Dave Zeltserman's Blog, page 53
September 16, 2011
Julius Katz's funeral
Yesterday afternoon I went to Julius's grave site funeral. It was a private affair and attended by about 200 Julius's close friends, including several dozen famous chefs who flew in from all over the world, with his only family being his younger sister, Julie, who I'll talk about later. It rained during most of the service, at times coming down in an angry downpour, which somehow seemed fitting. Lily Rosten wasn't there. From what I heard she collapsed on being given the news of Julius's death and has been hospitalized. After the services, Julius's favorite restaurant Le Che Cru, hosted what was meant to be a celebration for Julius's life for this gathering, and all these famous chefs went back to the kitchen to try to outdo each other. I'm sure the food was spectacular, but it was hard to notice since I had no appetite, but the wine was good, and I enjoyed listening to stories about Julius's childhood and other stories from later in his life. I wish Lily could've been there.
Julius in the past had told me about his sister, Julie. She's 32--ten years younger than Julius, and kind of "troubleshooter for difficult problems", and while Julius "dabbled" (5th degree black belt in Shaolin Kung Fu dabbling??) in martial arts as a way to keep fit, Julie takes it much more seriously and studied intensely in Japan for six years. He didn't tell me how stunningly beautiful she is, but even with her in mourning, she was beyond breathtaking. Julie and I talked privately later. She wanted any notes that Julius and Archie might've provided me, which I gave her, and she promised that she was going to track down whoever did this to Julius and see that justice is done, although I don't she meant seeing this person arrested. She seemed genuinely surprised when I told her the true nature of Archie--I guess like everyone else she thought Archie was a flesh and blood person and I was turning their true life cases into some sort of meta fiction, and she also promised to find Archie. Somehow I think Archie would be okay with her. I also had her read the last case I wrote up for Julius--the Quayle case which I titled "Archie Solves the Case", because I really don't know what to do with it given what has happened. Julie had maintained a stoic front through the service and afterwards, but as she read this case she broke down both laughing and crying, and wants me to publish it as a final tribute to Julius. I'm still not sure.
Julius in the past had told me about his sister, Julie. She's 32--ten years younger than Julius, and kind of "troubleshooter for difficult problems", and while Julius "dabbled" (5th degree black belt in Shaolin Kung Fu dabbling??) in martial arts as a way to keep fit, Julie takes it much more seriously and studied intensely in Japan for six years. He didn't tell me how stunningly beautiful she is, but even with her in mourning, she was beyond breathtaking. Julie and I talked privately later. She wanted any notes that Julius and Archie might've provided me, which I gave her, and she promised that she was going to track down whoever did this to Julius and see that justice is done, although I don't she meant seeing this person arrested. She seemed genuinely surprised when I told her the true nature of Archie--I guess like everyone else she thought Archie was a flesh and blood person and I was turning their true life cases into some sort of meta fiction, and she also promised to find Archie. Somehow I think Archie would be okay with her. I also had her read the last case I wrote up for Julius--the Quayle case which I titled "Archie Solves the Case", because I really don't know what to do with it given what has happened. Julie had maintained a stoic front through the service and afterwards, but as she read this case she broke down both laughing and crying, and wants me to publish it as a final tribute to Julius. I'm still not sure.
September 13, 2011
Reports out of Boston are that Julius Katz is dead
It's being reported this morning by the Boston Police that the body taken from Julius's townhouse has been identified by DNA testing as Julius leaving no question that Julius is dead. I've also learned that the blast originated in Julius's wine cellar, and it is believed that 8 pounds of C-4 were used. While the brick townhouse building is still standing, what I've heard is that the inside has been completely incinerated.
There's going to be a private funeral for Julius this Thursday. Julius's sister, Julie, called me earlier this morning and asked if I'd attend and I told her I would.
I'm still getting no answer when I try calling Archie. I talked to several scientists over the weekend, and according to them with Archie's titanium shell, he should've survived this blast. All I can hope is that Julius had gotten sufficiently annoyed enough at Archie to have turned him off before the blast, and that Archie will remain turned off and never have to realize what has happened. In many ways Archie is a pure innocent, and I don't think he'd be able to handle this well. My worst fear is that he's ended up in the hands of Desmond Grushnier and is being reprogrammed by Grushnier.
When I finished transcribing the Kingston case with Archie's and Julius's help, and wrote it as the true-crime book, Julius Katz and Archie, I had NY publishers all telling me the same thing--that Julius was an anachronism, that today's readers don't care about charming traditional mysteries or brilliant, eccentric detectives. At first I didn't believe this, but I'm now thinking they might be right and that's there's no place in today's world for someone like Julius.
I'll post more after the funeral.
There's going to be a private funeral for Julius this Thursday. Julius's sister, Julie, called me earlier this morning and asked if I'd attend and I told her I would.
I'm still getting no answer when I try calling Archie. I talked to several scientists over the weekend, and according to them with Archie's titanium shell, he should've survived this blast. All I can hope is that Julius had gotten sufficiently annoyed enough at Archie to have turned him off before the blast, and that Archie will remain turned off and never have to realize what has happened. In many ways Archie is a pure innocent, and I don't think he'd be able to handle this well. My worst fear is that he's ended up in the hands of Desmond Grushnier and is being reprogrammed by Grushnier.
When I finished transcribing the Kingston case with Archie's and Julius's help, and wrote it as the true-crime book, Julius Katz and Archie, I had NY publishers all telling me the same thing--that Julius was an anachronism, that today's readers don't care about charming traditional mysteries or brilliant, eccentric detectives. At first I didn't believe this, but I'm now thinking they might be right and that's there's no place in today's world for someone like Julius.
I'll post more after the funeral.
September 9, 2011
A Killer's Essence over at B&N's Ransom Notes
Jedidiah Ayres compares A Killer's Essence to Turner & Hooch (in a good way) over at B&N's Ransom Notes.
September 8, 2011
More on the explosion at Julius Katz's townhouse
I was able to talk with a grief-stricken Lily Rosten for several minutes this morning, and here's what I've found out:
A massive explosion occurred at five PM Tuesday at Julius's townhouse, with the police believing the explosion originated in Julius's wine cellar. I know from my work with Julius that he usually visits his wine cellar at five each evening to select a bottle, which he'll bring out to his patio.
A body has been removed from the townhouse. The body has been burnt beyond recognition, and a DNA test will be performed to see if it's Julius. The police have told Lily they expect to have the result by early next week.
There's nothing about Archie. I've tried calling him several times without any answer. I don't want to speculate any further, at least not until the police announce the results of their DNA test.
I'll report more here as news comes in.
A massive explosion occurred at five PM Tuesday at Julius's townhouse, with the police believing the explosion originated in Julius's wine cellar. I know from my work with Julius that he usually visits his wine cellar at five each evening to select a bottle, which he'll bring out to his patio.
A body has been removed from the townhouse. The body has been burnt beyond recognition, and a DNA test will be performed to see if it's Julius. The police have told Lily they expect to have the result by early next week.
There's nothing about Archie. I've tried calling him several times without any answer. I don't want to speculate any further, at least not until the police announce the results of their DNA test.
I'll report more here as news comes in.
September 7, 2011
Disturbing news about Julius Katz and Archie
Today I was going to wrap up my series about where the ideas for my books come from by writing about my 15th book, Julius Katz and Archie, but some very disturbing news is coming out of Boston about Julius. Hell, it's easy enough, I'll do in anyway, then get to the breaking news. Readers outside of Boston think that I'm doing some sort of pastiche on Nero Wolfe or Sherlock Holmes, and that a detective as brilliant and as accomplished as Julius couldn't be real. Readers here in Boston know Julius is real, but because of the way I write Archie, they think I'm writing some sort of meta fiction--taking a real person (Archie) and writing them as a tiny advanced piece of computer technology, and doing all this while writing about a real murder they've read about with this fictional device. Well, I'm not doing any of that. I'm simply taking all of Archie's journals and recordings, and cutting them down to either story or novel size. Basically I'm simply editing what Archie has already produced, with a little smoothing of the language here and there.
Now for the disturbing news. Reports are coming out of Boston that there's been an explosion at Julius's townhouse. I've tried calling Archie and have gotten no answer, and by itself that's very distressing. In the past Archie has always answered my calls immediately. I don't have a good feeling about this. Last week I was talking with Archie about the Anton Dupierre murder case Julius is embroiled in, and he was hinting that things were turning treacherous. I've put in calls to the police and Lily Rosten, and when I get more information I'll report about it back here.
September 3, 2011
The Thrill of A Killer's Essence
In the current issue of The Big Thrill, they're running an interview with me mixed in with a review of A Killer's Essence.
September 2, 2011
NYJB on A Killer's Essence: "a chilling page-turner"
"Detective Green is a believable character, down on his luck with little going for him but his job. Nonetheless, he meanders through life, precariously balancing all its myriad and conflicting facets, and coming out on top in this chilling page-turner attuned to the most discerning of avid crime lovers. Well written and well paced. Recommended."
You can read the New York Journal of Books complete review here.
September 1, 2011
Boston Globe: "A writer on top of his game"
And that's saying something because Zeltserman's lean but muscular style, so evident in "Killer'' and "The Caretaker of Lorne Field,'' is just as sharply honed here. His ability to juggle Green's story and Lynch's, develop a riveting murder mystery, and even mix in some Brighton Beach ex-KGB sleazeballs, all in less than 250 pages, is a pretty neat page-turning trick.
I'd like to thank the Boston Globe for their terrific review for A Killer's Essence. You can read the entire review here.
Next Wednesday I'll be wrapping up my series of where my book ideas come from with my 15th and so far final book, Julius Katz and Archie.
August 31, 2011
Where my ideas come from: Murder Club
Murder Club was the 14th book I wrote, but before I talk about it I need to give some background.
Back around 1998 I started a small software business with a partner. The basic idea for this business was that I was going to use this scripting technology to quickly build a core set of customizable network management products, my partner was going to offer training services, and we would also offer consulting. The idea was really a great one, but I made two very big mistakes. Well, really three. First, I rushed into this without seeing a lawyer and having papers drawn up, and while we had a verbal agreement that I would own my work and he would own his if we separated, we had no legal separation agreement going into it. Second, while I covered most of the startup expenses, including an expensive industry tradeshow, Interop, he volunteered to handle the website. He was thinking ahead and I didn't realize what a killer this would turn out to be. Third, I ignored things I shouldn't have.
So we start this business. I've got my head down as I'm rapidly building our products, my partner is working on his training class, we're meeting with different companies to get some beta testing sites lined up, and my wife, who was working in software sales, quits her job to join us. Interop turns out to be a huge success. This is a giant show--miles of floor space with the big companies building small little mansions for their booths, while we have a small 6-foot table in the Siberia section of the show called Startup City, we still get a steady stream of potential customers to us, many of whom seem excited about what we're doing. But as it turned out due to reasons I can't discuss here, this turned out to be the beginning of the end.
So for the next 3 months things are deteriorating quickly between me and my partner. Even with that, we've gotten about 40 customers and about 100K in revenue--and these customers include Lucent, The US Army, banks, utility companies, financial institutions, colleges and military contractors. And I'm getting customers telling me these are the most useful network management products they have. And we're getting more training and consulting interest. And then the plug gets pulled. My partner takes down the website. This in effect kills us. All our marketing literature we'd been sending out and all the prospects we met at Interop have our website address. With our website taken down, we're dead. Before and after doing this company, I'd worked at a number of startups, all of which were heavily funded with venture money, and none of them were ever able to generate the customer list that we got in only 3 months of having the product available--or generated 100K in revenue in less than 7 months of operation. And now not only were we dead, but now it was going to get really ugly.
Here's where I started acting smart. I hired good lawyers. The first lawyer I hired was just great--a very even keeled man who was able to get the other side to agree to arbitration so we wouldn't have to go to court. Since he wasn't a litigator, he pointed to a real pit bull of a lawyer--if I ever had to go to court again, I'd want this guy at my side. I don't want to go too much into the hearing except that the judge ending up giving me what I asked for, which at this point was simply the products I built (my ex-partner was claiming ownership of them). I'll give one story about the hearings--my lawyer had told me that when I was examined by the other attorney, she should only ask me yes or no questions, but if she asks me a why question, I can say whatever I want. So the very first question is a why question--and I launch into my whole defense. She tries stopping me, and I tell the judge that she asked me "why". And he turned back to her and told her that she did ask me why. So I continue and give out my whole story.
While this whole mess was going on, which was unbelievably stressful, I had a dream where I'm meeting a good friend of mine, this Russian software engineer I'd worked with for years, at a Russian restaurant, and we're getting blitzed on vodkas while I'm telling him my sad story. And this friend of mine, now drunk, starts bragging how he's heard of a guy who for a not too outrageous fee will fly a Russian to this country, and after your problem disappears, the Russian will be flown back to disappear back there.
So all of this had formulated into my idea for Murder Club--a husband and wife whose lives are being ruined by a vindictive business partner, and the rabbit hole the husband finds himself tumbling down when he lets himself go as far as to hire that Russian to make his problem disappear. I had this idea for years, and after writing a thriller (Dying Memories) and a horror novel (Monster), I wanted to write a noir novel again, and something absolutely pure noir with no compromise. And so I finally set about to write Murder Club. Once I was done I showed it to two authors I respect a lot, Roger Smith and Ed Gorman, and here's what both of them had to say with their comments edited to remove spoilers:
"I love it, Dave. It is very tight, very fast and very claustrophobic, left me breathless at times. It also has the stench of pure evil running through it, that is really unsettling. A profoundly pessimistic and very disturbing ending. Difficult to forget." Roger Smith
"I love Murder Club! Just as a pure story it may be my favorite of your books. The Russian angle is fantastic as is the reality of the perils of partnerships. Ill pay you the highest compliment I can--they remind me of my two favorite Lionel White novels The Money Trap and Before I Die. There are no similarities in stories or characters but the mood of desperation so beautifully sustained and twisted even deeper with surprises--masterful, Dave!" Ed Gorman
So where is Murder Club now? It's still unsold. There's no question in my mind that this is the best noir novel I've written, as well as the bleakest, but I also know it's going to a hard sell, especially in today's climate. So far I've shown it to two editors working for Big Six publishers, and both tried to buy it, and both were blocked. At this point I'm accepting that my profile needs to be raised before I can sell this, but I also think there's a good chance that will be happening soon. I've heard from my film agent that Outsourced is moving quickly towards production, I also have a film deal agreed to for A Killer's Essence (and am waiting for an updated contract and will give more information about this once I get it), and things are looking very promising for a film deal for The Caretaker of Lorne Field. So for the time being, I need to put Murder Club in a drawer, and when these things happen Murder Club will find the right home.
Back around 1998 I started a small software business with a partner. The basic idea for this business was that I was going to use this scripting technology to quickly build a core set of customizable network management products, my partner was going to offer training services, and we would also offer consulting. The idea was really a great one, but I made two very big mistakes. Well, really three. First, I rushed into this without seeing a lawyer and having papers drawn up, and while we had a verbal agreement that I would own my work and he would own his if we separated, we had no legal separation agreement going into it. Second, while I covered most of the startup expenses, including an expensive industry tradeshow, Interop, he volunteered to handle the website. He was thinking ahead and I didn't realize what a killer this would turn out to be. Third, I ignored things I shouldn't have.
So we start this business. I've got my head down as I'm rapidly building our products, my partner is working on his training class, we're meeting with different companies to get some beta testing sites lined up, and my wife, who was working in software sales, quits her job to join us. Interop turns out to be a huge success. This is a giant show--miles of floor space with the big companies building small little mansions for their booths, while we have a small 6-foot table in the Siberia section of the show called Startup City, we still get a steady stream of potential customers to us, many of whom seem excited about what we're doing. But as it turned out due to reasons I can't discuss here, this turned out to be the beginning of the end.
So for the next 3 months things are deteriorating quickly between me and my partner. Even with that, we've gotten about 40 customers and about 100K in revenue--and these customers include Lucent, The US Army, banks, utility companies, financial institutions, colleges and military contractors. And I'm getting customers telling me these are the most useful network management products they have. And we're getting more training and consulting interest. And then the plug gets pulled. My partner takes down the website. This in effect kills us. All our marketing literature we'd been sending out and all the prospects we met at Interop have our website address. With our website taken down, we're dead. Before and after doing this company, I'd worked at a number of startups, all of which were heavily funded with venture money, and none of them were ever able to generate the customer list that we got in only 3 months of having the product available--or generated 100K in revenue in less than 7 months of operation. And now not only were we dead, but now it was going to get really ugly.
Here's where I started acting smart. I hired good lawyers. The first lawyer I hired was just great--a very even keeled man who was able to get the other side to agree to arbitration so we wouldn't have to go to court. Since he wasn't a litigator, he pointed to a real pit bull of a lawyer--if I ever had to go to court again, I'd want this guy at my side. I don't want to go too much into the hearing except that the judge ending up giving me what I asked for, which at this point was simply the products I built (my ex-partner was claiming ownership of them). I'll give one story about the hearings--my lawyer had told me that when I was examined by the other attorney, she should only ask me yes or no questions, but if she asks me a why question, I can say whatever I want. So the very first question is a why question--and I launch into my whole defense. She tries stopping me, and I tell the judge that she asked me "why". And he turned back to her and told her that she did ask me why. So I continue and give out my whole story.
While this whole mess was going on, which was unbelievably stressful, I had a dream where I'm meeting a good friend of mine, this Russian software engineer I'd worked with for years, at a Russian restaurant, and we're getting blitzed on vodkas while I'm telling him my sad story. And this friend of mine, now drunk, starts bragging how he's heard of a guy who for a not too outrageous fee will fly a Russian to this country, and after your problem disappears, the Russian will be flown back to disappear back there.
So all of this had formulated into my idea for Murder Club--a husband and wife whose lives are being ruined by a vindictive business partner, and the rabbit hole the husband finds himself tumbling down when he lets himself go as far as to hire that Russian to make his problem disappear. I had this idea for years, and after writing a thriller (Dying Memories) and a horror novel (Monster), I wanted to write a noir novel again, and something absolutely pure noir with no compromise. And so I finally set about to write Murder Club. Once I was done I showed it to two authors I respect a lot, Roger Smith and Ed Gorman, and here's what both of them had to say with their comments edited to remove spoilers:
"I love it, Dave. It is very tight, very fast and very claustrophobic, left me breathless at times. It also has the stench of pure evil running through it, that is really unsettling. A profoundly pessimistic and very disturbing ending. Difficult to forget." Roger Smith
"I love Murder Club! Just as a pure story it may be my favorite of your books. The Russian angle is fantastic as is the reality of the perils of partnerships. Ill pay you the highest compliment I can--they remind me of my two favorite Lionel White novels The Money Trap and Before I Die. There are no similarities in stories or characters but the mood of desperation so beautifully sustained and twisted even deeper with surprises--masterful, Dave!" Ed Gorman
So where is Murder Club now? It's still unsold. There's no question in my mind that this is the best noir novel I've written, as well as the bleakest, but I also know it's going to a hard sell, especially in today's climate. So far I've shown it to two editors working for Big Six publishers, and both tried to buy it, and both were blocked. At this point I'm accepting that my profile needs to be raised before I can sell this, but I also think there's a good chance that will be happening soon. I've heard from my film agent that Outsourced is moving quickly towards production, I also have a film deal agreed to for A Killer's Essence (and am waiting for an updated contract and will give more information about this once I get it), and things are looking very promising for a film deal for The Caretaker of Lorne Field. So for the time being, I need to put Murder Club in a drawer, and when these things happen Murder Club will find the right home.
August 30, 2011
Where my ideas come from: Monster
One day when I was walking around the long since defunct Brookline Barnes & Noble, I was noticing all the vampire, dragon, zombie, Wizard of Oz & werewolf books, and was thinking what hasn't been done, and what I came up with was Frankenstein. Yeah, I know, Dean Koontz has his Frankenstein series, but that has been placed in modern times and has little in common with Mary Shelley's novel. I started thinking then of a version written by the monster and where everything a dying Victor Frankenstein tells Captain Walton is a lie to cover his own crimes and depravity. I started getting excited by this idea but also severely intimidated by it. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a great novel, and for those of you who haven't read it you should. It's very unlike any of the movie adaptations, including (especially) Kenneth Branagh's "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein". It's also in it's own way a very powerful noir story. Anyway, the intimidation won out and instead of working on this I wrote Dying Memories.
The idea, though, wouldn't leave me alone, and nine months later I started considering this more seriously. A friend of mine who's a PhD candidate in 18th Century European History and fellow Black Belt student at our Kung Fu studio, Alden Ludlow, put together a reading list so I could properly research, among other things, 18th century witchcraft, satanic cults, London sex clubs, supernatural mythology, folklore and fiction. So after 6 months of research that also included historical figures Marquise de Sade and Samuel Hahnemann, I felt ready to start it.
If you haven't read Shelley's Frankenstein, the book takes place in a lot of different locations--starting with Ingolstadt, Germany, then Geneva, French Alps, London, Scotland, Ireland, back to Geneva, and finally the Artic. What I did was layer my version over these same locations but have different reasons for this traveling, as well as make the monster in my version the hero. The Marquise de Sade and his philosophy also plays a critical role.
Overlook Press will be publishing this next year, I can honestly say this by far the best book I've written, and will probably ever write. More than any book I've written, I'm looking forward to seeing this one in print.
The idea, though, wouldn't leave me alone, and nine months later I started considering this more seriously. A friend of mine who's a PhD candidate in 18th Century European History and fellow Black Belt student at our Kung Fu studio, Alden Ludlow, put together a reading list so I could properly research, among other things, 18th century witchcraft, satanic cults, London sex clubs, supernatural mythology, folklore and fiction. So after 6 months of research that also included historical figures Marquise de Sade and Samuel Hahnemann, I felt ready to start it.
If you haven't read Shelley's Frankenstein, the book takes place in a lot of different locations--starting with Ingolstadt, Germany, then Geneva, French Alps, London, Scotland, Ireland, back to Geneva, and finally the Artic. What I did was layer my version over these same locations but have different reasons for this traveling, as well as make the monster in my version the hero. The Marquise de Sade and his philosophy also plays a critical role.
Overlook Press will be publishing this next year, I can honestly say this by far the best book I've written, and will probably ever write. More than any book I've written, I'm looking forward to seeing this one in print.
