Books

Mr. Monk and the Signing

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I had a great time today at Mysteries to Die For, where I participated in a lively panel discussion about book critics with Dick Adler (of the Chicago Tribune) and Dick Lochte (of the LA Times  and also an acclaimed mystery novelist in his own right), bookseller Richard Brewer, and authors Bob Levinson, John Shannon, and Terrill Lee Lankford. The funniest comment came from a woman in the audience. When she reads a book that sucks, she sends it to prison.  She doesn’t give it Goodwill, or donate it to the library, or even toss it in the trash. No, she puts the book in a padded envellope and sends it to her local prison. At least she doesn’t make the authors do hard time. 

The panel event was followed by a discussion/booksigning for MR. MONK GOES TO THE FIREHOUSE.  Boths were well-attended and a lot of fun. I really enjoyed seeing so many familiar faces (like Teresa Murray of the MONK FUN PAGE and Mark Baker, diehard DM fan and Amazon book critic) and meeting so many new people. I should write books more often!

Mr. Monk and the Latest News

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The cover of MR. MONK GOES TO HAWAII has been redesigned. The new, final version is there on your left. It’s not a very Hawaiian cover, but I’ve always liked that shot of Monk, it says so much about his character. If you liked finding the hidden objects in Highlights For Children when you were a kid, you’ll enjoy trying to find my name on the cover.

My latest Natalie Blog is now up on the USA Network site…it’s actually an "out-take" from the book MR. MONK GOES TO THE FIREHOUSE that was cut during the editorial process. I missed it in the book, I think it gave you a little more insight into
who Natalie is. On the other hand, it slowed the pace of the story down
and had to go. 

Ten Pages a Day or Die

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Author Nancy Martin talks about the importance of making deadlines in the book biz.

Sure, I had excuses when I was late. Death in the family. Moving
twice in twelve months. Sick kids. Husband’s midlife crisis. The dog
didn’t eat my homework, she died in a slow, messy, heart-breaking way.
And did I mention I broke a tooth, had a lump in my breast and
developed shingles all in the same month last year?!?

But publishing waits for no woman’s mammogram.

I know how she feels. Even with two broken arms and a TV series to write/produce, I worried about delivering my book on time  — but some how met my deadline.  The problem is, I’ve made it  impossible for myself to ever miss a deadline. What excuse could possibily top two broken arms?

Mr. Monk and the Nice Reviews II

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Two more flattering reviews have come in for MR. MONK GOES TO THE FIREHOUSE. One of the reviews is from the Monk Fun Page, the biggest and best Monk fan site on the web, and the other is from novelist Ed Gorman,   founder of Mystery Scene magazine. I want to thank them for all the nice things they said. It made me feel great, particularly since today is one of those dreary days where the words are coming slowly and I’m convinced that all those fanficcers are right — I am a talentless hack.

Hard Case Peddling PEDDLER

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Now that those noir-loving folks at Hard Case Crime have broken the news, I can finally share it here (after hinting about it for some time). My friend Richard S. Prather’s novel THE PEDDLER is going to be reissued… with a brand new cover by Robert McGinnis (who also did the one on the left). THE PEDDLER is stark departure from Prather’s light-hearted, often hilarious Shell Scott detective novels.  It’s a dark and brutal tale about the rise (and ultimate fall)  of a greedy young man working his way up in the San Francisco prostitution rackets. The prose is lean and sharp, in the same league as Harry Whittington’s classic noir tales. It’s a shame Richard didn’t do more books like this.  But the fact is, he had a lot more fun writing the Shell Scott books and, as he says in an upcoming interview I did with him for the Private Eye Writers newsletter, he wanted his readers to feel better after reading his books than they did when they started. I don’t think he realized just how invigorating reading a lean, vicious little crime story can be for someone like, say, me.

I’ve been lobbying Charles Ardai at Hard Case Crime for a while — as have a few others — to bring Prather’s best work back into print. I’m hoping the inevitable success of THE PEDDLER prompts a long-overdue resurgence of interest Prather’s work and his incredibly entertaining Shell Scott series.

Mad Max

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Ed Gorman posted an appreciation of novelist Max Allan Collins, co-founder of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, on his blog today:

I wouldn’t be blogging today if it weren’t for Max Allan Collins.
Twenty five years ago, I made a cold call to him to tell him how much I
enjoyed his novels…

… Naturally,
we talked about writing and why I, who’d sold a lot of short stories to
magazines of varying repute, hadn’t ever written a novel. I told him l
I’d started about a hundred of the damned things but that I always got
stuck at some point and started backtracking and then just gave up. He
gave me the single most useful piece of writing advice I’ve ever ever
received. Don’t look back. Finish the first draft straight through and
then go back and do whatever needs to be done in the revisions.

Ed also talks about advice he’s gleaned from other writers… all of it worth taking to heart.