Current Affairs

Sad News

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Two television legends died on Friday — Don Knotts and Darren McGavin. Both will be greatly missed.

I never met Knotts but I was lucky enough to meet McGavin — I interviewed him over twenty years ago, over a long lunch, for an article in STARLOG magazine. It was a real thrill for me, because I was a huge fan of his two series KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER and THE OUTSIDER, both short-lived classics.  I remember him as a very gracious man and a wonderful storyteller. Over the years, I’ve also enjoyed his terrific readings of the Travis McGee novels… so much so, that I can’t read the books myself now without hearing his voice.

We tried to hired McGavin for a guest-starring role on a DIAGNOSIS MURDER episode but he’d suffered a stroke and was unable to work. We ended up giving the part to Jack Klugman instead.

I am so amazingly talented it should bring tears to your eyes

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"[My book] is unknown for the masterpiece that it is."

"I’m not just another writer. I don’t think people understand my relationship with this city and they don’t understand what I’ve achieved."

"There is not another writer in Southern California who sits between Bellow and Conrad next to Hemingway and Kafka…"

"Of course they admire me. They wouldn’t exist without me. I am in the canon. Those other people will never be in the canon."

No, that’s not some fanficcer talking about himself and his immortal Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings cross-over slash epic … and it’s not  Tono Rondone, James Kosub,  Dr. Robin Reid, or even Lori Prokop, either. This ridiculously over-the-top self-love comes from writer Kate Braverman, basking in her own greatness  in today’s Los Angeles Times. 

I’ve never read Kate Braverman. She may actually be the best thing to happen to literature since the invention of ink. She certainly has won her share of literary honors and has been a mentor to a very impressive list of admired, critically-acclaimed writers. But I have an immediate, instinctive dislike of anyone  who calls their own work a "masterpiece" and touts themselves as legendary artists. Then again, the article mentions that Braverman has spent much of her life as a drug addict, which explains a lot. Most of the addicts I’ve known in my life also believed the universe revolved around them…and were furious when no one noticed.

UPDATE 2-27-04: Writer Rodger Jacobs  samples reactions from all over the blogosphere to Braverman’s comments…as well as stories about some of her even more outrageous behavior.

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.

At Least It Wasn’t a One-Armed Man

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A $1 million Ferrari was totalled in a race on PCH last night.  The owner of the car, a Swedish millionaire, fled the scene and was found wandering in a canyon. He claimed he wasn’t driving the car…but that someone he knew only as "Dietrich" was behind the wheel.

One witness told deputies that the Ferrari appeared
to be racing with a Mercedes-Benz SLR northbound along the coastal
highway when the accident occurred about 6 a.m. west of Decker Road.

"It took out the pole, and part of the car went another 600 feet,"
Sheriff’s Sgt. Philip Brooks said. "There were 1,200 feet of debris out
there."

Eriksson told authorities that "Dietrich" ran up a hill
toward the canyon road and disappeared. Brooks said detectives are far
from convinced they have the whole story.

Eriksson "had a .09
blood-alcohol level, but if he’s a passenger, that’s OK," Brooks said.
"But he had a bloody lip, and only the air bag on the driver’s side had
blood on it. The passenger-side air bag did not. My Scooby-Doo
detectives are looking closely into that.

Better Late than Never

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Lots of old pilots are being dusted off and redeveloped this season. The latest is  THE WEDDING ALBUM, which Fox passed on five years ago… and is now greenlighting as a pilot again. Variety reports that VP Craig Erwich has always loved the script, about a NY wedding photographer and his assistant who attempt to find romance in their own
lives while shooting the weddings of others, and was just waiting for the right time to resurrect it. If it was about a crime scene photographer, or one of them talked to God, it could have been shopped to CBS years ago.

God Is A Bullet…and a Movie

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I found this nugget in Variety today…Nick Cassavetes is writing and directing an adaptation of Boston Teran’s novel GOD IS A BULLET.  You may recall that Boston Teran is a pseudonym … reportedly for a well-known mystery author who wanted to try a different voice.  While GOD IS A BULLET generated some heat, the follow-up book didn’t.

From now on, it’s Diet Coke, No Ice.

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A 12-year-old compared bacteria levels in ice samples from five
restaurants in South Florida with toilet water samples from the same
restaurants.
The toilet water was cleaner. From ABC News:

Jasmine Roberts never expected her award-winning middle school science
project to get so much attention. But the project produced some
disturbing results: 70 percent of the time, ice from fast food
restaurants was dirtier than toilet water.

Some Really Nice Things to Say

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The I Love a Good Mystery Blog has some really nice things to say about THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE.

Imagine sitting down with someone who has a wild story to tell, and manages it
to tell it with great humour.  This person quickly becomes a friend, and lets
you in on all the fun details of his adventure.  Sound good?  If so, get
yourself a copy of Lee Goldberg’s book, THE
MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE…

…I tore through this book and just couldn’t put it down.  With a terrific style
that makes the reader feel part of the action, Goldberg has managed to create a
very funny book that doesn’t skimp on plot, dialogue or surprise twists.

Thanks — you made my day. It’s rainy here in L.A. and for some reason, writing today has been like chiseling at granite with a cotton ball (that labored metaphor is a perfect example how badly it’s been going).

Gone Baby Gone

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Variety reports that director/writer Ben Affleck’s feature film adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s book GONE BABY GONE has started production in Boston, with Casey Affleck and Michelle Monahan as private eyes Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro.

Read my Manuscript

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Author Tess Gerritsen has a terrific post on her blog about aspiring writers who want her to read their manuscripts… and get pissed off when she doesn’t.

If I were to say yes to every unpublished author’s request, I
wouldn’t have time to write my own books. And truly, I’m astounded that
people whom I don’t know, or hardly know, would come up to me and
essentially ask, "Say, will you spend eight hours reading my incredible
literary work?" Because that’s what it works out to. Eight hours of
work.

And if you don’t see my point, think about this. What if someone you
barely know says to you: "Hey, wouldn’t you love to come over and spend
eight hours cleaning my house?"

You’d tell them thanks, but no thanks.   

Which will then earn you the resentful comment: "But you OWE it to me
because your house is so clean! Your clean house makes you OBLIGATED to
help me!"

If the person asking me to clean their house is my mother or an elderly
friend, you betcha I’ll go over and help clean the house.

Same with reading manuscripts.  Mothers and close friends get special dispensation.   

But when I hear unpublished authors whine that published authors are
OBLIGATED to help them get published, that’s when my blood goes from
simmer to boil.

I’m not in Tess Gerritsen’s league, but I get asked by strangers all the time (mostly by email) to read their books,  scripts and series ideas… and to pass them on to my agent…or pass them on editors and producers…and they are furious when I politely decline (apparently, there is no polite way to say no to these people). I’m willing to bet just about every published author or produced screenwriter can relate to this.