Thomas Pluck's Blog, page 23

Reviewing the Evidence on DARK CITY LIGHTS

Over at Reviewing the Evidence, they’ve got a nice review of DARK CITY LIGHTS, and give a nod to my contribution, “The Big Snip.”

The book is now available, and we’re having a book signing on May 7th at The Mysterious Bookshop, with editor Lawrence Block and many others. Come join us for a good time.

You can order it from Amazon, or from your local bookstore.

Tagged: Balls, Books, Reviews

My Bookish Ways on Our Lady of Vengeance

Angel Colón​ over at My Bookish Ways Reviews​ likes Our Lady of Vengeance:

“Pluck’s known for his mile-a-minute and brutal style, and this set of shorts continue to strengthen that reputation.”

Drop by My Bookish Ways for the full review.

Tagged: Our Lady of Vengeance, Reviews

The Will to Change

To quote my friend Susan Schorn, reading bell hooks “is a life-changing experience.” And her book The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love, was a changer for me. Men are as wounded by patriarchy as women; we are taught to crush half our selves, and our roles are as rigidly enforced, if not moreso, than women’s. She does not absolve men of bad behavior but helps us see the damage we’ve endured and continue to inflict, and offers paths to wholeness that build us up rather than destroy our foundations. There can be competitiveness and strength without basing our worth on them. An instructive and liberating read.

Tagged: feminism

The Cherry Blossoms of Branch Brook Park

I drove through Branch Brook Park today on my morning commute to see the cherry blossoms. I’ve written about them before, in “The Forest for the Trees” (collected in STEEL HEART) and in the Denny the Dent stories. They only bloom a few weeks a year. They were a gift from the Bamberger family, and Newark/Belleville’s park has the largest stand of them in America; over 4300. Washington, D.C. has 3020, a gift from Japan in 1912.

Branch Brook was designed by Frederick Olmstead, who designed Central Park, and hundreds more. It’s nice for a walk or drive, and Nanina’s restaurant is one of the best Italian eateries in the state. If you can get in; it’s often booked years in advance for weddings. More my speed is Luis’s Red Hots, a hot dog truck at the Belleville end, on Union Ave. They make a great potato dog- thin sliced white potatoes with paprika and spices on a snappy frankfurter. At the other end by Heller Parkway is another famous hot dog truck, John’s, who make fine chili cheese dogs.

You’ve got a week before the petals drop. Best bet is to visit on a weekday, the weekends are packed, but it’s a beautiful place to visit this time of year.

Tagged: Branch Brook Park, New Jersey

say a prayer… to Our Lady of Vengeance

Some say “the best revenge is living well.” Not the people in these stories! 13 crime, action, and noir tales of ice cold retribution and burning two-fisted fury.

It contains a Jay Desmarteaux tale that was only available in Hills of Fire: Bare-Knuckle Yarns of Appalachia, a story from the final issue of HARDBOILED, and more: Ramapough Ringer, The Uncleared, Two to Tango, Van Candy, Faggot, Lefty, Shogun Honey, Play Dead, We’re All Guys Here, From the Heart, Firecracker, and The Long Walk Home. A trip into the cool cruel world of criminals, ronin, veterans, bluesmen, bullies, hot-rodders, and the wronged screaming for vengeance.

Available for:

Amazon Kindle

in the Kobo bookstore

Barnes & Noble Nook

Apple iBookstore

Page Foundry / Inktera

Scribd

Tagged: Noir, Our Lady of Vengeance

available for pre-order: Our Lady of Vengeance

Some say “the best revenge is living well.” Not the people in these stories! My new story collection, Our Lady of Vengeance: 13 Dishes Served Cold, is available for pre-order on Amazon Kindle, for just $1.99. Tuesday is the official release day, and the price goes up then, so if you want it, now’s the time. It contains a Jay Desmarteaux tale that was only available in Hills of Fire: Bare-Knuckle Yarns of Appalachia, a story from the final issue of  HARDBOILED, and more.

Also available for pre-order in the Kobo bookstore.

On Tuesday 4/14 it will be available at Barnes & Noble for Nook, in the Apple iBookstore, and all other retailers.

Tagged: Noir, Our Lady of Vengeance

The Crime of Our Lives, by Lawrence Block

One of the things I enjoy most about Twitter is the sense of camaraderie I get with writers whose work I enjoy. While Lawrence Block had made his email address public some time ago, sending an email is more daunting than firing off a tweet, so I never took advantage of it. I’m the shy sort. Really!

So shy that when joining Twitter, I took the handle @TommySalami (which I still possess, though I’ve moved to the slightly more professional, though no less jokey name @thomaspluck). One of the first writers I followed was @LawrenceBlock, who tweeted prolifically and amiably with his readers. We chatted about his creations Bernie Rhodenbarr and Matt Scudder, and I subscribed to Mystery Scene to read his column of memoirs of his early writing days, which helped me keep my nose to the grindstone in the writing department.

I’ve never asked LB for a blurb–though I cherish the now-lost, encouraging comment he made at Beat to a Pulp, on my hardboiled fighter tale “A Glutton for Punishment”–I learned that it’s his policy not to give blurbs, or review books by living authors. And I think that is good advice for a writer. Now, I’m breaking that rule here, aren’t I? My own rule is different, I think it’s best not to say anything about a book unless I have something good to say. (If I have nothing to say, I either haven’t read it, or didn’t like it). Which works for me, because few give a damn what I have to say about someone else’s book anyway. LB, however, is another matter. He’s a master of the mystery form, a Grand one, and he’s known many others like him.

Now, he comes along with THE CRIMES OF OUR LIVES, collecting his writings on crime fiction. From Edgar Allan Poe (who he did not know) to Donald Westlake, whom he knew quite well. There are introductions, eulogies, memoirs, remembrances, and at least one salacious, if unproven anecdote, which will change the way you hear the theme to “I Love Lucy” forever. To steal from LB’s chapter on Robert B. Parker, I could listen to LB read (or write, rather) the phone book; he has a distinctive voice, and a way with words. A little chummy, but sharp-edged as well. With sentences that flow as smooth and sweet as the nectar from God’s own tit.

As a writer and a reader, this collection has have been amusing, illuminating, and soothing. As much as things have changed in the writing biz, some things remain the same, and those whose work we love–they busted their ass the same as the rest of us. And some of them are as mysterious as characters in their own novels. TCOOL is a damn good read for anyone who loves a good crime tale; I learned something new about writers whom I’ve read every word of, and was introduced to a few whose work I’m eager to become acquainted with. What are you waiting for? Get a copy.

Tagged: Lawrence Block

Blade of Dishonor reviewed by Ninjas All the Way Down

Love this review from NINJAS ALL THE WAY DOWN, a new site dedicated to ninjas in popular culture. They got what I was doing with Blade—writing the most realistic, but still over the top ’80s action thriller I could—that paid homage to both the actual history of the ninja and the mystical mythology that strung up around them.

Blade of Dishonor by Thomas Pluck (2013).

Tagged: Blade of Dishonor, ninja

Alternate names for New Jersey

Alternate names for New Jersey:

Tollboothia

Cantpumpgasenborg

Porkrollistan

Wawaland

Outer Fongoolia

I love living here, but it’s true. Only the strong survive.

Robert Durst, triple murderer? The Jinx.

Yesterday Robert Durst was arrested in New Orleans on suspicion of murder of Susan Berman, in California in 2000. He was charged with illegal possession of a handgun, as he is a felon.

I began watching HBO’s documentary THE JINX (directed by Andrew Jarecki, of Capturing the Friedmans) when it aired six weeks ago. The case was new to me, but I quickly caught up on it. Robert Durst, the son of a billionaire real estate magnate, was the only suspect in the disappearance of his wife. Her body was never found, and according to police, no real investigation was made by the family, despite their copious resources. Robert was “estranged” from his family; evidence of threats against his younger brother Doug, who was given control of the business, was given. He has a restraining order against Robert, who is known to carry handguns.

In 2000 in California, Robert’s friend Susan Berman was found shot in the head, only after an anonymous letter to the police was received, saying “where to find the cadaver.” Friends of hers believe she had information on the disappearance of Durst’s wife, and that was why she was killed.

In 2001 in Galveston, where Robert was living as a woman by wearing a wig and claiming to be mute, he was put on trial for murdering and dismembering his roommate, whose torso washed up in a nearby body of water. He admitted killing him “in self defense,” and said he was drunk while he methodically dismembered the body, paid the rent up front, and disposed of the remains. Because in Texas some people need killin’, the jury believed this, and acquitted him.

A more detailed explanation of this trial, by Matt Pearce of the L.A. Times, can be read here.

Spoilers follow in the next paragraph.

The documentary depicts Durst being shown new evidence linking him to Berman’s murder, and at the end of the episode, forgetting that he still has his mike on, Durst goes to the bathroom and mutters to himself, ending with, “what did you do? killed them all, of course.”

And then it fades to black.

After the final episode aired, he was arrested. He has a habit of fleeing on bail and has nearly limitless resources; he spent $1.8 million on his Galveston defense. It will be interesting to see if the new evidence in the Berman case will get a murder conviction to stick. He all but confessed on tape, if Jarecki protrayed it truthfully. Durst was not on camera at the time. There will be plenty of reasonable doubt if this is brought as evidence. Voice analysis, and so on. The Berman evidence rests largely on handwriting analysis, and that can be countered as well. There are few smoking guns, and with the resources he has, the passage of time, and the lack of evidence at the crime scenes, his next trial may accomplish nothing except give Jarecki material for his next documentary.

Tagged: Documentaries, Robert Durst, Television, The Jinx