My Blog

Rockin’ Rockford

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059534244201_sclzzzzzzz_If you’re as into TV… and TV Private Eyes… as I am, you’ve got to buy yourself Ed Robertson’s "Thirty Years of THE ROCKFORD FILES." The book covers every aspect of the classic series, from the making of the pilot through the production of the eight reunion movies (as well as unproduced scripts and the tie-in books by Stuart Kaminsky among other things).  Robertson interviews all the key players in front of, and behind, the camera, including James Garner, Steve Cannell, Roy Huggins, and Charles Floyd Johnson, and provides detailed episode synopses.

Technically, this isn’t a new book. It’s an update and revision of two earlier books Robertson wrote about THE  ROCKFORD FILES … "This is Jim Rockford" and "The Rockford Files: A 20th Anniversary Tribute." I have both of those books, too (told you I was a geek) and, like improved software, it’s well-worth "upgrading" to this new edition.

(By the way, it’s from ASJA Press, a special publishing program through iUniverse for out-of-print books by members of the American Society of Journalists and Authors)

“A Female Bourne Identity”

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Variety reports that New Line Cinema has hired British mystery writer Mark Burnell to adapt his 1999 novel "The Rhythm Section," about the adventures of a female assassin, for the big screen.

New Line exec veep Mark Ordesky, shepherding the project with senior veep of
European production Ileen Maisel, describes it as "a female ‘Bourne Identity.’ "

"Rhythm Section" follows Patrick as she looks into a mysterious air crash
that took the lives of her parents and brother.

"What’s exciting is not just launching this franchise, but also the talent
discovery of Mark Burnell," Ordesky says. "We really feel he’s someone who’s
going to develop into something quite extraordinary."

Typical Day

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Today was another typical working day for me (yeah, I know it’s Sunday, it makes no difference).

I spent the morning working on my second MONK novel. First, I revised the work I did yesterday, then worked on a new chapter. I managed to write 9 new pages.  I had lunch, then I spent the next few hours studying the three pilot pitches I’m going to be doing at various studios and production companies tomorrow (while keeping one eye on my daughter, who was in the pool with a friend). And then, just before logging on here, I spent some time sending out emails to some booksellers to arrange signings in October for THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE. Once I’m done with this post, I’ll BBQ some chicken for the family and then go back to work on MONK for a while before taking one, last look at the pitches before going to bed. 

Tomorrow moring, I hit the road at 8 a.m. to make it on time to our first meeting of the day, a 10 am pitch  in Hollywood.  I probably won’t get home until after 5 pm and then, after dinner, I’ll revise the MONK pages I wrote today and, if I still have some energy left, I’ll try to work some more on the book.

Okay, time to go, the BBQ is calling…

Room 222

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We’re back in the classroom again…well, the virtual one, anyway. William Rabkin and I are teaching "Beginning Television Writing" for  Writers University, starting on August 1.

In this four week course, we’ll give you an inside look at the world of
episodic television. You will learn—and practice— the actual process
involved in successfully writing your spec episodic script (the sample you’ll need to start getting TV work). You will learn how to analyze a TV show and
develop “franchise”-friendly story ideas. You will develop and write a
story… and then, after incorporating our brilliant notes, you will be
sent off to write your outline. Finally, you will develop and refine
your outline with us… and leaving you the course
ready to write your episodic spec script…the first step in getting a
job on a TV series.

For more information, click here.

Maybe He Should Have Stayed ‘Off the Grid’

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My brotherTod reviews John Twelve Hawks’ THE TRAVELER , the marketing ploy masquerading as a novel. Rather than push the book on its own creative merits, the thrust of the advertising and publicity campaign is that the author is anonymous and lives "off the grid," as if that’s a reason to buy a book (or, for that matter, to publish one). 

According to the book jacket and press materials for The Traveler, the author "John Twelve Hawks lives off the Grid." What the bio fails to mention and what the publisher might have failed to note was that, "John Twelve Hawks doesn’t know how to write dialog." In addition, "John Twelve Hawks never was told that pages and pages of expositional dialog broken up with meaningless secondary action isn’t engaging."

I wasn’t planning on reading it anyway.

Drive By Signings

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My friend JA Konrath has been blogging from the road, keeping a running tally of all the "drive-by" signings he’s doing on his book tour.

A "drive-by" signing means you just show up at a store unannounced and unscheduled and sign whatever stock they have on hand as opposed to a formal signing, which is a scheduled event that a bookstore has arranged (and which generally means they will have lots of your books, if not customers, on hand). His book tour is built around the formal signings, mostly at independant and mystery bookstores, set up by his publisher…the drive-bys are something he’s doing on the side, taking the initiative to get as much bang for the publisher’s promotional buck as he can. A typical day of drive-bys for Joe has gone like this:

Got into San Diego around noon, picked up the rental car, checked into the slum that is the Westgate Hotel, and started the drive-bys.

Baja Books, signed 3 paperbacks.

B. Dalton on Horton, signed 2 hardcovers, 3 paperbacks.

Barnes & Noble on Hazard, signed 4 hardcovers, 6 paperbacks.

Barnes & Noble on Grossmont, signed 4 hardcovers, 8 paperbacks, sold 1.

Bookstar on Rosecrans, signed 2 hardcovers, 2 paperbacks.

Borders on Camino del Rio, signed 2 hardcovers, 6 paperbacks, sold 1.

Borders on 6th, signed 2 hardcvoers, 6 paperbacks.

Waldenbooks on Friars, signed 6 hardcovers, 6 paperbacks.

Then
I got stuck in some serious rush hour traffic, and it took 90 minutes
to get to my signing that night, at Mysterious Galaxy.

That’s lot of time, effort, and expense to sign 22 hardcovers and 40 paperbacks. But I understand what’s motivating him. Up until now, I’ve done the same thing.  Now, on the eve of two of my new books being released, I’m wondering if the drive-bys really make a difference and if there aren’t better, and more productive ways, to promote my book.  Your thoughts?

The Big Over Easy

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The NYTime’s Janet Maslin likes Jasper Fforde’s THE BIG OVER EASY, which is a relentless parody of mystery cliches about a detective investigating the killing of Humpty Dumpty:

The crime scene is described with tongue-in-cheek attention to forensic detail.
("Jack noted a thin and hairless leg – still with a shoe and sock – attached to
a small area of eggshell draped with tattered sheets of translucent membrane.")
Then there is the requisite moody-detective moment of contemplating this cruel
turn of fate. "Humpty had been a jolly chap then, full of life and jokes," Mr.
Fforde writes. "Jack paused for a moment and stared silently at the corpse."

After a glancing reference to Spratt’s last case, "The Crown v. Three Pigs,"
in which the murder victim, Mr. Wolff, "went to his casket unavenged and
parboiled," Mr. Fforde is ready to go anywhere. Soon he has introduced a whiff
of Greek mythology at the home of Mrs. Hubbard, Humpty’s landlady. ("Sorry,
pooch," she says. "No bones for you today." ) Her other lodger turns out to be
Prometheus. "The Titan Prometheus? The one who stole fire from the gods and gave
it to mankind?" Jack asks.

"I’ve no concern with what he does in his private life," Mrs. Hubbard
answers. "He pays the rent on time, so he’s O.K. with me."

It sounds like fun. Coincidentally, my signed UK copy from Ralph Spurrier’s Post Mortem Books, arrived in the mail today…