Les Edgerton's Blog, page 33

Best. Song. Ever. Here come the Irish of Notre Dame. We're comin', Michigan...

COVER REVEAL for THE BITCH

Hi folks,

Jon Bassoff, publisher of New Pulp Press, just sent me the cover for THE BITCH which comes out in January. I'm super-stoked! It's by Daniele Serra, an absolutely brilliant artist.


And... without further ado... here it is!



It will be released in January, 2014. This novel has a bit of a history. It was originally published by another press, and the owner of that press graciously allowed me back the rights to it. This will be a new read in several ways: There's a new foreword, written by Anthony Neil Smith, and a study guide for it, plus, of course, the new cover.
It garnered some awards, being named to the Goodreads list of  The 50 Best Noir Novels and it was a nominee for Spinetingler Magazine's Best Novel, Legends Category. It also won the Preditors&Editors Best Novel Award.
It also has some new blurbs by such folks as Anonymous 9 as well as the wonderful ones already given by such luminaries as Linwood Barclay and Allan Guthrie... in fact, a Who's Who lineup of authors who've liked it enough to furnish public praise.
I feel that along with THE RAPIST, it's my very best work.
I hope you'll consider glomming onto a copy when it comes out! This time, it will be issued in paperback as well as an ebook version.
Blue skies,Les

R.I.P. Elmore Leonard

HI folks,

This is a sad, sad day. The genius Elmore Leonard passed away from complications from a stroke. He was 87. I just learned this and my thoughts are flying everywhere. I'm incoherent and profoundly saddened.

Leonard was one of the "good guys" in literature. He inherited that "built-in bullshit detector" from Hemingway. His work was so strong, so honest, so brilliant. The very clearest of  vision.

My favorite of his books is KILLSHOT. It's also the only one that Hollywood didn't pervert when they made it into a movie. Hollywood saw most of his work--especially in the last twenty years--as broad comedy, rather than the black comedy he actually wrote. He said the same thing himself. He kept offering up a particular actor who he wanted to play the lead in many of his movies--sorry, can't remember the name but my friend Carl Brush does--Carl? Who was the actor Leonard always wanted? Once you see who he always wanted, you understand his books a lot better.

The movie they made of KILLSHOT was frickin' pitch-perfect. Again, I don't know who the director was, but he understood Leonard. And the casting director also understood him. They picked Mickey Rourke to be the lead and Rourke is the perfect choice for a Leonard character. Which is why it went direct-to-video, I suspect. It was too dark for the suits in Hollywood who don't much get black comedy. They don't usually see the difference between that and broad comedy.

I don't have a bunch of clips and photos--sorry!--but just a recommendation. If you haven't read KILLSHOT, get a copy and read it. It doesn't get any better than this.

Blue skies,
Les

LINWOOD BARCLAY'S NEW NOVEL--A TAP ON THE WINDOW

Hi folks,
One of my all-time favorite authors is internationally-bestselling Canadian Linwood Barclay, who writes truly amazing thrillers. In fact, I recommend his work to my novel-writing students and clients as one of the best examples of how a writer creates tension on every single page… which he always does.
My only complaint of him as a writer is that he doesn’t write nearly fast enough! My preference would be for him to come out with a new novel each week, but I guess that isn’t too feasible…
What that means is that when he does come out with a new one, I’m all over it, like sweat on a marathon runner. And, I know to never begin a Barclay novel at night. Not unless I plan to stay up until the sun rises…
Well, he finally came out with a new one! A TAP ON THE WINDOW.



And this one is his best so far!
I’m not good at writing plot summaries so I’ll just rely on the Amazon copy for that:
It’s been two months since private investigator Cal Weaver’s teenage son Scott died in a tragic accident. Ever since, he and his wife have drifted apart, fracturing a once normal life. Cal is mired in grief, a grief he can’t move past. And maybe his grief has clouded his judgment. Because driving home one night, he makes his first big mistake.
A girl drenched in rain taps on his car window and asks for a ride as he sits at a stoplight. Even though he knows a fortysomething man picking up a teenage hitchhiker is a fool, he lets her in. She’s the same age as Scott, and maybe she can help Cal find the dealer who sold his son the drugs that killed him. After a brief stop at a roadside diner, Cal senses that something’s not right with the girl or the situation. But it’s too late. He’s already involved.
Now Cal is drawn into a nightmare of pain and suspicion. Something is horribly wrong in the small town of Griffon in upstate New York. There are too many secrets there, too many lies and cover-ups. And Cal has decided to expose those secrets one by one.
That’s his second big mistake.
What I bring to the table for your consideration is that I really couldn’t put this down! It’s like every one of Linwood’s novels—drenched with tension and blow-by-blow it just keeps ratcheting up--you simply can’t quit reading. It can be used as a textbook for writers who want to learn the very best techniques of creating tension on every page… and it can be read by readers who like their books to be riveting and keep them on the edge throughout the entire novel.
Bad things happen. Lots and lots of bad things. And the ending is so damned powerful. This is by far his darkest novel.
For me, there was an added bonus. Part-way through the read, I came upon my own name! Well, not exactly my entire name. A character named Len Edgerton. Just one sentence that says:
If that happens, if we get a few more complainants—in fact, this kid said he knew of at least one other person, by the name of Len Edgerton or Eggleton or something—well, that might play out very differently.
Well, Linwood and I are kind of friends—in fact, he gave me a great blurb for THE BITCH which comes out in January from New Pulp Press, so I had an inkling that maybe he’d chosen this name on purpose. So, I emailed him. Here’s our exchange:

Me, to Linwood (we’d been talking about Bouchercon and Thrillerfest and he’d told me he wouldn’t be able to make Bouchercon, but would be at Thrillerfest)
I hope to make Thrillerfest. BTW, I see you've got a minor character named "Len Edgerton." Just wondering... :)
To which, Linwood replied (succinctly)Yup.
And I answered:OHMYGOD! That's all I can say! I'm already your biggest fan--now I'm your WAY-BIGGEST FAN.
And Linwood came back with: I'd forgotten about that. I was casting about for a name one day and must have seen something you posted on FB, and thought, that'll do, but I can't do the name exactly the same, so I changed a letter.Don't sue.
To which I said:Sue?! I'm so tickled pink I can't see straight. Thank you! Although, if that would have been me, I would've gotten the guy over the rail and into the river... :)
(That last was about what this character did, later on in the novel.)

So there you have it. Inside “skinny” on how I ended up in a frickin’ Linwood Barclay novel!
I have no doubt that this will help make it a bestseller.
No doubt at all.
You’ll wanna get this puppy. It’s one of the best I’ve read in a long time. And I read a lot.
Blue skies,Les

BOUCHERCON!

Hi folks,
I’m jazzed! It looks like I’ll be able to attend Bouchercon this year in Albany, NY after all. I didn’t think I could afford (actually, I can’t, but my wife Mary has graciously allowed us to go into bankruptcy so I can… thanks, Mary!).
My sainted wife Mary--giving birth to our son, Mike. It was either hatch him out or make a ginormous omelet...



As much as I travel, I’m something of an idiot… or at least a slow learner. I’ll go with idiot… I didn’t realize when I checked on airline prices that what I saw posted wasn’t the final price. Who knew? It keeps going up! When I first checked, a round-trip ticket from Ft. Wayne was listed at $348. When I went back to buy a ticket it had jumped up to $550+. Yow!
No way I could afford that. So, I looked for alternative modes of transportation and I just bought a ticket on the train. It’ll mean almost 13 hours each way of riding the rails, but round-trip only ran me about $140. Doesn’t get much better than that. Unless we derail or something… Not gonna think about that…
My buddy Jack Getze from New Jersey offered to let me share his room so I saved a bunch on that. Thanks, Jack! I’m bringing my bottle of Midleton that my Irish friend, Gerald O’Connor sent me.
This morning, I got an email from the conference directors and not only was I asked to be on a panel, but I get to be the moderator! And, it’s the best panel of all. From 1:20-2:15PM-Thursday, me and a bunch of really great writers will be sitting up at the front of the room for a panel titled: 
Close to the Borderline-Pulp Fiction, Baby!
Yeah, baby! We’re gonna rock the house! It will be yours truly, Frank DeBlase, K.A. (Kate)Laity, Howard Owen, Josh Stallings and Jack Getze. How cool is that? These are some of the very best noir writers working today. Warren Moore was going to be with us, but unfortunately he had to cancel at the last-minute—we’ll miss him. 
If you’re going, this is the one panel that you should mark down as a must-see.
And, please let me know if you’re going to be there. I’d love to meet you in person!
Blue skies,Les

MONDAY'S MEAL story collection

Hi folks,
(Warning: This is a long one!)
Recently, Court Merrigan, a writer friend of mine and I were in contact about his master’s thesis in which he was writing a chapter on “country noir.” I recommended my good friend Jane Bradley’s work to him and then thought about some of my own work, which I also suggested he take a look at.
Specifically, my first collection of short stories, titled MONDAY’S MEAL, from the university of North Texas Press, pub. 1997.

 

I consider this probably my best work, along with THE RAPIST and the forthcoming THE BITCH.
The reason I’m talking about it here, is that I know a lot of folks may not be aware of this book and I’m taking this opportunity to make you aware of it. Other than selling copies, I have another, ulterior motive for bringing this book to your attention. A publisher is interested in the reprint rights to it, but when I contacted the editor at UNT, he told me that they wouldn’t release those rights to me until it was completely sold out. Well, since there’s only a very few copies left in the warehouse, I thought I’d let you know and if enough people buy up the remaining copies, it can see new life… and that would make me ecstatic! Plus, I think you’ll find it to be a read you’ll enjoy.
Here’s what the NY Times had to say about Monday’s Meal:
The New York TimesNovember 16, 1997By DENISE GESSThe sad wives, passive or violent husbands, parolees, alcoholics and other failures in Leslie H. Edgerton's short-story collection are pretty miserable people. And yet misery does have its uses. Raymond Carver elevated the mournful complaints of the disenfranchised in his work, and Edgerton makes an admirable attempt to do the same. He brings to this task an unerring ear for dialogue and a sure-handed sense of place (particularly New Orleans, where many of the stories are set). Edgerton has affection for even his most despicable characters -- ''boring'' Robert, who pours scalding water over his sleeping wife in ''The Last Fan''; Jake, the musician responsible for his own daughter's death in ''The Jazz Player''; and Tommy in ''I Shoulda Seen a Credit Arranger,'' whose plan to get hold of some money involves severing the arm of a rich socialite -- but he never quite takes the reader past the brink of horrible fascination into a deeper understanding. In the best story, ''My Idea of a Nice Thing,'' a woman named Raye tells us why she drinks: ''My job. I'm a hairdresser. See, you take on all of these other people's personalities and troubles and things, 10 or 12 of 'em a day, and when the end of the day comes, you don't know who you are anymore. It takes three drinks just to sort yourself out again.'' Here Edgerton grants both the reader and Raye the grace of irony, and without his authorial intrusion, we find ourselves caring about her predicament. 
Here’s what some other reviewers had to say:
“Those who enjoy reading Stephen King or watching The Twilight Zone will eat up these unique, often gruesome, at times humorous, short stories.” --School Library Journal
“This collection of short fiction by the author of The Death of Tarpons contains considerable variety of tone, voice, and subject matter, but the majority of the stories fall into two distinct groups. A large number of stories focus on troubled and deeply self-absorbed men who seem surprised to find themselves in failed romantic relationships. A number of other stories focus on marginal Pulp Fiction types who are haunted by personal demons and are drawn to violence. In stories that range in tone from the comic and farcical to the darkly tragic and grim, Edgerton draws memorable portraits of these dangerous and unpredictable characters.” --Library Journal
Leslie H. Edgerton's new collection fully meets John Updike's explanation of why we read short stories: "Each is a glimpse into another country: an occasion for surprise, an excuse for wisdom, and an argument for charity." The country of Edgerton's stories, in geographic terms, is New Orleans and the Texas Gulf Coast. In human terms, Edgerton's territory is peopled by nightclub musicians, cafe owners, teenage delinquents, inmates and ex-cons, the poor and uneducated, the heartless and violent, and a snooty former debutante.

Monday's Meal is a busy collection of twenty-one stories. A handful of these include recurring characters, enhancing the sense throughout the book that Edgerton is writing about a community rather than simply a series of individuals. The character with whom we become best acquainted is Evan, a.k.a. Pete: "Now Pete's not my real name, it's my middle name. Peter, actually. But when your first name's Evan, and you hang out where I do, you want to use something else." Evan/Pete hangs out in the seedier precincts of New Orleans. In "I Shoulda Seen a Credit Arranger" and "Ten Cents a Dance," he gets involved in, respectively, a botched kidnapping and the pursuit of an uninterested prostitute. His ex-wife, the blueblood narrator of "Princess," finds it horrific how he now "hangs out with low-lifes, even street people. God!" Evan/Pete, though, is a street-wise, philosophizing, get-by-as-best-you-can kind of guy who moves through a part of New Orleans never viewed from the tour bus.

Evan/Pete is an amusing character, yet not all of Edgerton's down-and -outers are. "The Jazz Player" portrays an angry young man desperate to release "that intense, throbbing, terrible, last blast of pent-up fury and frustration and guilt and anguish and loss and death." In "The Mockingbird Cafe," one of the strongest stories here for its concision, a black prison escapee endures a white cop's tormenting of him and then sullenly walks away. In "Rubber Band," a kid just released from the reformatory, made cynical and weary of the world, anticipates his own snapping point. While Edgerton can sketch a city hardship scene comparable to Joseph Mitchell's--and several of the stories have the casualness of familiar essays about them--Edgerton establishes the kind of convincing, and wrenching, interiority with his characters achieved by only the most adept fiction writers.
Edgerton does not write exclusively about people living on society's fringe. Sometimes his characters--as in "The Last Fan," about a dullard husband's violent turn, or "Voodoo Love," about a yuppie couple's falling out--are simply headed in that direction. To his credit, Edgerton aims for range in his characters. While suspicion of identity interlopers across ethnic and gender lines is often justified, the smart writer adopts various personae in order to strive for empathy and understanding, rather than appropriation. "My Idea of a Right Thing" exemplifies this purpose in its striking account of a woman's struggle with alcoholism and the (often) predominantly male world of Alcoholics Anonymous. Less dramatic, though no less vivid, "Telemarketing" is the story of a woman dealing with an emotionally distant husband and a pair of needy neighbors as she runs the cafe she owns and longs to have a child.

Even Edgerton's most harrowing stories, such as "Hard Times," about the deadly abandonment of a woman and her children, read effortlessly. The prose throughout is vibrant and precise. At times, the author's sharp ear for colloquial mannerisms tends to turn his speakers into Runyonesque caricatures, as when the high-brow belle in "Princess" exclaims indignantly, "Why, I'd just die!" On the other hand, such dialect adds as much local color as references to the Camellia Cafe or beignets. A case in point: after protesting how he was "bum-rapped on that litigious," the narrator of "Dream Flyer" gripes about the "effrippery" of his jailers for putting him in the same cell with an "orignal-diginal" like the Dream Flyer, who's scheduled to be "exterminated for something he didn't do." In fiction as in life, I suppose, better too much of a good thing than not enough.

Once again, the University of North Texas Press deserves high praise for its commitment to publishing superb contemporary fiction. Leslie H. Edgerton is a writer one should continue to seek out in the literary magazines and on the new-releases shelf.
Studies in Short Fiction, Summer, 1997,  by Peter Donahue, Sam Houston State UniversityCOPYRIGHT 1997 Studies in Short FictionCOPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group

On Amazon, it garnered nine reviews, all five stars:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful 5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughts of Raymond Carver, January 22, 2013 By Sarah Faurote - See all my reviewsThis review is from: Monday's Meal (Paperback) As I read Les Edgerton's Monday's Meal, I couldn't help but think of one of my favorite American short story writers - Raymond Carver. Les has the same straight forward approach with his characters and stories, but if you read them again, you realize that hidden within one story is another in the background. Raymond Carver was famous for this and it is not easy to do. I gladly and with ease, place Les Edgerton beside Raymond Carver as one of our great American short story writers- no regrets.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful 5.0 out of 5 stars Great story collection!, August 26, 2011 By Oryx (New York, United States) - See all my reviewsAmazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Monday's Meal (Paperback) The stories in Blue Skies are terrific. Edgerton has a style that is deceptively brilliant, both in the language-stringing ordinary words together in new ways-and the way the stories unfold and end on an unusual note.
It's not the kind of book to read all at once. Each story makes you stop and think. They kind of catch a mood or emotion that is hard to define, and some have really stayed with me, in particular, "Hard Times". I highly recommend the collection.
Looking forward to reading his novels.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful 5.0 out of 5 stars The hard side of life., June 30, 2011 By Paul D Brazill (Bydgoszcz, Poland) - See all my reviewsThis review is from: Monday's Meal (Paperback) When it comes to short stories, well, the American's rule the roost, they really do. Flannery O' Connor, Raymond Carver, Stephen King, Dorothy Parker, Charles Bukowski, Richard Ford, Kyle Minor. Loads and loads more.

And you can add Les Edgerton to that list.

Monday's Meal by Leslie H Edgerton was published in 1997 and contains twenty-one tales of dirt realism. Sharp slices of American life. They're set in New Orleans and Texas. Sometimes in bars or behind bars. They're about café owners, hairdressers, nightclub musicians, prisoners, ex-cons, drifters and drinkers.

Monday's Meal opens and closes `Blue Skies' and `Monday's Meal, tales of strained relationships.' But the real meat is sandwiched between them. And Monday's Meal is particularly meaty.

Some favourites: `The Mockingbird Café' is the story of a man in a low-rent bar trying to mind his own business; `Hard Times' is bleak and scary and brilliantly written; `The Last Fan' is a tragic look at a shattered marriage; `My Idea Of A Nice Thing' is a touching and sad story of an alcoholic's crumbling life;'Telemarketing,' is the story of a young couple just trying to get by; `I Shoulda Seen a Credit Arranger,' is a Runyonesque crime story.

And there's plenty more to enjoy in Monday's Meal. Edgerton has a strong and sure grasp of the lives of people who are standing on the edge of a precipice.



3 of 3 people found the following review helpful 5.0 out of 5 stars These stories are classics, April 17, 1999 By wbanks@pomona.edu (California) - See all my reviewsThis review is from: Monday's Meal (Paperback) When I finished the last story in Monday's Meal I paused, reflected, and then read it right through again from the beginning. Part of the reason for my re-reading was a simple desire to repeat the pleasure; part of it was a desire to understand what made these elegantly constructed stories tick. Just where was I drawn from a realistic beginning into the banishment of the ordinary - the strange, ordinary world that some of these stories inhabit? Just where is the edge in these finely drawn personalities, the edge that leads to the end? One can also learn from these stories. The craft, the amazing economy deserve study, but one can just go along for the ride and enjoy. I would compare some of the plots to Ray Carver's in their structure, but Edgerton has it all over Carver in his depiction of personality. Edgerton's people have depth, they are all different, and the actions flow entirely from their natures. This is a collection not to be missed.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful 5.0 out of 5 stars Edgerton is the last of the Great American Authors, February 19, 1999 By Vincent Zandri (New York) - See all my reviewsThis review is from: Monday's Meal (Paperback) This collection will grab you by the heart and wrench it right out of your chest. The characters are hauntingly authentic as are the New Orleans and South Texas settings they inhabit. These are deeply troubled individuals coping with other troubled individuals who find solace only in the bottle and the arid soil underneath the soles of their battered Tony Lamas. Edgerton reigns as a supreme American author. A sort of Ray Carver meets Denis Johnson. A literary man who succeeds where the academics fail--he knows plot, he knows story, he knows action! The last of a great breed that includes Hemingway, Mailer and Jim Harrison. It's simple. If you don't read Les Edgerton, you lose.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful 5.0 out of 5 stars Darkness visible., January 29, 1999 By A CustomerThis review is from: Monday's Meal (Paperback) Edgerton's stories takes us down those side streets or out into the backwoods most of us have passed by. What we meet there are the people we have avoided all our lives. What we find is the human heart, its brightness and dark corners. And we leave and return to the same world we have always known, but it doesn't look the same. Joyously disturbing work, hard to ignore.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful 5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best collections I have read, January 25, 1999 By A CustomerThis review is from: Monday's Meal (Paperback) 'Monday's Meal' is aptly named . These stories are salty and pungent with a hint of bitter chicory. No one serves these morsels, the reader has to dip his fingers into the pot. They might come out burned, or dripping grease, but the tidbit they clutch is never bland. The characters are alive. We know them well, or we know someone who knew them and told us their stories. No one tells them as well as Les Edgerton. Some stories can be gulped down and digested later. Some like 'Hard Times' cannot be gulped. It must be taken in small sips, sometimes days apart. It will take you that long to identify the taste.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful 5.0 out of 5 stars These are some of the best short stories I've read, January 21, 1999 By A CustomerThis review is from: Monday's Meal (Paperback) "Monday's Meal" is aptly named . These stories are salty and pungent with a hint of bitter chicory. No one serves these morsels, the reader has to dip his fingers into the pot. They might come out burned, or dripping grease, but the tidbit they clutch is never bland. The characters are alive. We know them well, or we know someone who knew them and told us their stories. No one tells them as well as Les Edgerton. Some stories can be gulped down and digested later. Some like "Hard Times" cannot be gulped. It must be taken in small sips, sometimes days apart. It will take you that long to identify the taste.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful 5.0 out of 5 stars Strong hard hitting prose for deep thinkers., January 10, 1999 By Rosy Reader "loves to read"(Kingwood, WV (buried under 8 inches of snow)) - See all my reviewsAmazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Monday's Meal (Paperback) Monday's Meal is a collection of hard hitting short stories. If the reader is looking for a pleasant diversion, look elsewhere. If the reader wishes to be challenged to think about life and it's many complexities then choose Monday's Meal."It's Different" is this reviewer's favorite selection from the book. At first glance this seems like such a simple tale, but the story stayed with this reader long after the book's covers were closed. Monday's Meal is a book one will read again and again.
There is an added bonus to this book. The fantastic art of Lu Ann Barrow. There’s a great story behind this cover. During its publication, my publisher, Fran Vick, and her crew, including my editor, Charlotte Wright, couldn’t come up with a cover idea they liked. Then, one day as she was leaving for the office, Fran happened to glance at a painting she owned hanging in the foyer of her home. It was a painting by the acclaimed artist Lu Ann Barrow, titled Rain Dance. “This is perfect,” she said. As it happens, Fran knew Ms. Barrow personally and took a chance and called her, asking what it would cost to use her art for the cover. To her amazement, Ms. Barrow graciously said she could use it gratis!
It was perfect.
Today, short story collections are easily published due to the ebook phenomena. In those days, it was very difficult to get a collection published by a legitimate publisher. The “rules” were that at least half of the stories had to have been previously published by prestigious literary magazines. The other rule was that there had to be a theme that connected all the stories. Well, I’d satisfied the first requirement—every one of the stories had been published by some of the best litmags out there—places like The South Carolina Review, High Plains Literary Review, Kansas Quarterly/Arkansas Review, Whiskey Island Review and others. One story subsuquently appeared in Houghton-Mifflin’s “Best American Mystery Stories.” But… there really wasn’t a theme to them. They represented a variety of subjects, voices, themes. To climb over that obstacle, I came up with the idea of titling it “Monday’s Meal.”
That came from the Southern tradition of Monday’s being wash days. The deal was, every Monday, the wife did the weekly washing… while also tending to the ten kids she had, her husband, the house cleaning, and all of the other chores, including feeding her brood. Eventually, a common meal emerged. Usually, it was a form of either stew or gumbo. Something that could be put on the stove and when she had a few extra minutes, she could run in and throw in a new ingredient. The gumbo cooked all day long. The ingredients thrown into the pot were all over the place. At first glance, it didn’t look as if they’d go together, but at the end of the day they all combined to create a wonderful, delicious dish. In our house, we always had gumbo and one of the best ingredients (in season) was when my grandma put in crab eggs. I gave the collection the name of Monday’s Meal to indicate a kind of gumbo where a bunch of unrelated ingredients came together to create a tasty meal.
Personally, I felt it was a really neat idea… and so did Fran and Charlotte.
Which was why Lu Ann Barrow’s painting was so perfect. It shows a poor family, cavorting in a sudden summer shower in front of their shack. In the background, you can see the family wash on a clothesline. It’s the women of the family (the father was at his work), along with the family dogs. There’s even an old-fashioned washing machine on the porch.
It was… absolutely perfect. Almost as if Lu Ann Barrow had painted it just for this book!
Anyway, it’s a cover that the publisher could never have afforded but that we were able to get because of the largesse of Ms. Barrow. When you buy the book, you also get a cover of an incredible work of art.
One more “inside” bit of info. One of the stories is one I wrote when I was 12 years old and when it was published both by a literary magazine and in this collection, not a word was changed from that early version. The first three who can guess which story it is, I’ll send a copy of my newest novel, THE RAPIST to—either the ebook version or the paperback—your choice. Post your guesses here in the Comments.



Okay. Infomercial over. Hope you glom onto a copy so UNT sells out and I can get back the rights and reissue it as both an ebook and paperback.
Thanks for considering it!
Blue skies,Les
And, thanks for your support and helping make me a happy camper!
(What a happy camper looks like in the wild...)

WRITERS CONFERENCES, EUROPEAN PUBLISHERS AND JACK GETZE

Hi folks,
Been an exciting week! First, the best interview I’ve ever had the pleasure of being involved in was published in Grift Magazine Issue #2.Then, Benoit Lelievre posted a terrific review of my novel JUST LIKE THAT in his online magazine The Deadend Follies.
And then… Frank Nowatzke, publisher of the German publishing imprint, Pulpmaster, who had earlier purchased the German rights to THE RAPIST, made me an offer to publish the German language rights of THE RAPIST and also made an offer to publish first rights (in German) of my black comedy crime caper, THE GENUINE, IMITATION, PLASTIC KIDNAPPING. And now, Italian publisher Matteo Strukul has requested a copy of THE RAPIST for consideration for publishing the Italian rights. And, another German publisher, Dr. Thomas Wortche of PenserPulp, has requested several of my manuscripts and is reading them now and considering publication. Viva Europe!
  I’d like to give a BIG SHOUT-OUT to a good friend of mine, Jack Getze, and his novel, BIG NUMBERS. This is one of the most enjoyable hard-boiled detective novels I’ve read in a long, long time. “Page-turner” is an adjective used perhaps too much in describing novels, but in this case it applies. It’s also genuinely funny and will remind you of Carl Hiassen’s novels. I highly, highly recommend it. It’s also a product of an exciting publisher, Down and Out Books, run by Eric Campbell. I met Eric at the last Bouchercon when he came to a reading of noir authors and what he’s doing with his press is resurrecting deserving novels that are out-of-print that he feels deserve to be resurrected. He’s putting together a kick-ass list of books like Jack’s.




And, finally, I’ve been asked to and have accepted invitations to appear at two writer’s conferences next May in Texas. Being a native Texan (born in Odessa and raised in Freeport), I’m really stoked to be going home! Also, I get to meet up with some good friends of mine, Bob Stewart and Carl Brush and some others.
The first event will be the Dallas-FT. Worth Writer’s Conference held May 2-4 at the Hurst Conference Center, Hurst, TX (Dallas). So far, besides myself, old friend, uber-agent Don Maass is appearing and the headliner is best-selling novelist Jonathan Maberry. The director, Kirk von der Heydt,  aware that “Les likes his Jack Daniels,” told me that each presenter is assigned what they call a “wrangler”--a person who gets them places and escorts them around, and that he assigned me a guy who always carries a flask with him since the bar doesn’t open until 7:30. Seven-thirty!? What th?! Is this Texas? Anyway, it’ll be lots of fun so hope some of you can make it and we get to meet. After 7:30 you’ll find me… well, you know where…
Then, I come back home for a few days and then go back down again to San Antonio, where I’ll be appearing at my third Writer’s Retreat Workshop(WRS) for director Jason Sitzes. These are intensive 10-day affairs and a total blast! I was privileged to teach at two earlier ones when they were held in Kentucky and they were fantastic. I’m planning on hooking up with several of my writer friends, including Bob Stewart, Carl Brush, and SusanBaker. And old friends from when I appeared a few years ago. People tend to go back to WRW, over and over. It’s an amazing retreat and will run from May 9-18 2014 in San Antonio, TX., at the Purple Sage Ranch. It's going to be one of the most fabulous venues yet. I can’t wait and I hope we’ll get to go down to the Riverwalk—it’s one of my favorite places in America!

Finally, I've received emails from folks who tell me they can't find my novel THE BITCH on Amazon. Well... that's because I've taken back the rights from the original publisher and sold the book to New Pulp Press and it will be coming out anew in January in both paperback and in ebook format. It will also be coming out in a German edition in paper and ebook from Pulpmaster. Sorry for the inconvenience but I'm really excited about the new publisher and the edition that will come out. There's be new material in it as well--including a foreword and a reader's guide.
Welp… thas’ about it!
Blue skies,Les

Me reading at the Noir at the Bar event in Cleveland at the last Bouchercon where I met Eric Campbell of Down and Out Books.

GRIFT MAGAZINE and DEAD END FOLLIES

Hi folks,
Couple of recent publications in which I’m involved. First, is the notice by Grift Magazine that their second print issue of the magazine is now available. I’m very proud to be included.
Grift #2 is available now!

Posted by Johnon July 14th, 2013 
The second issue of Grift is now available!
Believe me, it was worth the wait. The issue includes an exhaustive (yet incredibly captivating) interview of Les Edgerton, another with Stuart Neville, and a look a the film noir woodcuts of Loren Kantor.
The fiction section is beefed up considerably from the first issue with stories from Erik Arneson, Jack Bates, Matthew Brozik, Lawrence Buentello, Holly Day, Salvatore Falco, Andy Henion, Davin Ireland, David James Keaton, Jon McGoran, Chad Rohrbacher, Helen Maryles Shankman, and Martin Zeigler.
Get it here.


The second is the highly-regarded blog by Ben Lelievre, Dead End FolliesDead End Follies
Book Review : Les Edgerton - Just Like That (2012) Benoit Lelievre


(also reviewed)
Order THE RAPIST here"Jake"
I said, "Huh?"
"You got three weeks, huh."
He was talking about my parole hearing. "That's right"
"You'll be back, Jake. I can guarantee it."
Everybody always says that. It's jealousy, that's all it is.
If you've followed my coverage of the release of Les Edgerton's THE RAPIST, you know he's an unusual creature in the crime fiction landscape. He is half-writer, half-character. Your run-of-the-mill writer could never imagine a character who has lived through what Les lived. I know what you're thinking. This calls for a memoir, right? Well, Edgerton has one...or he almost does. JUST LIKE THAT is many things. It's a novel, first and foremost, but it's also a memoir, a thinly-veiled true crime book and a user guide to separate what's real from what's bullshit in today mainstream fiction portrayal of prison environment. Fortunately, it's also a pretty good story.
You could call JUST LIKE THATmetafiction, I suppose. The foreword and the afterword are an integral part of the novel's enjoyment as Edgerton explain most of this kind of happened and he refuses to tell you what's real and what's fiction. That gives the reader perspective on his own crime fiction cultureand adds a layer of fun to the reading process as you're always trying to guess where is the line between reality and fiction. Reading JUST LIKE THATis an active process. It's not a story that delivers itself to you straightforwardly. It's something that's anchors in reality, in Les Edgerton's persona, and finishes on the pages of the novel. Yeah, I guess it's crime metafiction after all.
"You ever get scared?"
"Well, there's time's when I'm more cautious than others if that's what you mean."
"Fuck it, Jake. I'm askin' you a serious question. You ever been scared of anything?"
Before I could answer and maybe because he really wanted an answer and knew I wouldn't admit it - having fear, that is - he said, "I been scared most of my life, Jake. You believe that?"
There are a lot of quiet, almost intimate moments to JUST LIKE THAT, which were my favorite parts (see what I just quoted). Parts where Edgerton seems to break the fourth wall and explain his philosophy on things himself. I have never seen the borderline animalistic nature of the criminal spiritexplained so well. That surrender to your darkest impulses of destruction. It sets the tone for the whole novel, which is light on outward emotion, but not without a heart. That's just how I like fiction. Seldom tender, but never mushy. Male friendship is also a strong theme in JUST LIKE THAT, the peculiar, reticent way men show appreciation towards one another and stick together. 
You can't really put an etiquette on JUST LIKE THAT. Just stick it it on the mystery section shelves of your bookstore and let the readers make up their mind. Les Edgerton often says he went to the Jack London School of Writing, so it makes JUST LIKE THAThis master degree thesis. No matter how you want to call it : metafictional, autobiographical, picaresque or criminal, it's mostly a great story about being a human being in the darkest corners of America. It's not anything precise, yet it's not difficult to love.
Posted by Benoit Lelievre
Thanks, Ben!


"JUST LIKE THAT is yet another  Les Edgerton winner. Mr. Edgerton in his prison memoir conjures up in honest, Bukowski-esque prose a mad dog life lived behind and beyond the bars of institutional correctional facilities. Literature's version of Johnny Cash, America has yet another gifted bard to sing the blues of time served.
I have long believed Mr. Edgerton to be an American original, who has for too long remained one of our best-kept literary secrets. As a publisher I want to put to print whatever he writes, as a reader I want to devour the pages, as a writer, I'd be happy to pilfer just a few of his lines."
-Cortright McMeel, author of Short (St. Martin's), Co-publisher, Bare Knuckles Press, Co-editor, Noir National, International Journal of Crime Fiction
Blue skies,Les

GOODREADS REVIEW

Hi folks,

I usually don't do this, but just got a new review on Goodreads that was really nice and thought I'd share it with your indulgence.

06/25 status: Read in June, 2013

This is rough going, I will not lie. Not because it isn't written brilliantly, and not because it ever gets boring.

The protagonist is Truman Ferris Pinter who is a psychopath, no kidding with this. It is stomach turning how this guy rationalizes, and harrowing. I really HATE him, but I could not put it down. And the fact that I would put "hate" in all caps is what makes this brilliant. I read a lot, and one out of every 100 novels affects me the way this has. It was beyond the mediocre character villains, the clichés that allow you to sit back and think, "cardboard character" I'm just along for the ride. No, you get so involved with this, that you have an emotional reaction on the visceral level.

I have only read 2 other novels that stayed with me to this extent, "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Lolita". They stayed with me for months, and even years. This one is going to do the same.

It is powerful. Read it.


Thanks! Much appreciated!

Blue skies,
Les

THIS JUST IN ABOUT GRIFT MAGAZINE

Hi folks, This just appeared on the Grift Magazine site. I'm very honored!    Grift No. 2 coming soon!Posted by John on June 24th, 2013 Yes, it probably seems like forever since the debut issue of Grift was unleashed on the world, but it has only been about a year. No, we didn’t intend for Grift to be an annual, but tell that to life, which kept getting in the way of our earnest and heartfelt attempts to get the second issue out to you.Fret no more: Grift’s arrival is imminent. As we iron out the last few items in preparation of launch, you can prepare yourself… or try, anyway.
The issue includes an exhaustive (yet incredibly captivating) interview of Les Edgerton, another with Stuart Neville, and a look a the film noir woodcuts of Loren Kantor.The fiction section is beefed up considerably from the first issue with stories from Erik Arneson, Jack Bates, Matthew Brozik, Lawrence Buentello, Holly Day, Salvatore Falco, Andy Henion, Davin Ireland, David James Keaton, Jon McGoran, Chad Rohrbacher, Helen Maryles Shankman, and Martin Zeigler.Keep watch on the site for word of when the issue will be available for order. And as always, Grift no. 1 is still available. Posted in MagazineBlue skies,Les