Category: Authors

Drive Sequel Due in April 2012

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Just a little over five years ago I posted about two great crime noir novels I’d just read.  One was Drive by James Sallis.  [The other was The Wheelman by Duane Swierczynski.]  Drive was the story of a get-a-way driver brought in on a heist that was a set-up from the start.  It went on to become a major motion picture that fans and critics loved.  This coming April, James Sallis and the Driver return in the sequel, Driven. 

Six years later – Phoenix.  Out of nowhere someone wants Driver dead.
Who?  Why?  Big mistake.

I’m looking forward to the novel and would love to see the team that made the movie return for the sequel.

Max Allan Collins, Chris Mills & Nolan

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Don’t you love the look of the new editions of Max Allan Collins’ Nolan crime novels coming for Perfect Crime Books?  For those not in the know, Nolan is an aging thief and Max Allan Collins is the author of the Nate Heller series, the Quarry series, and many, many other books.  I’ve never read anything that wasn’t excellent that was written by Max Allan Collins.   

Oh, by the way, our buddy, Chris Mills designed the Nolan covers and did a fantastic job.  Take a bow, Chris!

Fun and Games with Duane Swierczynski

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I’m a huge fan of Duane Swierczynski.  His novels are  fun, full of twists and never follow a familiar path.  Fun & Games is the first in his Charlie Hardie trilogy and although I just finished it a few days ago, I’m already chompin’ at the bit to read Hell and Gone.

Hardie makes his living as a house sitter.  There’s not a lot of dough in that line of work, but as an ex-cop with baggage, it’s been a good way to spend the last couple of years.  All that changes when Hardie finds a semi-famous actress hiding in the house he’s supposed to be sitting.  Is she crazy or could there really be a hit team coming to kill her and everyone in the house?

If my description makes Fun & Games sound like your typical ex-cop coming to the aid of a hot but endangered woman, let me assure you that it’s not.  Give  Fun & Games a read and if you don’t like it I’ll buy ya a Diet Coke or a Mocha Frappe.  If you do like it, you owe me nothing.   Deals don’t get much better than that, amigo.

So why do I have “A Texan’s Motto” post card along with my praise for Fun and Games?  Read on, friend.

In the interest of full disclosure [and the fact that I’m always happy to hear from people whose work I admire], I want it to be known that received a post card from Duane Swierczynski this summer.  He sent a personalized card to all of his fans who had pre-ordered Fun & Games.

How do I know it was personalized?  Well, do you think he wrote every fan of his calling them a fellow Stallone fanatic?  Yeah, I didn’t think so either.

How do I know Duane Swierczynski is a Stallone fan?  Well, Duane is from Philly and everybody there [or from there] loves Sly.  Oh, and Mr. Swierczynski used a couple of quotes from Sly as chapter headers.  Only a true fan would go THAT far.

Lady Sabre & The Pirates of the Ineffable Aether

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Isn’t that the coolest poster?  It’s for a new web comic called Lady Sabre & The Pirates of the Ineffable Aether.  Although I’m not a huge fan of web comics, I’m definitely on board for this one.  Created by author, Greg Rucka and artist, Rick Burchett [two of my favorites], Lady Sabre & The Pirates of the Ineffable Aether is going to be a wild ride.  Here’s how the Greg and Rick describe it…

  • Swords are cool. People fighting with swords are cool. Airships are cool. Cowboys are cool. Pirates are cool. Clockwork men are cool. Smart, savvy, witty women are very cool. Laconic gunslingers? Totally cool. Steampunk? Frosty.
  • That’s what Lady Sabre & the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether is, that’s what it’s about. The adventures of the Lady Seneca Sabre and those she meets along the way as she travels the Sphere. Who she fights, who she foils, who she befriends. It’s about adventure and romance and excitement and, to paraphrase the great Zaphod Beeblebrox, “really wild things.”
  • And most of all, what it’s supposed to be? It’s supposed to be fun.

Lady Sabre & The Pirates of the Ineffable Aether are back every Tuesday and Thursday with a new comic and additional content throughout the week!

[A tip o’ the top hat to Chris Mills]

Egg #2: Hard-Boiled Stories Reviewed

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Egg: Hard-Boiled Stories #2 is, not surprisingly, a follow-up to to Egg: Hard-Boiled Stories #1. Like the first, it’s an anthology with all stories written by Eric Skillman.  Issue two features the art of Ming Doyle, Victor Kerlow and Evan Bryce. Let’s look at the issue…

Lost & Found by Eric Skillman and Ming Doyle kicks off the issue with an eight page story about a midwestern girl who moved to the big city after high school.  Now nearly a decade later she reconnects with Tommy, an old friend who loves to party hard.  Hanging with Tommy could be the death of her.

Skillman’s colors mesh well with Ming Doyle’s pen and ink work.  Doyle has a unique style but it felt really right for this story.

Our second tale, The Platform teams Eric Skillman with Victor Kerlow in an six page story about two subway workers who learn how dangerous it can be coming to the aide of a young lady late at night.

This story, like many of Skillman’s, has a shocker of an ending.

Our final story brings Eric Skillman and Evan Bryce together for a tale that they call Cold Feet.  Kermit and Nate are two crime partners debating whether of not the snowy and icy roads make it the right night for a robbery.  Before the night is over, they’ll have their answer.

Cold Feet was my favorite story in the issue.  I’m a big fan of Evan Bryce’s art.  Evan is always pushing the envelope and I think he had the right balance of realism/cartooniness for this tale.  Skillman did an excellent job of coloring the story — at first glance I thought that Evan had done the colors as well.  Let’s hope we see more stories from this team in the future.

I really enjoyed Egg: Hard-Boiled Stories #2.  Eric Skillman is an excellent writer and has an obvious love of the crime/hard-boiled genre. He’s also been able to bring excellent artists to the table, so I’m hoping that we’re going to see future issues.

Talking with Duane Swierczynski and Josh Bazell

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Recently a couple of my favorite writers, Duane Swierczynski and Josh Bazell sat down for a two part conversation.  In part one Duane and Josh talk about how they write novels, the influence of comic books & movies, and why they want to keep readers turning the page.  In part two Duane and Josh discuss their first jobs, their first books, 80’s movies and tv shows, James Ellroy’s White Jazz and more.

Want Some Real Cheap Yellow Medicine?

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I guess I’m old fashioned.  Or maybe just old.  You see, I like the books I read to be real… not some digital concoction that you read from a machine.  I love being able to read a great book and then place it in my collection on my bookshelf.  But that’s not what this post is about.

What this post is about is the fact that Anthony Neil Smith, the author of two excellent crime novels featuring bad cop Billy Lafitte is offering a super deal on the first, titled Yellow Medicine.  Starting May 1st at 2pm you will be able to get a copy of Yellow Medicine for just 99 cents.  The idea is to get everyone who wants a copy to jump on at the same time and get Yellow Medicine on the charts.

At 99 cents the novel is a steal.  Heck, I paid a lot more than that for my hardcover copy and the story was so good, I thought I got a bargain.  So if you read your novels from a screen, then give Yellow Medicine a try.  [And if you’re like me and want a “real” book then order up one here.]

Batman: Year One – Feature Length Animation

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One of my all-time favorite graphic novels is Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli. I was pleased to read in The Hollywood Reporter today that a feature length animated adaptation is in the works with Bruce Timm on board to executive produce.  Timm indicates that the production will closely follow the graphic novels story and look when he says:

“The source material is surprisingly cinematic; it’s a pretty straight forward literal retelling… Mazzucchelli’s artwork is beautifully composed and we were able to refer to the comic for about 80 percent of the camera setups.”

Ben McKenzie will provide the voice for Batman/Bruce Wayne and Bryan “Breaking Bad” Cranston will do the same for Liet. James Gordon.  You can read more about the production here and here.

Lee Marvin, Mel Gibson & Jason Statham

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Variety reported today that…

  • Jason Statham is in negotiations to star in the thriller “Parker” with Taylor Hackford directing… based on the book series by Donald Westlake [aka RIchard Stark], [and] revolves around a thief who, though at times is forced to be a killer, still lives by a code of honor that includes never stealing money from people who need it. His word is his bond, and if he is crossed he will strike back relentlessly.

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Richard Stark’s Parker novels as well as the graphic adaptations by Darwyn Cooke.   I also enjoyed Lee [“Point Blank”] Marvin and Mel [“Payback”] Gibson in movies based on the Parker character.  I have little doubt that Taylor Hackford directing Jason Statham will be welcome additions to the Parker legacy.

Cooke, Stark, Parker: A Better Martini

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Earlier today I posted about Hunter: The Martini Edition which will combine The Hunter and The Outfit into an oversized 9×13 package with 65 pages of additional material [344 total page count]  for a very reasonable $75.00 price tag.  At Wondercon, today, the cover of the edition [shown above] was previewed.  In addition, Scott Dunbier, the editor of the project said that Hunter: The Martini Edition will…

“contain both of the graphic novels that Darwyn did — both of them were pretty widely acclaimed. It’ll have a number of illustrations, sketchbook material, a lot of cool little extras. One of the best is, it’ll actually have an original eight-page story that will only be available in this Martini Edition.”

Now, more than ever I think that IDW should print up an edition of extras for those of us who have supported the books from the start.

[Via CBR.com]

Stephen King May Join The Walking Dead

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Here’s a match made in, uh, heaven… Stephen King has confirmed to EW.com that he is in talks to script an episode of AMC’s hit series The Walking Dead.  Man, I would love to see that happen.  King and The Walking Dead’s executive producer, Frank Darabont, have a history of working together to create top notch entertainment [The Shawshank Redemption and The Mist] so odds are this will all work out.  I, for one, couldn’t be happier.