B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 249

Poetry is Criminal

To celebrate National Poetry Month, Gerald So, editor of The 5-2: Crime Poetry Weekly website and The Lineup poetry chapbooks, invited me to participate in a blog tour. The challenge: to choose a favorite poem from the 5-2 website.

That proved to be a bit of a problem, because poems are like soul candy to me—jelly bellies, if you will—one day your favorite may be key lime pie and the next, sour apple or black licorice. However, I ultimately chose Jackie Sheeler's "Lt. Machine" to feature today, as it is a timely poem, tied to the still-ongoing (if sputtering) Occupy Wall Street movement.

You may recall the recent pepper-spraying incident where Police Lieutenant John Pike, dressed in riot gear, nonchalantly aimed his spray can at a group of college student protesters who were sitting down peacefully. The lieutenant and that video soon went viral and spawned a cultural phenomenom all its own, an international frenzy with dozens of websites and parodies.

What Jackie Sheeler does in her poetic take on that whole spectacle is to create a sardonic account that at the same time peers into the mind—and seeming mindlessness—of the officer's actions, "He neither smiles nor frowns / flourishes the canister / arms-length, like a cardsharp shooting his cuffs / before the deal. Winning is inevitable." And yet, there are hints of what Sheeler imagines really lies beneath the lieutenant's unprompted behavior, "If he screamed / I got your education right here you little pricks!"

I'm a sucker for "humor noir," if that can be labeled a true subgenre. In this poem, despite the underlying tinges of anger and injustice, there are also hints of humor, as in these lines, "He makes a second pass across the line / just in case. Filling in the blanks, you might say." You can argue all day about whether Lt. Pike and other police actions against the Occupy protesters are justified or not (or both, depending upon the circumstances), but I like how Sheeler's poem takes a step back, viewing this incident in words as a photographer would with a lens.

I also loved Jackie's note about the poem, "It was the memes. Yes, definitely, the memes. He pepper-sprayed the Last Supper! And the holy bush of Marilyn Monroe, her white skirt airlifted by a passing subway. Entrapment. I had no choice. Guilty as charged."

Jackie's latest collection of poems, Earthquake Came to Harlem, was a finalist for the 2011 Paterson Poetry Prize. One reviewer called it "nuanced yet aggressive, Earthquake Came to Harlem is a tour-de-force of NYC poetry." I rather like that. I think "nuanced, yet aggressive" is an apt description of "Lt. Machine."

By the way, The 5-2 is looking for more submissions to showcase each week. If you think you have a crime poem in you, you can submit up to two poems per month that are "honest, powerful reactions to what you see as crime." Any form or style is fine, and the only rule is that each poem must be 60 lines or fewer.

Here's the schedule for the rest of the 5-2 Blog Tour. But you don't have to wait — you can go and read the poems yourself, any time.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Netflix recently got into the original-programming business and has chosen Brian McGreevy's debut thriller Hemlock Grove for its next original series, even though the book won't be published until later this month. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

Atlas Independent has hired William Monahan (London Boulevard) to write and direct a new crime thriller titled Mojave. No details on the plot just yet, but it will be filmed in Southern California.

Although the creative and studio forces behind the American film version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo have all expressed an interest in taking on the other two books in Stieg Larsson's trilogy, that future may be in jeopardy. Despite earning $231 million worldwide for MGM, the studio says that figure was below expectations and a "modest loss."

Jessica Biel has joined the cast of Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, playing Psycho star Vera Miles.

TV

The second series of Luther, the BBC police drama written by Neil Cross that stars Idris Elba, won "Best Drama" at the Royal Television Society Awards in the UK. Meanwhile, Luther creator Neil Cross says he is planning a film spinoff when the series ends.

The Coen brothers' film Fargo, which followed a pregnant Minneapolis police chief trying to solve a series of homicides, may be adapted as a TV series. This would presumably be in addition to the Fox pilot about a grouchy LA private detective the brothers already have in development.

As Omnimystery reports, production recently began in Dublin for BBC America's new eight-part crime drama, Ripper Street, set during the aftermath of the Jack The Ripper murders.

British actor Hugh Dancy (The Big C), will play FBI agent Will Graham on the 13-episode NBC-TV drama Hannibal, featuring the classic characters from Thomas Harris' Red Dragon novel.

Eriq La Salle (ER) has been cast in the pilot Widow Detective created by CSI's Carol Mendelsohn for CBS. La Salle will play Lieutenant Lutrell, a friend of protagonist Denny (John Corbett).

ONLINE/PODCASTS/RADIO

CSI creator Anthony Zuiker is teaming up with Yahoo for Cybergeddon, a 90-minute scripted drama exploring the growing threat of cyber crime, to be featured in online installments in the Fall.

Harlan Coben was on the Today Show, talking about his new thriller Stay Close.

Dr. D.P. Lyle visited Suspense Radio on Saturday to discuss his latest nonfiction book, More Forensics and Fiction.

Friday's "Forgotten" Books - Trouble with Product X

Joan Aiken (1924-2004) began her writing career with YA fiction as a 16-year-old contributor for the BBC Children's Hour. Indeed, one of her most popular creations was her prize-winning Wolves of Willoughby Chase series for children. She also delved into horror and fantasy, which Todd Mason profiled on one recent FFB installment. All told, Aiken published over 90 novels for children and adults, 38 story collections, four plays, several picture books and dozens of other short stories, many included in anthologies.

Aiken's efforts at mysteries and suspense novels won her an Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Novel (Night Fall) in 1972. The same touch of the quirky, whimsical inventiveness in her writing for young people often found its way into her adult crime fiction. She once said, "Stories are like butterflies, which come fluttering out of nowhere, touch down for a brief instant, may be captured, may not, and then vanish into nowhere again."

Trouble with Product X (aka Beware of the Bouquet) dates from 1966 and is one of the author's earlier novels for adults. Product X is a new perfume to be manufactured by a small company aiming to go upmarket. The ad agency hired to handle the promotion is Salmon & Bucknell, including employee Martha Gilroy, who suggests shooting a television commercial in the same remote Cornish castle where she spent her honeymoon—before her husband had a nervous breakdown and left her.

Another bad idea is to use the beautiful young Italian wife of the client as a model, as it soon becomes clear she's at the heart of a conspiracy regarding the origin of Product X. The remote TV shoot soon turns into a parade of nightmares and intrigue, including the kidnapping of a baby; monks who oppose the filming and one particularly mysterious monk who Martha thinks she recognizes; a venomous spider mailed as a "gift"; exploding soup cans; and an assortment of gothic thrills and chills that will please fans of Mary Stewart.

As The Telegraph said in Aiken's obituary, you could usually count on "slightly scatty but independent-minded young women who end up marrying slightly scatty but charming young men. Mysterious, corridor-ridden Gothic houses figure prominently, along with a variety of curses and enchantments. And there is always a strong sense of right and wrong." Although bits of that formula are present in Product X, so too is Aiken's trademark humor:

I spent a moment or two wondering where the devil I was, who the devil I was, in a weak and lackadaisical way...My mind wobbled about like a half-set jelly, full of unrelated fragments: the address of a man I'd meant to write to about detergents before coming down to Cornwall, lines from Twelfth Night, the fact that my library subscription needed renewing, a series of slogans for Bom which I'd been trying to hatch on the way down. 'Whether you're coming or going, mending or mowing, scything or sewing, reading or rowing...you need Bom, the meat'n milk drink, made from pure fresh milk and lean juicy beef. Bom, tiddly, om BOM!' I can't offhand think of any nastier beverage than Bom, but at that moment, I felt hazily that I might even have accepted a cup of the stuff if someone had offered it to me, hot.

Martha tends to muse on Bom promotions while she's in the midst of danger, but ultimately she proves to be an insightful sleuth, even as she fights her feelings for her ex and for a fellow employee who seems to be taking a suspiciously keen interest in the client's beautiful wife. The plot isn't so much a whodunit as a pleasant modern (albeit 1960s) Gothic romp.

Debut Crime Fiction Competitions

There's still time to enter the Discover Mystery Contest sponsored by Poisoned Pen Press. Submit your mystery/crime manuscript of 60,000 to 90,000 words by April 30th for a chance at a publishing contract and $1,000 advance.

Killer Nashville's Claymore Award is accepting entries up to June 1st. The award is given to the author of the best beginning (first 50 pages) of an unpublished MS, and the winner could end up with a publishing contract from Five Star. Note that this contest also accepts works by previously-published authors; it's just the entry that must be unpublished.

This next one is a terrific opportunity if you live in the UK and have an unpublished crime novel with a female protagonist: Stylist magazine and publisher Faber and Faber (the company that brings you PD James) are teaming up for a crime fiction competition to be judged by the likes of bestselling author Ruth Rendell. The winner gets his/her book published and an advance of £5,000. You still a little while to polish up your entry, as the deadline is July 12.

A Crime Wave (the Good Kind)

The Virginia Festival of the Book starts today, the largest gathering of authors, writers, and readers in the the Mid-Atlantic region, with an entertaining lineup of fiction and nonfiction panels and talks. The annual Crime Wave component of the festival begins Friday at 8 p.m. with "The Art of the Thrill," moderated by Ellen Crosby, as Steve Berry (The Jefferson Key) and Lisa Gardner (Catch Me) discuss how to keep an audience hooked.

Other panels include:

10:00 am – "Add Murder to My Resume": Ellen Crosby (The Sauvignon Secret), Lorna Barrett (Sentenced to Death), G.M. Malliet (Wicked Autumn), Mollie Cox Bryan (Scrapbook of Secrets), Ellery Adams (The Last Word), and Lucy Arlington (Buried in a Book).


10:00 am – "Murder, Murder Everywhere": James Church (The Man With the Baltic Stare), Corban Addison (A Walk Across the Sun), Thomas Kaufman (Steal the Show), and Greg Lilly (Scalping the Red Rocks) write about location and character.


2:00 pm – "High Body Count": Mary Burton (Before She Dies), Austin Camacho (The Piranha Assignment), Sandra Parshall (Under the Dog Star), and Del Staecker (Chocolate Soup).


2:00 pm – "Thrilling Me Softly": Matthew Jones (A Single Shot), Jane Bradley (You Believers), John Milliken Thompson (The Reservoir), Gary Kessler (What the Spider Saw), and John Gilstrap (Threat Warning) describe how they create thrillers.

Unfortunately, the luncheon with Jeffery Deaver (author of 28 novels including Carte Blanche: The New James Bond Novel) is sold out, but you can hear Deaver later in the day at 4 p.m. in conversation with J.A. Jance (Left for Dead) and Brad Parks as moderator.

The festivities (with the exception of the Jefferey Deaver luncheon and other author luncheons) are free and open to public, held primarily at the Omni Hotel, although events like The Art of the Thrill" take place at other venues. Purchase raffle tickets, and you could win prizes like "The Bond Experience," which includes a signed copy of Jeffery Deaver's Carte Blanche, a free tuxedo rental, two classic martini glasses and stainless steel shaker set and a bottle each of olives and cocktail onions.

Mystery Melange

The first edition in 2012 of Needle Magazine is out, with 18 brand spanking new stories on the noir side, including "Push Comes to Shove" by yours truly. This is one of the few remaining print zines around, which you can order via Lulu. And right now, if you use the coupon code "marbooks12," you can save 20% off the list price.


The debut issue of print magazine Grift, edited by John Kenyon, is also out on the shelves, with fiction and nonfiction from Lawrence Block, Scott Phillips, Ray Banks, Chris Ratigan, Keith Rawson, Craig McDonald and more. You can also order this one from Lulu. As part of the focus for this 'zine, Kenyon said he wants contributors to, "Avoid things on either end of the intensity spectrum: we are not interested in cozies, nor are we impressed with stories drenched in buckets of blood with high body counts. Make us think, challenge us; it's not the size of the gun, it's what you do with it."

This week's Beat to a Pulp offering is from Frank Wheeler Jr., English teacher, reviewer and author of the upcoming book, The Wowzer.

The Lambda Literary Foundation announced the finalists for the Lambda Awards that honor achievement in LGBT writing for books published in 2011, including a mystery category.

Jen's Book Thoughts continues this year's crime fiction March Madness bracket with matchups between Heroes & Villains. This week, vote in Round 2 for your favorites.

The Q&A roundup this week includes Steve Brewer, author of the Bubba Mabry mysteries; Steve Torres, author of six novels including his most recent, The Concrete Maze; and Paul D. Brazill, out with his latest collection of short stories, Snapshots.

If you're hoping to see your own short story included in an upcoming anthology, Angie's Desk has a listing of some markets seeking submissions.

Writing fiction for the YA crowd? Literary agent Laura Langlie has some advice.

If private eye fiction is your genre, Guns, Gams and Gumshoes (a/k/a Colleen Collins and Shaun Kaufman) always has entertaining and informative tips, including the recent post "What Records Can PIs Get via Databases or by Phone?"

Wondering how to market your books to libraries? Publishers Weekly has a free audio file from a presentation on that topic at this year's Independent Book Publishers Association.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

William Landay's third novel, Defending Jacob, has been optioned by Warner Brothers, after its debut on the bestsellers list this year. The book centers on Massachusetts assistant district attorney Andy Barber, whose teenage son is accused of murder.

Warner Bros. is planning a film based on Mandrake The Magician, created in 1934 by Lee Falk. The classic graphic novel series follows the adventures of an illusionist with the power to hypnotize his foes, who's assisted by an African strongman and opposed by a twin brother using his own powers for evil. Warner wants to give the character a 21st century makeover in the the same way it did for Sherlock Holmes

Producer McG is rumored to be turning to Jonathan Levine to direct Dead Spy Running, based on the novel by British author Jon Stock. The project  is described as a mix between The Bourne Identity and the works of John Le Carré. It's the first book in Stock's planned triology, and no doubt the studio hopes to make the movie a potential franchise, as well.

The cast of the thriller Blood Ties is growing, adding Clive Owen, Mila Kunis and Marion Cotillard to the already-signed Zoe Saldana, Billy Crudup, Marion Cotillard and James Caan. The film is an adaptation of the French novel Les liens du sang and centers on a younger brother (Crudup), who asks his ex-con older brother (Owen) to return to the world of underground crime to protect their family.

Hugh Jackman will star in Alcon Entertainment's thriller Prisoners, directed by Denis Villeneuve. Jackman will play a small-town carpenter who races to find his young daughter and her best friend after they're kidnapped, running up against the big city detective assigned to the case.

Halle Berry will headline The Hive, to be directed by Brad Anderson, with filming starting this summer. Berry will play a 911 emergency operator who must face her own fears to save a teenage girl from a disturbed killer.

TV

Author Gregg Hurwitz is teaming up with Shawn Ryan of Sony Pictures TV to develop a series for TNT based on Hurwitz's novels  (The Kill Clause, The Program, Troubleshooter and Last Shot) feauturing deputy U.S. marshal Tim Rackley. 

The upcoming eighth "Jesse Stone" movie, based on a character created by Robert B. Parker, is scheduled for broadcast on May 20th. Titular star Tom Selleck says it may be the last Stone movie on CBS, although the actor hinted the franchise might find another network. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

NBC renewed its freshman supernatural police procedural series Grimm, starring David Giuntoli and Silas Weir Mitchell.

CBS has renewed several crime dramas, and fans can start breathing easier. They include Blue Bloods, Criminal Minds, CSI, Hawaii Five-0, The Mentalist, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles and Person of Interest. Both CSI: New York and CSI: Miami are on the bubble, so there's no word on their renewal—or lack thereof—just yet. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

Tate Donovan (Damages) has been added to the cast of the NBC drama pilot Notorious, which follows a female detective raised by a wealthy heiress. When the heiress is murdered, the detective goes undercover to investigate

Simon Pegg is in talks to guest star in the pilot L.A. Noir based on the book by John Buntin, which follows an ex-Marine turned police officer (Jon Bernthal) who ends up in a battle between his corrupt police captain (Neil McDonough) and a a mob leader.

John C McGinley is joining Burn Notice in a recurring role, playing an old CIA mentor of Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan).

Keri Russell (Felicity) and Matthew Rhys (Brothers and Sisters) will star in a pilot for FX titled The Americans that follows the arranged marriage of two KGB spies living in the US and running a network of spies during the Cold War.

PODCASTS/RADIO

Coming up March 22 on Crime Beat Radio, journalist David J. Krajicek will discuss his book Gotti and Me: A Crime Reporter's Close Encounters with the New York Mafia. Also, there is a command appearance by Deidre Capone grand niece of famous gangster Al Capone and author of the best-selling Uncle Al Capone: The Untold Story from Inside his Family. Check out the podcast archives, too; last week, crime writer Anthony Bruno discussed his book, Ice Man, the story of mafia hit man Richard Kuklinsky, set to be made into a movie.

THEATER

The 2012 Olivier Award nominations for the finest in British Theatre were announced. Among the honorees are Danny Boyle's production of Frankenstein, with a joint nod for Benedict Cumberbatch (star of the BBC's Sherlock series) and Jonny Lee Miller, who nightly alternated the roles of the creature and creator.

Friday's "Forgotten" Books - Poison for the Prince

Historical myseries have been around for awhile, but really began to grace the bestseller lists in the 1980s and 90s with the books of Anne Perry (Victorian England), Elizabeth Peters (Victorian and Edwardian England and Egypt) and Ellis Peters (Brother Cadfael in Norman England). Around that era, two women who were former classmates, Jill Staynes and Margaret Storey, decided to pen their own historical mystery series under the pen name Elizabeth Eyre.

There were a total of six books, published once per year from 1991 to 1996:

Death of the Duchess 
Curtains for the Cardinal 
Poison for the Prince 
Bravo for the Bride 
Axe for an Abbot 
Dirge for a Doge 

Poison for the Prince (1993) is a middle installment in this series set in the Italian Renaissance. Like the other books, it features courtier and sleuth Sigismondo, assisted by his shrewd half-wit servant Benno and a dog named Biondello. In this outing, Sigismondo and Benno are in the city of Viverra, where its weak and near-penniless ruler Prince Scipione is kept in power by high-priced mercenary Ridolfo Rodolfi. Scipione suffers from a chronic illness that the prince's wife and his alchemist attribute to fumes from the laboratory where the Prince works to replenish his supply of gold. Sigismondo, however, suspects poison and has a host of suspects including Scipione's cheating wife, his playboy son, the mysteroius alchemist and a charismatic monk who preaches against alchemy.

Publishers Weekly noted that "Trailing after Eyre's sleuths is like making one's way through crowded fairgrounds--not much character development, but plenty of entertaining distractions." Kirkus was more complimentary, adding, "Less earnestly didactic than Sigismondo's earlier adventures, but still aswirl in enough Machiavellian plots, moonlit assignations, treacherous hirelings, and summary beheadings to keep you bedazzled in a perpetual haze of Renaissance chiaroscuro."

Sigismondo is an appealing character, once described as a brilliant deductionist who is bald like a monk but who fights like a soldier, while his slack-jawed manservant, Benno, is someone who has an air of amiable idiocy. Although London's publication The Mail on Sunday trumpeted that Sigismondo could well be starting a career to equal Ellis Peter's Brother Cadfael, the series never quite took off, and the books are mostly out of print now.

More Forensics and Fiction

D.P. Lyle was born and raised in Alabama, attended medical school in Texas, and for the past 30 years has practiced cardiology in Orange County, California. Along the way, Dr. Lyle became an expert on forensics in fiction.

Lyle has advised many novelists and consuled on television shows such as Law & Order, CSI: Miami, Diagnosis Murder, Monk, Cold Case, House, Women's Murder Club and The Glades. He's also an in-demand speaker, giving talks on "Plotting the Perfect Murder" and "Understanding the Science of Crime."

His talks and consulting gigs prompted him to write several nonfiction books, including Howdunit: Forensics (part of the Writer's Digest series for authors) and Forensics for Dummies, an Edgar-nominee and Macavity winner in 2005. He also started a book series using questions from writers along with his answers. The first was Murder and Mayhem in 2003, followed by Forensics and Fiction in 2007. These two books were so well-received, it spawned a third book in the series, More Forensics and Fiction, due in bookstores on April 1st.

The latest book (subtitled "Crime Writers Morbidly Curious Questions Expertly Answered") is a collection of 180 new questions from novelists and screenwriters. As Dr. Lyle notes, "The hope with each of these books is that writers will find them educational and inspirational. I hope some of the questions and answers spark that little question What If? and from that new stories emerge. I think seeing what other writers are doing and what they are thinking and how they are going about constructing their stories sometimes offers that spark."

The questions are those you'd expect from a crime fiction writer, but not for the squeamish, such as "What does the victim of an arrow to the heart look like, and how would he die?", "What injuries can result from depleted uranium bullets?", "Will snake venom injected into fruit cause death?", and "What happens when someone swallows razor blades?" (We crime writers are a morbid lot...)

As author P. J. Parrish says in his praise of the book, it's a "must-have for any crime writer struggling to come up with an original and exciting way to commit murder."  I would add that it's a micro-forensics class in a book, with the author revealing such helpful tidbits as the 12-12-12 rigor mortis rule (i.e., rigor develops over 12 hours, stays 12 hours, then resolves over 12 hours).

Questions are divided into broad sections, beginning with Part I, Traumatic Injuries, Illnesses, Doctors and Hospitals. Part II includes Poisons, Toxins, Medications and Drugs; Part III covers The Police, the Crime Scene and the Crime Lab; Part IV involves questions about The Coroner, the Body and the Autopsy; and the final Part V covers Odds and Ends, Mostly Odds (quite a few vampires in this one).

The book and its predecessors are terrific reference books to have on hand if you're planning out and/or in the midst of writing a mystery or thriller. Dr. Lyle also has a Writer's Forensics Blog every writer should have bookmarked. If you have a question of your own you'd like answered (that could even appear in a future book), there's a contact form on Dr. Lyle's website.

Lyle is also the author of stories and novels on his own, including the Dub Walker Thriller series and Royal Pains media tie-in novels. Also due out this year is his book from the American Bar Association titled ABA Fundamentals: Understanding Forensic Science, a book written specifically for attorneys.

Mystery Melange

The Left Coast Crime conference has announced the lineup for 2013 at Cheyenne Mountain Resort in Colorado Springs. Guests of Honor are Laura Lippman and Craig Johnson, with Fan Guests of Honor Tom and Enid Schantz, Toastmaster David Corbett and "Troubador" Parnell Hall.

If you're in Los Angeles, Sunday, March 25th at 8 p.m., check out Noir At The Bar at The Mandrake Bar on La Cienega Blvd. Authors Hilary Davidson (The Next One to Fall), Gary Phillips (The Underbelly), Gar Anthony Haywood (Assume Nothing), Johnny Shaw (Dove Season) and Jordan Harper (author and staff writer on CBS's The Mentalist) will read and sign their work, with Mysterious Galaxy on hand to sell books.

The Friends of Mystery handed out their annual Spotted Owl Award to crime fiction author Bill Cameron, for his novel County Line. The honor is bestowed upon a writer living in the Northwest region including Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho or the Canadian province British Columbia.

The March Madness tournament created by Jen Forbus is ready for contestants. This year's theme is Heroes and Villains, and she's soliciting your choices for the best fictional entries in both categories. But you'll need to hurry, because the deadline is this Friday, March 16th.

The Thrilling Detective 'zine turns 14 on April 1st, and to celebrate, editor Kevin Burton Smith is asking for your favorite P.I. novel of all time. Send along your top choices via e-mail, Twitter or the Yahoo newsgroup, and he'll tally up the responses and compile a list of the Top 14.

A big welcome to two new 'zines: Big Click Magazine and Blood and Tacos. Big Click is published by Jeremiah Tolbert, with editors Seth Cadin and Nick Mamatas and will appear bimonthly in various electronic formats. The first issue features short ficition by Ken Bruen and Anonymous-9 and interviews with Tom Piccirilli and Joe Lansdale. Blood and Tacos is the brainchild of author/screenwriter Johnny Shaw and will be published quarterly, with stories from authors creating new pulp heroes and book reviews (and even a recipe or two) in each issue.

In sad 'zine news, Flashshot is no more, after ten years. It was an unusual publication, in that it e-mailed stories to subscribers. The driving force behind the project. G.W. Thomas, posted on the website: "Ten years of psychotic killers, cheating hubbies, alien invasions, criminals caught and uncaught, monsters, housewives, Santa Clauses, leprechauns and New Year's celebrations. Ten years. 73,000 minutes, 1217 hours, 50+ days of his life…Made a lot of friends, not so much money."