Duane Swierczynski's Blog, page 5

Hitting the Highway to Hell

Yep, I'm packing up the suitcase again for a few quick appearances to promote Hell & Gone over the next few weeks. Am I stopping by a town near you? Well, that depends. Do you live near...

... New York City? Then yes, this Wednesday evening I'll be at the Mysterious Bookshop along with the legendary Lawrence Block, the mysterious Megan Abbott, and the quizzical Q.R. Markham. (6:30 p.m., 58 Warren Street, 212-587-1011).

... Houston, Texas? Again, you're in luck! This Friday night I'll be at Murder By the Book signing with Christa Faust, who's out supporting her latest novel, Choke Hold. Interestingly, director/activist Michael Moore will be at another store, pretty much one block away, the same night. So if you're in town for the Moore thing at 5, wander down the street at catch us at MBTB. (6:30 p.m., 2342 Bissonnet Street, 888-4-AGATHA).


... Milwaukee, Wisconsin? Damn straight, skippy. I've been invited to take part in Murder and Mayhem in Muskego 7 along with Megan Abbott (who I suspect will be reallll tired of me by then), Tasha Alexander, Dana Cameron, Joelle Charbonneau, Sean Chercover, John Connolly, Hilary Davidson, Alison Gaylin, Andrew Grant, Tony Hays, Gar Anthony Haywood, Jess Loury, Gary Phillips, Stefanie Pintoff, Marcus Sakey, Tom Schreck, Kelli Stanley, Martyn Waites and Jeri Westerson. (Tickets still available! Check the website for details.)

... New Hope, PA? Hellz yeah! I'll be at Farley's Bookshop the afternoon of Saturday, November 19. More details soon. (44 South Main Street, 215-862-2452.)

... Joliet, Illinois? Nope, sorry! Hey, I can't be everywhere at once.

Hope to see some of you out on the road. And if not, I do hope you'll pick up a copy of Hell & Gone, which is available in finer bookstores (and e-emporiums) right this very second.

(Photo: "Man folding clothes into a suitcase," Nina Leen, July 1951. Courtesy Life Photo Archive.)

The Big Hallowe'en Hell & Gone (and Birds of Prey!) Photo Contest

Today was one of those happy days in a writer's life when a box containing multiple copies of a book he's written shows up on the front doorstep. That joyous feeling never, ever gets old. And as usual, I'd like to spread the joy.

Want to win a signed and/or personalized copy of my latest novel, Hell & Gone, straight from my private stash? Here's the deal:

Do your best impression of Charlie Hardie, Lane Madden, or Mann from Fun & Games (the first novel in the series) and send me a photo by noon, EST, on Halloween.

"Impression" can mean many things. A costume. A look. A reenacted scene from the novel. Whatever. The winner will be the person whose photo makes me think, Now damn... that's a good Hardie/Lane/Mann!

If you haven't read the first novel.., for shame!... Hardie is an alcoholic house sitter/former tough guy. Lane Madden is a spoiled brat actress. And Mann is... well, you're going to have to read the book to know Mann's deal.

Anyway, send those photos to me at duane DOT swier AT verizon DOT net by noon EST next Monday, along with your mailing address. Top three entries will receive signed copies of both Hell & Gone and Fun & Games, along with some bonus Halloween goodies. (You'll also appear on this humble blog.) But everyone who enters will receive a postcard, thanking you for your submission. In other words, everybody wins! Yes, you can enter from anywhere in the world. It's cool. I'll happily take care of the postage if you rock an awesome Hardie/Lane/Mann.

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BONUS CONTEST: I also write Birds of Prey for DC Comics and was lucky enough to create a new character along with artist Jesus Saiz. Her name is Starling, and she's a real piece of work. (Take a gander, above.) If you cosplay/dress up as Starling for Halloween, send me a photo by midnight EST next Monday. The best Starling impression wins a signed copy of every single issue of Birds of Prey from the first year of its run. That's right... twelve issues, signed to your liking, sent to your mailbox each month. You can't beat that with a stick!

Any questions? Email me, or leave a comment below. Good luck!

How Charles Ardai Picked Up a Cocktail Waitress

This past week noir-heads were were thrilled to learn that Hard Case Crime's Charles Ardai had found a lost James M. Cain novel called The Cocktail Waitress, and will be publishing it next fall. I first read about this supposedly "lost" novel in Roy Hoopes's excellent biography Cain, never imagining we'd all have the chance to enjoy it. Ardai, who's clearly the Indiana Jones of pulp fiction, agree to talk about how he tracked the novel down.

Secret Dead Blog: How did you manage to unearth The Cocktail Waitress manuscript? Can you tell me more about the "detective work" involved?

Charles Ardai: A little more than nine years ago, when I first approached Max Allan Collins with the idea of writing for Hard Case Crime (this was a year before we signed the original deal with Dorchester, two years before the first Hard Case Crime book ever got published), we were brainstorming about what authors and books might be a good fit for our new line, and he mentioned that he knew of one last crime novel James M. Cain wrote at the end of his life but never published.  He hadn't actually seen or read the book, all he knew was the title: The Cocktail Waitress. But he knew that it existed. And he suggested that it might make a good addition to the Hard Case Crime list.


So I began the process of trying to find The Cocktail Waitress. Talked to the literary agents who handled the estate – they'd heard of the book but didn't have a copy, didn't know where a copy might be found, discouraged my looking because, well, if it had remained unpublished all this time, how good could it be? I thanked them and went on with my search.  Rare book dealers? Collectors of manuscripts? Fellow Cain devotees? I won't say I talked to everyone, but I talked to a good cross-section, and no one had ever read The Cocktail Waitress. You could get a copy of Willeford's forbidden Grimhaven (and I did); you could get a two-volume samizdat edition of Salinger's uncollected short stories (and I did); but not The Cocktail Waitress. There were 34 boxes of writings archived at the Library of Congress, and if I were a Dan Brown character I would have gone down to D.C. and started hunting through them (and wound up chased at gunpoint through the sewers by a maniacal albino, but I digress), but I didn't – if I had, I would have found it sooner, I now realize, but at the time I assumed what they had was all correspondence, tax returns, and legal papers (most of it is). I did travel a bit, to book shows and conferences, and got the word out about what I was looking for, and none of it did a bit of good. Until one day I was out in Hollywood – Hollywoodland, I suppose I should call it, in deference to the opening of Double Indemnity – and talking with my film and TV agent about the quest, and he said, "You know, I inherited the papers of an old Hollywood agent who used to represent all the big authors when they came out here – Faulkner and Fitzgerald and Chandler and Cain…" And Cain, too?  Yes, Cain.  Could he take a look through the old man's files (I'm not being disrespectful, the man had been 91 when he died) and see if maybe, just maybe, there was some germ of a hint of a clue I might follow up on, some thread I could start tugging to see what unraveled? A few days later, I got a package in the mail, containing the manuscript of The Cocktail Waitress. It really was one of those Spielberg moments, as I told Dave Itzkoff in the Times: You open the box and your eyes go wide as your face is bathed in a golden light from below. The thing itself. It was in my hands at last.

SDB: Forgive the hardcore noir nerd question I'm about to ask, but... it sounds like you're working from Cain's original typescript. What does a typed James M. Cain page look like? Pristine? Lots of crossouts? Do the letters practically bleed onto the page? Did you run your fingertips all over the pages in a slightly-orgasmic frenzy? (I would have.)

CA: It wasn't word-processed, that's for damn sure. Hammered out on a manual typewriter, good old metal-struck letters in nice even rows. Most pages clean, but where he had an idea for something to insert, it's scrawled by hand in the left or bottom margin with an arrow showing where he meant the new sentences to go. Cross-outs when he no longer liked a phrase and wanted it changed. He caught word repetitions and fixed them.  On the other hand, there were two places where a bit of math is required and he got it wrong both times – computing how much tip is left after you pay for a drink with a twenty dollar bill, and (more forgivably) computing compounded interest on an old debt. Cain's handwriting is not easy to read, but you have to remember that the man was in his 80s and had had some health problems by then. But when you decipher it, it's good writing. His editorial instincts were spot on – I don't think there was one case where he made a change and I thought, That's a mistake, I preferred it the way he had it originally. One spot of whimsy: When he got to the last page of the novel, he had a lot of blank space left after typing the last line, and he filled it up by typing "T H E E N D" vertically on a slant. You can almost feel the man's relief and joy at having made it to the end.  He knew he was getting on in years and according to his biographer would talk about his own death a lot; he wasn't sure he still had it in him to write a novel. But man, did he ever.

SDB: Cain seems to be having, as they say, a "moment" (what, with the Mildred Pierce mini-series and snazzy retro Vintage reprints). What is it about his work that keeps it relevant and fresh all of these decades later?

CA: Cain's work draws you in irresistibly, and I've tried over the years to figure out how he does it, but it's hard to say.  Something about the way he inhabits his characters' voices, something about the intimate first-person narration, something about the sense of desperation – you can feel his characters sweating and breathing hard. There's usually an element of sex, of course, and one of economic hunger, and since when have lust and greed ever been boring? There's just something elemental about Cain, like you're reading about men and women stripped bare, the human animal at its most raw.  The emotions aren't subtle. His people are cruel, they're passionate, and when they sin, they go all the way.

SDB: Are there other "holy grails" out there? Or is The Cocktail Waitress the big one?

CA: This is the big one for me – there's nothing else I've been looking for this long. You hear rumors about a last, lost "black" Travis McGee, but I'm 99% sure that just doesn't exist. There's the original pulp version of THE MALTESE FALCON, but you can find that easily enough if you pay a pulp dealer for it, and I don't think the differences between the original and the final book version are huge.  There are great obscure books I'd love to reprint and the authors have so far said no, but that's not the same thing – the books exist, anyone can find a copy if they really want. This is the last great undiscovered manuscript that I know of.

Photo: "Cocktail Lounge in New Union Hall," J.R. Eyerman, 1942. Courtesy Google/LIFE.

Not Now, Starling, I Have a Headache

I'm excited to report that Birds of Prey #1, my collaboration with artist Jesus Saiz and part of DC Comics's "The New 52" relaunch, will be out in comic shops (and your iPad!) next Wednesday. Comics Alliance posted a few preview pages today, if you want a little taste of the mayhem. You can also read my editor Janelle Asselin's take on the new series on the DC blog.

And next Wednesday I'll be celebrating the Birds launch at Jim Hanley's Universe (4 West 33rd Street, right across from the Empire State Building in New York City), signing copies along with Ivan Brandon (Men of War), Scott Snyder (Batman, Swamp Thing), Peter Tomasi (Green Lantern Corps, Batman and Robin) and Fabian Nicieza (Legion Lost). New Yorkers! Drop by after work and come hang with us, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Above: that's new character Ev Crawford, a.k.a. Starling, kicking a little ass inside a church. I'm especially proud of Starling, since Jesus and I were given the opportunity to create her for the series. If you've read my crime novels and dig characters like Kelly White (from The Blonde) and Molly Lewis (Severance Package), I think you'll feel right at home with Ms. Crawford. Come to think of it, those three would make for a hell of a team-up...

For Appearances' Sake: Bouchercon Edition

The early Bouchercons always freak me out a little. Bouchercon is the annual World Mystery Convention. And by "early Bouchercons," I mean the ones in September. Usually they take place in October, but once in a blue moon (as in Chicago, 2005) you get a September. Summer's not even technically over, and yet, I'm packing up for a B'Con. Doesn't seem natural somehow...

Of course, that doesn't mean I'm not excited as hell about the whole thing. And this time, the fun will be in lovely downtown St. Louis, MO. A city that I've only visited once, but dug very, very much.

Schedule-wise, here's my deal:

Wednesday (9/14): I'm proud to be joining Hilary Davidson, Glenn Gray, John Rector and Anonymous-9 for Noir at the Bar: De-Bouchercon Kick-Off (Meshuggah Cafe, 6269 Delmar Blvd.) Fun starts at 8 p.m.; brace your livers. You know, one of you may prove me wrong... but after this event, I may be the only writer to have appeared at all three Noir at the Bar venues (Philly, L.A., St. Louis). Go ahead! Prove me wrong! I double-dog dare you! Anyway, you don't have to be registered for B'Con to attend, so stop on by.

Thursday (9/15): I'll be on the 2:30 p.m. "Unnatural Vices: Comics and Crime Fiction" panel moderated by Cullen Bunn, along with co-panelists Max Allan Collins, Gary Phillips and Jason Starr. Room: Majestic D, which also happened to be my nickname in high school. (Note: This is not true.)

Friday (9/16): Come 3:30 p.m. I'll be hunkered down at the Crimespree Magazine table in the book room, signing stuff with the immortal Christa Faust. We'll most likely be warming up/practicing schtick for our joint appearance at Murder By the Book in Houston this November.

Saturday (9/17): My second panel! My God, are the B'Con organizers gluttons for punishment? This time, it's "Payback: Contemplating the Future of the Genre," moderated by the amazing Laura Lippman, along with co-panelists Hilary Davidson, Kathleen George, Bryan Gruley and Bill Loefelm (4 p.m., also in Majestic D). While we're all busy contemplating, I'm sure we'll be cracking a few jokes. Stop by and join in before you head out to get plastered.

Sunday (9/18): I'm proud to say that I'll be attending the Anthony Awards Brunch, since my 2010 novel, Expiration Date, is up for Best Paperback Original. Wish me luck. The awards are determined by votes from this year's B'Con goers, so if you do happen to be a B'Con goer... make sure you find me so that I may buy you the drink of your choice. And perhaps some fine leather goods, or jewelry?

Also, a small reward for those of you who've read this entire blog post: The first five people to see me at Bouchercon and tell me to "Go to hell" will receive an arc of Hell & Gone, my second Charlie Hardie thriller. Come on up, don't be shy. (Believe me, I'm used to hearing those words.) People who walk up to me and tell me to "Fuck off" will be obligated to buy me a beer to soothe my bruised soul.

The Story of O (Motorista!)

*blows dust from this blog*

Wow, it's been a while. I was blogging up a storm all through July, and then I hit San Francisco, and... well, the official book tour stuff ended, and the grueling journey back cross country began (including run-ins with bikers, topless chicks, bullet-knives and a flat tire), as well as a rapid succession of deadlines. All of which is to say that I've been insanely busy, and right now I'm hunkered down in my basement lair, working as Hurricane Irene spins her way up the coastline.

But... I'm not too busy to share a very cool foreign edition cover with y'all. O Motorista is the Brazilian edition of The Wheelman, and let me be honest: they had me at O Motorista. (Is that a cool title, or what? I kind of want to write a Wheelman sequel called O Motorista, just so the Brazilians will have to publish it as The Wheelman, thereby confusing the living shit out of everyone.) Anyway, the cover art itself is a nice riff on the original St. Martin's edition, and just as appealing, I think. All in all, the good folks at Editora Rocco did a bang-up job.

Anyway, what do you guys think? And does anyone out there speak/read Portuguese? I'll give away a signed copy of one of these editions to first person who posts below... and proves it!

Fun & Games Across America: Bound for the City by the Bay

Well, the Los Angeles portion of the summer trek is almost over, sad to say. I'm going to miss this crazy town. I feel like I've been running non-stop for the past two weeks, but also feel like I could use another two, four, ten weeks just to see everyone/do everything I wanted to do/see here.

But no use crying in the warm Southern California sunshine. That's because we're headed up north to San Francisco, my second favorite California town. And there's an honest-to-goodness Fun & Games event this Wednesday night, in case you happen to be in the area.

Janet Rudolph, editor of Mystery Readers Journal (and Philly native!) has invited me to this fancy Mystery Readers NorCal Literary Salon in Berkeley, CA. The fun starts at 7 p.m., and it's a potluck event (attendees are advised to bring "sweets and savories"). If you want to attend, just RSVP with Janet(janet AT mysteryreaders.org).

More postcard/tour updates tomorrow...

Fun & Games Across America: The Starlet

Saw this joint, The Starlet, just a stone's throw from the Warner Bros. lot and just fell in love. Furnished apartments, but also (according to the neon sign) there's a POOL, and if the illustration is to be believed, random buxom starlets on the premises. In the deep background there are a gang of DC Comics and WB toon characters (Batman, Daffy Duck, Superman, Tweety Bird) exploding out of the side of Stage 3. If this image doesn't scream Burbank, nothing does.

Had a meeting this morning in the fabled WB Writer's Building, home to such folks as William Faulkner, Lillian Hellman, John Huston, Irwin Allen and Clint Eastwood. I'll admit; I was geeking out quite a bit about being in the same place where Faulkner toiled many decades ago, especially after visiting his modest quarters in New Orleans just a few weeks back. So yeah... I'm totally stalking Faulkner on this trip.

Also couldn't but help think of the Faulkner-inspired W.P. Mayhew from Barton Fink. "I'll show you the life of the mind..."

Hope you're all staying cool and starlet-like, wherever you are.

Fun & Games Across America: From the Bar to San Diego and Back

 
Yes, it's been a full week since my last post, but that doesn't mean I was sitting poolside, lost in a haze of bourbon and Pinkberry. It's been a busy week, let me tell you. When we last left off... oh yeah, I was headed off to the very first Noir at the Bar L.A., hosted by Eric Beetner, Stephen Blackmoore and Aldo "El Jefe" Calcagno. And it was a true blast. Great crowd, a great lineup of writers (including Josh Stallings and Holly O'Neill West) and a cool space (the Mandrake) that allowed us all to read with an endless loop of film noir trailers playing behind us, which created some interesting, random moments. Check out Mr. Blackmoore with a little James M. Cain backing himu up:

Mr. Blackmoore only rings once.
For the complete set of noir-tinged photos, wander over to my Facebook site. (Not on Facebook? OK, I'll slap 'em up on Flickr, too. Give me a few minutes...)

Most of this past week was spent writing and having meetings about stuff I can't talk about quite yet... but on Thursday I hit San Diego for my very first taste of Comic-Con! I caught a ride down with this guy:

A mini-dog with a mini-hog.
Comic-Con was everything I expected: sprawling, crazy, crowded and pretty damned awesome (once you adapt to the sprawling, crazy crowds). The best part: the happy discoveries. Like aimlessly wandering down one aisle to discover that legendary director Tobe Hooper, of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Poltergeist fame, was signing copies of his debut novel, Midnight Movie. You'd better believe I flipped the switch to FANBOY mode. Below: a pic of me and Mr. Hooper, who turned out to be the nicest, coolest guy to ever dream up a world populated with cannibal families and evil entities who beckon young children into the light.

Hanging with Mr. Hooper.Right after this photo was taken I raced over to the Hachette Booth, where I signed copies of Fun & Games for close to an hour. Everyone in line seemed to have a cool first name; I wanted to stop signing and actually jot down a few of them for future use in novels. I was also surprised to see a few youngish kids in line, so I inscribed their copies with a gentle warning: DAVEY, DO NOT READ UNTIL YOUR MOTHER GIVES YOU PERMISSION. Felt kind of like I was corrupting the morals of the young, but hey... you're never too early to hook a new reader.

Finally I raced up to Room 7AB where Charlie Huston was conducting his Spotlight panel. Weeks before, Charlie asked a gang of us to be his secret "expert guests" for a quiz game he'd be running. So before I knew it, I was up on stage with Charlie, Daniel (Deadpool) Way and Circle of Confusion manager Kemper Donovan for a fairly absurd-yet-fun game of "What the Fuck." The rules: Charlie would pick an audience member and ask them a question. However, said audience member was not allowed to answer; instead he or she had to tap a member of the expert panel with the phrase, "What the fuck, Daniel Way?" or "What the fuck, Kemper Donovan?" Prizes were awarded even if the so-called experts totally fucked up the answer. So... everybody wins! I think a cable network should give Charlie Huston his own goddamn game show. Here's Charlie in action:

"What the fuck, Charlie Huston?"
Before long, it was time to return to L.A. I made it to the train station early... only to learn that Comic-Con Con-gestion had snarled up the schedules something fierce, so my 8:20 train turned into a 9:30 train, depositing me back at Union Station just after midnight. You know, I really should have tried to hitch a ride back with that dog on the mini-hog.

Postcard update: Yes, there are still a few dozen to roll out! L.A.-centric postcards are going out  to Laurence K. in Brookings, OR; Brian A. in Amherst, NY; Mark F. in Lilburn, GA; Derek R. in Pasadena, MD; Charles E. in Gainesville, FL; Jeff. M. in Plano, TX; Zachary C. in Rockland, ME; Sarah C. in Aston, PA; Dean B. in Alexandria, VA: Tina P. in Ridley Park, PA; Logan R. in Bayside, NY; Aziz B. in Henderson, NV; Matt S-G. in Chicago, IL; Mary C. in Joilet, IL; Henry DiR. in Cortlandt Manor, NY; Duncan C. in Lane Cove, Australia; Mark A. in Gladesville, Australia; Tania H. in Ottawa, Ontario, and finally, Wostri F. in Budapest, Hungary!

Fun & Games Across America: Noir at the Bar! L.A.! Tonight!

You know this whole Carmageddon thing? Let me tell you, it's been kind of a non-event. I took the back roads (through Burbank, and up around Lake Hollywood Drive, then down in Beachwood Canyon), worried that I'd be late to a party... and I've never seen the streets of L.A. so frickin' deserted. Same thing coming home on the 101 up to Studio City. Deadsville.

So, SoCal residents... this means you have no excuse for not venturing down to the very first Noir at the Bar L.A.!

The event is free; hardboiled-types, noiristas and booze will be in abundance. I'm lucky enough to be sharing the bill with Josh Stallings, Holly O'Neill West, Stephen Blackmoore and Eric Beetner. We'll all be reading from our work. Instead of Fun & Games, however, I think I'll be reading a sliver of a forthcoming novella I've been working on for a while. There's cussing and much violence in this selection; it just feels right for this crowd.

Also, rumor has it... okay, okay, the Facebook event page has it... that noir legends Gar Anthony Haywood, Robert Ward, Gary Phillips and Terrill Lankford will also be dropping by

If you're nowhere near L.A., no worries. There may be a livestream of the event tonight. I'll post details as soon as I receive 'em.