Mario Acevedo's Blog, page 5

A sad, glitzy take on the one percent

Mario here:

What I'm reading:

Desperado by Manuel Ramos.








Here's pimpage from writer pal Rudy Ch. about one of his favorite authors, Ernest Hogan:


High Aztech, the novel of mind-altering viruses running amok in a futuristic Mexico City--renamed Tenochtitlán--is available again. It’s only $0.99 from Amazon for your Kindle. $0.99 also can get it to you just about any e-format you want from Smashwords.



And, until August 2, 2013, if you use the coupon code TV57H at Smashwords, you can get it for free!





And more pimpage! Film producer and Lighthouse instructor
And still more pimpage.





The Great Gatsby, the movie.

I went to the theater worried the movie would disappoint. I'm glad I fretted for nothing. I freakin' loved it. 

Sure the nags bitch that the movie isn't 100 percent faithful to the novel. Well, duh. One is a book, the other a film. Different mediums require different storytelling techniques. Unlike the 70's adaptation of this story--a real snoozefest with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow--this movie captured the kinetic, bipolar mood of the Roaring Twenties. From the opening credits to the dazzling landscapes, to the wild parties, the speakeasy scene, the hoodlums and high-rollers, the filthy down-and-out vs. the downright filthy rich, to the gorgeous Art Deco fadeout, director Baz Luhrmann delivered the cinematic goods.

A lot of wags rank on the acting. They either hated Leonardo DiCaprio or tossed him air kisses. As for the other actors, here is what Elizabeth Weitzman of the NY Daily News says about Joel Edgerton playing Tom Buchanan.

"And Edgerton’s Tom all but twirls his mustache in cartoonish villainy."

I disagree. If anything, Edgerton's portrayal isn't anywhere coarse enough to play the brutish Tom Buchanan. Here's how F. Scott hisself introduced the priviledged bully:<!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} </style></div></div></div></div><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: xx-small; mso-tab-count: 1;">   </span>"He had changed since his New Haven years. Now he was a sturdy, straw haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining, arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward. Not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hide the enormous power of that body--he seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained the top lacing and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat. It was a body capable of enormous leverage--a cruel body."</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">  </span><br /><div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">Tell me if such a man is capable of anything subtle.</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rARN6agiW7o" width="560"></iframe></span>

Wings Over the Rockies

It's been a very busy week. I had a cousin visiting from Southern California who journeyed to Denver to meet with a contact for the nonfiction book he's writing on the airmen of World War II.  As life would have it, there was a B17 Fly-in scheduled by the Wings over the Rockies museum right here at Centennial Airport.




It's pretty amazing to stand beside one of these famous airplanes and think about the history it embodies, the lives of the men it both saved and took. Can you imagine laying in one of these turrets, hanging from the belly of the plane, a target for the rockets launched from below and the bullets flying around you from enemy aircraft? The space is barely big enough for a small child.


So many of the airmen who flew these airplanes individualized them with nose art that either held some significance for them personally or was a reflection of the popular culture at the time. The museum has a wonderful collection of photos.

And as sometimes happens, we ran into someone we knew: a fellow RMFW member and WWII aficionado, Rick Gustafson.


My cousin is undertaking a monumental task.  But it's an important one. Soon, these heros will be gone.  My dad and my cousin's dad were part of this extraordinary generation, as were the warm and welcoming men who greeted visitors at the airfield.


I couldn't help but think of my dad yesterday. And all the other dads and grandads who made it possible for us to live as we choose.  It would be a great shame if their memories were lost.



#  #  #  #
Almost forgot...Jaye Wells has a brand new novella up on Amazon: Meridian Six. Check it out here:Just the thing to start off your summer reading campaign!!

Geeks, freaks, cheers and beers.

Mario here:

What I'm reading this week:

Tainted Mountain by Shannon Baker.











Big congratulations and a fly-over of the corporate UFO to Rudy Ch. Garcia for his Honorable Mention in the category of Fantasy/ Science Fiction novel in the 2013 Latino Book Awards for The Closet of Discarded Dreams.











Warning! If you missed this year's Denver ComicCon, you might get your geek credentials revoked. Just sayin'


After a long absence (years!), I did my bit at the Larimer Square Chalk Festival. Three days on my hands and knees, getting so down and dirty that I'm surprised I wasn't arrested.


My fellow scriveners,
Spinning your writer wheels? Looking for inspiration and support? Is a thirst holding your Muse hostage and you must pay the ransom with booze? 
If you checked any of the above, then sign up for this year's Lighthouse Lit Fest. Bring your trusty writing implement, bend a knee, and learn from the fabulous Lighthouse faculty: Steve Almond, Robin Black, Andre Dubus III, Bill Henderson, Gordy Hoffman, Erika Krouse, Thomas Lux, David Wroblewski, and Jason Heller. Plus me, and I'll be teaching these craft seminars:

Monday, June 10. You Had Me At Hello.
A great story begins with a great intro. The opening lines of your novel should draw the reader into your house of magic. Make them suspend disbelief and follow you deep into the drama. In this workshop we’ll discuss masterful opening lines and analyze the techniques used to create a compelling tone and an engaging voice. Participants are invited to bring the first page of a fiction (or narrative nonfiction) work-in-progress.

Thursday, June 13. The Longest Distance: Putting Your Ideas On The Page.
It’s been said that the longest distance your ideas will ever travel is from your head to your hands. We’re writers and we live to write—or so we say. Then why don’t we write? Why are writers masters of procrastination? In this workshop we’ll discuss self-defeating behaviors, head trash, and those other nasty demons that keep hijacking our motivation. More importantly, we’ll discuss techniques to shorten the distance between your head and your hands.

Monday, June 17. Start With The Diamond: The Premise of a Great Novel.
Your brain is bursting with ideas for a wonderful novel—your big breakthrough. But you’ve been here before. A hundred pages into the manuscript, you peter out. Those great ideas stagnate and your plot turns into a soggy mess. In this workshop we’ll discuss how theme and character motivation drive the story. We’ll drill through your plot to find the true premise—the diamond—that you can build your story around. Participants are invited to bring an outline for a novel that we’ll discuss to find the diamond.

And...Thursday evening, June 13, I'll be on the salon panel, Yes You Can: Writing in a Subjective World. 

Gone Fishin'

In case you didn't notice, Mario and I have taken the week off. See you in a few.....

Memorial Day, Other Men of Steel, Daleks

Today's Google Doodle in honor of Memorial Day



#  #  #  #

New Superman trailer. Coming June 14

#  #  #  #


Something for you Dr. Who fans

From across the pond:   <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Times New Roman"; panose-1:0 2 2 6 3 5 4 5 2 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:50331648 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-parent:""; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} </style></div></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">There are quite a few things you might expect to find at the bottom of a pond. Garbage. Discarded firearms. Dead bodies weighted down with cement. But even if I kept that list going for another two hundred entries, I’m pretty sure I still wouldn’t have reached the “Dalek” entry. But a Dalek is exactly what volunteers cleaning up a British pond <a href="http://networkedblogs.com/LtygG" target="_blank">stumbledupon</a> a few months ago. Don’t worry, though…now that it’s back on dry land, I’m sure the dead bodies will be forthcoming.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>#  #  #  # </b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I am going to do something now that I don't think I've done before. I'm going to give a personal reply to a blog written by one of my former critique members. I want to note that this is MY opinion and not necessarily that of Mario or any of the other members of a group that's one of the most successful in Rocky  Mountain Fiction Writers' history.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This person left our group recently and in a blog post wrote that a critique group was the worst place to go for advice about your writing. That while well-intentioned, and I'm quoting here, " if you don't weed out the BS, your writing will suffer."<br /><br />Huh????  He also comments "know your craft..." That's about the only thing I agree with in his comment  and the one thing, ironically, he failed to grasp.  You have to know your craft which is more than just knowing <i>rules</i>. You have to read your genre to understand it. You have to know what readers are looking for. That's not to say write for the market, which coincidentally he tried to do over and over again. But you have to know and understand what constitutes a good book. Specifically, well plotted out, interesting and sympathetic characters, and a voice readers can relate to.<br /><br />We in our group write commercial fiction. We <i>read</i> everything. We are professional, multi-published, award-winning authors who take our craft seriously. We are both traditionally and independently published. We have no ax to grind, and our comments were always well intentioned and honest. That he found nothing of value in those comments reflects more on him than the group. And I think our successes speak for themselves.<br /><br />So, I suppose this is in defense of critique groups. Like so many other things in life, you get out of them what you put in.<br /><br />End of rant.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>

When it's done right

Mario here:

What I'm reading: Koontown Killing Kaper by Bill Campbell.











We writers obsess about story-telling and are ready to nitpick any plot that come our way: books; TV shows; movies. So it's a treat when someone does it right. Like in the new Star Trek movie.

I'm definitely old school when it comes to Star Trek and resent the retooling of the mythos. I prefer my Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, and Scotty shrink wrapped in nostalgia. My verdict then, of Into Darkness?

Simply: photon torpedoes and phaser banks locked on target and Fire! It was that awesome.


The story clipped along at Warp speed. Hollywood thrillers tend to clobber us with the lynch pins of plot development--the inciting incident, the lock in, the reversal, the main culmination, the third act twist--and we tend to process the unfolding story like a stale joke. This Star Trek movie wove the plot with seamless precision that advanced the story at full throttle. Although the screenplay reworked the Star Trek universe, it managed to snag enough of the necessary tropes (like Scotty's snark and the Vampire pinch!) to keep both veterans and recruits satisfied.

Moving forward: The best free entertainment in Denver. Ever!

The second Denver Noir@Bar. Miss it, and we'll come calling with brass knuckles and lead pipes.
8PM. Thursday, May 23. Juanita's Eat. 32 S Broadway, Denver.



We're hoping for another evening worthy of low life excursions from previous Noir@Bars: NYC, LA, St. Louis.

This, That and T'other...

Using this week to catch up on a lot of media stuff I've collected over the last few weeks.  In no particular order:

From Shelf Awareness:

Sue Grafton's forthcoming Kinsey Millhone mystery, her 23rd, will be titled W IS FOR WASTED, which will be published by Putnam on September 10. Grafton made the announcement after inviting readers to guess the title, which she explained to USATODAY: "they enjoy trying to outwit me, so I thought, let's just give them a chance to participate."
#  #  #  #
Will Wheaton on Why it's Awesome to be a Nerd-- something I think even Sheldon would approve of:   <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Times New Roman"; panose-1:0 2 2 6 3 5 4 5 2 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:50331648 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-parent:""; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} </style></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/H_BtmV4J..." width="640"></iframe></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>#  #  #  # </b> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"> <style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Times New Roman"; panose-1:0 2 2 6 3 5 4 5 2 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:50331648 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-parent:""; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} </style></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">From <a href="http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/04/16/hem..." target="_blank">EW</a>:</div><div class="MsoNormal">Netflix’s new horror series <i>Hemlock Grove. </i>The show’s new trailer positively glories in the lack of content restrictions. “The following trailer is restricted to Mature Audiences only by Netflix Inc,” reads the opening card, “for Mild Fornication, Fellatio, Heavy Cocaine Use, Lesbian Necrophilia, and Violent Hemorrhaging.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"> <style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Times New Roman"; panose-1:0 2 2 6 3 5 4 5 2 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:50331648 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-parent:""; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} </style></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GvlFJmh6..." width="640"></iframe></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>#  #  #  # </b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">The latest brouhaha seems to be over the "genderizing" of covers.  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05..." target="_blank">Huffington Post's</a> Maureen Johnson gives some examples of "coverflip".  </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><script src="http://pshared.5min.com/Scripts/Playe..." type="text/javascript"></script><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /><br /><b>#   #  #   #</b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Times New Roman"; panose-1:0 2 2 6 3 5 4 5 2 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:50331648 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-parent:""; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} </style></div></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pBFFZ9CS..." width="640"></iframe><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">One of my favorite (imho, best) of the police television dramas may not be back next year. <i><b><a href="http://www.tntdrama.com/series/southl..." target="_blank">Southland</a> </b></i>consistently presented police work in an honest, factual, unflinching way that reminded me of The Shield. If you missed it, find it on Netflix or Hulu or whatever and hope, the way I do, that the powers-that-be bring it back.  <br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>#  #  #  #</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6s-WeydBWto..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6s-WeydBWto..." width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Cooper to the right, back row</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">  </div><div style="text-align: left;">When I was growing up, my mother loved her "stories." She got me hooked on The Young and the Restless and no matter how many episodes I missed because of school or work or any of a dozen different reasons, I could turn it on and be caught up with the residents of Genoa City in a matter of minutes.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Jeanne Cooper played Katherine Chancellor for forty years. When she passed away last week, I felt as if I'd lost a friend. I'm sure my mom would have felt the same, though I have a feeling if there is any kind of after life, she and Jeanne are probably discussing story lines right now!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-40x2yrFo5i4..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-40x2yrFo5i4..." width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>

Tighten your pants and get ready

Mario here:

What I'm reading: Hell Is Empty by Craig Johnson.











For those of you not hip to the Biting-Edge jive, Jeanne and I belong to the League of Reluctant Adults, a cabal of literary delinquents so secretive and powerful that we make the Illuminati look like impotent hermits. Our tendrils span the globe but mostly where ink-stained wretches tend to gather, such bars and pie shops (especially if there's free WiFi.)

And to further our dominance of the world, the League unleashes a double whammy of awesomeness not seen since the explosion of Mount Krakatoa (our doing, by the way).

Plant your feet, take a deep breath, and gird your loins. Check out Jaye Wells' newest urban fantasy, Dirty Magic . Trust me. No one does this kind of dirty like Wells.










Unless we're taking about Nicole Peeler. Her latest Jane True novel, Tempest Reborn (book 6 in the series), is also worth girding your loins for.










When you've caught your breath and ungirded your loins, don't forget to mark your calendar for the next Denver Noir@Bar. Thursday, May 23, 8PM, Juanita's Eat, 32 S. Broadway, Denver. Wear a raincoat for the blood spatter.

Life after a BIG con...

Romantic Times BookLovers Convention is one of three big cons that I attend each year. The reasons are many: interaction with fans, lots of good panels, a hopping "bar con" and the chance to visit with other authors I see only at events like this.

This year RT was held in Kansas City. It seems I left Denver in snow and brought the storm with me.
The view from my hotel room.
But since one rarely ventures out of the hotel, and we found the KC has this wonderful "link" system between hotels and various points of interest in the city, it hardly mattered what was going on outside.
I know Mario and I have mentioned the League of Reluctant Adults often in our blogs. We were well represented! These pictures were taken at Pierpont, a restaurant in the old Union Station.
From L-R: Molly Harper and her mom; Liliana Hart, Jaye Wells
From L-R: Jaye (again), Nicole Peeler, RT reviewer Jill Smith, Diana Rowland
As you can see, there is a lot of talent in those two snapshots!
Jaye and I hamming it up (there is a fair amount of alcohol consumption at these things.)
Two more of my favorite author friends: Kat Richardson and Lynda Hilburn   Angie Stanton, successful Indie author who sat next to me at the signing and shared some words of wisdom about indie pubbing.

Display that I set up pimping both the Anna book and upcoming new series. Gave away about 500 cards.

Wonder what authors talk about when they get together like this? No matter the degree of success, the topics are always the same: Will I get another contract? Should I try self-pubbing?  Why doesn't my publisher do more for me? How can I better market myself? We exchange ideas, sympathize with career obstacles, celebrate career successes. Just being in the company of so much talent revives the spirit.
Now I'm back home and the galleys of Blood Bond arrived so that's my project for today. I want to thank the 1200 of you who downloaded Cloud City last week!!! I hope you'll let me know what you thought of the novella. So now,  to work. There are more books to write!

The many shades of mystery

Mario here:

What I'm reading: Money Shot by Christa Faust.











Jeanne is away at RT 2013 doing something scandalous. Not sure what except that it involves the, you know, wink, wink.

When I'm around other writers and the conversation turns toward our favorite and most influential authors, I get a little embarrassed in that I'm often not familiar with many of the names mentioned. Since I've been published in Urban Fantasy, i.e., speculative fiction, people tend to assume I'm well read in horror, fantasy, and science fiction. But apparently I'm not. Sure I recognize Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, and Issac Asimov. Starship Troopers remains one of my favorite books. And I loved Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars series. I deliberately stayed clear of horror so I never developed an appreciation for Stephen King. When I wanted to read about people doing nasty things to one another, I turned to history, especially the Nazis.

I credit my dad for enlightening me to books beyond what I'd get from the library or the local used bookstore. His hand-me-down pulpy, thrillers included James Clavell, Leon Uris, Frederick Forsyth, Michael Crichton. But there was another author whose books I devoured. John D. MacDonald. My best friend Ron Zapien and I traded copies back and forth from wherever we could lift them. Travis McGee became my hero and I dreamed of an invitation to a gin-and-tonic blowout on his houseboat, the Busted Flush. The titles alone take me back to lazy afternoons sprawled on the sofa. A Tan and Sandy Silence. The Quick Red Fox. One Fearful Yellow Eye.

Besides my fiction homework for the week, it's with added pleasure that I'm going through The Red Hot Type Writer: The Life and Times of John D. MacDonald by Hugh Merrill. MacDonald's reputation looms huge over the mystery genre with seventy novels and over five hundred short stories published in his career (on a typewriter! He's the Paul Bunyan of scribes!) To more ardent MacDonald aficionados, this biography is a rehash of what they already know. But to me, most of what's on the pages is new. One telling shortcoming is the absence of photographs. I would've appreciated seeing MacDonald with his wife, his days as an insurance salesman pounding out queries and receiving rejection letters, as an Army officer in India during WWII, drinking parties with his fellow hacks, of the novelist MacKinlay Kantor who goaded MacDonald into penning his breakout book The Executioners (later adapted into the movie Cape Fear).


A big lesson and inspiration was MacDonald's discipline to both writing and the development of his craft. He would write almost daily from 8am to noon, a lunch break, and hit the keys again 1-5pm. Then relax, usually with a drink. Years later he reflected, "It wasn't until my habits were firmly embedded that I discovered that writers tended to work a couple of hours and then brooded about it for the rest of the day."

So crack that whip. It's time to work, you slackers.