Les Edgerton's Blog, page 41

UK Radio Show with Tracey Edges

Hi folks,

Tracey Edges is going to talk about art and also my book, THE BITCH on her UK radio show in a bit at 6 pm GMT. You can catch it at :: http://estuaryradioedges.podomatic.com/entry/2012-11-10T13_45_44-08_00

Sorry I didn't get this up earlier, but I didn't know how to do it. I'm seriously challenged with this stuff!

Blue skies,
Les

Interview on the Andrea Hurst website

Hi folks,

Uber-literary agent, Andrea Hurst posted an interview I took part in with Katie Flanagan on Andrea's site awhile back and I thought I'd post it here for those who didn't see it at the time and might have some interest in reading it. Without further ado...



AUTHORNOMICS Interview with Les Edgerton
By: Andrea HurstMarch 26th, 2012 Posted in AUTHORNOMICS Interview Series, Blog With a publishing industry that is ever in flux, it can be hard for an aspiring author to figure out what information is relevant and what she needs to do to be successful. Recognizing this, literary agent Andrea Hurst and writer and blogger Katie Flanagan present a series of weekly interviews with publishing industry specialists. The AUTHORNOMICS Series features literary agents, editors, authors, marketing experts and more talking about their opinions on the publishing industry, writing, and what a writer needs to know.Interview with Author Les EdgertonLes Edgerton is an ex-con, matriculating at Pendleton Reformatory for a couple of years in the sixties for burglary (plea-bargained down from multiple counts of burglary, armed robbery, strong-armed robbery and possession with intent). He’s since taken a vow of poverty (became a writer) with 14 books in print. 2011 was a good year for him as he published two novels with StoneGate Ink—Just Like That and The Perfect Crime, along with noir novel The Bitchfrom Bare Knuckles Press, as well as a new short story collection, Gumbo Ya-Ya, from Snubnose Press. He just sold his existential novella, The Rapist to New Pulp Press, which will be released in 2013. He is also editor-at-large for Noir Nation International Crime Magazine. Work of his has been nominated for or won: the Pushcart Prize, O. Henry Award, Edgar Allan Poe Award (short story category), PEN/Faulkner Award, Texas Institute of Letters Jesse Jones Book Award, the Violet Crown Book Award, and others. He holds the MFA in Writing degree from Vermont College and a Certificate in Barbering from Pendleton Reformatory. He writes because he hates… a lot… and hard. Injustice and bullying are what he hates the most.1.      As a prolific author with 14 books in print so far, can you elaborate on how the publishing process has changed since your first book?It’s changed tremendously in some ways and barely at all in others. I’m old-school, so I don’t count self-publishing as publishing. A horse by any other name is still a horse. In my opinion, it’s just another name for vanity publishing, which is not publishing but… printing (abeit in electronic form). I’m not including in that assessment legitimate publishers who publish ebooks, but I am including those who simply publish the work themselves. I have friends who’ve chosen to self-publish and while they’re still my friends, I’m not going to purchase their books any more than I would the person who has stacks of their vanity or subsidy-published books in their garage. Just want to define the terms. And, there are degrees and shadings within even the self-published category. For instance, I’m getting ready to self-publish a book… but it’s a book that has been published and done well. It just never came out in ebook form, so my agent got the ebook rights from the publisher and we’re going to put it out. That, to me, isn’t the kind of self-published “vanity” book I’m referring to.Definitions provided, to answer your question, let me address what’s changed first. The biggest changes have come about because of the advent of ebooks.What’s changed is that if there was any doubt that mid-list authors have disappeared, now there’s no doubt. At one time, legacy publishers would publish a writer’s books knowing that they probably wouldn’t make any money on that particular book, but they saw something in the writer that made them think that eventually an audience would build for that author and down the road, they’d all make money on his or her novels. As Roberto Durante said, in another context: “No mas.”The Big Six, in particular, are almost exclusively interested in brand names. Proven winners who have a sizeable audience already in place. Here’s a prime example. A few months ago, I was told in confidence by someone who is in the “know,” that a top editor for a major publisher, who has his own imprint, was told by his boss (yes, even top editors have bosses), that if he signed any novel that didn’t earn at least $30,000 he’d be fired. Not chastised, not given a talking to, or a slap on the wrist, but… fired.Think this guy is going to want to sign the brilliant novel by the unknown author or do you supposed he might opt instead for the same-as-the-last book by Mr. Brand Name? Fugedaboutit. That’s one change.The second change I’ve observed is that so-called “literary novels” are just about over. Remember: I’m just the messenger. Don’t kill the messenger! Here’s how I know this. For almost thirty years, my wife and I and our son until he moved out of the house, visited a local bookstore every single week. Never missed a week. Our favorite was Borders and our second favorite was one of the two B&N outlets. One Saturday, we walked into Borders and stood in shock at the change. The biggest single area the week before was the space devoted to what was labeled “Mainstream fiction.” Mainstream encompasses literary fiction in bookstore terminology. They’d reduced that space fully by three-fourths. The area that used to house literary fiction and other fiction that didn’t fit a particular genre was reassigned. To two areas. Genre fiction was one. The other was greeting cards, wrapping paper, novelty items. Cute little stuffed animals. I talked to the manager and she said she hated to do it, but all the Borders stores were under corporate mandate to do the same. Literary and mainstream fiction just weren’t selling. They couldn’t justify the space devoted to it, so they reassigned it to genre fiction which was selling and significantly. It’s a cold, hard fact, but the marketplace is what determines what’s selling to publishers. Literary novels today are infinitely tougher to sell than ever before and that market is shrinking monthly. If you want to know what the literary tastes of a nation are, simply gaze about at a national chain’s brick and mortar outlet and see what’s on the shelves. The category area that has the most shelf space is the area that’s selling.Does this mean so-called “literary” novels are impossible to get published? No; it just means it’s much harder. They’ll continue to get published because legacy publishers in this instance are the same as major film studios. Major film studios will put out 85 movies that appeal to the biggest audience demographic—teenaged boys—and the remaining 15 movies will be devoted to a mix of other kinds of films. Among those will be a couple of “artsy” movies. The ones that will be nominated for Golden Globes and Oscars. Most of which they know they’ll lose money on. Then why make em? Because, studios want to be thought of as intellectual, “arty” enterprises. Kind of an ego thing. They know most of what they produce is mindless schlock, but if they get an Oscar winner or even a nominee, they feel justified that they produce “art.” And, for the one movie that does get nominated or win, they’ll actually make money on it because of the publicity. It’s mostly a way for studio execs to feel good about themselves and be able to delude themselves into thinking that they’re actually engaged in quality work. Makes ‘em walk tall when they walk into Spagos.Well, publishers do the same thing. For all the vampire novels selling in the bazillions, all the formulaic cartoonish novels about bigger-than-life vigilante superheroes, that maintain a healthy bottom line, they’ll all put out a few literary books that are published mostly because they’ll be up for the National Book Award, the Pulitzer, even the Nobel. For the same motivation as the film studios. So they can feel like they’re “literary” and providing “good literature.” Makes ‘em feel proud when they walk into the Russian Tea Room or Elaine’s or wherever they gather these days.Am I cynical? You bet.What are the things that have remained the same? Well, the legacy publishers still employ the best gatekeepers in the business. If you get published by a legacy publisher, you’ve achieved something. You’re truly validated by people who actually know something about quality in writing. If you self-publish, your validation is going to come from your relatives, friends, and how effective you are at marketing, for the most part. Sales seem to be the biggest factor in ebook publishing and sales are a poor barometer of quality. For example, there is an author who was, at best, a mid-list author when he was being published by legacy publishers—his work is truly mediocre, at best—who has become a huge marketing success since he opted for self-publishing. He’s making lots of money—and that’s fine—but his work is still godawful. If sales are your measure of success, he’s a good model to emulate. If being regarded as a good writer is your measure, he’s probably not the guy whose bust you want gracing your mantel. There’s a reason he went to self-publishing and it has to do with writing ability. His sales ability is off the charts. His writing ability is… what’s the word?… oh, yeah… pure do-do.There are other changes and other things that remain the same, but those are some of the biggest.2. You write novels, short fiction, nonfiction, and screenplays. What is your favorite genre to work in and why?Novels, by far. They require the most creativity and the most ability. Short fiction would be second. Nonfiction for the money. Screenplays are last. The reason is, screenplays aren’t about writing. No one picks up a screenplay to go sit in the hammock for a lazy-crazy afternoon of losing themselves in a fictional world. And, screenplays are ridiculously easy to write. I wrote my first screenplay literally in two days. Took seven hours the first day, put it aside for two weeks, and then finished it in a nine-hour day when I picked it back up. Now, it’s easy to write a bad screenplay in two days, so that doesn’t mean much. However, this particular screenplay placed as a semifinalist in the Nicholl’s competition and Greg Beals, the director of the foundation told me it would have won if I’d sent it in the year before, but the previous year’s winner was remarkably close to mine and he said they never picked two screenplays in a row that were this much alike. But, it placed in the top 100 out of 4,500 entries. So, I take that as validation that it was a good screenplay. Written in two days. Don’t think I could write a novel like that. And, I’d just learned formatting the week before and had read my first screenplay ever that same week. As Gore Vidal said about Jack Kerouac: “That’s not writing; that’s typing.” I don’t write them anymore because I’m too old. After the age of 35, it’s virtually impossible to sell a screenplay to Hollywood. Notice I didn’t say “impossible.” I said “virtually” impossible. And, it is. Hollywood is clearly an ageist society in every segment of the business except for producing. 3.      How did you go about mastering the craft of writing?That’s easy! By reading. That’s the only way to learn how to write. There are no “secrets” in learning how to write. The “secrets” are right out in the open. They’re on the page of the book you have open before you. All you have to do is see how the author accomplished what they did and you’re learning to write. I regularly get writers in my classes who haven’t read a book in months or even years and I know there’s no way they’ll ever be a writer. But, I’ll also encounter a student who has read voraciously from the age of five or six and never stopped, and I know that person has a chance at becoming a writer. 4.      How important do you think it is for fiction writers to obtain an MFA?Again, an easy question. I think it’s totally unimportant. In fact, I think most programs destroy more writers than help them. I kind of agree with Flannery O’Connor who, when asked if writing programs discouraged writers, said: “Not enough of them.” And I have one. I have two degrees—(well, three—I also have a B.A.)—an MFA and a Certificate in Barbering from Pendleton Reformatory. Of the two, I value my barbering certificate much, much more. I’ve made far more money, enjoyed far more success with that one.First, take a look at who the teachers and professors are in most programs. What have they done and what have they sold? If Stephen King ever showed up in an MFA program it would only be because he was slumming and bored and wanted a change. Most of the folks (not all!) teaching in many such programs are writing the kind of books Kurt Vonnegut was referring to when he said, “Literature is in danger of disappearing up its own asshole.”And, most MFA programs are dedicated to teaching “literary” fiction. I don’t know about you, but do I want to spend thousands of dollars and use up a couple years of my life to learn to write something that’s basically dying? I don’t know what your I.Q. is but mine’s over 160 and I try to put it to use, especially for questions like this.Years ago, an Ivy League college performed a study in which they looked at a random group of a hundred professional writers. They identified them as “professional” by the only legitimate definition of the term—writers who earned their entire income from writing. They discovered that almost exactly half of these writers had a high school diploma or less… and the other half had a college bachelor’s degree or higher. There’s really no correlation between writing education and writing success. What an MFA degree does do is give the student access to decision-makers. Lots of publishers and editors visit these campuses and lots of editor’s eyes light up when they see “MFA” in the writer’s query letter. However, most of these editors are the ones who are still looking for literary novels and believe there’s a decent market for such. A shrinking number…These programs used to have more value even a few years ago than they do today. These days, they’re seen by many universities and colleges as “cash cows” and they’re springing up everywhere. And, like anything that gets bigger like this, the quality goes down, commensurately. At one time, there were perhaps five-six pretty good programs. Now there are hundreds. If anyone thinks they’re as good and as beneficial for writers as they used to be, well I’d like their phone number because I have this terrific bridge in Brooklyn I’m trying to move…That said, there is one program I think is a great one and one I wish had been around when I got mine. Seton Hill focuses on genre writing (about time somebody did!), and everything I hear about it is positive. They appear to be a program that’s aware that it’s now 2012.5.      As a creative writing teacher, what are some of the most common mistakes that you see beginning writers making in both fiction and nonfiction?Not following the two elements that are always present in good writing. Be interesting and be clear. Of the two, being interesting is the most important. After that, there are structural problems that are very common. Most writers have never been taught story structure, or if they have, often it’s an archaic structure. Most English classes, most college writing classes, many MFA programs are focused on “parts” or writing. All these “exercises” on description, or characterization or dialog or whatever. Yuch! Listen, one doesn’t get to Carnegie Hall by practicing the scales. They get there by understanding what a symphony is and how to write a complete symphony. I hate it when writers refer to what they’re writing as the “piece” they’re working on. What in the hell is a “piece” of writing? Dude! Dudette! Write something that’s complete and entire. A short story. A novel. Talk about your novel, not the “piece” you’re working on.The two biggest mistakes beginning writers make are not using their own, particular, unique voice, and not beginning the story of nonfiction article or book in the right place. After that, the next biggest problem is not striving for and achieving what Flannery O’Connor said about the best of novels (badly paraphrased) that they be: “All of a piece; all of a unified effect.” So many novels end up episodic with no through-line. In other words, a mish-mash of scenes and quirky characters. That’s a novel of which the author can say, truthfully, that it’s “only available in my room.”6.      One of your well-known writing books is Hooked: Write Fiction that Grabs the Reader at Page One and Never Lets Them Go. What are the important elements in hooking a reader early?To begin where the story begins. It’s that simple. A contemporary story is about one thing and one thing only. Trouble. That means the story should begin—when the trouble begins. Not the week before, not two years before, not even two minutes before. When the trouble begins.Period. And, that seems to be a difficult concept for many to master. Something has to create and/or reveal that trouble to the protagonist. That event is the inciting incident. And, that’s where stories today need to begin.There was a time in our culture when novels could begin more leisurely. This was a time before television and movies and CNN and iPods and all the other entertainment venues were upon us. Today’s reader doesn’t have the attention span nor the interest in picking up novels with leisurely openings. That doesn’t mean stories should begin with gunfights, stabbings, bombs blowing up, kidnappings, murders, or any of that melodramatic stuff. It means they have to open with conflict—the major conflict that forms the core of the story. It can be a quiet conflict, but what it can’t be is a lengthy account of the protagonist’s bucolic life for the ten years before the trouble began. It has to begin with the trouble. Period.When movies began, they had no structural models, so they used novels as their models. Today, it’s been reversed. Novels have to imitate film structure. Years ago, screenwriting how-to books insisted the first ten minutes of a screenplay be “devoted to the setup.” No mas, again quoting Roberto Duran. Those days are, in the words of my son, “so five minutes ago.” Films today begin… when the trouble begins. As should novels.We read a novel for one reason. To see if and how the protagonist is going to resolve the story problem. If there’s no problem on the page, for that novel the reader is going to become… a nonreader. Count on it. Very few (and they don’t count) readers pick up a book just to encounter in the beginning a nifty shooting in an alley. If they don’t know the characters or the protagonist’s story problem, why would they care? There are a million places to see someone get shot. Just click on the nightly news. There has to be a reason to turn to Page 2. That reason is we see a character with a compelling problem—one we can relate to—on Page 1.7. Beginnings are so important, especially in today’s marketplace. How does a writer determine if they have started their novel in the right place? Do you have an opinion on using prologues?If they’ve begun with the introduction of the event that created and/or revealed the problem that’s going to occupy the protagonist for the following 349 pages, they’ve begun in the right place. If they’ve begun anywhere else—they haven’t.Also, that needs to be written in a scene. Everything truly important in a novel needs to be delivered via a scene. Not through the character’s ruminations or thoughts or that kind of thing. A scene. When I pick up a manuscript and it’s the character thinking on the page, my Nexium starts to malfunction and I can feel the bile beginning to rise and voila! I’m throwing up in my mouth.The reason so many writers fail, is that they don’t write scenes. They write a character’s thoughts and ruminations. They deliver descriptions of emotions based on events the reader hasn’t been witness to, via a scene. Doesn’t work. I see this in high school students beginning to write poetry. They deliver all these descriptions of emotions based on something the reader hasn’t been privy to and think that that’s poetry. It isn’t. The only way the reader is impacted emotionally is by living through the event right along with the character and at the same time. Period.Prologues? I think the vast majority… what’s the word?… oh, yeah… suck. Most aren’t needed. Now, for those who practice selective reading, I didn’t say “all.” I said “most.” Occasionally, one might work—although I can’t think of any offhand. Most, I suspect, come from a writer who’s been admonished not to begin with setup or backstory and just has to provide that crap… so they create a prologue. I use an example of one in a brilliant book. Larry Watson’s Montana 1948. He uses one in his terrific novel and it won major awards and is one of my favorite books. But, it wasn’t needed. Not at all.I feel the same about epilogues. Mostly, I think they come from writers who don’t know how to tie up the loose ends with the plot, so they stick ‘em on to accomplish that. I think most would be better served in learning how to plot better… 8. How important do you think it is for authors to maintain a strong social media presence?  What tips do you have for keeping a successful writing blog?Mostly depends on who you are. If you’re Joyce Carol Oates, it’s probably not important in the least. If you’re Les Edgerton, it might be…I’m probably the wrong person to ask what it takes for keeping a successful writing blog. I have one and I don’t know if I’d call it successful or not! I mean, I only have 250+ followers. I’ve had more people watch me pull off a crime… If numbers aren’t important, then I feel it’s successful. I’ve made wonderful contacts through it and many that have helped me not only sell my books but even helped me get them published. As to what makes it successful, I think it’s to base it on the same elements I feel important in a good novel. Be interesting and be clear. I don’t know if it’s always clear, but I do try hard to make it interesting. After all, there are about sixteen bazillion blogs out there and if yours ain’t interesting, then who’s going to want to read it? I figure it it’s interesting to me, then it might be interesting to others. Maybe not… I have weird tastes… I also have a mean, contrarian side to me. I don’t believe in telling people necessarily what they want to hear. There are enough people out there in writing telling folks they’re great and that writing’s easy and all that stuff. There are just lots of folks who aren’t great and their writing sucks and somebody maybe ought to tell them that. How else do we get better if we don’t know we’re bad?9.      On your blog, you have posted the first chapter of your new writing book, A Fiction Writer’s Workshop at the Bijou.  Do you think giving away the first chapter is helpful for building sales?Good question! And, the answer is—I don’t know. I hope so. If the readers see it as valuable information—and early responses say it is—then I think it’ll prove helpful. Plus, although I plan on self-publishing it, chances are some editor or other gatekeeper will come across it and think: “Hey, I can sell that puppy.” And then ring me up on the telly. Who knows? After all, those folks whose first meeting with Ed McMahon was on their front porches were real people getting those giant checks… 10.      Many authors are choosing to self-publish now. Do you see that as a viable option? What are the pros and cons?Only under very special circumstances would I self-publish. And, I am for two books. One isn’t really self-publishing. We’ve obtained the rights from Writer’s Digest for a very successful book they published of mine—Finding Your Voice—and I’m publishing an ebook version of it since they opted not to. I’m pretty sure there’s a sizeable audience. It earned out its advance of $8,000 within six weeks of its release way back when and every year has paid me excellent royalties. I’m pretty sure there’s an audience for that book, particularly since it hasn’t appeared in ebook format.The second instance is the Bijou book you referred to above. If I was a beginning writer with no street cred, there’s no way I’d self-publish it. But, I’ve got a pretty decent track record with sales of my other two writer’s how-tos, so I’m fairly confident that will translate into decent sales. Hooked just doesn’t let up in sales, year after year, so that tells me I have an audience. Plus, I’ve delivered and continue to deliver, a four-hour workshop on the film I use as the basis of the book—Thelma & Louise—to writing groups and workshops and draw absolutely rave reviews for the presentation, so I know there’s a significant audience for it and that it fills what I see as a hole in the writing how-to canon. Hope so, anyway! 11.      Do you have any upcoming workshops, classes or author services to share with us?I’ve been invited to appear and do a reading of my work at Noir at the Bar in St. Louis at Subterranean Books on April 28 that I’m pretty jazzed about. Great, famous venue! One of my publishers, Cort McMeel of Bare Knuckles Press got me the gig via the host, Jed Ayres, to help promote my novel, The Bitch. I’m really excited as I’m told folks like Scott Phillips and Nick Arvin will also be there to read and I’m a huge Scott Phillips fan! Details should show up at http://spaceythompson.blogspot.com/or at http://store.subbooks.com/I co-teach a class with author Jenny Milchman via Skype for the New York Writer’s Workshop and we’ll be taking applications for the next class shortly. It’s titled: Beginnings: The Start of Your Novel, Your Career, & Your Writing Life.You can check out the class at http://newyorkwritersworkshop.com/online-course-beginnings-the-start-of-your-novel-your-career-your-writing-lifeI also teach a private workshop online on novel writing. The next class will begin in approximately two months. Anyone interested can email me at butchedgerton@comcast.net.Kristen Lamb has asked I join her world-wide network of writing teachers to provide video lessons for writers. Plans are still being formulated, but anyone who might be interested, I’d suggest following her blog at http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/as she’ll post information once it’s all set up.And, please visit me at my own blog at www.lesedgertononwriting.blogspot.com/The winner of Susan Wingate’s DROWNING is Carol Anita Ryan! Thanks for reading our blog!Andrea Hurst has over 25 years experience as a published author, developmental editor for publishers, and skilled literary agent. She works with both major and regional publishing houses, and her client list includes emerging new voices and New York Times best-selling authors. Andrea represents high profile Adult Nonfiction and well crafted fiction. Her clients and their books have appeared on the Oprah Show, Ellen DeGeneres Show, Good Morning America, National Geographic network and in the New York Times.Katie Flanagan is a fiction major at Northwestern University. She is currently an editor with Booktrope Publishing and Pink Fish Press. In the past, she has interned with Andrea Hurst Literary Management and the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts. Her favorite genre is women’s fiction, but she reads any fiction put in front of her. Check out her blog about the writing life at katieflanagan.wordpress.com and follow her on Twitter at @K_Flanagan.You can see the interview as it appeared, along with the comments on Andrea Hurst’s site at http://www.andreahurst.com/blog/authornomics-interview-with-les-edgerton/
Blue skies,Les

Great review!

Hi folks,

Just had a writer I really respect write a review of JUST LIKE THAT on his blog. If interested, check out what crime fiction author Rob Brunet has to say about it at http://www.robbrunet.com/



It's available in paperback and as an ebook. To glom onto a copy, just go to http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=just+like+that+by+les+edgerton

Blue skies,
Les

P.S. My just-released YA thriller, MIRROR, MIRROR should be available as a paperback in a couple of weeks. (Just in time for Christmas... hint, hint...)

Blue skies,
Les

THE ALMOND TREE--Update

Hi folks,

I just got an email from Michelle Cohen-Corasanti that touched me and I thought I'd share. She worked for five years on this novel and I was privileged to help some. Here's what Michelle had to say:

Les,Things are going great. The Almond tree went into its second printing before it came to the US. I am shocked, but the Jewish community is embracing the novel. They are having the exact same reaction you had. They've been inviting me to speak. Last Friday, The Jewish Telegraph in the UK (circulation 50,000) ran a large article on The Almond Tree. I always send everyone your recommendation first on the page. But you really did make this happen.  Below is the amazing recommendation you wrote. It shows your keen understanding of what works and why and shows the greatness of your skill. I've made a small change because I believe you were far too humble. Can you post it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads and anywhere else? You should get credit for your class, editing, ability to know what will work even when a book is still a diamond in the rough and your ability to make things happen. Others should benefit from your expertise.I think I'm about to get another big break so I want you to post it before it happens and I want it to be among the first so it doesn't get lost in the shuffle. I've highlighted what I think should change.Michelle 
Many months ago, Michelle Cohen-Corasanti enrolled in one of my Writer’s Digest creative writing courses on CALLED HOOKED, THE FIRST FIVE PAGES Story Beginnings. The novel she worked on in class was The Almond Tree. It was clear immediately that this was a writer of uncommon talent and promise. The problem—for me—was her subject material. She was writing what seemed to be a pro-Palestinian book. All my life, I’ve been pro-Israeli. A political stand derived from my upbringing in a fundamentalist Christian home, where we were taught from an early age that the Jewish people were God’s “chosen people,” and Israel, a God-favored state. I was taught (and firmly believed) that as long as the U.S. was an ally of Israel, that we were also a nation under the grace of God. A pro-Palestinian novel simply went against all of my core beliefs. But, I consider myself a professional and I also fervently believe in freedom of expression. So, while I disagreed with the theme of her novel, she was never aware of my personal beliefs which I never revealed and I simply worked with her in addressing her craft. And then… she asked if she could hire me after class to coach her on her final rewrite. Now, I had a moral quandary. Could I, in good conscience, help someone in a work that was fundamentally opposed to everything I believe in? I asked several Jewish friends for their advice. I got differing views. Some said, I shouldn’t lend my name and whatever editing expertise I had to the project if I disagreed with the politics. That wasn’t censorship, they argued, and I agreed. Others said that this was a professional matter and that my personal politics and beliefs shouldn’t be the deciding factors. After much soul-searching, I agreed with the latter. At no time during the process did Michelle know of my beliefs. I pride myself that I’ve never revealed to any of my students or writing clients my personal and political views nor let those views influence the way I worked with them. The few who’ve learned of them have always been surprised, assuming I shared their own views. I’m proud of the fact that I’ve remained neutral when working with writers.
We began to work together. At no time during this process was Michelle aware of how I felt about Palestinians and Israel. My only guide was to always treat her material in a professional way and only look at it with the goal of helping her make it the best novel she was capable of writing. It was only when she had finished, that I revealed my personal feelings about Israel and Palestine to her. And that her novel had changed my mind…What’s important about this lengthy preamble to what I have to say about Michelle Cohen and her novel, The Almond Tree, is that this novel—the intensely gripping story of a Palestinian boy and his family and their suffering under Israeli occupation—convinced me with surety that my beliefs about this conflict were severely flawed and had been formed from a one-sided awareness. Her truly beautiful novel showed clearly that there are always two sides to a question, something I’d forgotten. In other words, Michelle wrote a novel which changed my mind about something important. That is the mark of a great work of art.
It was easy to see Michelle has talent—what convinced me that this will be a book that will achieve substantial sales and be nominated for prestigious awards—was that the story she created converted me from what I had assumed to be a committed and unyielding position to one in which I now see the Palestinian people as belonging to the community of mankind every bit as much as any other group, including the Israelis.
Some will be tempted to compare The Almond Tree to The Kite Runner, but to do so unfairly places the two books in some sort of presumed ranking. Both of these books are brilliant and powerful accounts and deserve to stand tall on their own merits, irrespective of the other.
Ichmad’s story is a big-hearted story of a small Palestinian boy who learns to survive in a brutal environment and doesn’t simply endure, but emerges from the fire with the wisdom gleaned from the example of a father who has taught him that all men have value, even their enemies. A tale of innocence moving through a vicious world, compassion learned against an environment of daily horrors, and wisdom forged through a boy’s journey through a life we would never wish upon our own children. Michelle Cohen’s The Almond Tree is one of those rarest of books—a fiction that rings with authenticity and integrity to reveal the wonder of what it really is to be human.
If ever peace is to become a reality between Israel and Palestine, it will be because of the influence of books such as this. I am proud to have been allowed by Michelle Cohen to have played a very tiny I think you should take that out. (I think you should say I’m proud to have been Michelle’s editor and to have been able to help her transform her novel into …… (something like that. I want you and your editing skills and your course to get the publicity it deserves. Les you did really make it happen) role in the development of this novel. This is a book that I think will endure and resonate forever in the souls of all who read it. I know it will in mine. Some books have the power to change us profoundly; this is one of those books.
Les Edgerton
Author of The Death of Tarpons, Monday’s Meal, Hooked, The Bitch, Mirror, Mirror, Just Like That and others
Well, thanks, Michelle. It's nice to be appreciated!
Here's a link to the book on Amazon in both print and ebook format: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_15?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+almond+tree+by+michelle+corasanti&sprefix=the+almond+tree%2Cstripbooks%2C0
Blue skies,Les 

MIRROR, MIRROR just went live on Amazon!

Hi folks,

My YA thriller, MIRROR, MIRROR just went live and for sale on Amazon! Not sure when the paperback version will be available but the ebook is available. I'm really excited! Hope you folks glom onto a copy and like it.






Order here: http://www.amazon.com/Mirror-ebook/dp/B009VNN40K/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1351185633&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=mirror+mirror+by+les+edgerton

Thank you for your support!

Blue skies,
Les

P.S. Wrote this one for my little girls, Britney and Sienna.

THE RAPIST cover!

Hi folks,

I'm really... I mean... REALLY jazzed! Jon Bassoff, my publisher at New Pulp Press has just sent me the cover for my nihilistic novel, THE RAPIST, and it's just gorgeous! Take a look and see what you think. (Just click on it to enlarge it.)


The publication date is March 20, 2013, but it may be offered early in a pre-pub sale. I'll keep you informed.

This novel is the best work I've ever done and I'm extremely proud of it. I cannot wait to have a copy in my hot little hand! It'll come out as a paperback and an ebook.

Please keep it in mind next spring when it's available!

Blue skies,
Les

P.S. Here are some of the other blurbs that will appear in the novel. Also, Cort McMeel is writing the forward for it. Cort was the initial champion for it and has a lot to do with it getting into the right hands and published.

Other blurbs:



BLURBS FOR THE RAPIST
1. Les Edgerton presents an utterly convincing anti-hero. The abnormal psychology is pitch-perfect. The Rapist ranks right up there with Camus' The Stranger and Simenon's Dirty Snow. An instant modern classic.Allan Guthrie, author of Slammer and others. Publisher, Blasted Heath Books

2. So, I’m reading Les Edgerton’s The Rapist. The title has already made me uneasy.
Five pages in and I can hardly breathe.
Ten and I’m nauseous.
For the next 50, I’m a mixture of all of the above, but most of all, angry.
I feel like ringing my feminist friends and confessing: Sisters, I’m reading something you will kill me for reading.
I feel like ringing my ex colleagues - parole officers and psychologists who work with sex offenders in Barlinnie Prison, Glasgow - and asking them if they think it’s helpful to publish an honest and explicit transcript which shows the cognitive distortions of a callous, grandiose, articulate sex offender; one which illustrates his inability to have a relationship with a woman and his complete lack of empathy?
I’m thinking I don’t know what I should be thinking.
Will it turn sex offenders on?
Should we listen to this guy?
Is it possible to separate the person from the offence, and to empathise with him as he waits to die?
I don’t ring anyone.
I read on.
And the breathlessness, nausea, anger and confusion increase all the way to the end, at which point all I know is that the book is genius.Helen Fitzgerald, author, Dead Lovely, Bloody Women, The Devil’s Staircase, Donor and others.

3. Take a Nabokovian narrator trying to convince the reader of his innocence and filter it through An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and you've got The Rapist, a raw and frightening journey through the inner psyche of a damaged man.Brian Lindenmuth, Publisher, Spinetingler Magazine and Snubnose Press
4. One never knows what to expect when reading a novel entitled “The Rapist,” yet, similar to “The Bitch” which precedes this, with Les Edgerton you know you're in for an interesting ride. Tackling a tough subject with great aplomb, Les Edgerton proves once again why he is one of the most exciting writers of this generation. The structure of this just astounded me. I've never read anything like it before. I've never been so engrossed in a novel as I was with this one. I had no idea Edgerton had this literary part of his writing. I don't know of any other writers that can go from crime fiction to literary so seamlessly. Edgerton should be very proud of this novel...One of the bravest pieces of fiction you are likely to read this year, and also one of the best. This is a novel you'll want to read again and again, an outstanding read!Luca Veste, author of the story collections Liverpool 5, and More Liverpool Five. He is also the editor of the story collection, Off the Record

5. The Rapist blends Camus and Jim Thompson in an existential crime novel that is as dark and intoxicating as strong Irish coffee. Les Edgerton pulls us into the corkscrew mind of Truman Ferris Pinter, a twisted man with skewed perception of the world, as his life spirals toward oblivion, like dirty dishwater down a plughole. It reminded me of Jim Thompson's Savage Night in its delirium.Paul D Brazill, Author, 13 Shots Of Noirand others.
6. Les Edgerton’s book The Rapist is Albert Camus’ The Stranger retold as if by the lovechild of Edgar Allen Poe and Charles Bukowski. Yes, it’s disturbing, yet layered and provocative, with its combination of mysticism and perversion. I particularly like the cat and mouse relationship between the protagonist Truman and the prison warden—it’s reminiscent of The Shawshank Redemption. This tale, with its many twists and turns, is definitely not for the faint of heart—but then, the title should have made that clear.Scott Evans, Editor, Blue Moon Literary and Art Review, Author, First Folio
7. William Faulkner on steroids or Hannibal Lecter on meth; neither as literate or frightening as Les Edgerton in his ground-breaking novel, The Rapist. This intellectual tour-de-force rips open the mind of a delusional psychopath taking the reader on a raw journey that challenges Dante’s Inferno. And the last line of the book is the penultimate example of a sociopath’s naked ego.R.C. Stewart, author of The Blackness of Darkness, No Remorseand others.
8. A deathdream swan dive from the existential stratosphere plummeting into the personal hell of a tormented, broken psyche, The Rapist introduces us to a gentle and philosophical misanthrope named Truman Pinter, at once reminiscent of Albert Camus and Patricia Highsmith, even John Gardner’s Grendeland the journal of Carl Panzram. Les Edgerton melds introspection and visceral, human brutality in this death row narrative from a masterful storyteller, whose dissection of a psychopath will haunt you long after the final page.Thomas Pluck, Well-known commentator on the noir scene, many short stories published in magazines such as the Utne Reader, Editor of the anthology, THE PROTECTOR.
9. The Rapist is a disturbing look into the twisted mind of a narcissistic psychopath on death row. A vulgar odyssey reminiscent of Nabokov’s Lolita, although far more depraved, Les Edgerton has crafted a dark and brilliant story that leaves you as equally unsettled as it does in complete awe.Julia Madeleine, author of No One To Hear You Scream and The Truth About Scarlet Rose
10. When Les Edgerton asked me to read an ARC of “The Rapist” he warned me with that title it may not be my thing and he was okay with whatever I decided. I knew of his writing books like Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One & Never Lets Them Go and Finding Your Voice: How to Put Personality in Your Writing  but never had looked at any of his fiction. I was prepared for something graphic but he refused to talk about the plot or storyline. No hints.
I was ready to be offended. I’m a strong advocate for women’s equality and won’t tolerate or put my name near anything that belittles woman.  With a title of “The Rapist” it had two and a half strikes before I read the first line because rape is all about a man having power over a woman.
From the first pages the words and voice made me think of American literature masters like Mark Twain and Edgar Allen Poe I was forced to read in high school. The difference was in school I still muttered about reading dead masters and times, but grew to love the descriptions, plots and characters that transported me to another moment in history. In “The Rapist” I read greedily to see where the book was going, totally engrossed in the story. The honesty and freshness of the words from the main character kept me glued to the page to see what happened to the man caught in the worst circumstances and an act of degradation to woman. That is about all I want to say about the plot. I understand Les’s reasons for not explaining the details. You need fresh eyes to appreciate it but that isn’t to say I won’t go back and reread it like other writing masters savoring it. It is one of those books that each time you read it, you find another kernel of truth, a pearl of wisdom. It has that many facets wrapped in rich layers of dialogue, characterization and setting that pounded with each of the rapist’s heartbeat. I was hooked from the first page.Wendy Gager, author of A Case of Infatuation, A Case of Accidental Intersection, andA Case of Hometown Blues.
11. Les Edgerton’s masterly The Rapist is a deeply disturbing journey into the murky recesses of the mind of psychopathic death row inmate Truman Ferris Pinter. An intellectual, erudite, philosophical misanthrope, Truman draws the reader inexorably into his fractured web. There are times when one nods one’s head in agreement with his well-reasoned arguments, only to shrink back in horror at the realisation. Sympathy for The Devil, indeed, in this dark vision of a black heart that is both astoundingly honest and ultimately terrifying.Lesley Ann Sharrock former publisher/editor Moondance Media, author of 7th Magpie.
 

Book Trailer for Noir at the Bar, Vol 2 Anthology

Hi folks,

Scott Phillips, the co-editor (with Jed Ayres) of the just-released Noir at The Bar Vol 2 anthology, just sent out this video trailer. I'm very proud to be included in a truly stellar cast of noir writers.

Please be warned--there is adult content that might not be appropriate for children.

Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1-5A1V0Oag&feature=youtu.be

Also, here's a podcast review of the anthology. http://www.bookedpodcast.com/2012/09/28/109-noir-at-the-bar-2/?fb_action_ids=439352976110958&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

Blue skies,
Les

IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES... IT WAS (MOSTLY) THE WORST OF TIMES...

Hi folks,
Sorry I haven’t posted in a bit, but I’ve been out of it since Bouchercon and have gotten dozens and dozens of emails since and thought it might make more sense if I just told you guys what’s been going on.
First, I’ve been through a week of what feels like a Dickens' or Russian novel, but I’m emerging fairly well.
For starters, I went to Bouchercon last week, anticipating a magical time. Well… as it turned out, it wasn’t. It’s kind of forced me to face my own mortality.
I arrived on Thursday, checked into the airport Marriott which is about 15 miles away from the convention center at the Renaissance Marriott. Jumped back in my rental and headed for the convention. This trip was a really big deal for me. It represented an opportunity to reconnect with mystery/suspense/thriller/noir writers I’m friends with and meet new writers whom I’ve admired from afar. My wife and I kind of mortgaged our Christmas and other things to pay for it and I planned to make some hay! Maybe even hook up with a publisher or three to look at some of my work. You know—what us writer-types do when we go to professional conferences. We saw it as an investment in our future.
What do they say? Man plans… and God laughs?
True that.
I got to the hotel and that’s when the troubles began. MapQuest didn’t alert me that navigating downtown Cleveland is a nightmare. I finally got to a downtown Marriott and parked a block away at their underground garage. I have fairly severe COPD and it about wore me out to hike from the garage to the hotel… only to run into old friend Hallie Ephron who told me the convention was at another Marriott—the Renaissance—which happened to be two blocks further away. For you young whippersnappers, that’s a piece of cake, but it took me the good part of half an hour to hike it, having to stop several times to catch my breath and hold a mirror up to see if my breath still showed…
Finally, I made it to the host hotel and went directly to…
The Bar.
Where else? It’s where the action of writer’s conferences is always at. First, I had to register, which entailed a walk of what seemed half a mile down the hall to the opposite end. Finally, that done, I hiked back to the bar and ordered some meds… a Jack and water. Instantly revived!
Where I was soon embroiled in conversation with a writer who wanted to lecture me about The Differences Between Plot-Based and Character-Based Fiction. Precisely why I always go to the bar and don’t attend a lot of panels which are often about things like: The Differences Between Plot-Based and… you get it. After I extricated myself from this guy, I started to see old friends and was introduced to new ones and everything was cool again. Made friends with the bartenders who were great. This one bartender even bought me a drink. That’s when you know you’ve arrived.
Spent a largely pleasurable evening chatting with other writers. Don’t ask me their names. I have to check my own nametag to remember my own. My wife usually goes with me to serve as my memory, due to my Halfzeimer’s. Well, I remember some—Eric Beetner, my old friend Jed Ayres, Johnny Shaw (whose new book I just finished and it was one of the best reads I’ve had in a long while), Tom Pluck, Josh Stallings, Christa Faust, Dominic Martell and a bunch of other terrific writers. As the cartoon guy says, the whole evening was “Happy, happy, joy, joy.”
Finally left to go to the parking garage three blocks away and got discombobulated (lost, homey), and it took over an hour to find my car. Wondering what the city of Cleveland had done to their oxygen supply. Finally made it back to my motel, after encountering a detour on the way and eventually figuring out how to find my digs.
Got up the next day (Friday) and headed back to the convention center. Good day. Met lots of cool writers, saw old friends, generally had a great time. Ate some fried calamari. Some of the best I’ve ever eaten. I’ll come back to that in a bit…
That evening was our Noir @ the Bar reading at the Wonderbar. It was only two blocks away but I couldn’t walk it so some really nice folks—Lee Thompson and Sabrina Ogden were kind enough to go with me and share a cab. You know, humor the old dude… I think a guy I desperately wanted to meet as I’m a huge admirer of his work was there—Duane Swierczynsky—but if he was, alas, I didn’t get to meet him. The reading went well even though the mics were terrible. I had a guy come up to me afterward and introduce himself as a publisher and he bought four of my books (thank you!) and we’d kind of made plans to meet up the next day but as it turned out that was not to be. Sir, if you happen to read this, please give me a shout!
From the reading, we went back to the Renaissance and that’s when things began to go hinky. A boatload of us were gathered in the lobby just off the bar and things began hitting me. I remember asking someone if they could find me a room I could crash in that night as I didn’t think I could make it back to my hotel. I’d begun breaking out into cold sweats and feeling faint. I didn’t want to come across as a wuss, so I just slouched down in a chair and eventually passed out (not from drinking, from illness). I woke up at 3 ayem and the place was deserted. I honestly thought I might be dying. Not to be melodramatic, but that’s the way I felt. I didn’t see any way around it, so forced myself up and down to the parking garage and found my car and drove back to my hotel. Somehow…
Woke up at six ayem and turned over and my stomach began cramping big-time and I began the first of about eight ralphings. Calimari. Felt like I was dying. Food poisoning, I assumed. There was no way I could return to the convention. I called and asked for a late checkout and then spent two hours between the porcelain goddess and packing and finally piled in my car and began the three-and-a-half hour drive back to Ft. Wayne. Pure hell all the way.
Got there, found out I’d had a hemorrhoid burst and about a cup of blood lost. Went to bed and got up the next morning and there was more bright red blood. Either a second ‘roid or the last gasps of the first one. Mary took me to the ER and we got there at 11:30 and they took a bunch of tests as they thought maybe it wasn’t food poisoning but gallbladder—in fact, I’d emailed novelist John Gilstrap to tell him why I’d left so abruptly and he suggested it might not be food poisoning but gallbladder—John, looks like you might be right—awaiting test results. Sat in the ER room until 7:30 that night and they finally released us. They talked about doing something called a “hemorrhoidectomy” and then decided against it for the time being. Ended up the next several days traipsing from doctor’s offices to hospitals to labs, et al. Tested for pancreas, lumbar (another story), gall bladder and other things. Oh, forgot—on the way home from Cleveland got a severe sore throat and cough and mentioned it at the ER but there was so many other things they forgot it. Gave me a breathing treatment for my COPD and put me on two different inhalers and all kinds of other crap. Two days later, went to RediMed as I was coughing nonstop and they diagnosed acute bronchitis and possible pneumonia and gave me meds for that. And then, just as life was looking kind of gray… it went positively black. Mary took our only car in as the idiot light went on and the news was that the engine’s shot. They said all we could do is drive it till it dropped—nothing could be done. So, that’s where we are with the car. If it goes we don’t have money for a new engine or for a new used car, so just hope our shoe leather holds up.
That brings us to yesterday. My strength and energy were starting to return which was good as I had an engagement to speak to the Indiana Romance Writers in Indy. Rented a car, drove down, and had a really good visit with those delightful folks. Felt re-energized.
Anyway, that was my week, right out of Dickens or Tolstoy. Not looking for sympathy—well, maybe a little—but it’s just easier to post this here than to reply to all the individual emails that have been coming in. I appreciate each and every one of those, btw—it’s just going to be impossible to reply to them quickly so hope y’all understand. And I wanted those folks at Bouchercon who I was going to meet with know why I wasn’t able to.
The good news? And, yes there is some. My students in both my online creative writing class and the Skype class I co-teach with Jenny Milchman for the New York Writer’s Workshop. Every single one of them has been extremely understanding and gracious. They’ve allowed me an extra week to get it together and they’ll never know how much I appreciate that. It means the world to me and I won’t forget.
Anyway, the one thing I’ve learned in my journey is that life is cyclic. It’s not up forever and it’s not down forever. I’m pretty sure something really cool and good is going to happen soon. I mean… I’m not just whistling past the graveyard here am I?
Thanks for all of your well-wishes and thoughts. Here’s something remarkable. Stuff like this shows a person the true value of friends. A good friend of mine—Bob (I won’t embarrass you by giving your last name, Bob) has far worse things going on in his life than I do—his beloved wife is dying right now and may even be gone at this moment)—Bob has truly serious things on his plate, and yet, he took the time out to call me and voice his support for me. Now… who does that? Only a truly selfless person. Thanks, Bob. People like Bob keep reminding me of that great philosopher Red Green and what he always says:
Keep your stick on the ice. I’m pulling for ya. We’re all in this together.
Yes we are.
Blue skies,Les

Bouchercon Reading from Snubnose Press Authors

Hi folks,

For those going to Bouchercon, please consider visiting our reading at Noir @ the Bar at the Wonderbar near the host hotel, on Friday night from 7-8 pm. It's all Snubnose Press authors... and our entourage... Otherwise, I'll be at the bar in the host hotel. Look me up!





Ryan Sayles is on the marquee but I understand he has a new commitment to go to for his new book.

Be there or be square!

Blue skies,
Les

Publishers and some of the horses they rode in on...

Hi folks,
Just some things on my mind that keep me awake at night…
As I’ve been doing this writing and publishing thing for a long time, I’ve been fortunate enough to make some friends who have access to the powers-that-be in publishing. From those folks, I’ve learned things that aren’t taught in MFA programs or how-to books or at writing conventions. And much of what I learn disturbs me. Actually… it doesn’t disturb me—it flat-out pisses me off.
When I was a kid, all I ever wanted to be was a writer. I deemed it the most honorable of all professions. Good books—I was taught—were the source of knowledge and of truth. It was that truth thing that really attracted me. I was born into one of those dysfunctional families most of us writer-types seem to come from—one of those families in which truth was somewhat deficit from in our daily dealings with each other. For instance, I was abused in a variety of ways by a religious fanatic of a mother and by a father who abused me in another variety of ways. Not trying to make a victim’s case here—just laying out the way it was. It was about a year ago that I finally discovered that my father wasn’t going to show up in my DNA. After 68 years, I finally learned the truth about the man. It wasn’t that my mother suddenly felt the urge to confess. Nope. I learned the truth from having a DNA test done with myself and one of my sisters. Last I heard, my mother was still rewriting the story she laid on me…
Anyway, the truth has always been my standard. Why I became a writer. Why I had a personal agenda to always tell the truth in my fiction, no matter how it might make me look to others. A long time ago, I came upon a piece of wisdom that I’ve always believed—that the greatest of writers are those who are willing to go deep inside themselves and expose that part of us that most people try to keep hidden. That place where real truth resides.
I’m saying all this in preface to what’s keeping me up at night. For years, it seems, I’ve been more than a bit naïve. I’ve simply taken it on faith that publishers had the same impetus as I have—to search for truth and present it to the world. A noble thing, both for editors and publishers and writers.
And, I was wrong. Or, maybe I was right at one time but things have changed a lot in our culture.
A close friend of mine who is close to the decision-makers in publishing recently told me a couple of very disturbing things. It was concerning a book of mine, THE BITCH. I consider it the best thing I’ve ever written and I’ve been extremely gratified that a whole boatload of people I admire and respect—fellow writers—quality writers—have agreed with my own opinion and have been gracious enough to say so in public. I wanted desperately to see it in print, but alas, so far have been unable to attract a print publisher. It is in ebook form and I’m grateful for that. At least it’s out there for folks to read.
But, what’s disturbing me is that my aforementioned friend had earlier championed it among print publishers. What he told me is what keeps me up at night. Two instances.
One concerns a publisher of crime novels who agreed with my friend that the book was, indeed “brilliant,” but passed on it saying “it had too many elements that could be considered politically incorrect. (italics mine). Excuse me… but what the fuck? A publisher who even considers if writing is or isn’t politically correct? This isn’t a publisher at all, in my opinion. This is a bookseller who wants to be seen as a publisher. Probably wears those jackets with leather patches on the sleeves and hangs out in writerly bars in Gotham City. But, a guy who proclaims himself a publisher and won’t publish something because it’s “politically incorrect?” Excuse me, but when I was in the joint we had a name for folks like this. The name was… punk. I understand all about protecting one’s livelihood, but we’re talking about a publisher, not a life insurance salesman. (Nothing against insurance salesmen!). This is what I always assumed publishing was all about. Putting out books that spoke the truth, no matter how inconvenient. And, truth is more often than not inconvenient.
This guy’s attitude just pisses me off. What really irritates me is that he isn’t exposed for the poser he is. Most writers aren’t aware of his attitude. I really wish I could name him and call him out, but the lawyers on my block tell me that isn’t a wise move.
The other person that keeps me tossing and turning is the guy who was the editor of a Legacy 6 publisher. Who told our mutual friend that he’d love to publish THE BITCH, but he couldn’t because his boss told him that if he signed any book that earned a dime less than $30,000 he’d be fired. Not chewed out or had his charge card suspended for a week or banished to the office without the window, but fired. So his “brave new imprint” that was going to publish “new, original and exciting talent” couldn’t for fear of loss of his corner office and he thereafter only considered brand names. Instead of finding that new or unknown talent he proclaimed to the world was his intent, his days consisted mostly of trying to snatch brand name writers away from other houses. The more I talked to others in the industry, the more I discovered that this was becoming a standard for an awful lot of publishers. This guy, like the first guy, showed his own level of courage. Which was tied to his wallet. I understand this in many trades and professions but always thought publishers and editors looked upon what they did as a “calling.” Turns out it’s about as much of a calling as wearing an animal costume down at the fast food restaurant for minimum wage. (Nothing against the folks who wear animal costumes—they’re very honest about doing it for the bread only.)
What these guys don’t realize is that this kind of attitude is what is going to be their downfall. They’re becoming punks in jailhouse vernacular. And, their fate will be the same. It’s their current mindset and publishing policies that will spell their eventual doom. For what’s happening is that there are publishers out there who do believe in truth and who do believe in writers who are courageous and who are themselves courageous in the books they publish.
Right now, they’re small. But, they’re growing. Publishers like Snubnose Press, New Pulp Press, Bare Knuckles Press, StoneGate Ink and several others. I’m sorry to omit listing them all and apologize for that omission. They’re growing and there’s a reason. They’re not afraid to publish something that might be controversial.
Print publishers think they’re losing sales due to the cheaper costs associated with ebooks. That’s a part of it, but another reason is that readers also want quality for their purchases and don’t find enough originality in the same old books they’ve had available before. There are just some new and exciting things out there and it’s the new guys on the block who are providing it.
Writing that appeals to everyone isn’t writing. It’s typing. If a book doesn’t piss off at least some readers, I maintain it isn’t worth much. It’s Pravda.
There. That’s my rant. I feel better now.
I hope you’ll consider buying a copy of THE BITCH. If it somehow becomes such a seller that a print publisher wants it, I’d love that, but I’ll also tell you that I won’t let it go to one of the kinds of publishers described above.
Here’s what some of those respected writers had to say about it:


THE BITCH is the kind of raw crime fiction that's right up my alley, like sandpaper for the brain. Edgerton has got the chops. Mad chops. Gonna make us all ashamed of our puny efforts one day.--Anthony Neil Smith, bestselling author of Choke on Your Lies, Psychomatic, Hogdoggin’, Yellow Medicine, The Drummer, To the Devil, My Regards, Devil Red (Hap and Leonard) and others.
The Bitch is a vicious barnstormer of a novel, a noir rollercoaster that won't let you unbuckle until that final three-word smackdown. Les Edgerton is Eddie Bunker's pulpy cousin and Eugene Izzi's soul brother, and with a spiritual family like that, you can't go wrong. Pick it up immediately.--Ray Banks, internationally bestselling author of Dead Money, Beast of Burden, The Big Blind. Saturday’s Child, Donkey Punch, No More Heroes and others.
Les Edgerton doesn’t pussyfoot around. He writes about real people drowning in desperation in THE BITCH. He’s got a story to tell you so get ready; it’s coming at you fast. Get ready…              —Linwood Barclay, international bestselling author of Never Look Away, Clouded Vision, The Last Resort, Fear the Worst, Too Close to Home, No Time for Goodbye, The Accident and others.
Les Edgerton’s brilliantly hardboiled THE BITCH is the tense and hard hitting story of Jake Bishop, a reformed ex-con whose dark past drags him back into a life of crime like an umbilical cord tied tight around his neck. —Paul D. Brazill, author of 13 Shots of Noir.
I liked THE BITCH so much that I wanted to publish it. But we lost out and Bare Knuckles Press got a hell of a book. The Bitch is a dark crime fiction story that never once pulls a punch or ducks behind some bullshit like “happy endings” or “closure.” The Bitch isn't afraid to stay dark until the very end. —Brian Lindenmuth, editor/publisher of Snubnose Press and Spinetingler Magazine.
From its opening sentence to its last, THE BITCH is an engrossing journey into some very dark places. Les Edgerton writes like a poet with a mean streak, and his prose goes down easy and smooth like good liquor as it carves up your insides. —Henry Perez, author of Mourn the Living and Killing Red.
Imagine, if you will, Les Edgerton, Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler sipping straight whiskey while swapping lies in the back booth of the Linebacker bar as the “noir” legends welcome Edgerton into the brotherhood of broken dreams. With THE BITCH, Edgerton earns his way into this special literary brotherhood. No, The Bitch isn’t a wild woman, but prison slang for “ha-BITCH-ual criminal.” This is a taut tale of double-cross, death, diamonds and destruction as Jake Bishop fights to protect all he holds dear—his freedom, his pregnant wife, and his teen-age brother -- by holding The Bitch at bay when trapped into one last job. Sam Spade and Phillip Marlowe could learn a thing or two from this hairdresser.—Bob Stewart, author of Remorse (Pinnacle) a True Crime Book of the Month selection, Hidden Evil,and others.
Les Edgerton. I just read his newest hard-boiled effort, THE BITCH, and I realized I didn't once breathe through the entire thing. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but it is one of the most fun, dangerous, if not pyromanic literary performances of the past year (word up is that parts of it are taken from Les's own life. Holy crap, this guy shouldn't be alive!). Like Les's previous bestselling nonfiction effort on writing, HOOKED, this novel is a sure bet.—Vincent Zandri author of The Remains, The Innocent, Moonlight Falls and The Concrete Pearl.
THE BITCH is superb. Edgerton’s hard, pitch-perfect prose and relentless plot provide a one-two knockout punch of crime novel perfection...the real bitch of THE BITCH is that I tried to buy this priceless work and publish it under a new imprint and I couldn't afford the damn thing. Now it’s gold in someone else's pocket.—Cortright McMeel, author of Short (St. Martin’s Press), founding editor and publisher of Murdaland Magazine: Crime Fiction for the 21st Century and  Noir Nation: International Journal of Crime Fiction.
Every crime novelist remembers how his breath was literally taken away when he first started to read the early novels of Elmore Leonard. Les Edgerton has used the time he served in prison well. Years from now many future crime writers will also remember discovering him. His first crime novel, -but not his first published book THE BITCH is a realistic crime noir kind of novel that reminds me of Unknown Man 89, La Brava, Stick, and The Killer Inside Me (Jim Thompson). —Joseph Trigoboff, author of The Bone Orchard and The Shooting Gallery.
These guys’ opinions mean something to me. The guy who’s afraid to publish a book that may be “politically incorrect?” Not so much…
Thanks for listening to my rant! I’d be interested in other writer’s stories about their publishing experiences. Now I can maybe get some sleep tonight and rest up for the forthcoming Bouchercon.
Blue skies,Les
To order: US http://www.amazon.com/The-Bitch-ebook/dp/B006P2NLHG/ref=sr_1_3_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349201423&sr=1-3&keywords=les+edgerton 
UK  http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Bitch-ebook/dp/B006P2NLHG/ref=sr_1_5?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1349201484&sr=1-5