MR. MONK GOES TO THE FIREHOUSE is a January pick of the Mystery Guild, which is offering members a hardcover edition of the book. When I was a kid, I was a member of the Literary Guild and the Mystery Guild and couldn’t wait for the new catalogs every month. And when those boxes of books arrived, it was like Christmas. Of course, now I collect first editions and I’m not interested in book club editions, but back then it was the only way I could afford new, hardcover titles.
Books
The Omen Lives Again!
David Seltzer’s novelization of his screenplay for the 1976 movie THE OMEN, which starred Gregory Peck and Lee Remick as the unfortunate parent’s of the devil’s son, is being re-released in May to coincide with THE OMEN 666, the latest movie in the franchise, which includes three theatrical films and two TV movies (one of which was a pilot for a weekly series). This news is worth reporting because it’s not often that novelizations get re-released — certainly not thirty years after they were last in print. The shelf-life of a novelization is even shorter than most mass-market paperbacks and usually disappear as soon as the movie its based on falls out of theatrical release…if not earlier.
(Thanks to Bookgasm for the heads-up)
Mr. Monk and the Nice Reviews
My first MONK novel just hit the street today and already some nice feedback is coming my way from Patrick Hynes over at Ankle-Biting Pundits and from the omnipresent Harriet Klausner.
Names is for Tombstones
There’s been a lot of talk lately about mid-list writers adopting other names to get their books sold and keep their careers going. Author Tim Cockey has enjoyed some success with his HEARSE series of light-hearted mysteries — now he’s launching a new series under the name "Richard Hawke." He recently sent Bill Peschel an email touting his "debut":
So
I get this sorta-spam e-mail today with the subject line of YOU LOVE
MYSTERIES! The name "Richard Hawke" sounds fishy, but there wasn’t an
attachment and it didn’t look like it wanted to lengthen my penis, so I
opened it.
I prefer emails that will lengthen my penis, but that’s another story. Anyway, the spam went something like this:
Okay, I happen to know that you’re a reader and that you like mysteries
and/or thrillers. Don’t ask me how I know this, I just do. It’s my job
to sniff out folks like you.So here’s the question: In the glutted world of mysteries and
thrillers, do we really need yet another new series to take up space in
our To-Be-Read pile? Well, the answer is yes, but only if it’s any good.I’ve got one for you. And since it really is such a glutted world of
too many books, I thought it’d be wise for me to get to you directly
and let you know about it.
It didn’t lengthen Bill’s penis, but it did get him curious about the author. Cockey, as Hawke, has already won raves from PW and Kirkus for his new book. Makes you wonder why he bothered using another name…
A Very Important Message
Dear Friend,
I am a former general in the Nigerian army who has managed to steal
countless millions from my people. It has come to my attention that you
are an investing genius and I would like your help establishing an
account at a U.S. bank.
To start with, you need to know that Lee Goldberg’s new mystery novel
MR. MONK GOES TO THE FIREHOUSE will be published on Jan. 3rd and is
getting a big promo push from The USA Network, which has posted
excerpts from his book and a dozen streaming video interviews with him
at their site:
http://www.usanetwork.com/series/monk/bookreleases/firehouse/index.html
This is important, because I need you to buy 17,800 copies of the book.
In return, if you give me your checking account number, your credit
card number, and your social security number, I will wire you $122,000
as "reimbursement" for the purchase of this splendid book. We will all
be winners, especially you my dear, dear friend.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
General Rgo Zan
My Natalie Blog
My first "Natalie Blog" is now up on the USA Network Monk Page.
The MONK novels are written from the point of view of Natalie, Monk’s assistant, so the blog will give
you a sample of what the books are like. Some of the blog entries are
"out-takes" from the first two MONK books, some are written just for
the site, and other stuff comes from the book I’m writing now. All of
the blogs entries, I hope, will give you some fresh insight into
Natalie’s character and her relationship with Adrian Monk. I look
forward to hearing what you think!
Where We Write
One of my favorite little coffee table book is Jill Krementz’s THE WRITER’S DESK, which is filled with photos of authors at work in their offices. It’s fascinating and reveals a lot about each author’s personality. John Updike wrote in his introduction:
I look at these photographs with a prurient interest, the way that I might look at the beds of notorious courtesans. Except that the beds would tell me less than the desks do. Here, the intimacy of the literary act is caught in flagrante delicto: at these desks characters are spawned, plots are spun, imaginative distances are spanned.
Today, novelist Brenda Coulter posted pictures on her blog of where she does her writing, so I thought I’d follow her example and share with you where I do mine. This is my home office. It overlooks our front yard and is adjacent to my daughter’s bedroom. What you don’t see in this picture are more bookshelves, a TV set/DVD/VCR set-up and a walk-in closet full of books, DVDs, CDs, videos and office supplies. There’s also the original artist’s painting for the unpublished, fourth .357 VIGILANTE book on my wall.
To avoid throwing out my back, I also do a lot of writing laying on top of my bed, using my laptop, with my legs elevated on a couch cushion.
I showed you mine so now you show me yours. Think of it as a photo "meme." All of you authors and screenwriters out there with blogs, please post pictures of your writing spaces…and provide linkbacks to this post so we can see them (or offer a link to those posts in the comments below).
Writing No Matter What
I always get a kick out of aspiring writers who whine about not having the time to write, or not having enough "peace and quiet." Professional writers know they have to write with whatever time they have, regardless of the conditions. This is especially true in television, where you need to generate a new script every week. You can’t wait to be in the mood to write — you just have to do it. A deadline is a deadline and you have to meet it. It’s also true in journalism and in the book world. Here’s a good example from the recent experience of novelist Joseph A. West, who had a mere six weeks to write his latest GUNSMOKE novel and wouldn’t even let a hurricane slow him down.
Hundred-mile-an-hour winds went
right over our roof and we were without electricity for eight days. My wife, a
resourceful woman, mail-ordered a manual typewriter that we were assured would
be delivered overnight. It arrived three weeks later. In the meantime, the staff
here at the condo complex found an old natural gas generator in the
basement that dates from the 1950s. They hooked up my laptop to the
infernal thing and I got to work immediately, having by then only lost
only a couple of days.The temperature down there in the bowels of the building was about 120
degrees, the fumes were yellow, malodorous and choking, and I had to stop
every 30 minutes to let the damned generator cool down. "Otherwise you’ll burn
down the whole fucking building," I was told by one irate
tenant .Were the words I was writing good or bad? At the time, gassed as I
was, I didn’t know. But, oh, the colors!Finally the lights came on again and I got cranking and finished the book
in the allotted time. My editor, bless him, gave me a hearty, "Well done."It was an interesting experience, but not one I’d care to repeat any time
soon.P.S. We returned the manual typewriter with a very nasty note.
As Joseph says, his story simply shows that "the life of the wretched scribe is not an easy one." But what the story shows me is the enormous dedication it takes to be a professional writer. Too few aspiring writers realize just how much it takes to achieve, and then sustain, a career as a professional writer. We have a lot to learn from guys like Joseph West.
Wisdom from MacDonald
To celebrate the new year, novelist Alison Kent posts an excerpt from John D. MacDonald’s terrific introduction to Stephen King’s NIGHTSHIFT. The introduction is full of great advice for writers. Here’s a tiny bit:
Story is something happening to someone you have been led to care
about. It can happen in any dimension -physical, mental, spiritual –
and in combinations of those dimensions.Without author intrusion.
Author intrusion is: ‘My God, Mama, look how nice I’m writing!’
Another
kind of intrusion is a grotesquerie. Here is one of my favourites,
culled from a Big Best Seller of yesteryear: ‘His eyes slid down the
front of her dress.’Author intrusion is a phrase so inept the
reader suddenly realizes he is reading, and he backs out of the story.
He is shocked back out of the story.Another author intrusion is the mini-lecture embedded in the story. This is one of my most grievous failings.
Hot Sex, Gory Violence
Newsweek published this My Turn essay of mine back in mid-1980s, while I was still a college student and writing books as "Ian Ludlow." I stumbled across the essay again today and thought you might enjoy it:
HOT
SEX, GORY VIOLENCEHow
One Student Earns Course Credit and Pays TuitionMy name is Ian Ludlow. Well, not really. But that’s the name on my four ".357 Vigilante" adventures that Pinnacle Books will publish this spring. Most of
the time I’m Lee Goldberg, a mild mannered UCLA senior majoring in mass communications and trying to spark a writing career at the same time. It’s hard work. I haven’t quite achieved a balance between my dual identities of college student and hack novelist.The adventures of Mr. Jury, a vigilante into doing the LAPD’s dirty work, are often created in the wee hours of the night, when I should be studying, meeting my freelance-article deadlines or, better yet, sleeping. More often than not, my nocturnal writing spills over into my classes the next morning. Brutal fistfights, hot sexual encounters and gory violence are frequently scrawled
across my anthropology notes or written amid my professor’s insights on Whorf’s hypothesis. Students sitting next to me who glance at my lecture notes are shocked to see notations like "Don’t move, scumbag, or I’ll wallpaper the room with your brains.
I once wrote a pivotal rape scene during one of my legal-communications classes, and I’m sure the girl who sat next to me thought I was a psychopath. During the first half of the lecture, she kept looking with wide eyes from my notes to my face as if my nose were melting onto my binder or something. At the break she disappeared, and I didn’t see her again the rest of the quarter. My professors, though, seem pleased to see me sitting in the back of the classroom writing furiously. I guess they think I’m hanging on their every word. They’re wrong.I’ve tried to lessen the strain between my conflicting identities by marrying the
two. Through the English department, I’m getting academic credit for the books. That amazes my Grandpa Cy, who can’t believe there’s a university crazy enough to reward me for writing "lots of filth." The truth is, it’s writing and it’s learning, and it’s getting me somewhere. Just where, I’m not
sure. My Grandpa Cy thinks it’s going to get me the realization I should join him in the furniture
business.
