’t get is why Kathy Reichs a) allowed the studio to shop tie-in novels based on the series based on her books while she’s still writing books in the series herself (and her old titles are still in print) and b) why, if the tie-in books were going to be done, she didn’t do them herself. Isn’t the whole idea behind selling your book to TV to boost sales of the books? It would seem to me that authorizing original tie-in novels would actually work against Reichs’ best interests. On the other hand, the format of TV series and the tie-in novel, while featuring the central character from Reichs’ books, differs substantially from the books from which they are derived.

It’s very interesting to me and I’m eager to get the scoop from Max (who, by the way, also writes the CSI novels and is co-founder, with yours truly, of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers.

Point of Impact

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Variety reports that Mark Wahlberg will in SHOOTER, the movie version of Stephen Hunter’s POINT OF IMPACT, the first in his popular, long-running series of novels about a master sniper named Swagger (and several prequels about Swagger’s father). Antoine Fugua will direct with a script by Jonathan Lemkin. The film has been kicking around Hollywood for a while now. It was originally developed as a vehicle for Keanu Reeves and, before that, Robert Redford.

I’ve read most of Hunter’s books, and while POINT OF IMPACT is one of his best, I think my favorite novel of his is DIRTY WHITE BOYS.

iBooks Lightbulb Burns Out

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I’ve heard from several authors with deals at iBooks that the publishing company, which was run by the late Byron Preiss, has declared bankruptcy and is folding. This puts many upcoming releases in doubt and quite a few authors I know are very worried about the status of the rights to their unpublished books (not to mention if they will ever see the royalties on their past titles for the company). It’s sad news all around.