Richard Lange's Blog, page 8
April 11, 2013
L.A. Readings/Signings
Here's a list of the readings/signings I'll be doing in L.A. for Angel Baby. Mark your calendars now!
May 17, 7pm, Skylight Books (http://www.skylightbooks.com/)
May 30, 7pm, Book Soup (http://www.booksoup.com/)
June 7, 7:30pm, Stories (http://www.storiesla.com/)
May 17, 7pm, Skylight Books (http://www.skylightbooks.com/)
May 30, 7pm, Book Soup (http://www.booksoup.com/)
June 7, 7:30pm, Stories (http://www.storiesla.com/)
April 2, 2013
New Angel Baby reviews
Here's a link to one from Mystery One Bookstore in Milwaukee: http://www.mysteryone.com/review.php?....
And here's one from Shakefire: http://shakefire.com/review/frank-lan....
And here's one from Shakefire: http://shakefire.com/review/frank-lan....
March 17, 2013
Publishers Weekly
Here's what PW had to say about Angel Baby: "The rambling plot of Lange’s second crime novel will remind many of the work of Elmore Leonard. Desperate to escape her life as the caged mistress of violent Mexican drug lord Rolando, Luz plans carefully and waits for her moment. Preparation and ruthlessness let her vanish with a backpack full of money, leaving the corpses of two of Rolando’s faithful employees in her wake. By the time Luz is missed, she has arranged to be ferried into the U.S. by Malone, a self-destructive drunk. Enraged, Rolando has 'El Apache' retrieved from a Mexican prison and orders the reluctant criminal to use his American citizenship to follow Luz to the States and drag her back to Rolando. As an extra incentive, Rolando makes it clear that El Apache’s wife and child will pay the price for failure. More polished than his first novel, This Wicked World, Lange’s follow-up marks him as a crime novelist to watch."
February 27, 2013
Free Angel Baby Preview
Mulholland has put up the first three chapters of Angel Baby here: https://www.facebook.com/mulhollandbo.... Check it out!
February 11, 2013
French This Wicked World
Check out the French paperback cover for This Wicked world (Ce Monde Cruel): http://livre.fnac.com/a5255715/Richar....
February 6, 2013
Starred Kirkus Review!
Angel Baby gets a starred review in Kirkus:
"A rising star in neonoir, Lange follows up his 2009 novel, This Wicked World, with a sharply calibrated and affecting tale about a young Mexican beauty who will do anything to reclaim the baby daughter she left in Los Angeles.
"The woman, Luz, survived a hard upbringing in Tijuana only to fall under the control of an abusive Mexican drug lord, Rolando, aka "El Principe." After going to great lengths to convince him she is devoted to him, she sneaks off with a pile of his money, killing two of his household staff with his gun. She hires Malone, an American who makes a living smuggling Mexicans across the border, to drive her to California. They are quickly pursued by Jerónimo, a one-time LA gang member whom Rolando springs from a Tijuana prison to bring back Luz, and Thacker, a corrupt U.S. Border Patrol agent. Jerónimo, a reformed soul whose wife and daughter are being held by Rolando until he returns with Luz, strikes an uneasy alliance with the slovenly, unreformed Thacker: He'll get Luz, and the border cop will get the money. Malone, who is haunted by memories of seeing his own little girl run over by a car, becomes committed to Luz. The twisting plot thickens when Rolando orders Jerónimo to bring back Luz's child as well. Unlike most such stories, this book is driven not by greed or revenge but by parenthood, and Lange doesn't subscribe to the usual moral checks and balances. In all other ways, however, he embraces classic noir in all its violence, bleakness and dark humor. He makes readers care about his flawed characters and appreciate the odds that were stacked against them by the circumstances of their upbringing.
"A film waiting to happen, this book boasts memorable characters, evocative settings and a suspenseful plot."
"A rising star in neonoir, Lange follows up his 2009 novel, This Wicked World, with a sharply calibrated and affecting tale about a young Mexican beauty who will do anything to reclaim the baby daughter she left in Los Angeles.
"The woman, Luz, survived a hard upbringing in Tijuana only to fall under the control of an abusive Mexican drug lord, Rolando, aka "El Principe." After going to great lengths to convince him she is devoted to him, she sneaks off with a pile of his money, killing two of his household staff with his gun. She hires Malone, an American who makes a living smuggling Mexicans across the border, to drive her to California. They are quickly pursued by Jerónimo, a one-time LA gang member whom Rolando springs from a Tijuana prison to bring back Luz, and Thacker, a corrupt U.S. Border Patrol agent. Jerónimo, a reformed soul whose wife and daughter are being held by Rolando until he returns with Luz, strikes an uneasy alliance with the slovenly, unreformed Thacker: He'll get Luz, and the border cop will get the money. Malone, who is haunted by memories of seeing his own little girl run over by a car, becomes committed to Luz. The twisting plot thickens when Rolando orders Jerónimo to bring back Luz's child as well. Unlike most such stories, this book is driven not by greed or revenge but by parenthood, and Lange doesn't subscribe to the usual moral checks and balances. In all other ways, however, he embraces classic noir in all its violence, bleakness and dark humor. He makes readers care about his flawed characters and appreciate the odds that were stacked against them by the circumstances of their upbringing.
"A film waiting to happen, this book boasts memorable characters, evocative settings and a suspenseful plot."
February 1, 2013
New blurb!
Angel Baby blurb from Benjamin Percy, author of the upcoming Red Moon: "This novel should come with a warning. Because if you read so much as a single sentence, you will be gripped by its unstoppable force, addicted to the book as if it were a brick of black tar heroin. Happily, perilously plan to lose the next twelve hours of your life. The sentences flash like switchblades, the chapters rattle off like gunfire. Make all the comparisons you like—Cormac McCarthy, Dennis Lehane, Martin Scorsese—but Richard Lange is a force of his own, the high standard for crime fiction."
January 6, 2013
Warren Ellis
Nice Angel Baby shout-out on Warren Ellis' blog: http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=14550.
January 3, 2013
New Blurb
An Angel Baby blurb from the fantastic Warren Ellis: "A bone-crushing nightmare parable: bad people doing the wrong things for love." Ellis' new novel, Gun Machine, came out Jan. 1: See the trailer for it here: http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/868920....
January 2, 2013
New Years resolutions
The L.A. Times asked some literary types for their resolutions. I was one of them. http://www.latimes.com/features/books...
