David Cranmer's Blog, page 63

Raylan by Elmore Leonard

Elmore Leonard’s last novel. Those aren’t easy words for me to write or for any fan of The Dickens of Detroit to accept. It seems like I’ve been reading the maestro’s work since birth when it was handed to me with a rattle—but a more accurate estimate would be my late teens when I was exposed to his early Western fiction.
Leonard (1925-2013) had switched fields early on when horses, gunslingers, and saloons no longer proved lucrative, and he became a creative force in the crime fiction genre that suited his machine-gun jazzy prose with down-and-out characters mired in stark realism.

The rest of my article on RAYLAN by Elmore Leonard can be found at Macmillan's Criminal Element. Stop by and comments are always welcomed. 

A Wrinkle On

I'm at Macmillan's Tor.com with Fifty-Three Years On: Would A Wrinkle in Time Make the Grade Today? Love to have you stop by there and drop two cents worth.

THE LAWYER: STAY OF EXECUTION

In the Old West, J.D. Miller had been an attorney at law. A respected and successful one. Until the horrific, soul-scarring day when he returned home to find his entire family slaughtered—the charred remains scarcely recognizable in the smoldering ruins of what had once been their house. Like a phoenix rising out of the ashes, The Lawyer—a killing machine—was born, and he’s leaving a blood-splattered revenge trail as he searches out those who murdered his family. 

THE LAWYER: STAY OF EXECUTION is the first novella in a thrilling new hard-boiled Western series by bestselling Amazon author Wayne D. Dundee (Manhunter’s Mountain, The Empty Badge) and BEAT to a PULP books. Based on characters created by Edward A. Grainger, author of the Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles adventures.

The Ralph's on Third and Vermont

I'm happy to say Alec Cizak, Pulp Modern Maestro, returns to BEAT to a PULP with "The Ralph's on Third and Vermont."

How The West Was Written Vol. 2

On the way from Ron Scheer and BEAT to a PULP books.

A Sherlock Holmes Satire

Not everyone knows that Mark Twain wrote a Sherlock Holmes satire. I shed some light on A Double Barrelled Detective Story over at Macmillan's Criminal Element.

An Outsourced Spy Mission

George Smiley Minor: The Looking Glass War by Edward A. Grainger.

A Further Nod

What a nice way to end the year! Ron Scheer takes a look at my Further Adventures.

Tiny Yuletide Guardians

More of my mother’s past creativity: Here is one of many Queen’s Guards that Mom made out of clothes pins and small pom-poms. These sentries faithfully protect my sister Meta's Christmas tree each and every year. Sometimes they come under attack when Boomer the Dog’s happy tail swipes at them. Otherwise, they have a most pleasant assignment.

Remembering John Dall

Link: Let’s Not Forget Film Noir's John Dall