Lan Medina Art

Here's a peek at some art from the first Foolkiller, coming out Oct 23. Lan Medina strikes again!

For a cool new montage of comic art, put together by my MySpace guy, Eric Thoma, check this out.

He's Heeere!!

In comic book stores everywhere.

Dispatches from the Front

The Crime Writer (I SEE YOU) has now launched in Australia, where it debuted on the bestseller list.

Stay tuned for comic news soon. Wolverine and the Foolkiller slashing into stores next month.

And a new cover -- guess the book, guess the country.

Honest Abe with the Quotation of the Week

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.
--Abraham Lincoln

The Deathsong of J Patrick Smitty

More art.

Another interview.

Who knew it could get this bloody.

Audio

The Crime Writer is now out in audio format from BBC Audiobooks America, read by
Scott Brick (who does an excellent job). It'll be available soon also in download format from amazon, audible.com, and iTunes.

Why All Writers Should Read Jung

"One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious."
- C.G. Jung

Tour Reading

Now and then, we all go through a spell of reading where everything we pick up, well, sorta sucks. I'm having the pleasure of blazing through a winning streak, where I like every book as much as the last. Having just wrapped my main part of my book tour (which gives me lots of reading time), I have a few new favorites to report on.

Caught Stealing by Charlie Huston. This was recommended to me by my editor at Marvel, as Charlie writes Moon Knight for him. It is gritty, smart, intelligent, and fast-paced. A great down-and-dirty noir read. I've heard his next up, The Shotgun Rule, is also excellent.

Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk. I came into this one reluctantly, having never read Palahniuk, and being the only male in the United States who didn't love the movie version of the Fight Club. I was really blown away by Palahniuk's skill—amazing character development, sharp dialogue, and real poetic beauty.

Bangkok 8 by John Burdett. I know, I know, I'm behind the times, as usual. I generally don't like books set in "exotic locations" (forgive the term), because said locations are usually an excuse to avoid a plot, but Burdett handles all sides of this dirty little mystery with mastery.

Fuck Noir, anthology edited by Jennifer Jordan. A cracking, really smart introduction by Mark Billingham sets the tone for this edgy collection. And a variety of names you'll recognize contribute, all giving an homage to that king of all words.

Along my tour, smart mystery booksellers insisted I buy: Big City, Bad Blood, by Sean Chercover, and The Blonde, by Duane Swiercynski. So I have more reading—recommended from reliable sources—to come.

I See You

I SEE YOU is the name of THE CRIME WRITER in the UK, and the book has just rolled out these past few weeks (jumping from #22 to #7 on the bestseller list for Ireland). Chris High, master of crime-fiction reviews and interviews, posted one of each for me on his superb website. Click here for an interview with yours truly, and here to see his take on I See You.

I've been getting lots of emails from readers of I SEE YOU, from England to Ireland to Australia. Keep 'em coming!

Tour Update

Hello all,

Apologies that I've been scarce around here. I've been on tour, and so far have hit San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Minneapolis, Houston, and Phoenix. Great events, and even greater meeting readers from all over. The booksellers have been really spectacular this time around, making The Crime Writer a staff or club pick in numerous places, and I've greatly appreciated that. The Crime Writer hit the top ten on bestseller lists in Los Angeles and Ireland this week, too, which has been great. I've got a few more stops left -- around LA, Boston, Milwaukee, and will be adding more, so if you haven't yet, please come by and say hello.

Tales From Minneapolis

You've probably read about the terrible bridge collapse by now. While I was stock signing, my escort/driver, Tim Hedges, decided to take a different route into the city, so we steered clear of the bridge. This was in the same half hour of the collapse.

The city was pretty shocked, but I was pleased to arrive at Scene of the Crime to a happier scene; Gary and Pat had gotten married in the store about 15 minutes before my arrival. I've never had to be the follow-up act to a wedding, and I fear I paled in comparison, but here's wishing two wonderful people a wonderful marriage.

The Opening of The Crime Writer

I woke up with IVs taped to my arms, a feeding tube shoved through my nose, and my tongue pushed against my teeth, dead and thick as a sock. My mouth was hot and tasted of copper, and my molars felt loose, jogged in their beds from grinding. I blinked against the strong light, and squinted into a haze of face, too close for casual—a man straddling a backward chair, thick forearms overlapped, a sheet of paper drooping from one square fist. Another guy behind him, dressed the same—rumpled sport coat, loose tie offset from open collar, glint at the hip. Downgraded to bystander, a doctor stood by the door, ignoring the electronic blips and bleeps. I was in a hospital room.

With consciousness came pain. No tunnels of light, no bursts or fireworks or other page-worn clichés, just pain, mindless and dedicated, a rottweiler working a bone. A creak of air moved through my throat.

“He’s up,” said the doctor from faraway. A nurse materialized and fed a needle into the joint in my IV. A second later the warmth rode through my veins and the rottweiler paused to catch his breath.

I raised an arm trailing IV lines and fingered my head where it tingled. Instead of hair, a seam of stubble and stitches cactused my palm. Lightheadedness and nausea compounded my confusion. As my hand drifted back to my chest, I noticed dark crescents caking the undersides of my nails.

I’d dug myself out of somewhere?

The cop in the chair flipped the piece of paper over and I saw that it was an 8 x 10.

A crime-scene photo.

A close-up of a woman’s midsection, the pan of the abdomen caked with dark blood. A narrow puncture below the ribs faded into blackness, as if a stronger flashbulb were required to sound its depths.

I raised a hand as if to push away the image and in the dead blue fluorescence I saw that the grime under my nails carried a tinge of crimson. Whether from the drugs or the pain, I felt my gorge rise and push at the back of my throat. It took two tries and still my voice came out a rasp, barely audible around the plastic tube. “Who is that?”

“Your ex-fiancée.”

“Who…who did that to her?”

The detective’s jaw shifted once, slowly, left to right. “You did.”

Crimespree

Crimespree is one of my favorite magazines, run by Jon and Ruth Jordan, two of the smartest people in Crime Readerland (and the fiction editor is the inimitable Jen Jordan). So I'm flattered to be on the cover of the latest issue with Lee Child. Inside, Lee and I discuss everything from drinking to James Bond to sock puppets.

Crimespree is well worth checking out. Oh, and there's a supplemental blog, too, with more tidbits about crime, books, flicks, shows, and comics.

First Person

I'm getting asked a lot, in pre-pub interviews, why the move to first person for the first time in my career. I started out with three stand-alones, and then came the four Rackley books--all in third person. I knew somewhere during my writing of Last Shot that the next book was going to be a departure. A big departure. I love the stand-alone, and was ready to create a completely new world and cast again. I needed some fresh blood. I think the fact that I wrote The Crime Writer in the first person is probably because of how close I felt to Drew. The main challenge (aside from not starting every sentence with “I”) is, of course, viewpoint. In that all information—and all clues—are funnelled through one man’s perspective. And since it’s a novel of paranoia, well, there are distinct pragmatic advantages to first person, in that you can keep twisting the reader's understanding, one turn of the screw at a time.

Meet the Foolkiller

Here he is, in all his glory. The first comic in the 5-book Foolkiller arc will be released from Marvel in October (along with a Wolverine Annual that I wrote), later to be compiled as a graphic novel. The art (and cover) are from the inimitable Lan Medina.

I talk about the inspiration behind the character here.

For an interview about Marvel Max (and Foolkiller) with my editor, Axel Alonso, click here.

Wolverine

This weekend, Newsarama ran a sneak peek of the Wolverine Annual I wrote, titled, THE DEATH SONG OF J. PATRICK SMITTY. The art, by Marcelo Frusin, is amazing -- I couldn't be more pleased with the job Marcelo is doing. I'm quickly learning that the artist, in comics, makes the writer look more talented.

Bum Beating

I'd say this article wins the award for Most All Around Ugly. The event, the parallels drawn, and the interpretation offered.

Note the ominous phrasing of "influenced by" below. I wonder what else those young men were influenced by, and what the respective weight of those influences was. People are influenced by anything they come into contact with. There is an enormous—enormous— difference between influence and causation, as the article suggests, and as countless morally indignant groups will surely maintain. (I also love the sneeringly sanctimonious statement at the end from the Bumfights website).

--

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- One of several teenagers who beat a homeless man to death was influenced by videos featuring homeless people brawling and performing dangerous stunts, according to a television interview transcript.

Jeffery Spurgeon, 19, expressed his first public remorse for the May 2005 killing in the interview that will air Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes." It was conducted from a Jasper penitentiary where Spurgeon is serving an up to 35-year sentence.

Spurgeon said he and the others beat Michael Roberts, a frail 53-year-old homeless man who lived in the woods, "for fun." He said they were emulating scenes from "bum-rushing videos," according to the transcript. He mentioned "Bumfights," a video series available online, as a favorite.

Roberts died after three separate attacks with sticks, fists and logs. Justin Stearns, 19, Christopher Scamahorn, 16, and Warren Messner, 17, also were convicted and are serving prison terms from 22 to 35 years. Phi Huynh, 16, the fifth member of the group charged in connection with the attacks on Roberts, is awaiting trial.

Neither Spurgeon nor the others explained why they attacked Roberts during a weeklong sentencing proceeding in April, and Spurgeon's attorney Mitch Wrenn said the "60 Minutes" interview surprised him.

"I don't remember anything about bum fighting coming up," he said.

The videos depict homeless men and women engaged in humiliating, self-destructive acts, including ripping out teeth and ramming themselves into doors.

According to the Bumfights Web site, the videos are satire meant to call attention to the problems of poverty and violence.

My Favorite Vonnegut Quotation Of All Time

"If you really want to hurt your parents, and you don’t have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts."

Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without A Country

Welsh Bar Lays Down Folk Wisdom

PISCES MORTUI SOLUM CUM FLUMINE NATANT -- an inscription over a Welsh bar. Translation: “Only dead fish go with the flow.”

Quotation of the Day

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.

--Anais Nin

Burn Books For Literacy!

Check out Tod Goldberg's article on this bizarre argument here at Jewcy. In the piece, I offer my thoughts on the bookstore that is burning its stock.

Gary Ross on Screenwriting

If you do it for yourself, it will come out fine. If you do it for other people, you will turn into an ungodly disposable beast and you won't recognize yourself in a few years."

The Problem (or not) with Reviewing Mysteries

In this article on detective fiction by Edmund Wilson in The New Yorker, he claims, "I began to nurse a rankling conviction that detective stories in general profit by an unfair advantage in the code which forbids the reviewer to give away the secret to the public—a custom which results in the concealment of the pointlessness of a good deal of this fiction and affords a protection to the authors which no other department of writing enjoys. It is not difficult to create suspense by making people await a revelation, but it demands a certain originality to come through with a criminal device which is ingenious or picturesque or amusing enough to make the reader feel the waiting has been worth while."

This is interesting -- sort of like the dilemna faced when editors cut a trailer for a movie or when editors write flap copy. How much are you allowed to give away without revealing too much? Trailers often err in the direction of giving too much away just to get you in the seats. I noticed a trend starting maybe five years back of trailers revealing the second act close (usually around 60-90 minutes into a film). Which leaves little in the movie to surprise you.

Do you think reviewers are handicapped by the inverse problem? They can't give too much away without readers and authors crying foul play? So if a mystery is bad, they're limited in how they present their argument?

What's your vote?

The Master

We understand that fiction is a lie to begin with. To ignore the truth inside the lie is to sin against the craft, in general, and one's own work in particular.
--Stephen King

Oldboy

Oldboy is one of my favorite films, a South Korean thriller, and -- some are claiming -- a piece of the inspiration behind the Virginia Tech mass murder.

I'm certain this will reignite debate over whether violence in entertainment leads to real-life violence. Those of you familiar with my books probably can guess my position on that. The notion that a film or book would be the impetus to a mass murder (rather than merely providing sick-minded stylistic flourishes) seems to me inane. Back to the old saw about book censorship -- you never hear anybody say, "I believe this book should be banned because it might be harmful to ME." Does anyone out there believe they shouldn't see Oldboy in case they suddenly feel compelled to murder 33 innocents?

One of my favorite lines on this topic was given by A.M. Homes (one of my favorite authors). She wrote a brilliant novel called The End of Alice, which depicts a girl being stabbed to death. When asked by a reviewer how she would feel if her book was found in the house of someone who murdered a child, A.M. replied, "That’s like asking somebody who makes steak knives how they would feel if their knife was found in the home of someone who murdered someone."

Are we to believe, if we regard the constellation of illnesses and influences that turned Cho Seung-Hui into a mass murderer, that Oldboy was a major one? Or even the straw that broke the camel's back?

However, I do take issue with NBC's decision to air the self-aggrandizing footage Seung-Hui took time out to film between rounds of gunfire. Televised sports long ago made a decision not to air footage of streakers or people who storm the field or court. Because, hell, if it gets you international air time, it'll encourage more people to do it. NBC's complying with Seung-Hui's wishes that he be made a star hold him up, oddly, as a figure for other twisted minds on such a path to emulate.

The Oddest Book Title Awards

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...

Quotation of the Week

"I would live to study, and not study to live."
-- Francis Bacon

The Lookout

This movie is yet another reason to respect Scott Frank. The chess scene and the old man in the farm house (being purposefully vague for those of you who haven't yet seen it) are two examples of hitting precisely the right balance between emotion and subtlety.

Comics 'n TV (and a few more Sport Flicks)

My poll of the moment asked for your favorite comic books and TV shows. Here's what we got:

Comics: Miller's Daredevil, Spider Man, Thor, The Punisher (multiple times, including my vote - esp. for Ennis's work), Marshal Law, The Avengers.

TV: 24, Miami Vice, Law & Order - Special Victims Unit, Quantum Leap, X-Files (hell yeah), Twin Peaks, Survivor, Pimp My Ride, Sopranos, Deadwood, Six Feet Under, MASH, CSI Las Vegas, Criminal Minds, Dexter, The Simpsons, The English Premier League Review Show, Lost, The Office, and - the greatest show in the history of television - The Shield.

Others pointed out that Bend It Like Beckham and Rudy were left out of best sport movie contention.

Anything else missing here, folks?

Also, W M Jensen won the contest by successfully guessing - at page 37 - how Walker pulled off the perfect closed-cell escape from Terminal Island. He'll get a cool, signed first foreign edition of one of the Rackley books. Congrats, Bill!

Vigilantism

Some time ago, I was sent an email by a woman asking how I saw the four Rackley books fitting together. I've called the series an "action meditation" on vigilantism because, after all, it's not every day one can coin a pretentious oxymoron. But the books really do each offer a different take on the issue, and each one represents a different step of Tim's development in confronting this issue.

I suppose since all the Rackley books deal with vigilantism, I wanted to portray what kind of trauma would work on an upstanding deputy and make him consider other options. Tim is an ethical, above-board deputy, and it’s not just Ginny’s death that makes him go outside the law; it’s the failure of the courts. He realizes eventually that the courts, while flawed, represent the best hope; more precisely, that the other options present even more problems.

The Kill Clause is about (among other things) Tim's embracing vigilantism, and his ultimate rejection of it.

The Program is about Tim, a man of action, having to act within the law to bring down a cult that victimizes people while keeping within legal limits.

Troubleshooter is about Tim’s internalizing Dray’s values (her consistent rejection of acting outside the law).

Last Shot is about Tim confronting himself, as embodied in Walker Jameson.

Of course, there was no roadmap when I was writing. There was no template or outline that I filled in. Most of this - as with many other matters in my writing - I only realized after the fact. When I'm dug in well to story and character, I rarely consider themes. They just manage to work themselves out.

Predicta-Hit

This is an incredible article about a computer program designed to predict which scripts can become Hollywood blockbusters. It raises an array of interesting issues, not the least of which relate to the role of the writer...

Steve Martin

This is the funniest thing I've read this year.

Sandford, Koontz, and (of course) Chandler

I have an entry up on America Reads, a website dedicated to getting more Americans to read. Check out the site here.

Your Senator As, uh, Editor

Senator Phil Berger, the head of the North Carolina State Senate, wants the government to review and approve film scripts before shooting begins on films made in his state. This would apply to all films applying for the state rebate program, which offers a 15% incentive for filmmakers to shoot in North Carolina. His proposal comes on the heels of Hounddog, the movie in which Dakota Fanning, at age 12, plays a rape victim. It's always sticky when government starts playing art critic. I can picture it now: "Can't we have a bit more character arc for Sally?" "Well, Senator, her growth is more subtle and internal." "Can we change goddamn to goddang then?"

When I was doing research for my soccer script, set in WWII Ukraine, I came across a section talking about how Stalin would personally oversee final cut on many films made in the Soviet Union. However bad we think we've got it, imagine having Stalin over your shoulder, observing your work and twirling his mustache. I wonder if their guild protection covered being shot and left in a mass grave.

Reviews for Sale

This Slate article is amazing. It discusses new practices not just in self-publishing, but in purchasing blurbs and reviews. The audacity is jaw-dropping.

Art and Human Rights (and Bono)

It seems artists, when discussing weighty issues, run the risk of seeming...well...out of their depth. And even if they are well-intentioned, or can affect genuine policy changes, they can be deflated quite effectively. Especially by a Scotsman.

The story below sailed through my inbox and made me actually laugh out loud:

Bono is playing a U2 concert in Glasgow, Scotland when he asks the audience for total quiet.

Then in the silence, he starts to slowly clap his hands, once every few seconds. Holding the audience in total silence, he says into the microphone, "Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies."

A voice with a broad Scottish accent, from near the front of the crowd, pierces the silence..."Well, fucking stop doin' it then!"

A Quotation for the New Year

"Nothing is more hopeless than a scheme of merriment."

--Samuel Johnson

Ode to the Generalist

This was sent to me from one of my SEAL buddies currently overseas. Amen.
__
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

-Robert Heinlein, Time Enough For Love

Philosophical/Literary Quotation of the Moment

"Tragedy is a conflict between two rights."

--Hegel

Quote of the Day

"You should always work hard at work worth doing."

Teddy Roosevelt

Elementary

Stanford is again offering their wonderful program where they mail twelve weekly facsimiles, this time of Sherlock's return and struggle with Professor Moriarty.

For more, visit http://sherlockholmes.stanford.edu/subscribe.html.

Noir and Literary Thrillers

I came upon an essay on this topic on the blog of Jerome Weeks

Here's an excerpt:

"Basically, these are often novels that use the hard-boiled conventions but don't fit simply into the genre. Or they are the essential definers/redefiners of the genre itself. Those conventions include, but are not limited to, a sense of moral complexity if not outright confusion, a society that is compromised or corrupt and violent, crime treated not as a puzzle to be solved but as an act of violence that typifies something about this noir world, a protagonist who doesn't so much solve a puzzle as make a dangerous moral choice or act of redemption (the protagonist himself is most likely implicated or compromised, too) -- and a menacing mood, a laconic or succinctly vivid style and various characters to suit all of this."
--
I think this is a goddamned brilliant encapsulation of noir and literary thrillers. That's what so many people fail to grasp: It is ALL about the dangerous - or compromised - moral choice, and the choices made in the fallout. And sometimes, that moral choice or position can seem forced upon the protagonist simply because of who the protagonist is, because of unexamined assumptions underlying the protag's personality and life. There's the ambiguity. And the act of violence MUST be emblematic about the world portrayed, not merely horrific, not merely puzzling.

Quality Control

If you need any evidence why politicians shouldn't write sex scenes, click here.

Jim Webb's Novels and the Strategic Idiocy of Senator Allen

In an idiotic move that seems unreasonably low-stooping even for U.S. politics, Virginia Senator George Allen has sent out a press release condemning excerpts from his rival Jim Webb's fiction writing. Yes, that's right. Lines of dialogue, taken out of context. Notions of character. He seeks to prove that Jim Webb is a misogynist because his characters - his CHARACTERS! - mention things like "knocking the bitch up." And there are - gasp! - graphic sex scenes. And mentions of breasts. He's also making much of an excerpt that portrays pedophilic sex.

Now I've yet to get political on this blog, but I can say in all seriousness, give us a fucking break here. Are we really going to judge men and women who run for office in this country by nasty (or merely sexual) things that their characters say and do? I guess that rules out pretty much anyone in the entire crime fiction community from running for public office. I know I've written some particularly graphic things, sometimes words in the mouths of characters, sometimes in point of view or free indirect discourse of a character, sometimes in the tone of a narrator who - newsflash - is not me. It's not just those of us who write crime fiction who could be called to moral task here - it could be anyone who's ever written about, uh, conflict. Or assholes. Or racists. Or misogynists. Let's just not portray those people at all. In fact, let's not write about these topics. Allen's campaign is now judging literary themes, and sensing "patterns" in Webb's portrayal of women. So I guess Joyce and Hemingway are screwed too. And Christ - what to do if someone catches Dianne Feinstein reading Sanctuary? A U.S. Senator, exposing herself to a book with a graphic corn-cob rape scene? Surely a human such as that wouldn't be fit to hold public office.

This is clearly a calculated absurdity. There's no question it will prove effective, but I hope it's roundly condemned in thinking quarters as well.

Israel and, uh, Comics

Okay, here's my first interview about Foolkiller - the classic Steve Gerber character who I'm bringing back for Marvel. Only catch...it's in Hebrew!

Here's the link for those of you who read Hebrew or want to check out some Foolkiller graphics (actually, if you scan down the page, you can read the interview in English):

http://www.superheroesetc.co.il/columnpiece.asp?item=367

Is There Such a Thing as Non-Literary Fiction?

The terms "literary fiction" and "commercial fiction" always crack me up. As if Thomas Harris or Stephen King's writings are, uh, "non-literary." As if Philip Roth mows lawns to supplement his unmarketable talents. It's been said before and often: Isn't there just good fiction and bad fiction? People forget that Camus's inspiration for The Stranger was The Postman Always Rings Twice. Cain's masterpiece is pretty goddamned literary. And The Stranger has sold a few copies. Why bother labeling them? Frankly, they both kick serious ass.

The following section is from an amazing Washington Post article, in which Ayn Rand compares the writing of Mickey Spillane, rarely the critics' favorite, to those of Thomas Wolfe:
___
"Rand appreciated Spillane's precision as a writer, and in an essay on literature (which appears in her book "The Romantic Manifesto") quotes from Spillane's description of New York at night as an example of his skill -- "The rain was misty enough to be almost foglike, a cold gray curtain that separated me from the pale ovals of white that were faces locked behind the steamed-up windows of the cars that hissed by. Even the brilliance that was Manhattan by night was reduced to a few sleepy yellow lights off in the distance" -- and then compares it to a passage by Thomas Wolfe -- "The city had never seemed as beautiful as it looked that night. For the first time he saw that New York was supremely, among the cities of the world, a city of night. There had been achieved here a loveliness that was astounding and incomparable, a kind of modern beauty, inherent to its place and time, that no other place nor time could match."

To Rand, "there is not a single emotional word or adjective in Spillane's description; he presents nothing save visual facts; but he selects only those facts, only those eloquent details, which convey the visual reality of the scene and create a mood of desolate loneliness." Wolfe, she argued, used only estimates, "and in the absence of any indication of what aroused these estimates, they are arbitrary assertions and meaningless generalities."

for the complete article, click here:

___

Now Wolfe is a brilliant writer, and Spillane certainly has written a few clunky passages. It's unfair to compare merely two sentences and draw broader conclusions. But I found the contrast interesting and compelling, and worth discussion. Which do you prefer and why?

On Politics

I got this interesting email from a reader the other day.
-----
After a couple of chapters of Last Shot, I was hooked. Then came the cheap political barbs agaist Cheney & Ashcroft, and I kind of lost patience with it. Too bad your so jaded. It looked promising.
----
I wrote back:

It always surprises me when readers take political dialogue or comments of the characters and assume them to be the position of the author. My characters tend to be apolitical or anti-political - they're a cynical, suspicious bunch. The Clinton barbs in my books during those years inevitably led to emails from angry liberals. But no one interprets a rapist character's rantings as the author advocating rape, or revealing his true position.

In any event, if you find such remarks off-putting, there's not much I can say to that.
----
To his credit, the man responded:

Thank you for your reply. It did seem that a point of view was being expressed. I'm sorry if I have jumped to a conclusion. I'll give some of your earlier books a try to get some context, and perspective. Thanks again.

----
To which I replied:

It's an interesting question. In Do No Harm, I wrote about a liberal doctor colliding with street-smart cops. The doc is too naive, and the cops tend too aggressive. In the book, the path to successful resolution of the issue lies directly between the two. It was funny for me to see how people on either side of the political fence reacted, everyone thinking that the characters' opinions were the author's -- but usually only the characters whose opinions they disagreed with. Maybe we're set up to interpret that way.
----
It is an odd issue -- when people decide to get offended and why. Sometimes, a book DOES display a clear bias. But sometimes, as in Last Shot, the opinions are what make the most sense for a character. At times these opinions can overlap with the author's, but not always. Bizarrely, I've also had people email me thinking I was racist because my antagonists use derogatory terms(!).

My Last Blog Entry

Was in fact from The Onion, identified by Hunter Goatley. Thanks, Hunter!

The link is http://www.theonion.com/content/node/52061

Of Mice and Cliffs Notes

This was forwarded on to me by my high-school English teacher. Priceless. It's been zapped around the Internet enough that I've lost the reference (maybe from the Onion?) so if you can identify it, please do and I'll put up the proper credit and a link.

______

Girl Moved To Tears By Of Mice And Men Cliffs Notes
August 18, 2006 | | Special Section: Back-To-School Special

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA

In what she described as "the most emotional moment" of her academic life, University of Virginia sophomore communications major Grace Weaver sobbed openly upon concluding Steinbeck's seminal work of American fiction Of Mice And Men's Cliffs Notes early last week.

"This book has changed me in a way that only great literature summaries can," said Weaver, who was so shaken by the experience that she requested an extension on her English 229 essay. "The humanity displayed in the Character Flowchart really stirred something in me. And Lennie's childlike innocence was beautifully captured through the simple, ranch-hand slang words like 'mentally handicapped' and 'retarded.'"

Added Weaver: "I never wanted the synopsis to end."

Weaver, who formed an "instant connection" with Lennie's character-description paragraph, said she began to suspect the novel might end tragically after reading the fourth sentence which suggested the gentle giant's strength and fascination with soft things would "lead to his untimely demise."

"I was amazed at how attached to him I had become just from the critical commentary," said Weaver, still clutching the yellow-and-black-striped study guide. "When I got to the last sentence 'George shoots Lennie in the head,' it seemed so abrupt. But I found out later that the 'ephemeral nature of life' is a major theme of the novel."

Weaver was assigned Of Mice And Men, a novel scholars have called "a masterpiece of austere prose" and "the most skillful example of American naturalism under 110 pages" as part of her early twentieth-century fiction course, and purchased the Cliffs Notes from a cardboard rack at her local Barnes & Noble. John Whittier-Ferguson, her professor for the class, told reporters this was not the first time one of his students has expressed interest in the novel's plot summary.

"It's one of those universal American stories," said Ferguson after being informed of Weaver's choice to read the Cliffs Notes instead of the pocket-sized novel. "I look forward to skimming her essay on the importance of following your dreams and randomly assigning it a grade.

Though she completed the two-page brief synopsis in one sitting, Weaver said she felt strangely drawn into the plot overview and continued on, exploring the more fleshed-out chapter summaries.

"There's something to be said for putting in that extra time with a good story," Weaver said. "You just get more out of it. I'm also going to try to find that book about rabbits that George was always reading to Lennie, so that I can really understand that important allusion."

Within an hour of completing the cliffs notes, Weaver was already telling friends and classmates that Steinbeck was her favorite author, as well as reciting select quotations from the "Important Quotations" section for their benefit.

"When I read those quotes, found out which characters they were attributed to, and inferred their context from the chapter outlines to piece together their significance, I was just blown away," said a teary-eyed Weaver. "And the way Steinbeck wove the theme of hands all the way through the section entitled 'Hands' he definitely deserved to win that Nobel Prize."

Weaver's roommate, Giulia Crenshaw, has already borrowed the dog-eared, highlighted summary of the classic Depression-era saga, and is expecting to enjoy reading what Weaver described as "a really sad story about two brothers who love to farm."

"I loved this book so much, I'm going to read all of Steinbeck's Cliffs Notes," said Weaver. "But first I'm going to go to the library to check out the original version Of Mice And Men starring John Malkovich and Gary Sinise."

Cocktails and Writing

There is an interview with me up on the Good Girls Kill For Money Club website:

http://www.good-girls-kill.com/2006/09/08/hold-me-thrill-me-kiss-me-kill-me/

in which I converse with readers and the delightful Tasha Alexander. I also pose a few questions for you readers.

Great Books by Friends

Okay, here's some serious ass-kicking books you may have overlooked. They're written by buddies of mine, which made me all the more relieved when they were really good.

The Purification Ceremony, by Mark T. Sullivan. I met Mark at Thrillerfest this year, and got a copy of this tracker-in-the-woods thriller. Not only does he know this world inside-out, but his prose is goddamned beautiful. I mean, this boy can seriously write.

Shotgun Alley, by Andrew Klavan. The second in Drew's superb Weiss and Bishop series (or, as I like to think of it, Bishop and Weiss series), this is a great, wonderfully written story about outlaw biker gangs. It was interesting to see what a writer who I admire did with the same world I researched for Troubleshooter. (Drew's latest, Damnation Alley - also great - just came out).

Public Enemy, by Will Staeger. Okay, so I'm cheating because I'm not quite done yet. But Will is such a solid writer that I know the ending will be great. When I blurbed his first book, I referred to his "adrenalized lyricism" and that's precisely what it is.

These books are remarkably different, but they all have excellent crime/action plots and ALSO (increasingly rare) wonderful use of language. These are three novelists who aren't just storytellers, they're writers too. Check out three guys at the top of their game.

Best Sports Movies

In my last Poll of the Moment, I asked you - devoted readers and culture consumers - which was your favorite sports movie. I was curious as I'd just begun my soccer script for ESPN. And the critics have spoken! Your top choices were Victory, Hoosiers, the Replacements, Caddyshack, Rounders, Vision Quest, Bull Durham, Breaking Away, Any Given Sunday, Remember the Titans, da Rockies, Happy Gilmore, and Brian’s Song.

Any movies missing from that list?

Kafka on the Joys of Writing

For all you writers out there discouraged that you're not feeling the inspiration, here are a few entries from Kafka's journal (from the period when he was writing The Trial).

They illustrate that anyone can get writer's block, but more importantly, that self-perception is not always accurate. Here he was, feeling at a low point during the time when he was creating an enduring piece of literature.

___

Jan 20: The end of writing. When will it take me up again?

Jan 29: Again, tried to write, vritually useless.

Jan 30: The old incapacity. Interrupted my writing for barely ten days and already cast out. Once again, prodigious efforts stand before me. You have to dive down, as it were, and sink more rapidly than that which sinks in advance of you.

Feb 7: Complete standstill. Unending torments.

Thriller Writers - Renaissance Men and Women?

I just got back from Thrillerfest, where much of the discussion centered around what thriller writers do in their outside lives. A lot of thriller writers, I've learned, have a variety of hobbies and skills, everything from stunt flying to cave diving. And many have other jobs as well - cops, firemen, businessmen, CIA operatives. As I overheard one reader comment, "Doesn't anyone just write books anymore?"

I think part of this is the thriller writer's temperment; he likes high stakes and excitement, so is prone to seek it out in his life, or to use research as an excuse for new adventures. And this topic reminded me of one of my favorite quotations, from JFK during a Commencement speech at Harvard. He was discussing how politicians have strayed in their interests from their intellectual predecessors, remarking of Thomas Jefferson that he was, "a gentleman of 32, who could calculate an eclipse, survey an estate, tie an artery, plan an edifice, try a cause, break a horse, dance a minuet, and play the violin." While it would be ill-advised to compare even the most sophisticated of thriller writers to Jefferson, the former President and Renaissance man certainly gives us all something to aspire to.

Thrillerfest

I'm off to Thrillerfest today, which takes place at the elegant Frank Lloyd Wright Biltmore in Phoenix. This is the first convention dedicated exclusively to thrillers, thriller fans, and thriller writers. Weather reports have Phoenix at about 115 degrees, so be prepared for lots of bad comments on various blogs about this "hot" event.

I will be moderating a panel of dedicated thriller readers, participating on a panel with Christopher Rice, Chris Mooney, and Will Staeger - with Tess Gerritsen moderating - about new types of heroes/protagonists, and giving the award for Best Thriller Screenplay (I chaired the panel that decided). The noms for Best Script are:

MATCH POINT (screenplay by Woody Allen)
SYRIANA (based on the book by Robert Baer, written by Stephen Gaghan)
CACHE (screenplay by Michael Haneke)
OLDBOY (screenplay by Jo-yun Hwang, Chun-hyeong Lim, Joon-hyung Lim, and Chan-wook Park; story by Garon Tsuchiya)
MUNICH (screenplay by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth; based on the book by George Jonas)

Winner to be announced at the banquet Saturday night.

Hope to see some of you there!

Reader Feedback

Every writer I know gets feedback from their readers. Some types of readers are more likely to write or email than others. Maybe you ran over a cat in one of your books. Maybe you got a fact wrong about the Glock one of your characters carries. You will hear about it. Cat-lovers and gun-lovers at last find common ground!

Now and then I get an email about a mistake I've made that I find utterly charming. And this one is an example of that:
-----
One hundred six/seven years ago Rimsky Korsakov composed the Flight of the Bumble Bee.

I am nearing 76 years of age. I commenced piano lessons at age 4. My mother was a classically trained pianist of considerable dexterity and varied repertoire - but that comes with decades of practice and performance. I heard her play Flight of the Bumble Bee without missing a single 64th note. I seethed with envy and respect - in that order.

About 35/40 years after the piece was first performed the staff producing The Green Hornet, searching for an appropriate theme and knowing absolutely nothing about the difference between hornets and bumble bees opted to use Nikoli's piece.

I recall being glued to the Philco cathedral radio listening to the Green Hornet, thrilling to the theme rendered by a stringed ensemble.

I have read every one of your books. I frequently have laughed out loud at some of your very witty writings. I lost my wife of 54.3 years of happy marriage last year. We both read avidly. I think I average 200 books a year or thereabouts.

Now searching for a comparison I envision Bear could make his living in the World Wrestling Alliance. I think it was in KILL CLAUSE you had Bear humming the "theme from the Green Hornet."

Have you ever attempted to do that? When I read that line I marked the page with a laminated book mark and for roughly 5 minutes tried to hum the Flight of the Bumble Bee. Now I have been a fair to middling pianist most of my adult life. I could not hum it. I firmly believe no one else could, let alone our mutual friend Bear-- or his creator!

If you'll keep writing I'll try to live to read as many of your books as possible in whatever time remains in my life. The tie between the drugs in the punch in THE PROGRAM and Al Gore kept me laughing gleefully for an enjoyable spell.

Note this e-mail is written on faint but discernible replicated sheet music. Perhaps Bear could sight read and hum it in a future plot.
_________

I wrote back:

I just listened to the Green Hornet theme and yes, it would be difficult for someone to hum, especially Bear, who generally has his mouth full. Your suggestion about Bear as a professional wrestler made me laugh – particularly after the Great Mustaro scene in TROUBLESHOOTER.
________
And the gentleman was, in fact, kind enough to include some sheet music for the next time Bear feels like humming.

The Proposition

This bloody Australian Western, written by Nick Cave, directed by John Hillcoat, and starring Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone (who is inspired), Danny Huston, John Hurt, David Wenham, and Emily Watson is an exercise in elegance and economy. It's a beautiful piece, so violent it might make Peckinpah cringe, but most amazing is the starkness of the plot——how little is said and done to set forth epic conflict. I want to give nothing away, but I will say that by the end of the first scene, the film's major dilemma is set firmly in place. That dilemma has consequences for all the major characters, and the complications deepen, twist, and intensify with no contrivance and gorgeous simplicity. I'd recommend it to any writer (all of us?) still learning how to say more in fewer words. It proves yet again that often the most compelling plots are also the most elegant in design.

Thriller

Many of you have likely heard about THRILLER, the new anthology put out from the Internation Thriller Writers through Mira. Edited by James Patterson, it features stories from Lee Child, David Morrell, Christopher Rice, Chris Mooney, Gayle Lynds, James Siegel, Ted Bell, Grant Blackwood, Lincoln Child, David Dun, Heather Graham, James Grippando, Denise Hamilton, Raelynn Hillhouse, Alex Kava, J.A. Konrath, John LesCroart, Robert Liparulo, David Liss, Eric Van Lustbader, Dennis Lynds, Katherine Neville, Michael Palmer, Douglas Preston, Christopher Reich, James Rollins, MJ Rose, Brad Thor, M. Diane Vogt, and F. Paul Wilson. Oh, and yours truly. I have a little piece in there called "Dirty Weather." Quite a cast, huh?

The book offers a unique chance to see some of the top names in the genre showing off.

I must say, I'm amused by the flap copy, which lists a number of the all-stars, then says the anthology includes "four of the hottest new voices in the genre." Which four? And why only four? I think this is a strategy of flattery - it leaves every other contributing author believing they're one of the four. Kidding aside, Mira's done an excellent job in publishing and marketing this puppy - anthologies ain't easy - and I'm pleased it's getting the big launch it deserves.

One other thing's for sure, when I look at that list, I see more than four of the hottest new voices. This anthology is a pleasure through and through and I'm flattered to be included in such company.

Faulkner in His Own Voice

This is an absolutely amazing website:

http://town.hall.org/radio/HarperAudio/080294_harp_ITH.html

It contains clips of Faulkner reading excerpts from his own work, and you can hear him deliver his Nobel Prize acceptance speech (one of the finest speeches about art ever written). The acceptance gives me the chills every time I read it, and this is the first time I was able to hear it read aloud - and from the salty Southerner himself. Simply staggering. I think every writer should have a copy of this taped above their desk. Thanks to Harper for providing us all this unique opportunity.

Do give it a listen.

Laughing Sinner Prisoners Pull Off Daring Freeway Escape

This is a great mock news article my publicist put together. I thought some of you readers out there might get a kick out of it.

L.A. CHRONICLE
50 cents, Tuesday, August 30, 2005

HIGHWAY HOMICIDE
Two Officers Dead, Armed Fugitives on the Run

Early this morning the lanes of a busy Los Angeles freeway played witness to a truly horrific and daring escape involving an extremely well-timed roadblock and enough explosives to blow a hole through four lanes of highway.

Prisoner’s Den Laurey and “Kaner,” both chief members of the outlaw biker gang, The Laughing Sinners, were en route to San Bernardino County Jail where Con Air transport was awaiting the arrival of the two felons to take the prisoners to a federal penitentiary. The prisoners were serving time for the torture-killing of three members of their rival biker gang - The Cholos.

There is speculation that the two prisoners had outside help from the nomads, a separate and notorious chapter of the infamous Laughing Sinners gang.

The Warrant Squad’s Escape Team has arranged a special task force to help track down these felons and sources say that former deputy US marshal Tim Rackley, known by some as TROUBLESHOOTER, has been called on to the case.

At this time the police department has confirmed that deputy U.S. marshal’s Frank Palton and Hank Mancone were killed in the incident and four unnamed deputies received significant injuries.

The escaped felons are currently at large and considered to be armed and extremely dangerous.

Brokeback to the Future

A while ago I posted a trailer of The Shining, recut, re-voiced-over, and re-scored as a feel-good movie. A great illustration of just how manipulative trailers (and music and editing) can be.

This is another re-skewing of a classic. Who knew Doc could cast such lascivious glances?

http://www.collegehumor.com/movies/1658610/

Quotation of the Day

A fool is someone whose pencil wears out before its eraser does.

~ Marilyn Vos Savant

Bikers and Bodies

This is an amazing story from the AP about the assassination of eight Bandito outlaw biker gang members, whose bodies were found stuffed into cars in a rural part of Ontario.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/04/09/canada.bodies.ap
/index.html

Authorities believe the group assassination was an effort by the Hell's Angels to wipe out their competition. The Angels are tough as hell, the Canadian chapters in particular, and it's doubful the Banditos will recover.

My research into this world when I was writing Troubleshooter was fascinating and unsettling. The book deals with similar events, opening with a daring freeway escape, as my fictional biker gang, the Laughing Sinners, busts their two enforcers out of a US Marshals prison transport van. Why were they busted out? For a number of reasons, but the foremost one is to put a serious dent in their rival outlaw biker gang, the Cholos, to clear out the competetion. Once they're freed, the Laughing Sinners enforcers do more than that....

It's always odd when events from the headlines mirror events in your books, and vice versa. Especially when they're terrible events. You feel like you've anticipated a little tweak in the zeitgeist, but you're none too happy about it.

Palm Springs Bookfest

A great event is coming up on April 22 - the Palm Springs Bookfest. It will be crime-fiction intensive, as Christopher Rice set up wall-to-wall panels and events at the Suspense Pavilion. Myriad authors will be appearing, with a number of highlights, including Chris in conversation with his mother, Anne Rice.

I have a really full day, and I'm looking forward to my events, since many of them are more creative than usual book-festival fare. Two of my SEAL buddies are coming in for the gig, and I've never before done an event or interview with any of my consultants.

My panels are listed below:

11:30AM
RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES!
 
Moderator: CHRISTOPHER RICE
Panelists: ERIC SHAW QUINN, GREGG HURWITZ and THERESA SCHWEGEL
 
Real writers come up with instant storylines based on actual press clippings from that morning's paper, including a discussion of how often real news stories inspire our works and the challenges of turning real events into creative inspiration.

12:30PM
NAVY SEALS -- FACT VS. FICTION
 
Moderator: GREGG HURWITZ
Panelists: CHARLES O'CONNOR Navy SEAL 20 yrs (retired) & ROSS HANGEBRAUCK Navy SEAL 5 yrs (retired)

Never before have Special Operations Forces played such a crucial role in our nation's foreign combat operations. But how do two of these real life heroes feel about being portrayed through fiction? Critically acclaimed thriller writer GREGG HURWITZ will pose that question and more to two of the real-life NAVY SEALS who have acted as his research consultants for several best-selling thrillers.

4:30PM
DALE BROWN IN CONVERSATION WITH GREGG HURWITZ
(Sponsored by INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS INC.)

DALE BROWN has been hailed as "the best military adventure writer in the country"* His 1987 novel Flight of the old Dog is an undisputed classic of contemporary thriller fiction, recently listed as one of the Must Read Thrillers of all time by International Thriller Writers Inc. GREGG HURWITZ is one of the hottest new voices on the thriller scene. His breathtaking series of novels featuring U.S. Marshal Tim Rackley have drawn unanimous praise from authors like James Patterson, Tess Gerritsen, Janet Evanovich and other titans of the genre. See what happens when these two maestros of unrelenting suspense and cutting-edge technology sit down to discuss what goes into their work...and what explodes out of it!

Department of Homeland, er, Producing?

The restriction of official images is troubling indeed. Can we no longer write about, say, the FBI or CIA in ways that aren't strictly flattering? (And who wants to write or read ANYTHING that's strictly flattering about its subjects?).

I'd read some time ago that LAPD was considering copyrighting its name and logo so writers would have to pay a fee or get approval to use them. I'm not sure if that's fact or paranoid urban legend, but the topic seems to be very much in the wind.

I don't have an update on the outcome of Schulman's complaint, so if any of you do, I'd be curious to hear it....
___________
A Los Angeles screenwriter is claiming that the Department of Homeland Security has informed him that he may not use the agency's name "or any of the Department's official visual identities" in the script for his film, Lady Magdalene, despite the fact that the film presents a positive image of the DHS. The writer, J. Neil Schulman, said Tuesday that he had received a notice from Bobbie Faye Ferguson, director of the NHS's office of multimedia, informing him that his "project does not fit within the DHS mission and that it is not something we can participate in." In response, Schulman wrote to Ferguson that he had already received assistance from a special agent of the NHS's air marshal service while he was preparing his screenplay and that the agency's notice to him now represents a violation of his First Amendment rights. "Merely the claim that you have the power to restrict such official images is chilling to the process of writing and producing a movie -- and certainly to an independent film in pre-production with a start date for principal photography only six weeks away," Schulman wrote.

Another Sordid Cult Tale

Yet another fine cult tale, emailed to me from a fan. As they say on the magic box, names have been removed to protect the innocent....

G

Dear Mr Hurwitz,

I enjoyed your book The Program. Good job on nailing those culties

Here's a cute story.

In 1980, or somewhere around there, my sister's blissed out friend talked me into a ____ seminar. I was only 20 or so, and thought it pretty weird from the beginning; hundreds of people jammed into a hotel ballroom; loads of rules about going to the bathroom, too much intimacy with strangers. Still, I stuck it out pretty well until Sunday-- the graduation day. That morning, I'd felt a little sick and then during the training things became dire. I got up during some exercise, confronted the six foot ten inch guards at the door and told them I needed a break. They said no, that breaktime was coming up in forty-five minutes. So I told them if they didn't let me out, I was gonna puke on their shiny shoes.

They let me out.

And they had to keep letting me out about every forty minutes for the next few hours.

Finally the break came. And The Trainer, the big guy, brown-grey hair, ice blue eyes, threads of his slate grey suit creating what looked like the perfect human being. I was nervous as hell in his presence. He looked like a God or something-- his shit so together it was like some cosmic singularity. He took me outside and we sat by a planter of bouganvillas while told me I was disrupting the training and that the reason I was doing it was that I was avoiding something profound and traumatic. The implication was clear. I was way more fucked up than I could even imagine, and worse yet, if I didnt' stop, he was gonna throw me out. I leaned over and puked in the bouganvillas.

I didn't stop, but with the help of my sister and a paper bag, I was able to hide.

The next day, after it was over, I called in sick to work. Later that day my minder-- a handsome plucky blond guy with tragic eyes-- called, trying to get me to drop another six hundred bucks for the next level seminar. I had my checkbook in my hand, all ready to mail off my deposit, when I looked at the calendar. Goddamnit, how long HAD it been since I had a period? Holy Fudd. The puking... it was, it was... morning sickness. I was knocked up, not nuts.
I was in no position to have a kid, and didn't. But you know, all the hassle that ensued, the moral qualms, everything, it was all kind of a relief. It could be taken care of. What couldn't have been taken care of was the fact that a sharp suited trainer had just about convinced me that I was such a psychological wreck that if I didn't proceed with _____, there was now and never was gonna be any hope for me.

Life's funny, ain't it?

Again, thanks for a good read.

Oscars! And the Problems of Hosting...

How many of you watched? If you skipped it, why?

How'd you think John Stuart did?

I think he's a brilliant commentator, but I think desk comedians have a harder time seizing control of the Oscars in all their unruly (ordered?) glory (Letterman wasn't as funny on stage as he is nightly smirking behind his desk). My favorite of recent years was Steve Martin, but I think he was too dry and smart for the average viewer. Chris Rock couldn't quite find his rhythm - he's the best stand-up comedian around, I think (except for maybe Sarah Silverman, whose Jesus is Magic strays so far into hysterical irreverency you can't believe how funny it is), but he couldn't quite nail the format. I saw Rock live a few weeks before his Oscars - he came into a small comedy club - a surprise guest much to the delight (and then horror) of Midwestern tourists - to work out his material, and it was excellent. He was more relaxed - he said he came in to practice not swearing. He failed.

I think the best Oscar MC of recent years is Billy Crystal. No one can compare to his blend of humor, schtick, and dance - he is Mr. Entertainment, and a true performer. It's such an odd skill set that makes the proceedings really soar...

Who's your favorite Oscar host?

Christopher Hitchens on Cartoons and Free Speech

Christopher Hitchens may be a divisive figure, but he's also a brilliant, incisive, dynamic thinker. He never stoops to dogma or peddles ideas under the banner of "common sense." When asked on tour, I regularly name him as one of my favorite writers, though it often draws confused looks from my readers, who are looking for me to name crime-fiction authors. The quality and elegance of his writing are staggering, especially considering that his articles are time-sensitive and written to more intense deadlines than many of us writers face.

For two razor-sharp articles on free speech and the cartoon "debate," check out:

Stand Up For Denmark!

http://www.slate.com/id/2136714/?nav=navoa

And Cartoon Debate

http://www.slate.com/id/2135499/nav/tap2/

Zach Helm

There's a great article in this month's Vanity Fair about screewriter/playwright/director Zach Helm. He and I share an agency - CAA - but more importantly, a professional philosophy. Evidently, Zach's career, while successful, wasn't going where he wanted it to. So he sat down and wrote a Manifesto - the ethics and rules that should govern his creativity. Since he's abided his Manifesto, his career has really taken off.

As I've learned - you have to respect your creativity or it'll get tired of you and move on.

A few points that he emphasized I believe make for important lessons for young writers.

1. Write what interests you. Don't get penned into one genre or field. This year, I've worked on a new thriller novel, a historical sports drama screenplay, and a six-man play that tackles social issues. Each one, oddly, informs the other and allows me to approach all my writing with a freshness that I wouldn't have if I focused on, say, crime fiction alone.
2. When placing your work, don't decide merely based on immediate financial gain. Money works in odd ways - sometimes, if you take more cash up front, it's a short-sighted proposition. Better to place your screenplay with the right producer or director, for example - someone who gets the project and respects you. You'll be happier if you're demanding that your work is treated with respect - and to get that, you have to treat your own work with respect. Plus, you never know when or how something is going to pay off - either in a financial or creative windfall.
3. Don't take crap jobs for money. Rewriting gigs can pay a lot of money in Hollywood, but they can also drain you. Likewise with other projects that sail down the pipeline. The first question should always be: Is this a stimulating, challenging project? When you're focusing on your own writing, why do anything except what is of the highest interest for you? For the money? If you're after that, you'd do much better to go into commercial real estate or investment banking. If you're going to tackle the trials and tribulations of a writing life, follow your passions. Take risks. Go out on limbs. It's a field where - at least for me - playing it safe means creative stagnation.

Peter Benchley

I was quite saddened yesterday to hear that Peter Benchley had died.

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?floc=ne-main-9-l5&flok=FF-APO-1404&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20060213%2F0343150686.htm&sc=1404

Jaws was the first adult book I read. As a fourth grader, I was drawn in by the cover, which is my favorite of all time. I shoved a chair over to my parents' bookshelf so I could reach the book, which they kept on the top shelf beside Valley of the Horses (which would provide an entirely different kind of education for me a few months later). I absolutely loved Jaws, and went on to read all of Benchley's work. I wrote him a letter saying how much I liked Jaws, Jaws II, The Island and The Deep, and he wrote back thanking me, but saying he couldn't take credit for Jaws II, as he didn't write it. So much for my impressing him with my precociousness. I kept a written correspondence with him through high school and college, telling him I wanted to be a writer, and I sent him an ARC of The Tower when it was published. He wrote me a very kind congratulatory note.

He was a very bright man with an abiding love of the ocean. The water has never been the same....

Sleepless in Seattle

This is the best recut trailer since The Shining one I posted a few months ago (which recut The Shining trailer to make the film appear to be a feel-good family comedy).

Check this out:

http://www.collegehumor.com/movies/1652506/

I never cease being amazed by how much of an impact music and editing have on our emotions. We have very easy buttons to push....

Starting Out

I got a great email today from a devoted reader - and an aspiring writer. He asked advice on how to get started, and on what to do with his book once he's done with it. My response, I hope, could be helpful to other writers out there:

My advice is simple: write, write, and write some more. At this point, I wouldn’t focus on the end game – you’ve got a long ways to go before you have to worry about getting a book noticed. That’s sort of like a freshman in college asking about job recruitment after graduation. Right now, your focus should be honing your craft, and spending as many hours as possible in that chair. The market will have shifted so much by the time you’re ready to send out your manuscript that planning for it now would be a waste of time. Plus, you’ll need to get in touch with writing as its own process – as an end in itself. Only when you focus on the actual work – rather than the marketing to come - will you be able to enjoy yourself and grow as a writer.

All best of luck – and keep writing.

Gregg

What You're Reading

A while ago, I posted a question on the website, asking what you'd read lately that you loved. Here are a few of the more unusual titles:

BLUE BLOOD, Edward Conlon's memoir about his first five years on the NYPD. I haven't read this yet, but I've heard wonderful things and can't wait to pick it up.

An advanced readers copy of EVERYTHING I'M CRACKED UP TO BE, by Jen Trynin. The book will be out in February 2006, so you heard about it first here.

Carlos Ruiz Zafon's SHADOW OF THE WIND.

A number of you were kind enough to mention my books, which I suppose makes sense, since that's how you found your way to my website. But thank you.

I'm reading Daniel Silva's A DEATH IN VIENNA, recommended to me by Chris Mooney, and I'm enjoying it very much. Silva manages to be sophisticated without being pretentious, and his research is extensive, his dialogue stunning - he's really a next-level author. I look forward to meeting him one of these tours.

Anything else you'd like to add?

Great Writing Quotation

From last month's WRITTEN BY, the official magazine of the Writer's Guild:

"Writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair."
Mary Heaton Vorse

I think, if you're starting with some basic talent, the above will get you further in your writing than anything else.

Back In Black

Hello everyone and welcome back.

The quotation with which I closed last year belongs to Mr. Kurt Vonnegut, who incidently has a new book out (after he swore he'd never publish another book). The new book, A Man Without a Country, is a collection of essays, and some believe that this is in keeping with his vow, that he technically said he'd never publish another NOVEL. The book is excellent - you'll read it in one sitting. He turns his trademark wit and a caustic eye to contemporary politics and finds much worth mocking.

I hope everyone got in lots of reading over the break. That's what vacations are for. What were the best books you read these past few weeks?

I'd have to say my favorite was THE CUTTING ROOM by Louise Welch, a Scottish novel about an auctioneer who finds a snuff photo in an attic and becomes obsessed with determining whether it's real. The tone and voice were excellent, the plot - at times - chilling.

Happy Holiday Writing

All best wishes for the holidays, in particular those of you who are gonna get in some writing or good solid reading during those long days when the phones don't ring as often, and you have a break from your jobs.

I leave you with this quotation from one of my favorite writers, who I'll identify the first of the new year:

"When I write, I feel like an armless legless man with a crayon in his mouth."

No One Writes Violence Like Bowles

I've been reading the Collected Short Stories of Paul Bowles, and have found his matter-of-fact descriptions of violence, particularly in stories like "The Delicate Prey" and "A Distant Episode" to be shatteringly effective. His attitude? "Hey, I'm not making this up; I'm just telling it like it is. And I can't quite muster the energy to get up from my desk, where I'm writing all this down, to help anyone."

One of his central themes—the collision of Westerners with primitive cultures—is striking in what it reveals about Western perceptions.

I think that many contemporary writers who tend to sentimentalize, fetishize, or emotionalize violence could learn much about his cool handling of the topic. The most objective descriptions yield the greatest horror and reader response.

Below is an encyclopedia entry about Bowles for the uninitiated:

Bowles was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York City to Rena (née Rennewisser) and Claude Dietz Bowles, where his father was a dentist, and spent his childhood at 108 Hardenbrook Avenue, then 207 De Grauw Avenue, and later 34 Terrace Avenue. His mother read Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe to him as a child, and Bowles made notebooks of writing and drawing throughout his childhood. When Bowles was 8, his father bought a phonograph and classic records; Bowles was interested in jazz but such records were forbidden in the house. About this time his family bought a piano and Bowles studied theory, singing, and piano. He continued to keep a diary of imaginary goings-on during this time, and also wrote a daily newspaper. In 1922, at age 11, Bowles bought his first book of poetry, Arthur Waley's A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems. In high school he attended a performance of Stravinsky's Firebird at Carnegie Hall which made a profound impression.

Bowles entered the University of Virginia in 1928, where his interests included T. S. Eliot's The Wasteland, Prokofiev, Duke Ellington, Gregorian chants, and the blues, and he published two items in transition. He also heard music by George Antheil and Henry Cowell. In April 1929 he dropped out of school to make his first trip to Paris where he worked as a switchboard operator for the Herald Tribune. He returned home in July and started writing Without Stopping, his first mature book. He left college without a degree in 1930.

France and New York

On a subsequent trip to France in 1931, he became a part of Gertrude Stein's literary and artistic circle and on her advice, that summer he made his first visit to Tangier with his friend and music teacher the composer Aaron Copland. In Berlin, he met Stephen Spender and Christopher Isherwood, who gives the name Bowles to the heroine of Goodbye to Berlin. The following year he returned to North Africa and traveled throughout other parts of Morocco, the Sahara and Algeria. Throughout the next decade, Bowles composed a good body of music including sonatas, song cycles, and music for stage productions (including Doctor Faustus directed by Orson Welles, the orchestration for George Balanchine's Yankee Clipper at Lincoln Kirstein's request), and also made early recordings of North African music.
In 1938 he married author and playwright Jane Auer (Feb. 22, 1917 - May 4, 1973), and after a brief sojourn in France they were prominent among the literary figures of New York throughout the 1940s, with Paul working under Virgil Thomson as a music critic at the New York Herald Tribune. His light opera The Wind Remains, based on a poem by Garcia Lorca, was performed in 1943 with choreography by Merce Cunningham and conducted by Leonard Bernstein. In 1945 he unexpectedly began writing prose again, beginning with a few short stories including A Distant Episode. He also translated Jorge Luis Borges at this time, and his translation of the play No Exit (entitled Huis-clos in French) by Jean-Paul Sartre, directed by John Huston, won a Drama Critic's Award. The subsequent year, he received an advance for a novel, and began writing The Sheltering Sky, which quickly rose to the New York Times best-seller list when published by New Directions.

Tangier and elsewhere

Also in 1947, he moved permanently to Tangier, and his wife Jane followed him there in 1948. The Bowleses became iconoclasts of the Tangerinos—American and European expatriates centered in Tangier. During the following decade Bowles wrote much of his most famous prose. Prominent literary friends visited Paul and Jane Bowles in Tangier beginning in the late 1940s, including Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams and Gore Vidal. The Beat writers Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs followed in the mid-1950s. In Morocco, Bowles concentrated on writing novels, short stories and travel pieces, and wrote incidental music for nine plays presented by the American School of Tangier. In 1952 Bowles bought the tiny island of Taprobane, off the coast of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where he wrote much of his novel The Spider's House, returning to Tangier in the warmer months.

In 1961, Bowles began tape-recording and translating works of Moroccan authors and storie-tellers, including stories by long-time friend Ahmed Yacoubi, Larbi Layachi (under the pseudonym Driss ben Hamed Charhadi), and Mohammed Mrabet. Rather oddly, Bowles spent one term at the English Department of the San Fernando Valley State College in 1968, teaching existentialism and the novel. Most of the time, however, he remained in Tangier with brief interludes elsewhere overseas.

After the death of Jane Bowles in 1973 in Malaga, Spain, Bowles continued to live in Tangier, writing and receiving visitors to his modest apartment. In 1995 Paul Bowles made a rare and final return to New York for a festival of his music at the Lincoln Center and a symposium and interview held at the New School for Social Research.
Paul Bowles died of heart failure at the Italian Hospital in Tangier on November 18, 1999 at the age of 88. The following day a full-page obituary appeared in The New York Times. Although he had lived in Morocco for 52 years, he was buried in Lakemont, New York, next to the graves of his parents and grandparents.

Selected works

Besides being a composer and novelist, Bowles published fourteen short story collections, three volumes of poetry, numerous translations, and books of travel writing and autobiography.

Stranger....

Last week's post was the opening line from Camus' The Stranger. And as Ms. Clair was so good to mention, I frequently point out, when inanely asked about the differences between literary and commercial (non-literary?) fiction, that Camus found his inspiration for The Stranger from James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice. So stick that in your beret.

Book of the week: recommended to me by director pal John Moore (who shot Behind Enemy Lines, which deals with the Serbian/Croatian/Muslim/not-UN war) - MY WAR GONE BY, I MISS IT SO, by Anthony Lloyd. It deserves to be mentioned with Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried and Herr's Dispatches (one of the sources of Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket). It is THAT good. A stunning, ironic, wry memoir of Lloyd's search for war (while he's kicking a heroin habit, no less). It is simply magnificent writing.

I recommended it to my longtime friend Jess Taylor, who had this to write about it:

"...is akin (though I would hardly know) to descending rapidly in a submarine to escape depth charges, all the while having those dropping them calculate your rate of descent, so the explosions follow you, and your sub implodes a bit more with each blast.

Remember that riveting part in which he [Lloyd] hears from a group of Croatian soldiers? How they spent a half-day trying to get their commander, a young, small-town athlete (and war criminal) out from under enemy (Bosnian Muslim) fire when he was wounded and down in a field. More men kept trying to rescue him, and getting killed. Finally the commander lying out in the field draws his pistol, puts it to his head, and kills himself.
As the soldier relating the episode summarizes-- 'There are two ways to die here. You can die doing the right thing for the wrong reason, or die doing the wrong thing for the right reason.'"

The above line that Jess picked out is one of my favorites, though there are many more gems in this brilliant book.

Opening Sentence

"Mother died today."

From what book?

A Serious Program Graduate.....

This is a great email I received from a reader - and one helluva character. Thought those of you who "got with the Program" might appreciate hearing from a tried and tested Program graduate. I left out his name and telling details to protect the innocent...
___

Mr. Hurwitz:

First, KILL CLAUSE and now THE PROGRAM. KC got my attention, TP has me stunned.

An avid and voracious reader, I download dozens of e-books every few months. I will buy the hardcover of THE PROGRAM, as I plan to reread it, something I’ve only done one or two times in my 64 years.

Graduating class of 1960, I lived among the cultists for more than a decade, in my travels to Topanga, Berzerkly, and Eselen, the Pamirs and Ibiza, Southwest deserts and my hometown of L.A.

….sitting in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel on a bus-stop bench, giggling at the traffic, the ‘fact’ of my just having lived 1.5 yrs. in the Northwest Frontier of Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan…hitching barefoot to the Baleares…now in a three-piece, selling air freight…soon to be lobster-fishing at 3:00 a.m. off San Nicholas Island, So. Cal. with Naval artillery screaming o’head, clods of the island raining on me…to home here in Idaho with my eight and ten-year-old kids, the three of us….

I'm sure that the statutes have run out on any of the chapters of my reality that I may have misplaced...let's see...1960 thru 1967...haven't a clue....something about Zomeworks in New Mexico...Haight-Ashbury when SuperSpade flew off the bridge...walking into the Psychedelicatessen in NYC, plunking down $$ and wordlessly walking out 30 seconds later with a K of something or other...standing in the middle of Connaught Circus, downtown New Delhi, with a used one-way airline ticket and $200, mumbling 'man...really f****d up bigtime, here...'...breakfast with the King of Chitral a few months and miles later...as my grandfather said "peregrinations in odd places".

Your work rings true and solid. Stark terror in the cults…Lock and Load, yes…common-sensors cannot comprehend, God bless us, everyone….

Must let the 'gotcha dust' settle from your last ride. I'm still seeing events from Troubleshooter out of the corner of my mind as I drive down the street.... Your characters really live.

Thanks for putting it out there. Thanks for the Rackleys…

Hard Case Crime

Last week's quotation was from Macbeth, the original Godfather.

I just read Stephen King's The Colorado Kid, out from Hard Case Crime. The HCC books are absolutely beautiful - the aesthetics mirror pulp paperbacks from the '50s, and indeed they are reprinting some classic crime novels, as well as commissioning new ones to be released in paperback format (King, Max Allen Collins, Jason Starr and Ken Bruen).

In the controversial afterword to The Colorado King, Stephen King says, "I write to find out what I think." I would guess that this is an intentional homage to Joan Dideon's quotation, which I listed on my blog (see entry two back titled Dante's Revenge).

If you haven't already checked out Hard Case Crime, I suggest you do so. They'll bring back memories. These guys do it precisely right.

T. Jefferson Parker and Our New Quotation

Last week's quotation....Jeff Parker. My favorite thing about Jeff's writing is his characterization, and that sentence is a beaut. He manages to work in a complex psychological take on Merci without it feeling heavy handed, and without giving it too much emphasis. It's funny, even, and it deploys character in the service of the plot.

I had a really funny experience once reading one of Jeff's books. He used the word "skosh," and I looked it up in my American Heritage Dictionary, curious as to its origin (Japanese). The dictionary then offered a usage example from, you guessed it, T Jefferson Parker. I told Jeff and we had a good laugh and then he went out and bought the dictionary. Hell, I would have too.

Next quotation, one of my all-time favorites (in keeping with our crime theme):

"I am in blood stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o'er."

And Now, Back to Crime

Last week's quotation was from Joan Didion. What I like about it is how she inverts the usual relationship between thinking and writing. I've found quite often that the process of writing actually clarifies my thoughts about a particular topic, or brings me to a new realization. One that is less "common sense" oriented. Because sitting, staring at the screen and trying to crack the dark heart of a matter often leads to something more truthful. And the truth is usually surprising. Quite often, people think that is reversed, that an author has a particular philosophy and he or she writes to provide a narrative embodiment of that. (See Ayn Rand). I tend to think that yields bad writing or propaganda.

But you all disliked the quotation. So this week, I'm going with something more in our collective roundhouse, from one of my favorites:

"Outside, the bloodhounds started yelping, and Merci swore there was something mournful in their voices but she knew she was eager for self-punishment and if it took personifying three dogs to beat herself even lower she would leap at the chance to do it."

If you know who wrote this, please write about it without giving away the author's name so other people can guess at it too.

Dante's Revenge

Okay - I told you they'd get harder. The last quotation was indeed Dante. It's most frequently identified, at least these days, in relation to JFK, who spoke the famous sentence at the signing of a charter establishing the German Peace Corps in 1963.

And now, a lesser known quotation from a very famous writer:

"I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear."

Comments, remarks, agitations, guesses, imprecations are welcome. And no, Jon, you can't have any cookies.

The Hottest Places in Hell

Last week's quotation was, as many of you know, written by Raymond Chandler.

"...who is not himself mean" to me is the key element. He can be tough, even vicious, but this cannot stem from an essential meanness. Chandler, masterful in his word choice, would have been aware that claiming that somone is not mean stops short of claiming that he is nice or kind.

I very much enjoyed your various comments and perspectives. A slumming angel indeed. Please, please, please do not look up the quotations or Google them. It's far more interesting to hear your observations when they come from prior knowledge or guesswork.

Now, here's this week's quotation:

"The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in a period of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality."

Have at it.

Down These Mean Streets

I'm gonna post a quotation about writing every week, and you folks have to guess who said or wrote it. And beyond the simple guesswork, I'd like to know your take on it. Why you like it or don't like it, or in some instances, your interpretation of it.

Since this is the first one, I'm starting with a layup. After this, the training wheels come off.


"Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. He is the hero, he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor, by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world."

Not Quite THE SHINING

This is a brilliant trailer, cut by a film student.

http://www.ps260.com/molly/SHINING%20FINAL.mov

It's a great display of 1. how misleading trailers can be, and 2. how important - and often manipulative - music can be in film. It's also funny as hell for those of you familiar with the film. How little it takes in a line reading, a directoral choice, a quick cut, to skew meaning one way or another.

Back in Action

I finally stopped home after the first leg of the tour, and a really fun lecture series I gave on Shakespearean locations in the Mediterranean (and Aegean) for Harvard. It was really wonderful to discuss the plays while on a ship headed to the very places we were discussing. The company was also very stimulating - a very broad range of accomplished people in very diverse fields.

I started by discussing Shakespeare's language and biography, with an emphasis on violence in his day. My second lecture was a Jungian analysis of Othello, the third a talk about Orson Welles's Othello, and I wrapped it up by looking at Romeo & Juliet in popular culture, from West Side Story to Dire Straits.

What was so interesting for me, in revisiting this field that I last studied formally about ten years ago, was all the ways in which my study of literature - and Shakespeare in particular - influenced my writing. It's very indirect of course, but plugging into some of these narratives again gave me a really fresh perspective on how I came to writing and some of the themes I've chosen.

I have a few more tour stops (San Diego, Orange, Milwaukee, Florida, Oakland) but am now home for the most part, getting ready to dig into something new.

Word From New Orleans

Before leaving on the second leg of my tour, I wanted to post a few emails I got from a courageous doc in New Orleans....

_____

Dear Gregg,

I have been reading your novel, "Minutes To Burn" for the last 10 days since the hurricane destroyed my home and too many others here in Biloxi. I'm a physician at the VA Hospital here, and have had to live in my office since Katrina hit in order to be available for duty 24/7. I just wanted to say that I think reading your novel helped keep me sane and in balance through this trial. I started it August 29, at a MOTEL 6 in Hattiesburg, reading by the light of my cell phone while the storm passed outside. I've read a little each night before sleep. Usually I read a book nonstop, but I tried to meter it out to make it last awhile. I really looked forward to getting into the story at days' end; just a little fantasy to get my mind off of this difficult reality. It helped to realize that at least there aren't any overgrown mantids running around loose here.

I'd like to send it to you for an autograph, if you wouldn't mind" to keep as a personal memento of Hurricane Katrina. I can tell my kids, "This is the book that kept me from going nuts during that time."

Thanks so much.

_____

I wrote back telling him that I'd gladly send along a few books to those in the trenches, and I asked what those of us outside the wreckage could do to help. He emailed back:

____


Gregg, thanks for your kind offer of assistance. Currently I don't have a
mailing address, and have been told not to attempt to receive mail at the
hospital right now. I don't believe any mail is being delivered down here
yet, anyway. I will be glad to take you up on your offer when I have
relocated.

What we need most down here right now are homes for the 30% or so who have
none. Not much L.A. can do about that, I know. People are actually becoming
institutionalized from long stretches in shelters! I am becoming fond of my
little office as a place to live! Isn't that bizarre?! Those whose homes are
not so badly damaged are being quite generous in accommodating friends and
relatives. FEMA keeps talking about trailers, but they have yet to appear.
Rentals are few and far between. Many have already permanently left the area
seeking new homes and jobs. What people have really lost isn't just houses,
but their HOME, their community, their social contacts and support networks.
That's the real devastation here. It will take years to regain that sense of
community, if we ever can. It won't be the same, that much is certain.

The main thing that will help in the long haul is an assurance that the
country doesn't forget about us down here. Once the media coverage moves on
to the next big story, people will think about other important things, as
they should, but for us it will remain a day-to-day effort just to keep
going, keep rebuilding, trying not to get too discouraged or depressed as
the losses hit home. I know we're in for a long and tedious process of not
just economic but also emotional recovery. It's just beginning.

You really can't imagine what's going on here unless you see it and feel it
for yourself. TV just can't capture it. People are being tremendously
courageous, no doubt about that, but underneath we are one hurting group of
folks. So much uncertainty and insecurity. You can see it in people's eyes.
We are all learning how to live a day at a time, because there is no other
way to cope. The big picture is just too immensely awful to contemplate!

Hey, maybe you could come down here and write a book about us. Not exactly
your genre, but it would be a great morale booster.

Anyway, thanks again for your kind wishes.

_____

I think it's important in this attention-deficit-disorder world to remember those who need our assistance down there after the media spotlight passes on. I have friends fighting in Afghanistan who feel the same way. Despite the allure of Taradise, there's still a war (or two) going on, a city being slowly rebuilt. Our thoughts are with those on the front lines of disaster, and we won't forget you.

Biggest Tour Oddity

In each city I'm heading to on my TROUBLESHOOTER tour, I have an "escort," a person who picks me up and drives me around to various bookstores and to my events.

Today in Boston, after about twenty minutes in the car, my escort and I figured out that we're - quite distantly - related.

Doesn't get much odder than that.