Sunday, October 05, 2014
Saturday, October 04, 2014
Book Covers
One of the people I asked for help in picking a cover for my book was J. Kingston Pierce who runs a marvelous blog called Killer Covers. He confirmed that the one we eventually chose had the greatest impact visually and in terms of giving you some idea what the story was about. I liked them all.
I don't look at book jackets all that carefully. But there is one series I like. I think it is a great idea to link books in a series as much as possible and yet still keep each one distinct. Here is my favorite: Rennie Airth's. Same set-up but different color fonts and different pictures. Jeff discusses this more fully on Killer Covers.
What is your favorite book jacket and what series has done such a good job in linking its jackets?
I don't look at book jackets all that carefully. But there is one series I like. I think it is a great idea to link books in a series as much as possible and yet still keep each one distinct. Here is my favorite: Rennie Airth's. Same set-up but different color fonts and different pictures. Jeff discusses this more fully on Killer Covers.
What is your favorite book jacket and what series has done such a good job in linking its jackets?
Friday, October 03, 2014
Friday's Forgotten Books, October 3, 2014
Forgotten Books: Charlotte Armstrong Night Call & Other Stories
New from Crippen & Landru
I first read Charlotte Armstrong after seeing a 1952 movie called "Don't Bother To Knock." The stars were Richard Widmark and Marilyn Monroe. Monroe plays a seriously disturbed young woman asked to babysit the child of Widmark and his wife. Monroe is terrific--terrifying. Will she kill the kid?
I'd seen the name Charlotte Armstrong on the metal paperback racks. She always seemed to have a new paperback out. And she was in Ellery Queen a lot. I tracked down Mischief which the Monroe movie was based on and became an Armstrong fan for life.
If she was not as phantasmagoric as Dorothy B. Hughes sometimes was or as Elizabeth Sanxay Holding almost always was, Armstrong, as a critic recently noted, updated the gothic tropes of the previous generation and made of them tart and contemporary popular art.
No critic of the time was a bigger promoter of Armstrong's work than Anthony Boucher. He noted that she was the creator of "suburan noir" and he was right.
Though she used the tropes of what was dismissively called "women's fiction" she took them into a nether realm that was riveting and terrifying.
Editors Rick Cypert and the late Kirby McCauley have collected here a collection of short and long stories that are a tribute to the Armstrong finesse and darkness.
None of the pieces here have ever been collected before and there is also unpublished material.
Everything in the book is packed with excellent storytelling but my favorite has to be the long novelette "Man in The Road") about a "career woman" (yes that was how they were divided from "real women" :) ) who returns home to a small bleak desert town only to find herself accused of a sinister mysterious hit-and-run. I'll pay this the highest compliment I can--this is the kind of twisty crime story Richard Matheson excelled at. It would have been perfect for the long form "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."
My favorite of the shorter pieces is "The Cool Ones" which concerns the kidnapping of grandmother and makes as contemporary a statement as the Flower Power era she wrote it in.
This is not only a major collection of a major writer (thanks to Sarah Weinman for bringing so many overlooked women writers back to our attention) but is also the most beautifully jacketed and produced book Crippen & Landru has ever published.
New from Crippen & Landru
I first read Charlotte Armstrong after seeing a 1952 movie called "Don't Bother To Knock." The stars were Richard Widmark and Marilyn Monroe. Monroe plays a seriously disturbed young woman asked to babysit the child of Widmark and his wife. Monroe is terrific--terrifying. Will she kill the kid?
I'd seen the name Charlotte Armstrong on the metal paperback racks. She always seemed to have a new paperback out. And she was in Ellery Queen a lot. I tracked down Mischief which the Monroe movie was based on and became an Armstrong fan for life.
If she was not as phantasmagoric as Dorothy B. Hughes sometimes was or as Elizabeth Sanxay Holding almost always was, Armstrong, as a critic recently noted, updated the gothic tropes of the previous generation and made of them tart and contemporary popular art.
No critic of the time was a bigger promoter of Armstrong's work than Anthony Boucher. He noted that she was the creator of "suburan noir" and he was right.
Though she used the tropes of what was dismissively called "women's fiction" she took them into a nether realm that was riveting and terrifying.
Editors Rick Cypert and the late Kirby McCauley have collected here a collection of short and long stories that are a tribute to the Armstrong finesse and darkness.
None of the pieces here have ever been collected before and there is also unpublished material.
Everything in the book is packed with excellent storytelling but my favorite has to be the long novelette "Man in The Road") about a "career woman" (yes that was how they were divided from "real women" :) ) who returns home to a small bleak desert town only to find herself accused of a sinister mysterious hit-and-run. I'll pay this the highest compliment I can--this is the kind of twisty crime story Richard Matheson excelled at. It would have been perfect for the long form "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."
My favorite of the shorter pieces is "The Cool Ones" which concerns the kidnapping of grandmother and makes as contemporary a statement as the Flower Power era she wrote it in.
This is not only a major collection of a major writer (thanks to Sarah Weinman for bringing so many overlooked women writers back to our attention) but is also the most beautifully jacketed and produced book Crippen & Landru has ever published.
Though she used the tropes of what was dismissively called "women's fiction" she took them into a nether realm that was riveting and terrifying.
Editors Rick Cypert and the late Kirby McCauley have collected here a collection of short and long stories that are a tribute to the Armstrong finesse and darkness.
None of the pieces here have ever been collected before and there is also unpublished material.
Everything in the book is packed with excellent storytelling but my favorite has to be the long novelette "Man in The Road") about a "career woman" (yes that was how they were divided from "real women" :) ) who returns home to a small bleak desert town only to find herself accused of a sinister mysterious hit-and-run. I'll pay this the highest compliment I can--this is the kind of twisty crime story Richard Matheson excelled at. It would have been perfect for the long form "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."
My favorite of the shorter pieces is "The Cool Ones" which concerns the kidnapping of grandmother and makes as contemporary a statement as the Flower Power era she wrote it in.
This is not only a major collection of a major writer (thanks to Sarah Weinman for bringing so many overlooked women writers back to our attention) but is also the most beautifully jacketed and produced book Crippen & Landru has ever published.
Sergio Angelini, THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR OF STYLE, Gilbert Adair
Joe Barone, SHADOWS ON A MAINE CHRISTMAS, Lea Wait
Brian Busby, MEURTRE A WESTMOUNT, David Montrose
Bill Crider, PLUGGED NICKEL, Robert Campbell
Martin Edwards, MYSTERY IN WHITE, T. Jefferson Farjeon
Curt Evans, TOPER's END, G.D.H. and Margaret Cole
Rick Horton, THE BLACK FLEMINGS, Kathleen Norris
Jerry House. ADVENTURES IN HEAVEN, Charles Andoff
Randy Johnson, HOLLYWOOD AND LEVINE, Andrew Bergman
Nick Jones, DANGER IN THE DARK, Patricia Carlon
George Kelley , THE MILLENNIUM EXPRESS, Robert Silverberg
Margot Kinberg, MURDER AT HONEYCHURCH HALL, Hannah Dennison
B.V. Lawson , DEATH OF A DUTCHMAN, Magdalen Nabb
Evan Lewis , THE TAG MURDERS, Carroll John Daly
Steve Lewis/David Vineyard, THE WATCHERS, Jon Steele
Todd Mason, BENCHMARKS CONT. Algis Budrys; THE DREAM OUR STUFF IS MADE OF, Thomas M Disch
Neer , NEITHER FIVE NOR THREE, Helen MacInnes
J.F. Norris , POISON IS A BITTER BREW, Anne Hocking
James Reasoner, TEXAS HOLD 'EM, Kinky Friedman
Kelly Robinson, THE POTHUNTERS, P.G. Wodehouse
Richard Robinson, THE JEWEL THAT WAS OURS, Colin Dexter
Gerard Saylor, A DEDICATED MAN, Peter Robinson
Ron Scheer, OVER THE BORDER, Herman Whitaker
Kevin Tipple/Patrick Ohl, THE HOUSE OF SILK, Anthony Horowitz
Prashant Trikanna, Popular Fiction by 20 Best-selling Authors
Zybahn, THE MAGIC BOONDOCKERS, Frank Scott York
Thursday, October 02, 2014
How I Came to Write "Old Friends" Frank Byrns
How I Came to Write Old Friends
I always wanted to write something with a first-person
narrator who was the bad guy. Now I'm not talking about an anti-hero, one of
those guys who does the wrong things for the right reasons. No, I'm talking
about a bad guy, an unapologetic criminal asshole. A narrator so
unlikable, the reader would actively root against him.
And then, to ratchet up the degree of difficulty just a
little more, I wanted to make this bad guy the true antagonist of the same
story he was narrating.
Easy, right?
Not so much.
But, after many failed attempts and many drafts of this
attempt, “Old Friends” was born, narrated by my favorite of all the asshole characters I've ever written, Ray
Dooley.
The story begins with Ray fresh out of prison, harassing the
wife and kids of one of his old partners in crime, desperate to claim his share
of the spoils from a long-ago heist. The heist is my other favorite part of the
story; I won't spoil it (just in case you want to, you know, read it),
but I will say I've always enjoyed stories where people steal things other than
money (or jewels – it's always jewels).
So an asshole narrator steals something other than money,
goes to prison for a while, then comes out hellbent on getting what's his, even
if he has to hurt a mother and her children to get it. And tells us all about
it while he does it.
You can read Ray's story in the digital pages of Plan B
Magazine – hopefully he'll get what's coming to him.
---
Frank Byrns lives and writes crime and superhero fiction
in Maryland, halfway between the Nation's Capital and the nation's heroin
capital. His latest collection of stories, Adonis Morgan: Nobody Special,
is now available from Pro Se Press.
Wednesday, October 01, 2014
How I Came to Write This Story: Ahmed A. Khan
The Genesis of “Another Mosque Among the Stars”
It all started way back in 2009 when Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad and I got in touch with each other. The common link was that he had created a website dedicated to Islamic SF (http://www.islamscifi.com) and I was a Muslim who wrote SF. We discussed the lack of adequate representation of Islam in science fiction and latched on to the idea of editing an anthology of Islamic SF. And so “A Mosque Among the Stars” was born, launched first as a print book and later as an e-book. It sported a great cover by Lee Kuruganti and contained between covers great stories by writers like Lucius Sheppard, Tom Ligon, Jetse De Vries, etc. The anthology was very well-received and garnered some great reviews and the e-book (available free at http://www.islamscifi.com/a-mosque-among-the-stars-available-for-free/) is in great demand even today, 5 years later.
When I was generating the author guidelines of the anthology, I had to come up with a tentative description of what I would classify as Islamic SF. This made me think about writing a manifesto formally defining this sub-genre, which I did and which was published (http://nova-sf.de/internova/?p=447&output=pdfCached).
Once that was out of the way, I tried to figure out which of my own stories would fit the framework that I had come up for Islamic SF. I had 5 such stories in my bag. So I then combined these stories with my essay on Islamic SF, putting each story into perspective accordingly, and created an anthology. I called it, not very subtly, “Another Mosque Among the Stars”. This anthology was launched solely as an ebook and is on sale at Amazon.
I am happy and proud to include this ebook as a free read for the donors to the Plan-B crowdfunding campaign (https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/plan-b-magazine-year-three).
Ahmed A. Khan
http://ahmedakhan.livejournal.com
Wednesday Book Review Club, WELL READ, THEN DEAD
After several stories in venues like EQMM, Terrie Farley Moran has written her first novel. Don't you love the cover. You will probably enjoy the story even more.
Sassy and her BFF, Bridgy, have come to Fort Meyers from Brooklyn to open a combination book store/cafe. It's become a focal point for the community due to its many opportunities to both discuss books through several book groups and to have a nice breakfast or lunch. Both aspects of the business are treated seriously and you can imagine just such a place. (I hope there is one, in fact).
One day, one of their most faithful patrons turns up dead. Her death is followed by several other disquieting events and Sassy is drawn into solving the murder. There is more than she thought to be learned about her friend and her background.
This is a charming book. Terrie Moran manages to combine great location details, a group of fun and funny characters, lots of references to southern cuisine and life, references to books and food, some Floridian history and geography, and a mystery to solve without overloading the book with any one of them. And, oh, a cat named Paws who has a distinctive personality as well. I read this book during a particularly stressful week and it was a tonic. It is a smooth and quick read.
This is a terrific start to a series. Can't wait to see what's going on in Fort Meyers next.
For more reviews, see Barrie Summy.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Bad Movies That Deserve a Good Remake: THE AVENGERS
Loved the TV show and was so excited when I heard a movie was being made-I was a bit worried about the casting (Fiennes and Uma) and the movie turned how to be a real dud. I think a great movie can be made from this source material--but this script, this cast, and this director were the wrong choices. Try again, Hollywood. You can get the sixties vibe if you try harder.
What movie do you think had the potential to be great and wasn't.
Monday, September 29, 2014
How I Came To Write This Story, Mike Miner (PLAN B MAGAZINE)
“The Little Outlaw”
It started with a radio.
Well, it started with a conversation.
The seeds of this story were planted while talking to my parents, children of
the '40s, about what they did at night for entertainment way back when.
They listened to the radio.
That was the big bang moment for this
world. A world without televisions or cell phones. The only connection to the
outside world, a big Crosley radio. I tend to avoid research whenever possible.
Which is why most of my stories take place within the past forty years, why
they tend to be set in places I've lived or spent a lot of time in. Partly I'm
lazy, partly I crave authenticity in my work and the further I get from my own
experience the harder it is to keep things authentic. But for “The Little
Outlaw” research was unavoidable.
The radio turned out to be a great
device for setting the stage. The music and the Red Sox box score tells us when
this is. The late '40s. The news gives us the weather report, a storm is
pummeling the state, houses are losing power, a local bank was robbed. All of
these details will converge on this house. It was just a matter of getting
everyone under one roof. Of course the bank robbers will show up. And once all
of the guests have arrived, the real fun starts.
Mary, the little outlaw of the title,
was a perfect set of eyes and ears to see and hear this world through. A girl
just starting to get wise to the flaws of the adults in her world. By the end
of the story she'll be wiser still.
The twist ending, like a lot of twist
endings in my writing came to me as I wrote it, with no premeditation. I had
only a vague idea of how the story would end. A lot of possibilities were
available. I find things tend to work out better, especially in my short
fiction, if I don't do to much planning, if I don't have a set finish line.
When the ending of this one revealed itself it just felt right. And only then
did I figure out the title.
Here is Plan B's home page: http://www.plan-b-magazine.com/
Here is Plan B's home page: http://www.plan-b-magazine.com/
And here is their fundraiser page: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/plan-b-magazine-year-three
Oh, and here's the link to the story: http://www.plan-b-magazine.com/the-little-outlaw-by-mike-miner/
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Saturday, September 27, 2014
How I Came to Write This Story: B.V. Lawson (In Plan B Magazine)
HOW I CAME TO WRITE THESE STORIES, B.V. Lawson
"The Least of These" (included in the same
issue of Plan B Volume III as
Patti Abbott)
is part of my series featuring Scott Drayco, a former piano
prodigy whose playing days were cut short by an act of violence. Not one to
dwell on what could have been, Drayco followed in the footsteps of his
once-estranged father, forging a storied career first in the FBI and later as a
private consultant.
I came up with the character of Drayco a decade ago, with
my own music training inspiring Drayco’s backstory. Yes, you say, all well and
good, but why write from the opposite-gender POV? I toyed with several
possibilities, male and female, but the more I thought about Drayco, the more
he came to life and demanded I write about him. That's the kind of person he
is, though - not terribly flashy, but quietly brilliant, impressing bad guys
and law enforcement types alike with his dogged dedication and almost mystical
insights.
These traits are evident in "The Least of
These," where he's taken on a private gig for an unnamed "alphabet
soup" organization to infiltrate a party at the French Embassy in D.C. and
turn up clues about the murder of an American secretary. Music often plays a
role in the Drayco stories, and “The Least of These” has a denouement courtesy
of a little Debussy to go with a little deception on Drayco's part. And the
setting? Ever since moving to the D.C. area, I've always wanted to set a story
in one of the embassies here, and my high school French made that choice a
no-brainer. (My college German is much worse.)
After learning my husband has chromesthesia, a form of
synesthesia where he sees music, sounds, and voices as colors, shapes, and
textures, I gave that genetic trait to Drayco. This is such an integral part of
the way Drayco experiences the world, it often forms part of his investigations
(even though he’ll be the first to tell you it doesn’t make him a “Super
Detective”). It's also one of the reasons he often uses the intricate
counterpoint of J.S. Bach, a personal favorite of mine, to help him puzzle
through complex cases, as he does in my debut Drayco novel, Played to Death.
The small Virginia coastal setting in Played to Death feels worlds apart from
the highbrow embassy circuit, but Drayco finds that "humanity thrown
together in the equivalent of a Petri dish under a microscope breeds malignant
organisms as often as benign." I knew I wanted to set the first Drayco
novel on the Eastern Shore of Virginia after several visits there. The
old-world traditions of farming and fishing pitted against the encroaching
world of modern development form the perfect recipe for drama, tension, and a
little murder.
“The Least of These” and Played to Death may not have any plot elements or settings in
common. But they both have a philosophy Drayco and I share: every victim of
violent crime deserves an advocate willing to tell their story and to see that
it ends with justice.
Now for a little plea:
Plan B Editor Darusha Wehm has created an Indiegogo
campaign to help fund future Plan B
volumes and pay the authors, with incentives in various contribution levels.
Check it out, and for as little as $5, help support some terrific short crime
fiction by some of the leading writers in the genre today. At the $40 level,
you can fill your e-reader with works by Plan
B authors, including Played to Death
and the Drayco story collection, False
Shadows.
********************************
Plan B Link - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IYZ5UHG
Played to Death Link - http://www.bvlawson.com/#!played-to-death/c27y
Indiegogo
Link - https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/plan-b-magazine-year-three
Friday, September 26, 2014
Thursday, September 25, 2014
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