Ed Gorman's Blog, page 161
May 7, 2012
AMOS BURKE, SECRET AGENT.
Ed here: Here in microcosm is what happens when the suits decided to "fix" something. Amos Burke was a ridiculous ham-handed satire of current fads and social tendencies. I loved it. Here we had a slick copper who arrived on crime scenes in a Rolls Royce and got laid more than any three pro basketball players combined. Hollywod was his natural stomping ground. This is from the great Mystery
AMOS BURKE, SECRET AGENT. ABC / Four Star Productions / Barbety, 1965-66. Cast:Gene Barry as Amos Burke, Carl Benton Reid as The Man. Series based on characters created by Frank D. Gilroy. Produced by Aaron Spelling.
From Aaron Spelling: A Prime Time Life, by Aaron Spelling with Jefferson Graham: “Burke’s Law was one of my first great campy shows… Then ABC threw us a curveball with the ‘James Bond’ craze. Suddenly secret agents were in… So in 1965 Burke’s Law, the story of a millionaire L.A. detective, was forcibly changed to Amos Burke, Secret Agent. He became a debonair, globe-trotting secret agent for a United States intelligence agency. I hated it, Gene hated it, we all hated it, and ABC was very wrong to change it…”
The series was a ratings failure from the very beginning. “Balance of Terror” (9/15/65) was the series first episode. The Arbitron ratings (Broadcasting, 9/20/65) found NBC’s I Spy at 37.6 share (first half hour) and 40.9 (last half hour) compared to CBS’s Danny Kaye at 32.3 share and 30.3 share compared to Amos Burke at 24.8 share and 25.8 share. By November the series would be cancelled (Broadcasting, 11/1/65).
Interestingly, the final episode of the series, “Terror in Tiny Town, Part Two” aired at 10pm on Wednesday, January 12, 1966, the same night ABC premiered its new spy series Blue Light at 8:30pm. Could the failure of Amos Burke have played a role in ABC picking up Blue Light and the rush to get it on the air?
So besides the audience having little interest in Amos Burke as a spy, and everyone involved hating it, the series also had a fatal creative flaw, The Man.
The Man was supposed to be Amos Burke’s “M” (Bond) or Mr. Waverly (Man from U.N.C.L.E.). Instead The Man was one of the most unlikable, heartless, mean characters ever to play a good guy on TV. While Amos could not contact The Man, The Man gave him a watch that when it buzzed, it meant Amos had to stop everything and get to the airport as fast as possible to meet The Man. The Man’s office was the inside of a DC-9 and he conducted all meetings (but one) in the air.
for the rest go here: http://mysteryfile.com/blog/
May 5, 2012
A Different Kind of Audiobook.Foreshadows: The Ghosts of Zero
A Different Kind of Audiobook.Foreshadows: The Ghosts of ZeroSUSAN DUNMAN
Stories have always been a source of 
inspiration for musicians, but this illustrated cyberpunk anthology turns the tables by using music as an idea catalyst for the authors of these stories. A group of twenty-eight authors, musicians and graphic artists have combined their talents under the name of “The Very Us Artists” to createForeshadows. It’s a near-future world that is dark and gritty, but not without hope.
For this project, the musicians got first crack at describing the Foreshadows world. How will life change as society continues to deteriorate, mega-corporations vie for world dominance, and technology blurs reality with fantasy? Nineteen songs later, the music-makers had their answers and then invited various authors to select a song they liked and write a story to go along with it, reflecting that author’s perception of Foreshadows society. This unique approach gives those who purchase the book an intriguing bonus, as all of the songs are included on a CD in the back of the book. Those who prefer to download an e-book will receive the text and an MP3 file of the music.
for the rest go here:
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/05/a-different-kind-of-audiobook-foreshadows-the-ghosts-of-zero [image error]May 4, 2012
REally extraordinary piece by Dave Zeltserman on Touch of Evil
In 1957 Universal Studios sent Orson Welles a script based loosely on Whit Masterson's* Badge of Evil, asking if he'd play the part of the crooked detective. According to Welles, the script was a very bad one, with not much in it other than a detective with a good record who plants evidence because he knows somebody is guilty -- and the fellow turns out to be really guilty. But Welles needed the money and agreed to do it. Universal then called up Charlton Heston who at the time was coming off the success of The Ten Commandments, and told him "Here's a script -- we'd like you to read it. We have Welles." Heston misunderstood and responded, "Well, any picture that Welles directs, I'll make." Universal, instead of correcting this misunderstanding, asked Welles if he'd direct. Welles agreed under the condition that he could rewrite the script. Universal let him do it, but would only pay him his original salary as an actor ($125,000) and not as a director or writer. And so was born Touch of Evil, which along with The Third Man, was arguably one of the greatest film noir movies from the 50s.
The opening sequence is the most famous in the movie: a three minute and twenty second uninterrupted crane tracking shot that follows a shadowy figure placing a bomb in a car and then an unsuspecting couple -- a wealthy American businessman and his stripper girlfriend -- entering the car and driving towards the US-Mexican border four blocks away, all the while (due to traffic, donkeys in the street, etc.) keeping pace with Miguel and Susan Vargas (Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh), newlyweds who are heading to the US side of the border in search of a chocolate soda. It isn't until the car enters the US side of the border that the car separates from Vargas and his wife and explodes into a deadly fireball.
While the bomb was planted on Mexican soil (a fictitious town called Los Robles which was patterned after Tijuana), the explosion occurred in the US, and is to be investigated by US officials. Vargas, a top Mexico City narcotics investigator, hangs around to offer his assistance as the police wait for Hank Quinlan to arrive. Orson Welles was 42 when Touch of Evil was filmed, but with the makeup to make his face appear swollen and bloated, the padding under his ever present overcoat, the thick cane he relies on and the camera angles to make his heft appear far heavier, Welles' Quinlan is massive. A bloated monstrosity of a man who looks like he's in his late 60s (another hint of his age is his wife had been murdered -- strangled to death -- thirty years earlier, the killer being the only criminal to escape Quinlan's justice).
When Quinlan arrives at the scene he makes quick intuitive guesses as to what happened and what needs to be investigated. Quinlan is a man of intuition and expediency while Vargas is more of a technocrat, a by-the-numbers straight-laced cop. Quinlan leads an expedition to the Mexican side of the border, a tawdry area lined with bars, strip clubs and brothels. Quinlan and his fellow cops descend on the strip club where the dead stripper had worked, eager to catch glimpses of naked flesh inside. In an alley outside the club, Vargas is attacked by one of the Grandi gang members (a parallel story is one of the Grandi gang trying to intimidate Vargas to drop a case against their patriarch), who throws acid at Vargas's face. In Welles' original script, the acid misses Vargas and hits a cat asleep in the trash. This was changed in the film and the acid instead explodes in a smoky hiss against the poster of the dead stripper.
As Quinlan leaves the back entrance of the Rancho Grande strip club, he is stopped by pianola music coming from a local brothel run by Marlene Dietrich (Universal Studios was later surprised and delighted to learn that Dietrich was in the film. They ended up paying her so they could give her billing, but she had been willing to be in it unbilled as a favor to Welles). Dietrich's brothel is a place of another era, complete with its pianola, mounted bull's head on the wall, and other aging artifacts. It's a place that Hemingway might've been comfortable in. Or Welles. As it is, it has been years since Quinlan had visited Tanya's (Marlene Dietrich) brothel, and at first she doesn't recognize him. When Quinlan wistfully identifies himself, Tanya prophetically warns him that he should lay off the candy bars. Even under all the padding and with camera angles to accentuate Quinlan's bulk, Welles was still a large man when he made Touch Evil (although he was going to get much larger) and he should've heeded that warning.
While Vargas is aiding in the investigation, Quinlan's partner Pete Menzies (played touchingly by Joseph Calleia) drives Susan Vargas to the Mirador Motel for protection against the Grandi gang (although, as it turns out the motel is owned by the Grandis) and to wait for her husband. The motel is both isolated and seedy, and the night clerk is played brilliantly by Dennis Weaver. Weaver's night clerk is a mass of spasms, twitches and leers. Someone who can barely make eye contact and jumps when Susan Vargas asks if he can make the bed, barking out the single question "Bed?" in return as if it were something fearsome and unholy. One can only wonder if watching Touch of Evil gave Hitchcock the idea of putting Janet Leigh in yet another bad motel setting. Quinlan's intuition leads him to suspect the dead man's daughter's boyfriend, a Mexican shoe clerk named Manolo Sanchez. Quinlan brings his fellow cops and prosecutors to Sanchez's claustrophobic shoebox-sized apartment, and then performs his sleight-of-hand -- hiding sticks of dynamite in a box so his unsuspecting partner will find them. As Quinlan waits for the dynamite to be discovered, he's an entertainer, amused by his own trickery. The problem though is the magic trick has been revealed -- Vargas had used the bathroom and knocked over the box where Quinlan later had planted the dynamite. He knows the box had been empty. He knows what Quinlan has done. The great magician has been exposed as a fake -- and Quinlan's reputation is in jeopardy of being destroyed. Quinlan is a corrupt cop but his motivation is because he knows he is greater than those mere mortals around him. He is doing nothing more than speeding up the convictions of the guilty. He doesn't financially profit from his corruption. In fact, later he demands from his partner, what has he got in life, a few acres and a turkey ranch? Critic Andre Bazin describes Quinlan as such:
Quinlan is physically monstrous, but is he morally monstrous? The answer is yes and no. Yes, because he is guilty of committing a crime to defend himself; no because from a higher moral standpoint , he is, at least in certain respects, above the honest, just, intelligent Vargas, who will always lack the sense of life which I call Shakespearean. These exceptional beings should not be judged by ordinary laws. They are both weaker and stronger than others. Weaker... [but] also so much stronger because directly in touch with the true nature of things, or perhaps one should say, with God.
Facing exposure and ruin, Quinlan enters an agreement with "Uncle" Joe Grandi, the new head of the Grandi organization. Joe Grandi, as played by Akim Tamiroff, is a wannabe Edward G. Robinson-type gangster, but is only comical and pathetic. An earlier scene has him running around with his toupee half off. Uncle Joe's plan is to frame Susan Vargas on trumped drug charges -- back at the Mirador Motel his gang had invaded Susan's room with a butched-up Mercedes McCambridge begging to be able to watch as gang members grab Susan's legs as she's dolled out in a negligee. Quinlan is now drinking for the first time in years, waiting until the last moment to go along with Uncle Joe's plans (in fact calling up headquarters at the last possible moment to see if Sanchez has confessed yet -- he may have framed him, but he intuitively knows the man is guilty). When Quinlan finally enters the cheap downtown hotel room where Grandi had Susan brought , she is in bed, unconscious, with reefers and heroin needles scattered about the room (as a concession to the times and the censors, she had been drugged with sodium pentothal - with nothing else done to her. Come on! Sodium pentothal? In real life, she would've been shot up with heroin, and each of the gang members -- including Mercedes McCambridge would've had a turn with her!). Quinlan has other plans -- namely to strangle Uncle Joe and leave his body with Susan. Quinlan's actual murder of Uncle Joe is a gruesome, violent scene, intentionally sexually charged. As Welles said in conversations with Peter Bogdanovich** "It was perverse and morbid... one of those go-as-far-as-you-can-go--in that kind of dirty department... when [Tamiroff] looked at the gun, it was every cock in the world. It was awful, the way he looked at it--made the whole scene possible." Make no mistake about it, this is an ugly scene. Tamiroff is a much smaller man than Welles, and is just about consumed by Welles. Tamiroff's character is dragged around the room, his shirt torn at the chest, his toupee knocked off. Eventually Quinlan strangles him with one of Susan's stockings, leaving Uncle Joe's face hanging over the bed, eyes bulging out by a nice effect of using painted contact lenses. Welles wanted the shot of the bulging eyes short enough so it would be almost subliminal -- something people wouldn't be quite sure they saw -- but the studio added extra frames to that shot. More on that later. When Quinlan leaves the room a close up of a sign on the door reads:
Stop, Forget Anything, Leave Key at Desk.
After Quinlan leaves, Susan Vargas wakes up from her sodium pentothal-induced stupor to see Uncle Joe's dead bulging eyes staring at her and she runs screaming to the balcony. Later, after she's been arrested, Pete Menzies confronts Vargas. Quinlan had forgotten something in the hotel room. His cane. And Menzies had found it. He can no longer ignore the fact that he's been an unwitting dupe in framing scores of criminals (probably all guilty). He agrees to help Vargas uncover the truth about Quinlan by wearing a recording device. After the murder, Quinlan had holed up at Tanya's brothel. Drunk, he asks her to read his fortune. She tells him he has no future, it's been used up. Menzies later lures Quinlan out of the brothel so he can coax a confession out of him. Quinlan leads Menzies along a desolated area along the canal and oil derricks, while Vargas has to climb mountains of trash and wade through filth to try to record Quinlan's guilt. Eventually Quinlan incriminates himself, but with Vargas and his recording equipment under a bridge, an echo can be heard of Quinlan's voice, leading Quinlan to realize the level of betrayal. Quinlan shoots Menzies and then tries to kill Vargas before being shot by his dying partner. After Quinlan is shot he tells his partner that's the second bullet he's taken for him. For years that line puzzled viewers. The reason for that was in Welles original version, Menzies had earlier told Susan Vargas how Quinlan had taken a bullet for him -- saved his life, but left Quinlan with his limp and needing his cane. The studio edited version had cut the scene, and it wasn't until the 1998 version was released that the scene was re-added and Quinlan's last mocking line made sense. After being shot, Quinlan falls backward into the canal and the filth where he dies. Tanya arrives at the scene with the DA (who announces that Sanchez confessed to the crime after all) and provides as a eulogy to Quinlan: He was some kind of a man. What does it matter what you say about people?
Welles on Quinlan's betrayal***:
Quinlan is [Menzies's] God. And as Menzies adores him, the real theme of the script is betrayal; the terrible necessity for Menzies to betray his friend. And that's where there is ambiguity, because I don't know whether he should have betrayed him or not. No, I really don't know. I force Menzies to betray him, but the decision does not come from him, and frankly, in his place, I would not have done it!
While Welles was making Touch of Evil he was under the impression that he was going to be making more movies for Universal, that Touch of Evil was going to be his entry back into Hollywood. When the studio saw his final cut version, he was fired as director and barred from the lot. Touch of Evil is a wonderfully dark movie, but for 1958, it was probably too dark and too strange for Hollywood, and it hit on difficult themes: police corruption, racism and drugs. The studio must have felt as betrayed by Welles as he did by the studio. While Welles would make other films, notably Chimes at Midnight, The Trial and F is for Fake (along with a slew of half-finished films), this would be Welles last hollywood film. And as a final act of betrayal, the studio re-edited Touch of Evil. Welles would later write a 56-page memo requesting changes back to his original film, which the studio ignored (the 1998 version attempted to restore movie according to Welles memo). Funny how art mirrors life.
* Whit Masterson was a pseudonym for Wade Miller -- aka Robert Wade and William Miller.
** From This Is Orson Welles by Orson Welles and Peter Bogdanovich
*** From Orson Welles Interviews edited by Mark W. Estrin
I originally wrote this essay in 2006 for the Borderland Noir issue of Hardluck Stories edited by Craig McDonald.
POSTED BY DAVE ZELTSERMAN AT 3:28 PM
May 3, 2012
New Books: False Negative by Joseph Koenig
Ed here: By the time I finished False Negative one word lingered in my mind: Edgar. The milieu, the voice, the style and the narrative attack sweep you up in a twisting plot, some great serio-comic moments and as unique a story as I've come across in years. Grab it fast.
Joseph Koenig his provided the following facts about himself:
Born in Brooklyn, went to Erasmus Hall H.S., and NYU, where I played on the football team with Bill Polian, former president of the Indianapolis Colts. Reporter on the Providence, Rhode Island, Journal and Evening Bulletin. Left to go to Haight-Ashbury. Associate editor and managing editor of Front Page and Inside Detective at Dell Publishing. Then, for many years, I traveled around the country covering murders for those magazines, and also for Official, Master, and True Detective. Published four novels between 1987 and 1993, and then I pulled my 20-year bunk (a better story) and you pretty much have the parts fit to print.
Pro-FGile: Joseph Koenig
1 – Tell us about your current novel or project.
False Negative is the story of a young reporter on a daily newspaper in Atlantic City who loses his job as the result of excessive cleverness, and ends up writing true crime pieces for a pulp detective magazine. It's set not long after World War II, when magazines like Real Detective began the long, painful decline that ended with their extinction. The story is ostensibly focused on the murders of beauty queens linked to various pageants on the Jersey coast. It's also about a young newsman figuring out a few things about becoming a serious human being.
Coincidentally, I left newspaper work to write for fact detective magazines at a time those magazines had one foot in the grave.
2 – Can you give us a sense of what you’re working on now?
My new agent, Pamela Malpas at Harold Ober Associates, liked my writing about race and jazz in False Negative, and advised that I do more of it. The result is a story I'm 90 percent done with about a creole trumpeter from New Orleans in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1941. It isn't noirish, but not all of my books are. During my 20-year vanishing act I completed about a dozen novels, some hard-boiled, others not so much, that went directly inside a trunk.
3 – What is the greatest pleasure of a writing career?
The greatest pleasure for me as a writer is doing the work. I love everything about it, the intellectual challenge, the satisfaction of getting something down on paper that reads good to me, the hunt for the right word, and then a better one, even the agonizing stuff. When I wasn't publishing, my friends would say, "Why are you wasting your life? Do something productive, or at least that pays." It was impossible to explain to non-writers that I was writing better than I ever had, and enjoying it even more. That publishing is not at the heart of the process of writing. It never occurred to me to stop doing something that I was getting better at.
4 – The greatest displeasure?
The greatest displeasure in the writing process is the seclusion that I find essential to deep concentration. It is also one of the most pleasurable aspects.
5 – Advice to the publishing world?
It would be presumptuous of a writer whose early books are presently ranked at number three or four million on the Amazon best seller lists to tell the publishing world what to do. However, I wish there was less emphasis on what can be marketed easily, and more on literature. If there were fewer series characters, and more good writing available to genre fans, perhaps they would come to appreciate artistry rather than look for what is familiar.
6 – Are there any forgotten writers you’d like to see in print again?
The forgotten writer I'd most like to see in print again is . . . You're asking this of a writer who hasn't published in 20 years? I'll let your readers take a wild guess as to the answer.
7 – Tell us about selling your first novel.
I had a hell of a hard time selling my first book. Floater was a novel about a serial killer written before the term 'serial killer' entered the lexicon. On top of that it is told mainly from the point of view of the bad guy. For the longest time I couldn't get an agent to represent it. I realized I was onto something when Knox Burger took me on as a client. But even he had trouble finding a publisher. Floater received more than 20 rejections. Knox told me that when it found a publisher I should run all the rejection notices as an addendum to the text. The rejections weren't encouraging. Many were brutal. Editors hated the book. Female editors hated me. One told Knox that I must be a serial killer myself for writing as expertly about the murder of women as I did. Knox said, "This is great. She was moved by your book, but too stupid to realize it." It didn't feel great.
After adding a chapter that focused on the hero, I received four immediate offers for Floater, and it went to Otto Penzler at the Mysterious Press. It received excellent reviews, and was nominated fror an Edgar award, a Macavity, and also at the Bouchercon that year for Best First Novel. (My second book, Little Odessa, a comedy, went to the movies for a lot of dough, but that's another story.)
Forgotten Books: The Procane Chronicle by Ross Thomas
Ross Thomas, The Procane Chronicle
One of life’s true pleasures is reading a Ross Thomas novel. He never lets you down when you re-read him, either.
I’ve now read The Procane Chronicle for the third or fourth time, and even though I now know all the amazing surprises Thomas blesses his readers with, the prose alone is as much fun as the story. The only writer living today who can even come close to the grace and nimbleness of Thomas is Lawrence Block. Block knows from sentences.
In this one, Phillip St. Ives is dragooned by poverty as usual to act as a go-between when a blackmailer sets a price. St. Ives is hired to make sure that both sides keep their promise. The stake this time is a possible Mafia war.
As always, Thomas gives us a radiantly cynical take on Washington, D. C. and all who do business there. Though thirty years have past since original publication, Procane depicts a nation’s capitol no different from the one we know today. St. Ives is lied to and betrayed by everything on two legs, even – or especially – those fine looking female legs.
For me, Thomas was one of the two or three best crime writers of the last century. He brought to each book a witty and brutal intelligence that exposed all of us as less than we’d want to be.
You can get Ross Thomas books on the Mysterious Press e site as well as in many mystery bookstores.I can almost guarantee you'll be a fan for life.[image error]
May 2, 2012
'Jaws': Revisiting Hollywood's First Summer Blockbuster
From The Hollywood ReporterEd here: I remember when Jaws broke. I was never much for Star Wars but Jaws excited me. I saw it twice in the same week. I'd been a fan of the novel. It was the perfect commercial book. Here's some mini-histry from The Hollywood Reporter.
12:37 PM PDT 4/7/2012 by Bill HigginsSHAREComments271
Courtesy of Everett CollectionDirected by a then-28 year old Steven Spielberg, the 1975 film -- which went through its share of production troubles -- stayed at No. 1 for 14 straight weeks and was the first to gross more than $100 million at the box office.This story first appeared in the April 13 issueof The Hollywood Reporter magazine.
OUR EDITOR RECOMMENDS
Summer Movie Preview: 'Avengers,' 'Dark Knight,' 'Spider-Man,' 'Prometheus' Invade the Screen
Summer Release Dates Set for 'Hangover 3,' '300' Sequel Jaws' place in Hollywood blockbuster history was cemented in the summer of 1975 when it was No. 1 at the box office for 14 consecutive weeks en route to making history as the first film to gross more than $100 million.
The production had been as choppy as its ocean waters. The mechanical shark (nicknamed Bruce after director Steven Spielberg's lawyer, Bruce Ramer) kept breaking; filming at sea near Martha's Vineyard had been a nightmare; and the shooting schedule went from 55 days to 159. The budget doubled to $8 million.
But when Jaws was shown to an audience, they approved and "we had a reasonable comfort level," says Sid Sheinberg, then Universal's president. Spielberg, then 28 with one feature and three telefilms under his belt, told The Hollywood Reporter that after the test screening, Jaws got special treatment, with the studio "handling the film with kid gloves."
Universal embarked on a pre-release campaign on which it spent more than on any other film in the studio's history (in those days, 47 percent went to print ads). The filmmakers went on an 11-city tour, andTime put Jaws on its cover. A phenom (and three sequels Spielberg didn't direct) was born.
Sheinberg says it's a myth that the Jaws production was ever going to be shuttered ("There was not an instant when we thought of shutting it down") but says he learned how difficult it is to shoot on water and wishes he applied that knowledge to Waterworld, which bombed in 1995. "That's the picture I should have stopped," he says.
[image error]
May 1, 2012
Hitchcock films the critics didn't like
The new issue of American Heritage has a fine lengthy overview of Hitchcock's movies (and their collective theme of justified paranoia) by David Lehman. The above quote is one of Lehman's most telling points.
Understandably, much of the piece deals with Hitchcock's biggest successes, from Shadow of A Doubt to North by Northwest to Psycho to The Birds. But when I read an overview of the man's career I feel obliged to defend some of the films that weren't as successful commercially or critically.
FRENZY often gets treated as if it was Hitchcock's attempt to dabble in porno. Yes, it's surprisingly carnal coming from a man whose sexual icons were usually icy blondes. But its carnality and vulgarity seeme to me Hitchcock's way of saying to all his young imitators that he could be modern, too. The fault with this film is the script. The killer is far more interesting than the hero. This becomes even more of a problem because the actor playing the killer not only has the better part--he's a better actor than the hero.
THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY is one of the few times I've ever been able to sit through anything one could call "whimsical." Maybe it's the gorgeous glorious way H films the New England autumn. Maybe it's the simple charm of Edmund Gwen. Maybe it's the way a very young Shirley MacLain (in her first screen role) sweetly seduces the camera every time it comes near. Or maybe it's just the idea that a corpse keeps getting moved all over the county while local law enforcement tries to figure out what the hell is going on. Whatever, it has true charm.
MARNIE is a mess. I've always thought Sean Connery was miscast. The script wanders and pages go by without it focusing the way it should. But Tippi Hedren is convincing enough--and her backstory intriguing enough--that there's the kind of neurotic grit to the film you might find in a report by a social worker. Except for Connery the performances are excellent and that may be why, despite its considerable faults, I like it.
FAMILY PLOT demonstrates that H never lost his love for rear screen projection. There's a scene in here where the car in which stars Bruce Dern and Barbara Harris are in nearly goes off a cliff. It is so oviously a studio process shot that the entire sequence makes you resent Hitchcock. Was he just lazy? Did he really think he could fool modern audiences? Did he prefer (like John Ford in Liberty Valance) the look of the sound stage to the look of reality? That's the first thing I think of when somebody mentions Family Plot which is too bad because otherwise, for me, it's a very enjoyable movie. The A story with Dern and Harris is actually a very sweet tale of two para-hippies trying desperately to become con artists. The trouble comes with the B story, with William DeVane and Karen Black (her major career ended way too soon for me). Their acting is fine but the scriptwriters stumble badly in trying to merge this heist storyline with the A story. Still, Dern and Harris are so much fun who gives a damn that threst of the picture is so wobbly?
April 30, 2012
GREAT FREDRIC BROWN NEWS
Murder Draws a Crowd: The Collected Fredric Brown, Volume OneFredric BrownEdited by Stephen Haffner
ISBN-13 9781893887787
600+ pages$40.00
“. . . enough good people put Brown on their must-read lists and then become evangelists to keep his name alive on the same high shelf as Hammett, Thompson, Ross Macdonald and other crime icons. Somewhere up in literary heaven, I hope he’s looking down, sipping a beer, playing his flute and smiling.”—Dick Adler, Chicago Tribune.
While the editor of this series only recently came upon the above quote from 2008, these eyes read no truer words.
Work has been underway for nearly a year on assembling the first two volumes of a series provisionally titledLOADED: THE COLLECTED FREDRIC BROWN. Now is your chance to get in on the ground floor of what is hoped to be the definitive collection of Fredric Brown sans his science fiction works. Assembled in chronological order of publication, this set will contain all the short fiction (of all genres: mystery, horror, noir, western, detection, etc.) and all of Brown’s novels (again, excepting his sf works). You’ll be able to enjoy Fredric Brown at his longer lengths fromThe Fabulous Clipjoint and Night of the Jabberwock to The Lenient Beast andMrs. Murphy’s Underpants. Assisting with this effort have been Brown bibliographer Phil Stephensen-Payne and Brown biographer Jack Seabrook. This massive undertaking could not have been accomplished without their help.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Moon For A Nickel Detective Story Magazine Mar. 38
The Cheese on Stilts, Thrilling Detective Jan. 39
Blood of the Dragon, Variety Detective Feb. 39
There Are Bloodstains in the Alley, Detective Yarns Feb. 39
Murder at 10:15, Clues Detective Stories May 39
The Prehistoric Clue, Ten Detective Aces Jul. 40
Trouble in a Teacup, Detective Fiction Weekly Jul-13-1940
Murder Draws a Crowd, Detective Fiction Weekly Jul-27-1940
Footprints on the Ceiling, Ten Detective Aces Sep. 40
The Little Green Men, The Masked Detective Fall 1940
Town Wanted, Detective Fiction Weekly Sep-7-1940
Herbie Rides His Hunch, Detective Fiction Weekly Oct-19-1940
The Stranger from Trouble Valley, Western Short Stories Nov. 40
The Strange Sisters Strange, Detective Fiction Weekly Dec-28-1940
How Tagrid Got There, unpublished until 1986
Fugitive Imposter, Ten Detective Aces Jan. 41
The King Comes Home, Thrilling Detective Jan. 41
Big-Top Doom, Ten Detective Aces Mar 41
The Discontented Cows, G-Men Detective Mar. 41
Life and Fire, Detective Fiction Weekly Mar-22-1941
Big-League Larceny, Ten Detective Aces Apr. 41 {as by Jack Hobart}
Selling Death Short, Ten Detective Aces Apr. 41
Client Unknown, The Phantom Detective Apr. 41
Your Name in Gold, The Phantom Detective Jun. 41
Here Comes the Hearse, 10-Story Detective Jul. 41 {as by Allen Morse}
Six-Gun Song, 10-Story Detective Jul. 41
Star-Spangled Night, Coronet Jul. 41
Wheels Across the Night, G-Men Detective Jul. 41
Little Boy Lost, Detective Fiction Weekly Aug-2-1941
Bullet for Bullet, Western Short Stories Oct. 41
Listen to the Mocking Bird (NT) G-Men Detective Nov. 41
Death in the Dark: The Collected Fredric Brown, Volume TwoFredric BrownEdited by Stephen Haffner
ISBN-13 9781893887800
600+ page Hardcover$40
“. . . enough good people put Brown on their must-read lists and then become evangelists to keep his name alive on the same high shelf as Hammett, Thompson, Ross Macdonald and other crime icons. Somewhere up in literary heaven, I hope he’s looking down, sipping a beer, playing his flute and smiling.”—Dick Adler, Chicago Tribune
While the editor of this series only recently came upon the aboe quote from 2008, these eyes read no truer words. Work has been underway for nearly a year on assembling the first two volumes of a series provisionally titled LOADED: THE COLLECTED FREDRIC BROWN. Now is your chance to get in on the ground floor of what is hoped to be the definitive collection of Fredric Brown sans his science fiction works. Assembled in chronological order of publication, this set will contain all the short fiction (of all genres: mystery, horror, noir, western, detection, etc.) and all of Brown’s novels (again, excepting his sf works). You’ll be able to enjoy Fredric Brown at his longer lengths from The Fabulous Clipjoint and Night of the Jabberwock to The Lenient Beast and Mrs. Murphy’s Underpants. Assisting with this effort have been Brown bibliographer Phil Stephensen-Payne and Brown biographer Jack Seabrook. This massive undertaking could not have been accomplished without their help.
TABLE OF CONTENTS REVIEWS EXCERPTS
Little Apple Hard to Peel, Detective Tales Feb. 42
Death in the Dark, Dime Mystery Mar. 42
The Incredible Bomber, G-Men Detective Mar. 42
Pardon My Ghoulish Laughter, Strange Detective Mysteries Mar. 42
Twice-Killed Corpse, Ten Detective Aces Mar. 42
A Cat Walks, Detective Story Magazine Apr. 42
Mad Dog!, Detective Book Magazine Spring 1942
Moon Over Murder, The Masked Detective Spring 1942
"Who Did I Murder?", Detective Short Stories Apr. 42
Murder in Furs, Thrilling Detective May 42
Suite for Flute and Tommy Gun, Detective Story Magazine Jun. 42
Three-Corpse Parlay, Popular Detective Jun. 42
A Date to Die, Strange Detective Mysteries Jul. 42
Red is the Hue of Hell, Strange Detective Mysteries Jul. 42 {as by Felix Graham}
Two Biers for Two, Clues Detective Stories Jul. 42
"You'll Die Before Dawn", Mystery Magazine Jul. 42
Get Out of Town, Thrilling Detective Sep. 42
A Little White Lye, Ten Detective Aces Sep. 42
The Men Who Went Nowhere, Dime Mystery Sep. 42
Nothing Sinister, Mystery Magazine Sep. 42
The Numberless Shadows, Detective Story Magazine Sep. 42
Satan's Search Warrant, 10-Story Detective Sep. 42
Where There's Smoke, Black Book Detective Sep. 42
Boner, Popular Detective Oct. 42
Legacy of Murder, Exciting Mystery Oct. 42
The Santa Claus Murders, Detective Story Magazine Oct. 42
Double Murder, Thrilling Detective Nov. 42 {as by John S. Endicott}
A Fine Night for Murder, Detective Tales Nov. 42
Heil, Werewolf!, Dime Mystery Nov. 42 {as by Felix Graham}
I'll See You at Midnight, Clues Detective Stories Nov. 42
The Monkey Angle, Thrilling Detective Nov. 42
Satan One-and-a-H
April 29, 2012
New Books: Terrified by Kevin O'Brien
Q & A FOR THE NEW IMPROVED GOREMAN
Tell us about TERRIFIED. Kevin O'Brien:
In TERRIFIED, Lisa Swan fakes her own death and disappears to escape from her abusive husband, Glenn, a Chicago surgeon. Lisa moves to Seattle, changes her identity and soon discovers she’s pregnant with Glenn’s child. Meanwhile, Chicago-area police believe the body parts discovered in various garbage bags scattered along the North Shore are Lisa’s remains, and Glenn is arrested for her murder. Lisa fears Glenn will be as abusive a father as he was a husband. So she remains in Seattle, and raises their child, Josh, on her own. But she’s constantly looking over her shoulder, worried someone might discover her true identity.Adding to her anxiety is a rash of “garbage bag” killings in the Seattle area—similar to the case in Chicago. After fifteen years, DNA testing clears Glenn of Lisa’s murder and he’s released from jail. That’s when Lisa begins to receive cryptic emails and mysterious phone calls.Someone is following Josh around at his high school. Then the unthinkable happens. Josh is abducted. I won’t say any more, except that’s just the first half of the book!
Can you describe your writing process? For instance, how did the core idea for TERRIFED come about?
John Scognamiglio, my editor at Kensington Books, sometimes emails me ideas. He threw one my way about two years ago: “How about if you tried a new twist to the SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY story?” We bounced ideas back and forth for a while, and then he left me alone.At this point, I did what I usually do with a book idea—lots and lots of stream of conscious note-taking. I work out the characters and their histories—to account for how they’ll act and react in the situation I’m creating. After a few weeks of writing random notes and character biographies, I start to write an outline—which reads very much like a condensed novel. With dialogue, description, cliff-hanger section breaks, and the works, I try to make my outline as entertaining and compelling as possible. This is what my editor reads before he approves the book—and more importantly, before he gives the green light for my paycheck! The outline for TERRIFIED was about 90 pages. With such a thorough, detailed outline, my editor can work out any kinks he sees in the plot or characters. He can also get the ball rolling for cover art, cover copy and promotion while I write the book. By the time he gets the finished book, there are no surprises, and he usually asks for only a couple of minor changes. It’s kind of a unique author-editor relationship, but it really works for us.
What is your work day like?
Well, Ed, it depends on how far along I am in a book. If I’m in the phase in which I’m taking notes, researching, and working toward an outline, I’ll give priority to answering email and fan mail, and wait for the muse to inspire me. I’ll stay up late jotting notes. There’s less structure to my life during this period. When I’m writing the book, and the deadline is looming, I get more structured and disciplined. As the deadline gets closer, it’s like finals week in school. I live, eat, and breathe the book. I’m a hard-typist (from starting out on a manual typewriter); so my fingers will get sore. I’ll keep an ice-pack by the keyboard for during the lulls. I get less and less sleep. My social life suffers and chores get postponed. I remember asking Stephanie Kallos what she planned to do once she delivered her book. “I’m dying to clean out my closet,” she admitted. That’s exactly what I always end up doing the day after I deliver a manuscript. It’s my way of getting my life back in order. If it sounds like I’m complaining, I’m not. I’m getting paid to do something I love.
There is always disagreement among writers about outlining. Some do, some don’t. How about you?
Oh, I’m an outline believer, for sure. As I said earlier, my outlines are epic. Plus, during that deadline-pressure phase of writing, it’s so great to have a detailed blueprint from which I can work. How many thrillers seem to fall apart near the end? I think that’s because those authors didn’t have an outline—and perhaps meeting a deadline forced them to wrap it up too soon.
What do you find the most difficult aspect of writing?
The solitude. Writing can be a very lonely profession, but it’s necessary. You have to cut yourself off from everything to get into that writing space. I recall an interview with Jamie Ford in which he said, “Most of us write alone in our own little sequestered spots—like the Unabomber.” The other thing that’s tough for me as a writer is the uncertainty. Every time I finish a new book, I’m convinced it’s the worst thing I’ve ever written. I have to distance myself from the material and see several glowing reviews before I feel the book is any good.
What turned you to suspense fiction as a writer?
It took a while to find a publisher for my first two novels (both mainstream fiction, ACTORS in 1986 and ONLY SON in 1996). So in 1999, my agent suggested I try my hand at a thriller. She said books in that genre were easier to sell—and in high demand. I didn’t take much convincing.I’ve always been a fan of Hitchcock and thrillers. So—I started writing what was to become THE NEXT TO DIE (2001). True to form, when I finished the manuscript, I was convinced it wasn’t very good. Fortunately, my editor, John, didn’t agree. The book hit the USA TodayBestseller list. So I’d found my calling. And I’m now hard at work on my twelfth thriller.
-----------------Pro-File Kevin O'Brien (from 2011)
Tell us about your current novel (or project).VICIOUS is how you could describe Mama's Boy, a serial killer who kept
Seattle in the grip of fear for two years back in the late 90's. He
abducted women right in front of their sons, and later strangled them.
Mama's Boy was never caught, but the killings suddenly stopped in 2001-at
least in the Seattle area. Now it's ten years later, and Susan Blanchette,
a beautiful widow, is taking a weekend getaway in a resort town north of
Seattle with her toddler son and her fiancé, Allen. But something isn't
quite right about the lakeside house they've rented, and Susan discovers
that two women went missing in the area within the last year. Then Allen
vanishes without a trace. But the worst discovery of all may come too late
for Susan: Mama's Boy is back. You can get VICIOUS in May!
2. Can you give a sense of what you're working on now?
The working title for my thriller-in-the-works is DISTURBED. It's about a
scandal at a Seattle high school that leads to the suicide of one student
and the firing of a beloved guidance counselor. Molly Dennehy is the
stepmother of a student indirectly involved in that scandal. After the
guidance counselor is slain in what appears to be a hold up, bizarre
occurrences-including a few untimely, gruesome deaths-begin to plague
Molly's neighbors in an isolated suburban cul-de-sac. That's all I'm
saying for now. I don't want to give too much away!
3. What is the greatest pleasure of a writing career?
Having my own hours, not having to go into an office, getting a rush from
something I write-those are some of the perks. The greatest pleasure is
hearing from readers who enjoy my books. It's especially terrific to learn
that I've gotten someone hooked on reading-or when someone tells me that a
character in my fiction really touches a cord with them. But I also love
hearing that one of my books simply kept a reader entertained during a
snowed-in weekend or a long airplane ride.
4. What is the greatest DISpleasure?
The solitude, the deadlines, and the occasional nasty reviews on Amazon.com
(I can have nine glowing reviews, and one lousy review-and I'll obsess over
the lousy one).
5. If you have one piece of advice for the publishing world, what is it?
Quit giving huge, million-plus advances to politicians and celebrities for
their ghost-written memoirs, and put that money toward paying the working
writer something resembling a living wage. I know Bestselling authors who
still need other part-time jobs to pay the bills.
6. Are there two or three forgotten mystery writers you'd like to see in
print again?
Several of Edgar Award winner Margaret Millar's mystery-thrillers are out of
print. Also-J.B. Dickey at Seattle Mystery Bookshop knows I'm from Chicago,
and he was telling me about Max Allen Collins' Nathan Heller books that
blend true events (the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, the assassination attempt
on Roosevelt, the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, and many more) with a
fictional detective from the Windy City. They sound incredible-and right
up my alley. And most of them are out of print.
7. Tell us about selling your first novel. Most writers never forget that
moment.
Back in college, I made a goal for myself to get published by the time I was
thirty. I wrote two Hitchcock-rip-off screenplays that never sold, and
about a dozen short stories that no one would publish. I started writing my
first novel, ACTORS, in a creative writing night class. I found an agent
for it, but after two years and one major rewrite, she started to lose her
enthusiasm for the book. By the time my thirtieth birthday rolled around,
only one publishing house, St, Martin's Press, had ACTORS, and they'd
rejected an earlier draft of it a year before. My agent wasn't returning
my calls. Things didn't look very good on my 30th birthday. The following
morning, the phone rang at 7 AM. I thought it was one of my bosses calling
from the east coast (I was working for the railroads at the time). Who
else would call so early in the morning? I let my answering machine pick it
up (this was before the days of Caller ID), and I heard my agent on the
other end, singing Happy Birthday-the way Marilyn sang it to JFK. "For your
birthday," she said. "I'd like to tell you that you sold your book...and
you have, honey. Call me..."
April 28, 2012
New Books: The Last Kind Words by Tom Piccirilli
Advance praise for The Last Kind Words
“Perfect crime fiction . . . a convincing world, a cast of compelling characters, and above all a great story.”—Lee Child, New York Times bestselling author of 61 Hours
“For the first time since The Godfather, a family of criminals has stolen my heart. This is a brilliant mix of love and violence, charm and corruption. I loved it.”—Nancy Pickard, bestselling author of The Scent of Rain and Lightning
“You don’t choose your family. And the Rand clan, a family of thieves, is bad to the bone. But it’s a testimony to Tom Piccirilli’s stellar writing that you still care about each and every one of them. The Last Kind Words is at once a dark and brooding page-turner and a heartfelt tale about the ties that bind.”—Lisa Unger, New York Timesbestselling author of Darkness, My Old Friend
“Piccirilli straddles genres with the boldness of the best writers today, blending suspense and crime fiction into tight, brutal masterpieces.”—James Rollins, New York Times bestselling author of The Devil Colony
“Tom Piccirilli’s sense of relationships and the haunting power of family lifts his writing beyond others in the genre. The Last Kind Words is a swift-moving and hard-hitting novel.”—Michael Koryta, Edgar Award–nominated author of The Ridge
“A stunning story that ranges far afield at times but never truly leaves home, a place where shadows grow in every corner . . . superbly told, with prose that doesn’t mess about or flinch from evil.”—Daniel Woodrell, PEN USA award–winning author of Winter’s Bone
“There’s more life in The Last Kind Words (and more heartache, action, and deliverance) than in any other novel I’ve read in the past couple of years.”—Steve Hamilton, Edgar Award–winning author of The Lock Artist
“You’re in for a treat. Tom Piccirilli is one of the most exciting authors around. He writes vivid action that is gripping and smart, with characters you believe in and care about.”—David Morrell, New York Times bestselling author of First Blood
From International Thriller Writers Award winner and Edgar Award nominee Tom Piccirilli comes a mesmerizing suspense novel that explores the bonds of family and the ways they're stretched by guilt, grief, and the chance for redemption.
Raised in a clan of small-time thieves and grifters, Terrier Rand decided to cut free from them and go straight after his older brother, Collie, went on a senseless killing spree that left an entire family and several others dead. Five years later, and days before his scheduled execution, Collie contacts Terry and asks him to return home. He claims he wasn't responsible for one of the murders--and insists that the real killer is still on the loose.
Uncertain whether his brother is telling the truth, and dogged by his own regrets, Terry is drawn back into the activities of his family: His father, Pinsch, who once made a living as a cat burglar but retired after the heartbreak caused by his two sons. His card sharp uncles, Mal and Grey, who've recently incurred the anger of the local mob. His grandfather, Old Shep, who has Alzheimer's but is still a first-rate pickpocket. His teenage sister, Dale, who's flirting with the lure of the criminal world. And Kimmy, the fiancée he abandoned, who's now raising a child with his former best friend.
As Terrier starts to investigate what really happened on the day of Collie's crime spree, will the truth he uncovers about their offenses and secrets tear the Rands apart?
Walking the razor-sharp edge between love and violence, with the atmospheric noir voice that is his trademark, The Last Kind Words demonstrates why Tom Piccirilli has become a must-read author.
A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE LAST KIND WORDS: A CONVERSATION WITH TOM PICCIRILLI by Ed Gorman Employing the unique, darkly humorous, and powerful noir voice that is his trademark, Tom Piccirilli continually demonstrates why he's become a must-read author for admirers of both crime and horror fiction. His last two mass market paperback crime novels SHADOW SEASON and THE COLDEST MILE were both nominated for the coveted Thriller Award, given out by the International Thriller Writers, with TCM taking home the prize. His latest novel THE LAST KIND WORDS will appear from Bantam this June in hardcover. Ed Gorman: THE LAST KIND WORDS has already generated some nice buzz and picked up tremendous blurbs from the likes of Lee Child, Daniel Woodrell, Lisa Unger, Nancy Pickard, and Steve Hamilton. Tell us a little about the novel. PIC: It's the story of a young thief named Terrier Rand who returns to his criminal family on the eve of his brother Collie's execution. For no apparent reason Collie went on a killing spree murdering eight people. Now, five years later, Collie swears he only killed seven people during his lethal rampage, and the eighth was the work of someone else. Terry not only has to deal with an ex-best friend, a former flame, mob guys, and other assorted people from his dark past, but he's also forced to investigate the night his brother went insane and find out if Collie is telling the truth. But more than anything, he really wants to know the reason why his brother went on a spree, in the hopes that Terry himself is never pushed to that kind of edge. I just finished the sequel entitled THE LAST WHISPER IN THE DARK, which should appear about a year after. EG: I noticed that a central theme that runs strongly through your crime fiction is the search for identity. We see it again and again in such titles as THE COLD SPOT, SHADOW SEASON, and it's prevalent once more in THE LAST KIND WORDS. Terrier Rand is unsure of who he is without being defined by his family, his "career" as a thief, or as someone who may have missed his chance with the love of his life. He covets his best friend's stability in life, he even seems to be jealous that his brother has found a kind of self-understanding in prison. PIC: Taken as a body of work, I think that's one of the motifs where I put the greatest emphasis. The search for...and the nature of...one's identity. I'm still fascinated by what makes us who and what we are. What defines us. How and if we can ever truly change. How in control of our own nature we are we. Can we adapt. Should we adjust. Are we merely slaves to fate. Are we slaves to each other, our families, our loves, our pain, our history. Are we just slaves to fate. Is our destiny written out in detail. Does God or the world have a great hand in who we become day by day, minute by minute. EG: Despite some similarities in the noirish feel, TLKW appears to have a different attitude than most of your other work. There's an emphasis on family matters, family drama, the ties that bind. Most of your other protagonists are loners, but Terrier Rand seems very much a man attempting to do right by his friends, his lover, even his murderous brother. PIC: That goes back to what makes us who we are. Are we doomed to walk in the shadows of our parents, our grandparents, our brothers, if we follow their courses? Terry is a thief like his forefathers, he lives in a huge house surrounded by other generations of the Rand clan. Even his appearance is very much that of his brother. When you look in the mirror and see your brother and not yourself, how does that affect what you do, how you feel? I wanted to explore a protagonist who didn't just make decisions for his own good, but ones that had to help others. People he loved, people he was trying to forgive, people he wants to be forgiven by. Sometimes my perspective as the writer shifts, depending on the work, and sometimes it remains the same because I'm mining the same concepts. I just try to offer something different to the readers every time out. EG: You started off as a horror writer before diving wholeheartedly into the crime field. You and I have discussed your comment that "the horror genre is a young man's game, whereas noir is for older men. Horror is fantasy that focuses on the fear around the next corner, whereas noir is about the fear that's tailing you. It's your disappointments and mistakes." Do you feel like you're moving in a new direction with your fiction? PIC: I'm always trying to do something new for my own sake. I get bored easily, and I know my audience is going to feel the same if I simply cover the same ground over and over. That said, my voice is my voice, the themes that affect me deeply are probably going to be similar year in and out, but my point of view is going to change either subtly or radically depending on what's occurring in my life. I'm not the same person at 46 that I was at 26 so I expect my protagonists to carry my burdens, my disappointments, my regrets, my fears, my joys, my disposition. So long as the material strikes me, or the perspective opens something new up for me, or the voice manages to sing an old song in a fresh way, then I'll gravitate to that in an effort to give the readers something that grabs them. EG: Do you like digital publications? Do you own an e-reader? PIC: I don't own an e-reader myself, but my wife loves her Kindle. And I have nothing against digital publication except for how it seems to be causing all kinds of havoc where bookstores are concerned. I don't want one form to drive the other out of business. I don't want to think of a world without bookstores. I like physical books. I'm a bibliophile. I want to hold them and sniff them and feel their weight in my hands. But I appreciate the chance to get my backlist into publication again in digital format, and I'm glad that new readers are taking a chance on the work and being generous with their comments. Hopefully one form will help sell more copies of the other. More titles will be made available through Crossroad Press (http://store.crossroadpress.com/) EG: Thank you, Tom, for taking the time out to talk with me. PIC: It's a pleasure, Ed. I always appreciate the chance to chat with you.
Tom Piccirilli is the author of more twenty novels including THE LAST KIND WORDS, THE COLD SPOT, THE COLDEST MILE, THE MIDNIGHT ROAD, and A CHOIR OF ILL CHILDREN. He's won two International Thriller Awards and four Bram Stoker Awards, as well as having been nominated for the Edgar, the World Fantasy Award, the Macavity, and Le Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire. Learn more at: http://www.thecoldspot.blogspot.com www.tompiccirilli.com
www.thecoldspot.blogspot.com
Tom Piccirilli is the author of more than twenty novels including SHADOW SEASON, THE COLD SPOT, THE COLDEST MILE, and A CHOIR OF ILL CHILDREN. He's won two International Thriller Awards and four Bram Stoker Awards, as well as having been nominated for the Edgar, the World Fantasy Award, the Macavity, and Le Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire.
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