The Call

In Graphic Novel Reporter, I talk about the morning I got the phone call from Marvel about writing The Punisher.

Marvel Exclusive

Marvel has just announced my comic-book exclusive with them, and I answered some questions about upcoming projects. Stay tuned for details!

Best Reader Email of All Time

Subject line: DO NO HARM saves reader's dog

Dear Mr. Hurwitz:

I got into your books just recently, I enjoy them immensely, yadda yadda yadda.

Last night, I was spraying ointment onto my Old English Bulldog, Maggie, to remedy her irritated skin. A stray squirt hit Maggie in the eye, putting her in dire straits. Luckily, I am in the middle of reading "Do No Harm," so I knew exactly what to do. I immediately grabbed my water bottle that I use to wet my hair, and proceeded to squirt fresh water into her eye for the next two minutes. Her eye was back to 100% soon after, thanks to the fact that I just happen to be a fan of yours. Thank you for saving Maggie's eye. As soon as I find a job and get back out of the financial hole I'm in, purchasing your latest book will be the first thing I do.

Take care,
Scott Awtrey
Dallas, TX

"Back and Forth"

My short story, "Back and Forth," will be appearing in an anthology called UNCAGE ME, released July 24. It also features stories by Scott Phillips, Allan Guthrie, Christa Faust, Victor Gischler, J.A. Konrath, J.D. Rhoades, Declan Burke, Brian Azzarello, Steven Torres, Stewart Macbride, Simon Kernick, Patrick Bagley, Greg Bardsley, Stephen Blackmore, Tim Maleeny, Nick Stone, Martyn Waites, Talia Berliner, Maxim Jakubowski, Blake Crouch, and there's an introduction by John Connolly. The inestimably charming Jennifer Jordan edits....

On Genre and Respect

I got a very interesting email today from someone writing a PhD in the UK, asking me about garnering literary respect with "genre" fiction.

Here's what I wrote back:

When it comes to genre and respect, I like to rip off Oscar Wilde: "Books are well-written or badly written. That is all."

I am, at heart, a story guy and a structure slut. I studied Shakespeare, particularly the tragedies, because they are terrific thrillers. Macbeth - great mob tale. Hamlet: ghost story. Othello: pre-noir. Etc. Stateside, I love Faulkner - the corncob rape scene in Sanctuary? Need we say more about lurid classifications? I collect his paperbacks from the 50s for their great pulp covers. I enjoy terrific stories where I can find them, and one can find them in all sections of a bookstore. There's a lot of poorly written stuff as well, both "literary" and "commercial," the only distinction seeming to be that commercial crap actually makes the authors money (if you write in cliches, get published, and DON'T make money, well that's an even sadder state of affairs). I also like to point out that "commercial" writing extends across the boards; Updike did okay for himself. Dickens never had trouble paying the rent -- and his literary reputation has survived relatively well. James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice was the inspiration for Camus's The Stranger. When Gertrude Stein came to California, she only wanted to meet Dashiell Hammet (okay, Chaplin too, but that dilutes the anecdote).

I think crime fiction has replaced the social novel. I'd press someone to find a better practioner of the craft than, say, Poe or Chandler or Lethem or Lehane -- or to find someone who better reveals to us a city or a family or a moral conundrum.

But I find it's no use getting defensive - one can't really win arguing that he or she should be taken more seriously. Better to write as goddamned well as one can manage, and let people sort it out a couple hundred years hence.

International Thriller Writers Big Thrill E-Zine Interview

This just posted.

Behind the Times

As usual, I'm behind the times when it comes to reading books - especially high profile books. But these two live up to the hype.

Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 - a tale of a Soviet policemen trying to solve a series of child murders in Stalinist Russia. The genius of the book isn't merely in its evocation of that time, but in the fact that we meet a protagonist as he is growing disillusioned with the very system that he represents - as he is trying to catch a murderer who the state refuses to admit exists.

Timothy Hallinan's A Nail Through the Heart - recommended to me by numerous people with good taste - is a brilliant mystery set in Bangkok. The setting lives and breathes, the characterization is spectacular, and the dialogue is so good you practically hear it out loud. Plus it manages to be noir - wry and cool - without overreaching. Hallinan is a stunning talent.

Robert Crais Interview About Trust No One

Here are some behind-the-scene shots of me and Robert Crais during our interview about Trust No One. We had a great time talking plot, mayhem, and character....

Shocking Mystery Bookstore Robbery Footage!!

New Interview up at KGB

This just posted.

Writing Quotation of the Week

Writers kid themselves—about themselves and other people. Take the talk about writing methods. Writing is just work—there’s no secret. If you dictate or use a pen or type with your toes—it is just work.
--Sinclair Lewis

Breaking in to Comics

I often get asked about how one breaks into comics, but I don't have a good answer in general. Because I transitioned from novels and screenplays, I already had writing samples, and I lucked into an editor - Axel Alonso at Marvel - who was familiar with my work. But there's a great article by Steven Grant on CBR that lays out nicely how an aspiring writer might attempt to find work.

Trust No One

Coming June 23! For more info and for tour info (the tour will include Boston, NY, LA, San Diego, and the Bay Area), go to the newly redesigned www.gregghurwitz.net.

E.B. White Quotation of the Week

"Be obscure clearly."

Three words, and yet some of the best writing advice I've come across...

Frank Miller's Charlie Brown

This link, as forwarded to me by Richard Brewer, is well worth a look. Brilliant.

William Maxwell and Jesse Kellerman

I'd been meaning to write for some time about So Long, See You Tomorrow, an off beat novel centered around a small-town murder by William Maxwell (onetime fiction editor for the New Yorker).

Some lovely, sparse language and wonderful touches - "...I understood not only how generous they were, but that generosity might be the greatest pleasure there is."

"He died in agony, of a gall-bladder attack, when he was in his early fifties, and the oval photograph, adapting itself to circumstances, is now clearly the photograph of a dead man."

"New York City is a place where one can weep on the sidewalk in perfect privacy."

And so on. Great, pithy, insightful language, and some lovely characterization.

Then I read Jesse Kellerman's latest - The Genius (or, in the UK, The Brutal Art). Many of you know that I love JK's writing. His last, Trouble, was one of my favorite books of 2007. Well this is an even more compelling read - at times staggering. His characterization and facility with language is pretty goddamned remarkable. It occurs to me that were I to excerpt my favorite touches and lines, my blog post would go on indefinitely. So just go buy it already.

Quotation of the Week

"You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed"
~ Antoine de Saint Exupery

Some Vocabulary Words in Honor of Friday the 13th

And yes, I've seen all 97 movies, including Jason Takes Manhattan and Jason versus Freddie.

Quatorzieme: a professional 14th guest that superstitious hosts can hire for their dinner parties. Popular in Paris.

Paraskavedekatriaphobia or friggatriskaidekaphobia: fear of Friday the 13th

Triskaidekaphobia: fear of the number 13.

Punisher Event

Here I am at my Punisher: Girls in White Dresses signing with the inimitable Richard Brewer and Robert Crais (who wrote the intro). A great event at Earth2Comics....

Girls in White Dresses: The Trade

This Wednesday, Punisher: Girls in White Dresses comes out at amazon.com, and at comic shops and book stores everywhere. It collects all five of my Punisher comics, and features an introduction by Robert Crais.

My sole signing will be Feb 7, 1 pm at:

Earth2Comics
15017 Ventura Blvd
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
818.386.9590