Books

Bibliomysteries

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The latest issue of Mystery Readers Journal, from the folks at Mystery Readers International, is just hitting the stands. This month’s issue is dedicated to "bibliomysteries" and includes articles by Bill Crider, Rochelle Krich, Elaine Viets, Carolyn Hart and me among many others. I wrote about the painstaking research that went into writing THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE.

(I’ll  be talking to the members of Mystery Readers International up in Berkeley on Friday, Oct 28, at 7:00 pm. Contact Janet Rudolph for more information).

Terry gives BADGE high Mark

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THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE earned a rave review from Mark Terry this week in The Oakland Press. He says, in part:

"The Man with the Iron-On Badge" has snappy dialogue, tight plotting and near-perfect pace. Mapes is laugh-out loud funny in the way of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum, and the plot is surprisingly graceful, keeping the reader guessing to the very end. Harvey’s growth as a human being is an added bonus. One can only hope this is the first of many novels about this engaging character.

Thanks, Mark!

The Cold Draft

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Yesterday, I shared excerpts from  some of the rejection letters I received for THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE during its long journey to publication. Today, novelist Laurie King reflects on the uncertainty and rejection all professional writers face, regardless of their past successes.

There ain’t no guarantees in the writing business. It’s scary even to mention
the possibility, as if failure is a demon summoned by voicing his name, but it’s
very true, it’s waiting just outside. I’ve got sixteen books out there, sold a
couple million copies, had titles on the New York Times list, and still, every
day I feel the cold draft at the bottom of the door. My accountant talks about
SEP accounts, and I think, well, that may be necessary. My husband asks if we’re
going to have the money for some project or another, and I have to tell him I
don’t know.

Extra Features for Novels

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Perfectkillercoverfrontplustext_1DVDs these days come packed with extra features — commentary, documentaries, deleted scenes, bloopers, etc. Now author Lewis Perdue is experimenting with doing the same thing for books, starting with his novel THE PERFECT KILLER. To give his readers a sense of the people, places and details in the story, he’s created a page-specific online index with photos, videos, maps, links, and other information. You could read his book with your laptop open beside you and click along with the story. For instance:

Page 227, coast
snakes northward from the missile gantries of Vandenberg Air Force Base to Big
Sur’s relentlessly beautiful cliffs and surf south

Page 228, Dan
Gabriel jogged along Pecho Valley Road, south of Morro Bay (more pictures
here)

Page 229, He sprinted the dune
trail, south toward Spooner’s Cove, but the past matched his pace

Page 230, sight
of a man and a boy of maybe ten

Page 235, San Luis
Obispo

Page 243, Blackhawk returned and hovered
over the clearing, Armed men hung out the side door

 

It’s a cool idea. Will it catch on? Who knows…buttake a look and  let Lew know what you think.

Rejection

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Last week, I talked about the long road to publication for THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE,which came out this month to some terrific reviews (including a starred review from Kirkus and a rave from Publishers Weekly).  Here are s0me of the rejections the book got over the years. I’ve edited out the names of the companies and editors.

"The manuscript was a lot of fun — definitely a good read and a fresh angle. We seriously considered it since it is so unique, but ultimately we have to pass since we are moving away from mysteries and thrillers…"

"I am going to have to pass on an offer at this time. We must be extremely selective with the titles we bring on."

"Thanks so much for the extended look at THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE. You know I hold Lee in the highest regard and I thought he treated this mystery with great humor and enthusiasm. Though I think the conception is novel, in the end I just thought that the plot development moved a little too slowly for us to be really able to break this out commercially. Furthermore,  though I think Harvey Mapes is a great protagonist, I just didn’t think the ‘fish out of water’ conception would play out successfully in a very crowded and competitive market."

"This story is well-written and entertaining; however, the tone is not quite right for our list and overall it would be very difficult to publish."

"This is going to be a pass for me. Though I thought the writing was strongly readable and mildly humorous, the protagonist likeable and the overall delivery well structured, I’m afraid the overall storyline wasn’t strong or original enough for me."

"I agree it is an unusual crime story. Unfortunately, we find the market is glutted with crime fiction right now and the market is not kind these days. Simply put, I did not find this manuscript special enough to warrant an offer."

"Lee Goldberg is a great writer but I’m afraid I didn’t respond to the first person voice the way I would have liked in order to confidently take it on for my list here and be its advocate."

"Lee has a good sense of humor and a great grasp of the down-and-out detective genre. I found the story here entertaining, and though it’s not perfect, I asked the publisher to read it. He was not as enamored of it as I was and I lost the battle of wills."

"It’s a lot of fun and very professionally done, but I just don’t see it for my list. I’m sorry, because I liked Harvey. I loved the wit, I admired the use of the L.A. setting. This is one of the better PI novels I’ve ever read."

Read more

The Politics of THE DESTROYER

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075924085x01_sclzzzzzzz_My friend Warren Murphy clued me in to this National Review article about why his right-wing superspy Remo Williams, aka THE DESTROYER, has become more liberal:

So how does a highly successful 34-year-old book series that was once firmly
grounded in patriotic and good old-fashioned Right-leaning American values end
up listing Left-ward and, at least as a partial consequence, now find itself on
the verge of cancellation? Blame Canada, says series creator Warren Murphy
(co-creator Richard Sapir died in 1987). Since 1994, the once-great series has
been published in Toronto by Gold Eagle, a subsidiary of Harlequin Enterprises,
Ltd.

The novels’ leftward lean began in the 1980s with the death of co-creator Sapir,
which was then followed by the retirement of Murphy from the series. It was at
that point that a ghostwriter was brought aboard who, while prolific (there are
four Destroyers published every year), lacked the conservative
convictions of the original authors. The humor became sophomoric, turning off
many longtime readers, and the political jabs frequently began to strike against
the right.

A publisher of standard guns ‘n’ guts action novels, Gold Eagle has never
been certain what to do with a series that doesn’t conform to the expectations
of the genre. Is The Destroyer action, humor, political and social
satire, mysticism, or science fiction? (At times, it is all of these.) A
hands-off editorial approach has developed which, although conforming to the
dreams of every writer, has allowed too much freedom in several important areas.
One of these areas of freedom — politics — has allowed new writers to undermine
one of the founding principles of the series.

The article goes into far more detail than the excerpt here. It’s well worth reading, particularly for the glimpse into business behind ghost-written series.

A Novel Prescription

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William Rabkin clued me into this truly bizarre publishing scam. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America,  a lobbying group,  commissioned  ghost writer Julie Chrystyn to write a thriller designed to scare people out of buying cheap drugs from Canada. When word of the ridiculous scheme leaked out, the drug lobby offered $100,000 to the author and her publisher,  Michael Viner’s Phoenix Books, in a futile bid to bury the whole thing.

Chrystyn titled her thriller-in-progress "The Spivak Conspiracy," an homage
to her friend Kenin Spivak, an L.A. telecomm entrepreneur and
onetime Hollywood exec.

Spivak said he became Chrystyn’s co-writer after she delivered the first 50
pages, and PhRMA made several editorial suggestions.

"They said they wanted it somewhat dumbed down for women, with a lot more
fluff in it, and more about the wife of the head Croatian terrorist, who is a
former Miss Mexico," Spivak told me.

Apparently, women are among the most loyal buyers of Canadian drugs.

"They also wanted to change the motivating factor of the terrorists to greed,
because they didn’t want it to be politics," Spivak said. "They wanted lots of
people to die."

Spivak told me that since PhRMA pulled out – and he and his colleagues
rejected the lobby’s offer of $100,000 to kill the project – he and Chrystyn
have finished a revised version, "The Karasik Conspiracy," due early next
year.

CRIMESPREE Wants More

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The November issue of Crimespree Magazine will include editor Jon Jordan’s very nice review of  my new book THE MAN WITH THE IRON ON BADGE:

Harvey Mapes could be me. He’s a guy who reads a
lot of PI novels, loves the old PI television shows and he thinks he can
solve mysteries. The similarities are almost disturbing. However Harvey is
fictional, and a bit more willing to take chances.

The book sets up nicely
with Harvey working in his guard shack for a gated community in California.
One of the residents makes a nice monetary offer to him in exchange for
services, in short the old rich guy wants his wife followed. Harvey having
read many books and seen many TV shows feels he’s up to the job. What ensues
is a wonderful story of the pitfalls of overestimating yourself, and what
happens when you surpass your own expectations.

Goldberg has a knack
for combining just the right amount of humor and realism with his obvious
love for the PI genre and his own smart ass sensibilities. THE MAN WITH THE
IRON ON BADGE is a terrific read and I for one would love to see this become
a series. Goldberg is the real deal and should be on everyone’s must read
list.

Thanks so much, Jon. I’d like to write more about Harvey, too.

An Idiosyncratic View of My Book

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Many thanks to Sarah Weinman at Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind for making my new book  THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE a "pick of the week".

This book is getting a ton of
review attention and it’s easy to see why: on the surface, it’s a classic
wish-fulfillment tale, but the substance that lies beneath is what elevates
Goldberg’s novel into a thoughtful, sometimes sweet and always engaging look at
what it takes to grow from a boy to a man. In a way, I see why it took so long
to reach readers: many other writers would need another 100 pages to tell the
same story, but credit to the author for putting it across without a wasted
word.

Christmas on Television

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027598331501_sclzzzzzzz_Christmas is a time for families to come together to count their blessings and enjoy the love, joy, and
spirituality of the holiday season.  The same thing goes for your
favorite TV characters and their families. Just about every TV family has
celebrated the holidays in their own special way… giving us some of the most
memorable, touching, and truly surreal moments in television history.

Now TV critic Diane Werts has collected them all – more than 700 episodes, specials, TV movies, reality shows, cartoons, and commercials — in her book CHRISTMAS ON TELEVISION. To tell you the truth, I’ve been kicking around the same idea for a book since I was a kid, recording Christmas episodes and sticking them in a box for the day I’d finally get around to writing it. Well, that day never came and now Diane has beaten me to it. I’ve already ordered my copy and can’t wait to read it.