Max Allan Collins's Blog, page 63

Books, Wonderful Books

Two wonderful new books by writers who should be of interest to readers of these updates are respectively about to come out and already out.

Coming soon is my son’s terrific translation of the modern Japanese classic, BATTLE ROYALE. He’s very happy right now, because – as you can see – the book had been blessed with an outstanding cover. The book itself was the basis of a very popular film, but also is the obvious inspiration for a little thing called HUNGER GAMES.

http://amzn.to/1g3vlWN

Jane Spillane’s memoir MY LIFE WITH MICKEY has been published and it’s a delight. Jane’s gift at storytelling is something that would make Mickey smile. It’s warm, funny and frank, and the design of the book – and the pictures throughout – are as charming as the memoir itself. No Spillane fan should miss this.

http://amzn.to/1cstJuN

The links I’ve provided above are Amazon ones, but other online retailers will certainly have BATTLE ROYALE, and the MY LIFE WITH MICKEY link takes you to the only place where you can get the regionally-published book.

I’ve had some lovely comments – both here and on Facebook – about my birthday post, and several top mystery-fiction bloggers – including Bill Crider and Ed Gorman – picked it up to share with their readers. (My NAKED CITY post was similarly picked up, including by J. Kingston Pierce at the prestigious Rap Sheet.) But I’d also like to share a fun “present” I received first thing, birthday morning.

As you may remember, I was asked to change the title of the Spillane western THE LEGEND OF CALEB YORK to something short and punchy. For reasons that I won’t go into (because they get us into spoiler territory), I strongly felt that we needed to stick with the original title, which was Mickey’s own. I wrote a long, impassioned e-mail to my editor that morning, making my case. Kensington is notorious for controlling their titles – for example, neither J.C. Harrow novel had the title that Matt Clemens and I had wanted. But they had a specific kind of title that was considered right for a serial killer thriller, and we went along. I got a similar vibe about westerns at Kensington’s, with a very specific approach to titles (short, punchy, with suggested violence, followed by “A Caleb York Western”).

So I made my Don Quixote type stand, fully believing I would get no where. In five minutes, both my editor Michalea Hamilton – after consulting the resident westerns guru at Kensington – wrote me back to say…they both agreed we me. THE LEGEND OF CALEB YORK it would be.

That rare if small victory on the battlefields of publishing was how I started my 66th year. Which makes me think this may be a good one.

Further, my smart, lovely editor then composed and sent me this birthday greeting, which I got permission to share with you:

There once was an outstanding writer,

Whose talents shone brighter and brighter,

In the land of Spillane,

He rekindled the flame,

And brought to life York, the gunfighter!

* * *

Here’s an intelligent review of BYE BYE, BABY, generally positive, where the blogger is not particularly interested in Marilyn Monroe though she has a strong Kennedy fascination. She raises the perhaps troubling point (to me anyway) that the book may only appeal to readers who are either MM or JFK (or both) fanatics. My hope is always that the Heller books work as novels, particularly as private eye thrillers, and that you don’t need a familiarity with, or obsession for, the case at hand. I really hope I’m right and this reviewer isn’t. I liked her reviewing style, which is chatty in a way that seems easy but isn’t.

On a somewhat similar note, this UK reviewer finds all the JFK assassination fuss boring, and he doesn’t care for ASK NOT much, though likes the writing and Heller himself enough to say he’ll try another. Admittedly, ASK NOT is a rough place to start reading the Heller saga. But what troubles me most is the notion that if you’re not from the USA, this subject will be dull (if so, it’s dull with lots of murders!).

Finally, here’s a nice WRONG QUARRY review.

M.A.C.

You Say It’s Your Birthday

Today (March 3rd, as I write this) is my 66th birthday. I am not looking for congratulatory e-mails or Facebook postings, but I do have a Paypal account for those wondering exactly how to help me celebrate.

Any birthday past forty inclines a person toward reflection, and I’m no exception. I am incredibly lucky. I haven’t had a real job since I taught college half-time in the early ‘70s, and my previous job had been sacking groceries. Yes, I’ve made money playing rock music, and obviously I bring in enough to keep the lights on around here by my writing. But both of those began as my hobbies, and having them turn into something more has been a blessing.

Career goals, many of them, have been reached or are nicely in progress. Nate Heller has worked the JFK case, the entire opus is back in print, and anything further is a lagniappe. I’ve written something that generated a major motion picture (ROAD TO PERDITION), which gives me a shot at being read after the writing has stopped. Nolan and Mallory and the Disaster series are completed. Quarry has made a rather remarkable comeback. There are other series that have decent shapes, should I never write another entry – four Eliot Ness in Cleveland, three Jack and Maggie Starr’s. I have completed the six substantial Mike Hammer novels from Mickey’s files, and two other non-Hammers. As with Heller, developing further Hammer and Spillane projects falls into the bonus area. I wrote my father’s wartime story (RED SKY IN MORNING) and a book about Wyatt Earp (BLACK HATS), and some thrillers, too, like the forthcoming SUPREME JUSTICE. I’ve written movies and directed a few – here I wish I’d done more and am still striving.

I have a respectable shelf of non-fiction works covering pin-ups, the history of mystery, men’s adventure mags and two (so far) Spillane critical/biographical titles. Goals remaining in that area include a full-length critical bio of Mickey (with my Spillane collaborator Jim Traylor) and of Eliot Ness (with writers/researchers Brad Schwartz and George Hagenauer) – those are already in early stages. A successful series continues with Barb on the ANTIQUES novels, which will number at least eleven, by current contract – very rewarding to do something in collaboration with Barb and that is so overtly funny.

I can look back on comics work that includes fifteen years on DICK TRACY, the longest run of a private eye comic book in comics history (MS. TREE – thanks, Terry!), and of course ROAD TO PERDITION (thanks, Richard!) and its prose and graphic-novel sequels. Thanks to movie and TV tie-ins, I got on the New York Times and USA Today’s bestseller lists, and was able to work in genres otherwise unavailable to me. I have won a number of awards and had quite a few nominations, though the Edgar remains elusive (up again this year, though), and that ugly little statue stays a career goal – Jon Breen has been nice enough to suggest in print that I should receive a career Edgar, which is more than a goal…more like a dream.

But I am in a position to look back and say I’ve earned my keep on the planet. I came here to write stories and play a little rock ‘n’ roll. So far it’s going very well.

And my personal goals achieved make my career accomplishments look like nothing at all. In my shallow way, I decided to marry a beautiful nineteen-year-old blonde. Now, all these years later, I remain married to her, and she is still stunningly beautiful, but along the way has proven to be funny, smarter than me, loving, talented and just about every other positive adjective you can think of. I have a son who is so smart and talented and such a great writer that I should be jealous…but he’s the one writer who I don’t mind being better than me. No grandkids yet, but a wonderful daughter-in-law. I had great, supportive parents who made all this possible.

Lots of friends, but it’s sad to think of how many are gone. A week doesn’t go by that I don’t think of actor Mike Cornelison and rockers Paul Thomas, Bruce Peters, Chuck Bunn and Terry Beckey. The only upside is realizing that such good friends as my writing partner Matt Clemens, researcher George Hagenauer, the guys in Crusin’, cartoonist Terry Beatty, writer pals like Ed Gorman and Bob Randisi, and filmmaking partner Phil Dingeldein, are all alive and well (and in some cases fat and happy).

For a guy who mostly lives in his converted-bedroom office in a little town in Iowa, I have so many friends! My agent Dominick Abel, Jane Spillane, Carl Amari, are just a few of my rich work-related relationships. Mickey Spillane was my son’s godfather! I am friendly with Stacy Keach, Patty McCormack, the Seduction of the Innocent guys, and on and on. Dangerous starting this list, but if you’re not on it, you are very much in my heart. Especially the editors out there buying my stuff.

Here’s a birthday card of sorts I received.

That’s it for now. I’m taking the rest of the day off.

M.A.C.

Eight Million (and More) Stories

I have begun the Spillane western, now entitled DEATH RIDES IN and labeled “a Caleb York Western.” I’m working from a screenplay Mickey wrote for John Wayne in the late ‘50s which, obviously, was never produced. There will be a background intro that will discuss Mickey and Wayne’s history together.

It feels okay so far – one chapter in – but with the exception of the MAVERICK novelization and the flashbacks in BLACK HATS, I’ve never tackled a western before. I called my long-tall-Texan pal Bill Crider for some help on a few points – he knows what he’s doing – and that helped me saddle up and ride. The script – not necessarily written for Wayne the actor, rather Wayne the producer – is very much a vehicle that you might have seen starring Audie Murphy or Randolph Scott circa ‘58. I love that, but as somebody who doesn’t read contemporary western novels, I can’t anticipate how modern readers will react. It’s very much a tough Spillane story transferred to the west, so that’s a plus.

My love for westerns comes not from novels – I’ve maybe read a dozen in my life, counting TRUE GRIT – but from movies and TV. Lately I’ve been watching a lot of old TV, sometimes with Barb, sometimes alone. We both greatly enjoyed revisiting MAVERICK, which was my favorite show of any kind in my distant youth – James Garner’s Bret Maverick influenced Nate Heller as much as any mystery-fiction PI – and Barb grew up on it, too. I’m also fond of Jack Kelly’s Bart Maverick, and the very best episodes often feature both brothers. I would argue that “Shady Deal at Sunny Acres” (maybe you saw the remake – THE STING?) is the greatest single episode of a TV series ever made.

Binge watching is something Barb and I (and Nate, when he was younger) practically invented. But it must be said that serialized series of today work better than runs of classic series of the ‘50s and early ‘60s. Those shows had such punishing schedules – PERRY MASON did as many as 39 hour-long episodes a year – that maintaining consistency much less high quality was damn near impossible. On the other hand, Barb and I have worked our way through PERRY MASON – inhaling each half-season DVD release in a couple of days – and it has a surprisingly small number of clinkers. Maybe half a dozen out of 271 (!). The best episodes, not surprisingly, are adapted from Erle Stanley Gardner novels. The first two seasons are mostly such adaptations, and are highly recommended.

MAVERICK doesn’t fare quite as well. The first two seasons are excellent, really as good as TV westerns of that (or really any) era get. But creator/producer Roy Huggins left at the end of season two, and James Garner was starting to have battles with some very stupid Warner Bros. executives who thought screwing their star out of money was a good plan. Season three begins well but flags at mid-point, and toward the end, even some Bret episodes are clinkers. Season four lacks Garner, and Roger Moore is brought in as a Maverick cousin, faring only so so. “The Maverick Line,” one last Garner held back from season three, does the impossible: it’s a lousy Bret/Bart episode. Jack Kelly was magical working off James Garner, but tended to do the straighter, more “serious” episodes, and when Garner left, he was shifted into Garner-style scripts. He was pretty good at comedy but wasn’t getting the level of material that Garner got in the Huggins years. So my advice would be: watch the first two seasons.

As for more contemporary fare, right now Barb and I are working our way through VERONICA MARS, and are almost done with the second season, which is very good if not up to the amazing first one. We’ll press on to the somewhat maligned third season, as we prepare for the imminent VERONICA MARS feature (I was a Kickstarter contributor). VERONICA MARS is one of the really great private eye series. The first season may be the best single season of any private eye show. Kristen Bell, as a teenage detective (the set-up is pure Nancy Drew – her father is a P.I. – but the feel is absolute FREAKS AND GEEKS) tosses off witty lines with a wry ease that Marlowe or Rockford might well envy.

Barb did not join me on my long journey through the complete NAKED CITY – 138 episodes. This is a wonderful show, with much to recommend it. Initially John McIntire is Lt. Dan Muldoon, the fatherly mentor to James Franciscus’ younger detective. They have a nice chemistry, but McIntire leaves two-thirds of the way through the first season – his landmark demise in “The Bumper” remains shocking – and Franciscus grieves his way through the remainder of the year. Replacing McIntire is Horace McMahon with his overly gruff, even unpleasant Lt. Mike Parker. When the show returns in a new one-hour format (after a year hiatus), it’s almost a surprise McMahon has been asked back. Franciscus does not return – he was a busy movie and TV actor – and Paul Burke comes in as the similar Adam Flint, his liberal, sensitive cop warming McMahon’s Parker up. The only cast member who spans all four seasons is Harry Bellaver as lovable, not-brilliant Detective Frank Arcaro.

Of course, the location shooting, capturing late ‘50s/early ‘60s New York, is the real star – the Bowery, Greenwich Village, Times Square, we’re there. The talent pool is drawn from Broadway and the Actor’s Studio, including regular Nancy Malone, very winning and naturalistic as Burke’s girl friend, Libby. The series is justly famous for early appearances by Dustin Hoffman, Robert Duvall, James Caan, Bruce Dern, Sandy Dennis, Alan Alda, Jessica Walter, Martin Sheen, Peter Fonda, Gene Hackman, Christopher Walken and many more. Moonlighting Broadway stars like Robert Morse, Orson Bean, Maureen Stapleton, Jack Klugman and William Shatner turn up frequently as do such Hollywood legends as Mickey Rooney, Sylvia Sidney, Dennis Hopper, Roddy McDowell, Chester Morris, Steve Cochran, Claude Rains, and Burgess Meredith. Jack Warden, Carroll O’Connor, Lois Nettleton and Nehemiah Persoff make multiple appearances. Legendary acting coach Sandy Meisner has a rare on-screen role in one episode – he was Mike Cornelison’s teacher. Small world.

NAKED CITY is a child of early television – dramas like STUDIO ONE and PLAYHOUSE 90 – and is essentially an anthology series pretending to be a cop show. This can be a problem, because the cops are often shoehorned in, and sometimes the stories have little to do with crime. Some of the famous actors deliver terrible, scenery-chewing performances; many of the young actors – James Caan, Dustin Hoffman – are so in Brando’s thrall, you want to shake them until they agree to see a movie that isn’t ON THE WATERFRONT. The shadows of Tennessee Williams and William Inge loom large, turning some of the scriptwriters into pretentious windbags, burdening actors with impossible, archly poetic dialogue.

After a while, I began to see writers in the opening credits whose scripts I knew I’d abhor – in particular, Abram Ginnes, a blacklisted writer so over the top, his silly titles serve as a warning: “Stop the Parade, a Baby Is Crying,” “A Horse Has a Big Head, Let Him Worry,” “Robin Hood and Clarence Darrow, They Went Out with Bow and Arrow.” He’s responsible for at least a dozen episodes, and I would run screaming into the night before sitting through any of them. And almost every change-of-pace “comedy” episode is cringe-worthy.

There are several NAKED CITY “best of” collections, but unfortunately they choose episodes featuring famous cast members, with no thought to quality of writing. So why do I recommend the series?

Because when the show is good, it is really good – on that same list that includes “Shady Deal at Sunny Acres,” you’ll find “A Case Study of Two Savages,” in which hillbilly honeymooners Rip Torn and Tuesday Weld cut a bloody carefree swath of robbery and murder across Manhattan. Scripted by Frank Pierson – who wrote everything from DOG DAY AFTERNOON and COOL HAND LUKE and was working on MAD MEN when he died in 2012 – “Two Savages” clearly influenced Arthur Penn’s BONNIE AND CLYDE (the historical couple is directly referenced) and Weld’s later PRETTY POISON. Rip Torn’s performance is my favorite among all the NAKED CITY’s – funny, dangerous, charismatic. Actor’s Studio “Method” at is best.

And there are plenty of other terrific episodes – Duvall in “A Hole in the City,” Klugman in “The Tragic Success of Alfred Tiloff,” Rooney in “Ooftus Gooftus.” Writers include Howard Rodman, W.R. Burnett, and Gene Roddenberry. Directors include Arthur Hiller, Paul Wendkos, and Irvin Kershner. But you must commit to the complete series, and learn which writers and actors you want to avoid as you move through.

I should mention that the series creator, Stirling Silliphant (adapting the Jules Dassin film), writes all but a few of the first season half-an-hour episodes, which is my favorite season (not a view widely held, I admit). He only scripts a few of the hour-long episodes, as he’s off to create ROUTE 66. Silliphant is a fine screenwriter (IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT), though he’s somewhat purple in THE NAKED CITY (its first-season incarnation included “THE”), a sin committed to some degree by almost all of the writers involved. So you have to get in that groove.

But it’s worth it. The omniscient narration by Lawrence Dobkin (credited to producer Herbert Leonard in the first season, but sounding identical) is so very memorable, often giving the series a novelistic feel. Ed McBain was clearly influenced by the Dassin film, and must have watched this series, as well – the 87th Precinct vibe is strong. The music is memorable as well – Billy May at first, later Nelson Riddle.

How interesting is NAKED CITY, for all its flaws? In the first hour-long episode, an unbilled Peter Falk is killed before the opening credits. The episode also features Eli Wallach, George Maharis, Clifton James and Godfrey Cambridge.

* * *

The first SUPREME JUSTICE advance review is in (from Ron Fortier) and it’s a rave!

ASK NOT gets a lovely write-up here.

Still more WRONG QUARRY reviews are coming in. Here are two that are less than raves – the always interesting Alpha-60 and a new one to me, Bullet Reviews. Both complain about one of my favorite things in the novel, having to do with the build-up given to one of the hitmen Quarry goes after. Go figure.

M.A.C.

Notes From a Stuffed-Up Author

I spent much of last week fighting a cold and researching/writing an introduction for a forthcoming Hermes Press collection of the pre-Disney ZORRO comic books from Dell. The centerpiece is a trio of issues drawn by Everett Raymond Kinstler, who would go on to be our nation’s premiere portrait artist, with subjects ranging from John Wayne to various Presidents. The other comic books (seven in all) are good as well, but I really had to dig in on the net and among Zorro fans to find out who the artists and writers were. Much guesswork involved. I am a big fan of Zorro as originally created by pulp writer Johnson McCulley, and my intro in part decries the paucity of McCulley Zorro stories in print.

Also, we received good reviews from agent and editor on ANTIQUES FRUITCAKE, so that one is largely put to bed (it’s an e-book novella). Barb is back to her draft of ANTIQUES SWAP, and I am headed into the Spillane western, THE LEGEND OF CALEB YORK. There will be a subtitle for the latter but I haven’t come up with it. I’ve been told to leave out the sex and hit the violence hard, even down to the title. So RAVAGING THE DANCE HALL GALS is out. I’m considering SHOOT-OUT AT SIROCCO.

I also worked on several more passes on a HELLER TV pitch. I’ve done seven so far. Hollywood is all about rewriting. I remember so vividly when I handed in draft umpteen on THE EXPERT to director Bill Lustig and he immediately said, “Thanks! Now, on the next draft I want to concentrate on – ” I interrupted to say that I wouldn’t take any more notes till he’d read the draft I just handed him.

Barb and I are listening to Dan John Miller’s audio rendering of THE WRONG QUARRY. This is Dan’s first Quarry novel, having done all of the Hellers. He has once again nailed it.

Speaking of THE WRONG QUARRY, here’s another nifty review.

COMPLEX 90 made the top five best book covers of 2013 at the Rap Sheet.

Here’s a nice review of the Hammer short story (available from Mysterious Bookshop as a mini-book), “It’s in the Book.”

Finally, here’s a very smart review of the film of ROAD TO PERDITION. Nice to see this great film really making its mark over the years.

M.A.C.

Target Japan

I was surprised and delighted to see Mike Carlson, one of the UK’s best and most respected crime fiction reviewers, give TARGET LANCER a rave. Carlson was apparently sparked by the mass-market paperback edition. He seems to share my interest in, and take on, the JFK assassination. I’ve got to get ASK NOT into his hands.

I recommend the film THE MONUMENT MEN and urge you to ignore the mostly negative reviews it’s been getting. It’s a determinedly old-fashioned movie from its star cast (essentially playing themselves or at least their movie personas), a rousing and intentionally Old School score, a compelling episodic structure cutting between story threads, and a respect for history that makes it a DIRTY DOZEN for people who respect art. There’s not a lot of slam-bang action, but the extent of the evil of the Hitler regime comes across effectively in a unique fashion. No, it’s not INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS. And 12 YEARS A SLAVE isn’t DJANGO UNCHAINED, either.

This will be an extremely short update because (A) I seem to be coming down with a cold, and (B) I am prepping to start the Spillane western novel.

So I’m turning the rest of this post over to son Nate, who with his wife Abby recently went to Japan. I’ve asked him to share some photos of that trip.

M.A.C.

* * *

Hi everyone. Nate here. Let’s get right to the pictures!

Our first day, we went to the Comic Market (aka Comiket) in Tokyo, which is sort of like Japan’s San Diego Comic-Con, only even more massive (around 540,000 attendees over three days to Comic-Con’s 130,000 over four days), and with a heavy focus on self-publishing groups (some 35,000 of them divided across the three days—each day has an entirely different lineup) in endless rows of small folding tables and minimal displays (only the industry publishers can swing enough space for booths here, and only in a separate hall with a separate entry line). Sadly, I did not take any pictures of the inside, as there was no room to do so.

Our AirBNB hosts shared us this video of the Comiket line management. San Diego Comic-Con organizers should take note!

The first few days of the new year are the most important holiday in Japan, and one of the many New Year’s traditions is to visit a shrine or a temple. Due to the increased number of visitors, carnival-esque booths selling food and toys often spring up around the holy sites, and if you’re lucky, you might come across performances by traditional entertainers. Above is a ladder acrobatics demonstration stemming from firefighting techniques of the 19th-Century Edo period, when a portable ladder could often provide the fastest vantage point to find the source of a fire. The poles barely visible at the base of the photo are axes held by the other members of the troupe, who balance the ladder for the climber as they await their turn to show off. Would you like to know more?

This is a statue in Kyoto’s Yasaka Koshin-do Temple of Binzuru-Sonja, one of Buddha’s disciples popular in Japan. He is said to help those who touch or rub his statue on the part of the body where they are suffering an affliction.

“Unryuzu” by Kaiho Yusho, Kennin-ji Temple, Kyoto. 16th Century. (Reproduction)

Kamo River, Kyoto.

On one of our favorite days, our friend (and two of her helpers!) dressed us in these lovely traditional Japanese wedding kimono. Truly an honor!

Nate

The Write Quarry

It’s very gratifying that THE WRONG QUARRY has generated so much attention, particularly on the Net. This is, after all, the tenth novel in a series begun in 1976. No other book of mine in recent years – including the Heller comeback novels that form the JFK Trilogy – has been so widely reviewed. As I noted a while back, out of what must be around forty write-ups by now, there’s been only one that wasn’t a near rave – and it was mixed.

It appears that a lot of the reviewers and bloggers who dig Quarry are only familiar with the recent five Hard Case Crime novels. I hope that gradually the Perfect Crime reprints, with the cool Terry Beatty covers, will find their way into the hands and minds of these new Quarry fans.

One interesting result of (I presume) younger readers discovering the series through Hard Case is that the premise of Quarry being a hitman who kills other hitmen has been hailed as innovative, and “new” for Quarry specifically and crime novels in general. Of course, many of you who follow these updates (both of you) know that the premise of Quarry using the Broker’s list began back in 1976, in the book now known as (not surprisingly) QUARRY’S LIST. Also, both QUARRY IN THE MIDDLE and QUARRY’S EX from Hard Case are “list” novels.

I’m not complaining. I always thought the “list” concept was innovative myself. I just thought that starting back in ‘76….

* * *

Here’s a nice essay utilizing interview answers from me. The emphasis, not surprisingly, is on Quarry and the current novel.

And, yes, wonderful WRONG QUARRY reviews are still appearing, like this one at Crime Fiction Lover.

Here’s a nice one from Fiction Addict.

On the Mike Hammer front, J. Kingston Pierce at the Rap Sheet has singled out his favorite covers of last year and COMPLEX 90 made the list. He’s giving you the opportunity to vote for your favorite among his. Remember, any vote for Mike Hammer is a vote for America.

Here’s an excellent review of THE GOLIATH BONE. There’s also an explanatory comment from me about who-wrote-what.

Finally, here’s an overview of Crime Fiction in Comics and Graphic Novels that includes a nice section on yours truly (I always want to add “Johnny Dollar” to that…).

M.A.C.

Writer’s Work is Never Done

When a writer finishes a novel and sends it in to a waiting editor/publisher, a feeling of relief is greater than any sense of accomplishment. What all of us forget, however, is that sending in the “finished” book is only the beginning.

First, there comes an editorial letter, often asking for revisions, followed by a line-edited manuscript, then a copy-edited manuscript and finally galley proofs. For a prolific writer like me, all of these turn up unexpectedly, often at terrible times, and always with a note to get the manuscript or galleys back in something like three days.

Editors don’t care if you’re on deadline with some other book, usually (though not always) for some other publisher. Every editor (rightly) considers the book of yours that is theirs to be the only book.

I also have the problem of not wanting to do any revisions that aren’t absolutely necessary – i.e., a plot point that I haven’t dealt with, or sentences and/or paragraphs that have proved confusing. I rarely agree to elaborate rewrites. Hardly ever. I also am notorious for becoming furious with copy editors. Not all copy editors: just those who have appointed themselves collaborators. About one in three times at bat, I encounter one of these creatures intent upon “improving” my work.

I don’t think I’m alone in this. The only shit fit that Mickey Spillane ever threw in front of me was in response to a copy-edited version of one of his novels. The fury of Mike Hammer at his kill-craziest was unleashed.

But it is the collision of books that can make a writer dizzy.

Last week, after completing QUARRY’S CHOICE, I was immediately thrust into dealing with the galley proofs of the very different SUPREME JUSTICE. Now, because Hard Case editor Charles Ardai is lightning fast, I am already facing the copy-edited manuscript of CHOICE!, before the literary paint is dry. I am grateful and impressed with Charles’ speed, but fear I lack enough distance from the book to effectively work with the copy-edit so soon.

Much of what a professional fiction writer does is little-known or even unknown by readers.

Ahead in the immediate week or two ahead are finishing a TV pitch for a potential Nate Heller TV series, which will require me re-reading STOLEN AWAY and much of TRUE DETECTIVE, taking notes as I go; writing my draft of a “Barbara Allan” Christmas novella called ANTIQUES FRUITCAKE, not due for a while but necessary to deal with now, because of scheduling issues; and getting ready to write a western novel based on an unproduced Mickey Spillane screenplay. The latter prep will include spending many hours with that screenplay, looking at western reference books, and reading some ‘50s western novels by the likes of Jonas Ward and Harry Whittington, to help get the right flavor.

Not complaining, mind you. This beats my other paying jobs (sacking groceries, bussing tables) by some distance.

* * *


Eliot Ness

Be sure to check out that Brad Schwartz and I put together to defend the Untouchable from attacks from Jonathan Eig (Get Capone) and others, in reaction to the proposal that a new ATF building be named for him.

My pal and collaborator Matt Clemens visited the Twin Cities recently to read one of our short stories at Noir at the Bar.

Speaking of Matt, here’s a great review of WHAT DOESN’T KILL HER, which – like SUPREME JUSTICE – is a book Matt contributed mightily to.

Check out this very good article on cozy mysteries dealing with antiques. Barbara Allan gets some very nice attention here.

Still haven’t picked up THE WRONG QUARRY? Here’s an excerpt.

Here’s a great WRONG QUARRY review, demonstrating that members of my favorite sex (hint: not male) can relate to Quarry just fine.

And finally a review of QUARRY – the first book in the series. How odd and oddly sweet to see a novel that I began writing in 1972 at the U of Iowa Writers Workshop getting reviewed in 2014.

M.A.C.

Edgar Nom and Life with Mickey

I am pleased, and a little astonished, that “So Long, Chief,” a short story by Mickey Spillane and me that appeared in the Strand magazine, has been nominated for an Edgar. The story is one of around five I’ve done so far with an eye on developing a Hammer short story collection, utilizing the shorter fragments in Mickey’s files.

I’ve been nominated a bunch of times for Edgars, but this is only my second for fiction (the previous one was for the Ms. Tree prose short story, “Louise”). Nate Heller has never rated a nomination; Quarry either. ROAD TO PERDITION wasn’t eligible in any category because it’s a graphic novel.

This nomination rights an embarrassing wrong: while he was named a Grand Master Edgar by the MWA (thanks to the efforts of Don Westlake, Otto Penzler and others), this is Mickey Spillane’s first Edgar nomination.

Barb and I have not decided whether we’ll attend the awards ceremony in New York. If I go, I may jinx it, and we already have trips planned this year for San Diego Con and Bouchercon. And I have a lot of work on my plate. We’ll see.

See the full list of short story nominees, and my stiff competition, here.

Photo courtesy South Strand News

In other Spillane news, there’s a Mickey book that I didn’t write that’s about to come out: MY LIFE WITH MICKEY by the effervescent Jane Spillane. I can’t wait to read this myself. Mickey’s lovely widow has attracted lots of press, particularly in the South. Check this wonderful piece out.

I should note that the journalist got one bit a little wrong – Jane found a section of the climax of THE GOLIATH BONE in Mickey’s pick-up, complete with post-it’s…not LADY, GO DIE! To order MY LIFE WITH MICKEY, go here.

I have wrapped up QUARRY’S CHOICE. It went out yesterday to editor Charles Ardai, and was one of the harder Quarry novels for me. First, I had the potential TV series hanging over my head (still no news); and second, in the midst of much reviewer love for the hitman-killing-hitmen aspect of recent Quarry novels, CHOICE is only the third novel to deal with Quarry when he was working for the Broker. (There’s also a short story.) There’s a lot of sex in this one. How much? Well, Barb said I’m now officially a dirty old man.

She’s kidding, of course (aren’t you, honey?) but it touches upon the reaction some reviewers and readers have to the sex in my novels, particularly Quarry ones. Are these scenes gratuitous? Well, a book as dark and violent as any Quarry novel is inherently gratuitous. But I try to use sex scenes for characterization purposes. In THE WRONG QUARRY, a casual, nasty bit of back alley sex shows Quarry and the woman at a sort of low moral ebb; but a later, tender sexual encounter between them reveals they have stirred better impulses in each other. Similarly, an over-the-top sex scene involving a barely legal wild child means to demonstrate its relative emptiness compared to conventional but loving sex with a much older woman. Anyway, that’s what I hope those scenes do.

Scenes of violence in Quarry novels tend to be either very understated (“I got out the wrench”) or go into gory Spillane-style excessive description. A flat scene of violence can indicate the protagonist’s emotional numbness to such carnage; a highly descriptive depiction of that carnage can remind you of the actual physical and human toll.

I share these thoughts with you, because a good number of the reviews – and I mean the positive ones – of THE WRONG QUARRY talk about the book as pulpy fun, and I hope that’s the case, because as I said here last week, I consider the books to be black comedies. But in my novels – in any good fiction dealing with sex and violence – such scenes do not occur in a vacuum. They intend to reveal character.

The reviews of THE WRONG QUARRY continue to roll in. This is one of my most-reviewed books of recent years, and really only one of them (probably numbering close to 35 by now) could be called mixed or negative. (Guess which review I fixate upon.)

I was thrilled to get this glowing notice from one of the key reviewers in contemporary mystery/crime fiction, J. Kingston Pierce at the Rap Sheet.

Careful reading this fun review – there’s a major spoiler (I had to ask the reviewer to attach a SPOILER WARNING before the paragraph in question, which she graciously did).

Here’s another good one.

And another.

Finally, here’s yet another did-you-know-it-was-a-comic-book rewrite about ROAD TO PERDITION, book and film.

M.A.C.

New Mike Hammer Mini-Book Plus Quarry Raves

My friend Otto Penzler, who published the first three Spillane/Collins “Mike Hammer” novels at Harcourt, asked me to develop a bibliophile novella for him. He has a series of these small books that are sold exclusively through his Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan. The story, called “It’s in the Book,” has Mike Hammer searching for…a book. I think it’s one of best the short stories I’ve developed from Mickey’s shorter Hammer fragments, and you can order it here for $4.95.

There’s also a signed limited hardcover edition for $100, for the more demented among you. You can find it at the Mysterious Bookshop website.

Courtesy of Iowa-based stand-up comic Dwayne Clark (he’s terrific) comes this screen cap of Chris Christie. No political point here, just bragging on how a certain title of mine has gotten into the language.

The WRONG QUARRY reviews, mostly raves, keep rolling in. Very good response to this one. It’s been interesting and a little odd to have all this discussion of what is from my perspective the previous Quarry novel while I am working on the current one. It’s especially odd because a lot of the reviews focus on the “list” approach of WRONG QUARRY, whereas QUARRY’S CHOICE takes place while Quarry is still working for the Broker. When he’s a hitman killing citizens and not a hitman killing other hitmen.

One reviewer, generally a fan of my work, has trouble with Quarry himself. That he talks to the reader. That he seems fairly normal. That he is a killer. I get this, and always knew the character would not work for all of my readers. Going back to the character’s creation in the early ‘70s, Quarry is perhaps the first series protagonist with PTSD. He is us, post-Vietnam – numb, less human while still recognizably human. The arc of almost any Quarry novel is the character starting as a cold killer, meeting a good woman, and becoming something more like who he’d been pre-Vietnam. But faced at the conclusion with a decision that could be answered any number of ways (one of them violence), he will always choose violence. Like America, that war ruined him.

I understand that readers who like Mallory or Heller (or the ANTIQUES series!) may find Quarry a hard go. The books are black comedies, and he is not a hero in the traditional sense. He’s not even an anti-hero in the traditional sense. I like it when readers are disturbed or uncomfortable with him and his behavior. When in 1972 I showed the first two chapters of QUARRY to my workshop class at the University of Iowa, many students objected to Quarry killing a man dispassionately in chapter one and screwing a woman dispassionately in chapter two. I just smiled and said, “That was the point – bang bang.”

Also, there are Quarry fans who don’t like Heller and really don’t like Mallory (and would probably puke reading an ANTIQUES novel). I’m okay with that. You don’t have to like everything on the restaurant’s menu. But do keep in mind that I primarily write melodrama, and that I don’t necessarily approve of everything that my protagonists do. Do you really think Mike Hammer and I vote for the same candidates?

Well, that’s unfair. Mike Hammer doesn’t vote.

Not even for Chris Christie.

* * *

Let me share some of these mostly incredible WRONG QUARRY reviews, starting with this rave from Book Reporter.

Another nice one can be seen at the Eloquent Page, though I hardly agree with the reviewer that Quarry is depicted as “a real man’s man, all booze, violence and broads.” Mostly he drinks Cokes, and he doesn’t really think about women in those terms. Violence – okay, you got me there.

As a guy who never served in the military, I love it when a military.com reviewer digs Quarry. (Quarry was, as I mentioned, in part based on my late friend Jon McRae, who served many tours in Vietnam as a Marine.)

The Mystery People folks chose THE WRONG QUARRY as one of their three picks for January.

Here’s a cool one from Nerd Like You. I love it when nerds like my stuff – I was one before it became cool.

Here’s a very intelligent write-up from Mystery Maven.

And another great one from Terry Ambrose.

Geek Hard finds THE WRONG QUARRY righteous.

This brief, positive review prefers Heller and Mallory to Quarry, and recommends Mallory as the place to start with my work. As I mentioned above, I can see that a Mallory fan might struggle with Quarry.

And Nerds of a Feather likes THE WRONG QUARRY, too.

The mixed review I discussed above can be seen here. You have to admire a balanced approach like this – so easy these days to write a rave or a pan.

Finally, on a non-Quarry note, here’s a scan of a BATMAN story courtesy of current fans who like my work on that feature. Bless you, my children!

M.A.C.

Right Time for “The Wrong Quarry”

Today is the pub date for THE WRONG QUARRY. So you should be able to find it in your local brick-and-mortar bookstore, and it’s certainly available on line from the usual suspects.

This also means that those of you who received one of the fourteen advance copies I sent out can now post your review at Amazon (they don’t let advance reviews go up unless written by certain approved reviewers). And your reviews are encouraged at Barnes and Noble, Goodreads and other sites.

I can’t emphasize enough how important the Amazon reviews are, even those of a line or two. WHAT DOESN’T KILL HER has 80 reviews and that constantly increasing stream of reviews keeps the book selling. It has done considerably better, which may surprise you, than the new Heller, ASK NOT, which has only 21 reviews. Please support all of the books you like (not just mine) with Amazon and other reviews. It’s a textbook grassroots way of helping out the authors you enjoy.

Also available, or will be soon, is an audio book of THE WRONG QUARRY. I just found out the delightful news that Dan John Miller (the voice of Nate Heller) has read THE WRONG QUARRY. This is from Audible, and is a download only. Audible has also done the first five QUARRY novels, as well, although with another reader. I haven’t heard any of these yet, but Barb and I will be listening to them over this year on various car trips to Chicago, Des Moines and St. Louis. Dan John Miller is my preferred reader for all my work. (He did a great job on WHAT DOESN’T KILL HER as well as the Mallorys and several of the “disaster” series.)

I am deep into QUARRY’S CHOICE. It’s a little odd to have so many people talking to me about THE WRONG QUARRY while I am so immersed in CHOICE, which is a change of pace – not a “list” novel, it follows Quarry on a job he’s doing for the Broker. It takes place about a year after THE FIRST QUARRY.

The reviews thus far for THE WRONG QUARRY have been stellar, I am pleased to say.

One of the powerhouses among book review sites, Bookgasm, has posted this terrific WRONG QUARRY review.

Criminal Element has a wonderful WRONG QUARRY review from Doreen Sheridan.

It’s always a thrill when a writer you respect reviews a book of yours favorably. Here is the great Ed Gorman – who has been reading Quarry from the start – with some very insightful commentary on WRONG QUARRY.

Nerdspan likes THE WRONG QUARRY, too.

The much-respected (and deservedly so) UK reviewer Mike Carlson has offered up one of the best and smartest discussions of WRONG QUARRY.

Here’s another cool UK review of WRONG QUARRY.

And here’s a fun one from Curiosity of a Social Misfit, very good but with some typos anyway missing words.

On another note, I am somewhat melancholy at shutting Crusin’ down as a regularly performing bar band. As I’ve said, we are not breaking up, and are accepting event bookings. But the reality is, we are moving from twenty-plus gigs a year to probably three or four.

So there were odd resonances when the Des Moines Register called me – as an Iowa Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame member – for my reactions to the passing of Phil Evelry of the Everly Brothers of Shenandoah, Iowa. My comments are toward the end of the article. The concert I mention is one I attended with the late Paul Thomas, my longtime musical collaborator.

M.A.C.