My Blog

The New TV Guide

by

I’ve picked up the first two issues of the new TV GUIDE and I have to say, it’s
a big improvement in just about every way. There’s far more content — and
livelier, too —  and the listings are much easier to browse. The old TV Guide
had a musty, dull, dated feel…but was comfortable, familiar, and dependable.
While I have some affection for it, I can’t say I miss it. It’s like
having your cranky, but lovable  78-year-old next door neighbor move to
an assisted living facility and a bright, 22-year-old college student with a
porn-star’s surgically-enhanced body moving in and inviting you to her parties.

Riding into the Sunset

by

Author Jory Sherman blogs about the death of the western novel, a genre he excels at.

Now, I see some small signs of life, but the publishing industry continues its
blind slaughter of the genre, a veritable libracide using the tactics of small
print orders, no publicity, no nurturing of new writers and the gradual genocide
of the older ones.

Some writers are dropping out, having seen the bold
handwriting on the wall, and turning to the Mystery novel, the Christian, or
other markets. The Western, which has made great strides as our exclusive
American literature, is being ignored by the publishing industry, the
distributors, wholesalers, book sellers, and the reading public.

It’s
not dead yet. It will probably never die, because of the power of its mythical
backbone. We are the only country in the world which has the Old West,
and we have the brave writers who continue to explore its oceanic depths, its
big sky heights.

But, we’re dying out, too, along with our books which
are being killed off, one by one, by the insidious indifference of all
concerned.

The real loser here, is, of course, the Reader, who never saw
the blips on the radar and if they ever did, never cared. They missed a lot, and
that’s a crying shame.

Award Winning POD Isn’t Winning

by

David Montgomery reports that the  "winning" novel in the  Aspiring Authors Contest, sponsored by the POD vanity press Lulu.com,  is the perfect candidate for self-publishing…because it’s doubtful any other publisher would be interested.

The purpose behind this contest was to legitimize the self-publishing or
vanity/POD "alternative" for writers unable to break-in via the traditional
route. If the sponsors could come up with a great book, one of the alleged many
that languish unpublished due to the elitism and ignorance of New York
publishers, surely this would be a triumph for aspiring vanity authors
everywhere.

Well…not so fast. Unfortunately, it turns out that the book wasn’t
very good.

Rinse. Lather. Die.

by

I got this email from a friend of mine and thought it was so funny, I had to share it with you.

One of the prominent trends in mystery fiction todayis the publication of
what I call "niche mysteries." These are books that, in theory, will appeal
to a small niche of readers due to their unique and charming specialty
content.

As a result, we have suffered through the Mommy mysteries,
the scrapbooking mysteries, the needlepoint mysteries. Mysteries set in the
world of bed and breakfasts, travel agencies, and old age homes. Mysteries
with recipes, patterns, or tips on making candy.

But now they’ve gone
too far.

Today I received in the mail a mystery novel ("first in the
new series," the cover proudly trumpets) that is set in the exciting and
quirky world of…

Soapmaking.

That’s right. Soapmaking. It even
includes soapmaking tips.

The title? Dead Men Don’t Lye.

I
couldn’t make this shit up.

What’s next, Glass-blowing  Mysteries?  Nail Polishing Mysteries? Mohel Mysteries?

Send me off to the Motion Picture Home

by

On DorothyL, the mystery list-serv, Terry G. wrote:

Hi DLers, I was perusing the latest dl list and went off to check out the
mystery readers international site, which I was not familiar with, and
enjoyed an article by Elaine Viets and Lee Goldberg in particularLee, who must be in the sixty range in years since
his tv PI touchstones were about the same as mine, mentioned Richard S
Prather, who would certainly fit into the humorous thread that was being
bandied about for the last couple weeks.
Um, I’m 43. You know, it’s possible to read books and authors who are older
than you are. If I’d mentioned Sherlock Holmes, would that mean I was 100 years
old?
 
People always assume I’m much older than I am. I can’t tell you how many
times DIAGNOSIS MURDER viewers or readers meet me and say  "Oh, I thought you’d
be so much older." I guess they figure because the show stars an 80-year-old man
(and the books have his picture on the cover) that the author must be getting
the Senior Citizen discount at Hometown Buffet, too. I always smile politely
when people say that to me but I’m not quite sure how to take it…

Open Up Those Golden Gates

by

I’m heading up to San Francisco today to sign books at Barnes & Noble in Walnut Creek tonight (7:3o pm), chat with the members of Mystery Readers International on Friday, and do a signing at M IS FOR MYSTERY in San Mateo on Saturday at 2 pm.  That means postings here may be sparse over the next few days. In the meantime, you can always go back and get yourself riled up by all the nasty things I have to say about fanfic and vanity presses.

Auto-Pilot

by

TV writer Paul Guyot continues his unflinchingly honest and informative chronicle on the development and production of  the pilot he wrote for TNT. The network subsequently brought in a big-name showrunner and Paul found himself relegated to the sidelines (despite assurances to the contrary). Sadly, this happens all the time in our business and Paul, being a pro, knows that. Even so, it still hurts when it happens.   

What has been the hardest thing for me to deal with is that the network has
completely supported the showrunner and his "tweaking" of my script. My story.
My setting. My characters. After telling me (in the beginning), that they wanted
something unique and edgy (sic), what they now have that they so dearly
love, is the very thing they told me specifically they didn’t want… a typical
TV show. And not a conference call goes by that someone doesn’t rave about how
much better the script is now.

Hey look, it may be better. The
guy has Emmys and I don’t. I just wish the network had given me a shot to do
this other version, and then brought in their high-priced Showrunner.

It’s like this – the network wanted me to hit a home run. So in my first
at-bat, I hit a double to left. But instead of getting another swing, they bring
in another guy and he hits a double to right, and they all cheer and say,
"That’s just what we wanted! A double to right!"

But again, nature of
the beast, folks. Don’t feel sorry for me – I already took care of that. No need
to post comments about how much they suck or whatever. This is TV. Ask Lee.
Happens all the time. As I said earlier – you have two choices in these matters
– quit or ride it out. I chose to ride it out. Though it’s being done
differently than how I’d do it, and I’m being basically ignored throughout the
entire process, I’m holding on. I want to feed my kids. I don’t have the luxury
of conviction. And someone much smarter than me once warned about the paralysis
of conviction. Especially when it wasn’t your story to begin with.

All You Can Eat

by

My Brother Tod reports on the hilarity and despair of this year’s Las Vegas Book Festival.

The festival itself was held at the Las Vegas Library, which is located Billy
Goat Gruff style just under a freeway overpass. It’s a nice library, actually,
and there seemed to be lots of people hanging around the place. Unfortunately, a
great many of the people milling about were there for the box of free Top Ramen
left out front and the handsome corners and nooks where, if you’re a junkie,
you’re allowed to fix without incident. What the homeless folks could have been
doing instead was hearing a bunch of notable authors talking about books. Aside
from your favorite frumpy Jew, the festival also included Rob Roberge, Steve Almond, Jeremy
Schaap, Neil Pollack, Chris Epting, Glenn Gaslin, Steve
Erickson, Francois
Camoin, another guy named Francois whose name escapes me, Joe Queenan, James McManus, Geoff Schumacher and many, many others
(including poets!). Alas.

New Hope for the Dead

by

If BookExpo is where new books and dreams are born, then the Chicago International
Remainder & Overstock Book Exposition (CIROBE). is where
they go to die. Bookseller Robert Gray talks on his blog about the big sales expo for
remainder, overstock, and damaged books that’s coming up this week:

I’ll think, as I always do, about the rampant optimism of BookExpo in the spring,
when all is new and every book on the list has the potential to sell through.
"We’re very excited about our fall list," they say. And they should
say that. They should be excited. Every book is a gem at BookExpo, every
book a winner in waiting.

Well, maybe not every book.

Still, nobody expects a book to die needlessly. And yet they do, every day, die ugly
deaths and pass through to the underworld, Hades, or, in modern English, The
Bargain Table.

Maybe it’s not a cattle drive at this stage, after all. Maybe it’s a boat trip across
the River Styx.

Charon, the old man who ferries the dead to the underworld.

CIROBE, the show that ferries dead books to bargain book world.