My Blog
TV Main Title of the Week – Special Government Bail Out Edition
It seems to me that now would be the perfect time to remake this sitcom…
25 Writers Who Have Influenced Me
Author Raymond Benson started this meme on Facebook and it's quickly catching on. My list, of novelists and screenwriters, in no particular order is:
2. Ian Fleming
3. Robert B. Parker
4. John Irving
5. Larry McMurtry
8. Roy Huggins
9. Ross MacDonald
10. Richard Maibaum
13. Elmore Leonard
15. Ed McBain
16. E.F Wallengren
17. Michael Gleason
18. Ross H. Spencer
19. Stephen King
20. A.B. Guthrie
21. Blake Edwards
22. William Goldman 
23. Norman Lear
24. Neil Simon
25. Carl Hiaasen
Of course, immediately after compiling the list, I started thinking of people I left out… like Charles Willeford, Donald Hamilton, "Franklin W. Dixon," "Carolyn Keene," the guy who wrote "Encyclopedia Brown," the guy(s) who wrote "The Three Investigators," Steven Bochco, Leslie Charteris, Levinson & Link, Robert Ludlum, James Crumley, Trevanian, and Rod Serling…but I only had 25. (Pictured: Michael Gleason and Robert B. Parker & I).
Mr. Monk and the Audio Book
I'm delighted to report that that MR. MONK IS MISERABLE is now available as an unabridged audiobook from BBC Audiobooks. You can find it at the iTunes store, Amazon, and from Audible.com. I've heard a few hours of it and Laura Hicks does a great job channeling Natalie and capturing all of the other characters. She wisely doesn't try to imitate the actors from TV series and makes the characters her own. I especially enjoyed her, as Randy Disher, singing "I Don't Need A Badge." I was stunned that she actually did her homework and sang it to the tune from the episode where the song first appeared. That's dedication!
They Do Things Differently Down Under
Did you know that if an Australian publisher reprints a foreign title within 30 days of it's release anywhere else in the world, there's a copyright law Down Under that requires Australian bookstores to only sell the Australian edition? I didn't either, until I read an article in The Guardian about prominent Oz authors protesting a Government review aimed at perhaps rescinding the law.
This can mean that books are more expensive – and harder to get hold of – in Australia than they are elsewhere, but also allows the country's local publishing to flourish, rather than forcing it to compete with a flood of cheaper-priced editions from overseas.
[…]Booker prize-winning author Peter Carey argued against making any changes. "As long as we have a territorial copyright our publishers have a commercial argument to support Australian literature," he said. "They will battle for the sake of our readers and our writers, even if their owners have no personal commitment to the strange loves and needs of Australian readers, or the cultural integrity and future of the Australian nation."
Rewording Press Releases Just Isn’t Enough Anymore…
Are the Hollywood trade papers on borrowed time? Reuters reports on the precarious state of Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, both of which stopped practicing anything close to genuine journalism years ago:
For more than 75 years, Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter have battled to be the movie industry's top newspaper, but recent layoffs due to the recession and competition from Internet blogs has Hollywood wondering if it will soon become a one paper town.
Publishers of the showbusiness newspapers say advertising has plunged, even during the current Oscar season when movie studios pay well to hype their films with cover page ads.
Moreover, the papers face increased competition from bloggers providing a daily diet of Hollywood news and gossip, such as Nikki Finke's DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com, Tina Brown's TheDailyBeast.com and David Poland's MovieCityNews.com.
There's no point to subscribing to Variety any more. Nikke Finke's blog reports more genuine news in one day than Variety does in a year…and without their blatantly biased "reporting."
25 Random Things About Me
I've lost count of how many people have tagged me for this "25 Random Facts About Me" meme. So here goes:
1. When I was a pre-schooler in Oakland CA, I ran away from home, showed up at the door of the Mormon temple, and asked if Shirley could come out to play.
2. I'm a Lee Hazlewood fan.
3. I had a girlfriend who was an editorial assistant at Playgirl. I honed my skills writing sex scenes by writing fake "Letters to the Editor" for $25 each.
4. My favorite BBQ place is It's In the Sauce in Ventura, Ca.
5. When I'm sick, I like to lie in bed and watch old episodes of "Gunsmoke."
6. I wrote my first novel when I was ten. It was about a superspy from the future who was born in an underwater sperm bank. I don't know why it was underwater, or how you made deposits, but I thought it was pretty cool.
7. I love Nacho Cheese Doritos.
8. My favorite James Bond movie is "Goldfinger."
9. I've broken all but one limb…so far.
10. When I was five or six, I used to tell people my name was "Lee Beaudine." I don't know why. 
11. When I was a kid, I once threatened to send my little sister Karen to prison for picking apart my Nerf ball. She was so terrified that she gave me all the money in her piggy bank to buy her freedom. I still feel guilty about that.
12. My middle name is Brian.
13. The ugliest city I have ever been to is El Paso, TX.
14. Until I was about 25, I spent two weeks every summer at Loon Lake, Washington.
15. I love the theme to "It Takes a Thief" but I can't hum it.
16. I had a crush on Linda Carter when I was a kid. She was my Wonder Woman.
17. I think Harry Whittington is one of the great, unappreciated authors of noir.
18. When I was a kid, I used to collect Wacky Packs. I thought the cards were hilarious.
19. One of my all-time favorite books is "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry.
20. I've seen Roger Moore naked.
21. I like to read Motor Trend and the National Inquirer on airplanes. This embarrasses my wife.
22. I can't spell marriage, similar, or envelope.
23. I wrote two episodes of "The New Adventures of Flipper."
24. I once flagged down a cop on Jefferson Blvd. to alert him that a homeless man was "playing a twisted game of Russian roulette" by running into traffic. The cop actually asked me to repeat that without imitating the ABC announcer's voice.
25. I owned a Chevy Chevette.
You Don’t Pay Agents
Author Alison Kent tipped me to this terrific blog post from Jennifer Jackson, her agent:
Just in case there is someone out there reading this who doesn't already know: Reputable agents work on commission. Commissions are based on selling your work. They make money if you make money. It's a motivational system.
This is something every aspiring author needs to know. Any agent who asks for a reading fee, a submission fee, or any other kind of fee is a fraud.
Harvesting More Suckers
Brien Jones is at it again…the vanity press huckster is offering to sell your self-published book to Hollywood using all of his amazing connections (which, translated, means he's going to attend "The Great American Pitchfest" like hundreds of other wanna-bes). Victoria Strauss at Writer's Beware has the scoop on Brien's pitch, which sounds an awful lot like the scams run by Bookman/Airleaf, his former employer, which I first blogged about back in 2005.. Airleaf has since been shut down by the Indiana Attorney General.
Mr. Monk is Proofed
I am currently proof-reading the galleys for the paperback edition of MR. MONK IS MISERABLE. If you have spotted any typos/missing words, etc. in the hardcover edition, please let me know by February 7th so I can prevent the mistakes from being repeated.