Festival of Goldbergs

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The Goldberg Brothers are going to be all over the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books this weekend at UCLA. I'll be kicking off the Festival by moderating the first panel on the first day — at 10:30 in Dodd Hall with authors Steve Cannell, Jan Burke, Robert Dugoni and Craig Johnson. The panel will be followed by a booksigning. The Mystery Writers of America is sponsoring all the mystery-track panels in Dodd Hall throughout the weekend, so you can pretty much park yourself there all day and count on having a good time.

My brother Tod is moderating a panel at 3:30 on on Humor & Race with writer/producer Larry Wilmore, Lalo Alcaraz and Christian Lander. And he's got another panel at 12:30 on Sunday, also about humor, where he'll be yukking it up with Carolyn Kellogg, Seth Greenland and Ben Greenman.

Me, Tod and honorary Goldberg William Rabkin will be signing our books at the Mystery Bookstore booth on Sunday at 2 pm. 

There's also a Danny Goldberg who is going to be at the Festival, too, but he's no relation to us and doesn't have our rugged, Redford-esque good looks.

Help a Writer Restore His Life’s Work

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Weinbanner Writer Len Wein’s house burned down, incinerating all the comic books that he wrote. My friend Mark Evanier is leading an effort to rebuild Wein’s collection:

You know Len Wein. Award-winning comic book person. Co-creator of Swamp Thing and Wolverine and various other X-Men. Editor of Watchmen. Writer, at one time or other, of all the major characters: Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Hulk, you name it. That Len Wein. A great guy.

On April 6, 2009, a fire destroyed most of the home he was sharing with his wife Chris and their son Michael. As Len tells us, Chris was out when it happened. The men were home and asleep. He awoke to find the world in flames around him and he managed to get himself out and to save Michael, as well. Sadly, their beloved dog Sheba perished that day.

So did Len’s collection of books and toys and games and artwork and those things we accumulate that help define and enrich our lives. You have stuff. He had stuff. Insurance will fix the house but many things, including his comics, were not covered. Some of us thought it would be grand if his friends and fans pitched in to help him recreate those shelves of the comic books he’s worked on.

You can get the details here.

Mr. Monk and the Galley Giveaway

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I have two extra, bound galleys for MR. MONK AND THE DIRTY COP which I will be giving away at random. Here's the deal…post a review of your favorite MONK novel on Amazon and send me a copy of it by June 1st at: lee AT Leegoldberg DOT com.

I will put the names into a hat and select two winners at random to receive a signed galley. Please be sure to include your snail mail address in the email. Winners will be announced here.

Fanficcers say “Uncle”

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!BQZC7Z!BWk~$(KGrHgoH-CsEjlLlzPB1BJ4prspev!~~_12 That delusional TWILIGHT fan isn't the only one trying to sell fanfiction on eBay…fanficcers L. Lazarus & A. Morrisetti have copied the look of the original MAN FROM UNCLE tie-in paperbacks from the 1960s to sell their unauthorized UNCLE novels on the auction site for $21.95 each:. 

THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. Continued…

NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE THE DISCONTINUED PRINTING OF THE BELOVED ACE NOVELS, NAPOLEON SOLO AND ILLYA KURYAKIN COME TO YOU ONCE AGAIN…IN PAPERBACK!

148 pages of sheer thrills and adventure just as you remember it from the original series. This book and the rest to come in this series are near exact replicas of the original paperbacks…but with new stories. Written by an actual screenwriter, you will feel you are seeing what you are reading.

A MUST HAVE for any U.N.C.L.E. fan.

Make room on your bookshelf right next to the ACE books you have loved and cherished for all these years.

They offer this laughable "disclaimer" :

THESE BOOKS ARE NOT ACE PUBLISHED NOVELS, NOR DO WE INTEND TO COPY ANY PART OF ANY ACE PUBLICATION. THESE BOOKS ARE FOR FAN USE ONLY AND ARE NOT INTENDED FOR MASS MEDIA DISTRIBUTION.

And yet, they have copied the Ace books and they are selling them on eBay, trying to make money off a property they don't own. 

One of the two idiots, who purports to be a "professional television writer with credits to include 'Hart to Hart''" is also selling an UNCLE novella for $18.00.

This is, of course, a blatant copyright violation, but my guess is that the guys think they can slide by because the underlying property is so old. My guess is that they are wrong.

UPDATE 4-19-2009:  They have revised their "disclaimer": 

These books are fan fiction and are not meant to infringe on any rights held by ACE Publishing, Warner Brothers, or any other entity who holds any rights to the Man from U.N.C.L.E., the television series or the previously published series of books. These books are NOT intended for mass distribution and are for fan use only!

I have news for these dimwits. Saying that you're not infringing on rights while you are doing just that doesn't make it okay. That's like saying "I'm not stealing your car even though I've just hotwired it, sped away in it, and am trying to sell it on Craig's List for money I will spend on hookers and blow. The car is intended for fan use only."

Day of the Living Dead

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Today I was so jet-lagged that I felt like I was sleep walking around Munich. I know I looked like the undead. But I fortified myself with some tea and chocolate at Kafer before the big pitch and it went well. Between the sugar, caffeine and adreniline, I've managed to stay alert from mid-afternoon until right about now (8:30 pm on Thursday night). We had a post-pitch discussion over dinner and then on my way back to the hotel I treated myself to a Kopenhagener pastry for a job well done. I am going to go to bed as soon as I finish typing this post.  Tomorrow morning I have a breakfast meeting with my friends at Hofmann & Voges Productions and then it's back to L.A.   All in all, I think it was  a very productive  five days that I hope to build upon in the coming weeks.

Hot Dogging

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Greetings from Munich. I arrived here on Tuesday night from London, where it was rainy and gray, to weather that felt more like Southern California than Germany. I guzzled Diet Coke on the flight so that I wouldn't fall asleep when I met my friends Daniela & David Tully for drinks at 9 p.m.  Daniela is a top executive at ProSeiben, a major German network, and her American husband David is a screenwriter. It was great to see them again and to get caught up on the state of the German TV market (which is lousy, just like everywhere else).

The next morning I awoke to a beautiful day…clear blue skies, warm weather. It was the nicest weather I've ever had in Munich and I took full advantage of it, walking all over the city and discovering it anew.  The best part was sitting in the Viktualienmarkt, eating a delicious hotdog and butter streusel, sipping Diet Coke, and enjoying the scenery.

I got back to the hotel in mid-afternoon for meetings with my friends at Action Concept, the studio I am working with over here. I ended the day with a nice long dinner at an outside table at an old Bavarian restaurant with Heiko Schmidt, the terrific line producer I worked with on FAST TRACK. I was in bed by midnight…but I awoke at 3:30 in the morning and couldn't get back to sleep. So I got up around 4, called home, answered some emails, and studied my notes for my meetings.

Now it's 7 a.m. I have been up for three-and-a-half hours already, and my meetings start with breakfast at 9. The most important meeting is at 3, when I will have to pitch three projects to a potential international coproduction partner. I hope I don't fall asleep in middle of it.

Tomorrow morning I head back to L.A….and hope to do some serious plotting for my next  MONK book on the plane. On Monday I start jury duty.

Lazy Monday

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I woke up at 6 a.m. on Monday…I would have liked to sleep more after a day without sleep, but that's jet-lag for  you. I say in bed for an hour, trying to sleep, then  got up, had breakfast at a nice little cafe, and spent an hour or so making notes on a feature rewrite that I am up for. Then I roamed around London as it woke up, too. 

Around noon, I headed out to actor Shaun Prendergast's  home for easter and had a marvelous time with his friends and family. I lost track of most their names in my jet-lag haze, but there were lots of actors and writers there, including Stephen Tompkinson, the star of a series called WILD AT HEART. I've  never seen his show but I knew that I'd seen him before, I just couldn't place his face until the train ride back into London…he was in the final PRIME SUSPECT.

 Stephen and his wife shared some fascinating stories about life in South Africa. They also shot a documentary in Africa…I didn't quite get what it was about, but part of it involved taking tribesmen up in a hot  air balloon to see their land from the sky for the first time.  Another actor, who I gathered is also a director, regaled us with tales about his time on location in India on SHARPE'S PERIL.

Anyway, I had a great time chatting while stuffing myself with Shaun's delicious steak & oyster pie, roast potatos, and all sorts of tasty dishes laid out buffet-style on a big table in the kitchen. I learned that the TV business in the UK is going through a rough patch, too. Shows are being asked to significantly trim their budgets or face cancellation. I was told that two hit shows, LEWIS and WIRE IN THE BLOOD, were cancelled over costs and that one of the networks is on shaky financial footing. I'm sure I will learn more about that when I have breakfast with my UK  agent and head off together for some studio meetings.

I spent my evening walking around London and then went back to my hotel room to write up my notes for my pitch on the feature rewrite…and was in bed by 11. I awoke 45 minutes ago…at 5 am. Wide awake. That's jet-lag. I have lots of meetings this morning…then a flight to Munich late this afternoon…and drinks tonight with some friends from a German TV network. I hope I can catch a nap on the plane…