The Digest Enthusiast, Book Ten - Richard Krauss, ed.

I've been waiting to have a copy of this book in my hands before posting about it, and now I do. THE DIGEST ENTHUSIAST is just about the best magazine out there, and the new issue, Book Ten, features the longest, most extensive interview I've ever done, with lots of cover reproductions and at least one photo of me that I'm pretty sure has never been published anywhere else. Doing this interview with editor Richard Krauss was a lot of fun and brought back many great memories of the early days of my career.

Of course, there's a lot more to THE DIGEST ENTHUSIAST, BOOK TEN, than just my ramblings. You can also read about the Creature from the Black Lagoon, a small publisher I'd never heard of called Bronze Books, and articles on wonderful digests such as MANHUNT, AMAZING STORIES, STARTLING MYSTERY STORIES, ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE, and a great article on the short-lived CHARLIE CHAN MYSTERY MAGAZINE by Richard Krauss. That's just a ton of great reading, and as always, I give THE DIGEST ENTHUSIAST a very high recommendation.

New Interview on The Write Answers

There's a new interview with me posted on Jim Wilsky's excellent Write Answers blog. As always, I've tried to include some things I haven't talked about in other interviews. You can find it here. Check it out!

New Interview

There's a new interview with me on Tom Rizzo's blog this morning. You can check it out here. Tom asks great questions.

New Interview

A new interview with me has been posted on the Lowestoft Chronicle. This one focuses mostly on my Western writing, and you can read it here. Lowestoft editor Nicholas Litchfield always asks interesting questions and puts together a fine on-line magazine of fiction, poetry, and writing-related features. Be sure and check out the rest of the contents while you're over there.

New Interview

There's a lengthy new interview with me at the on-line magazine The Lowestoft Chronicle that I think is one of the best I've done. Lots of information about the early days of my writing career (most of which makes me feel about a thousand years old). Take a look at it if you're of a mind to, and while you're there check out the fine fiction and poetry on the site.

After Hours: Conversations with Lawrence Block - Lawrence Block and Ernie Bulow

Lawrence Block had a sale on this book through his eBay store a while back, so I picked up a copy. I'd read AFTERTHOUGHTS, the collection of his afterwords from the e-book editions of many of his novels, which serves as a literary autobiography of sorts, and to a lesser extent, a personal autobiography as well. It's a fascinating collection. I thought it might be interesting to contrast it with this book, which for the most part is made up of a series of long interviews with Block conducted by Ernie Bulow more than 15 years ago. I wanted to see what had changed since then.

The answer is: some, but not a lot. (Which, I suppose, probably would be the same answer for most of us if we were in the same situation.) Many of the stories are the same. The difference is that Block is more forthcoming about certain things now, more willing to name names (although not all the time, which is probably admirable) and flesh out the stories with more details. There's a great bit in which he says: "Memoirs are interesting things. They should be written when you're still young enough to remember but old enough not to give a fuck. I'm still the first but not quite the second." I think by now he still gives a fuck, but not as much of one. (By the way, he said parenthetically, I'm starting to understand that sentiment myself.) These days, Block is much more likely to talk about the books he wrote under various pseudonyms and has even allowed a number of them to be reprinted, with more on the way. This is a very welcome thing, as a lot of those books are pretty darned good, and I enjoy reading them and enjoy reading his comments about the circumstances under which they were written.

AFTER HOURS also includes a reprint of Block's first published story, "You Can't Lose", as well as several short essays. I found it very entertaining. I always think it's fascinating when writers talk about what they've written, how they go about it, and how it connects to their personal life. Lawrence Block does this just about as well as anybody out there. AFTER HOURS is like sitting down to shoot the breeze with him for a few hours, and it gets a high recommendation from me.

Blog Radio Interview Tonight

Bill Crider, Mel Odom, and I are going to be interviewed by Elaine Raco Chase on Triangle Variety Radio tonight about the Rancho Diablo series, as well as about our other work. The show starts at 7:00 o'clock Central Time, and you can listen to it here. And of course, feel free to call in with any comments or questions. The number is on the website.

New This Week

Larry Block was having a sale on signed copies of AFTER HOURS from 1995, which consists of several long interviews with him conducted by Ernie Bulow, a reprint of Block's first published short story, and several short autobiographical essays. Having read Block's AFTERTHOUGHTS, it's going to be interesting to compare what he says in it to the opinions he expressed in this book 17 years ago.

And that's the only thing that came in this week, which is fine because I have plenty to read.

Texas Rangers Review and New Interview

Ron Scheer reviews my collection TEXAS RANGERS on his Buddies in the Saddle blog today, and there's a new interview with me accompanying the review. Thanks, Ron!

Blatant Spousal Promotion

Livia's work pops up in a couple of places today. You can read about "A Day in the Life of Phyllis Newsom" (the protagonist from the Fresh-Baked Mystery series) here. And Scott Cupp blogs about the urban fantasy novel WITCH GOT YOUR TONGUE on the Missions Unknown website. Check 'em out!

Interviews with Livia

A couple of new interviews with Livia have been published recently. You can read them here and here. Her latest Fresh Baked Mystery is getting great reviews, too. And let's not forget WITCH GOT YOUR TONGUE. There's a new review of it here.

Another Interview

There's another new interview with me on-line today, this one at the Wag the Fox blog. It concentrates on  the writing of THE BLOOD MESA but touches on a few other things as well.  I would have posted this link earlier, but today has been real-life-intensive, shall we say.

New Interview on Criminal-E Blog

There's a new interview with me this morning on Allan Guthrie's Criminal-E blog. Many of you know Al and know that he's a fine writer, but he's also one of the best editors I've ever had, and I've always thought that his suggestions on my novel DUST DEVILS (the focus of the interview) improved the book immensely.

Texas Writers Month

My friend Stephanie Barko, an Austin-based literary publicist, is doing a month-long series of interviews with Texas writers on her blog.  You can find the line-up here, and there are a lot of interesting folks on that list.  Check it out.

New Interview

There's a new interview with me, conducted by my friend Brett Weiss, in the latest issue of THE WRITER.  I was a regular reader of THE WRITER for many years and still remember many of the helpful articles I came across in it, so I'm very happy to be appearing in its pages.  You can check it out here.

Booklifenow Interview

There's a new interview with me about the life of a freelance writer at the excellent Booklifenow website. Check it out, and while you're there take a look at the other interviews, too.

New Interview

There's a new interview with me posted over on Larry Sweazy's excellent blog, focusing on my new novel REDEMPTION, KANSAS but touching on numerous other matters as well.  Thanks, Larry!

Dancing With Myself Interview

There's a new interview with me (conducted by me, as well) on Nigel Bird's Sea Minor blog.  There are a few things in there that haven't been told elsewhere, as far as I remember, so check it out if you're of a mind to.

New Interview on All Pulp

There's a new interview with me on the All Pulp Website, as part of their "Moonstone Monday" which spotlights new projects coming up from Moonstone Books.  I have a story in THE GREEN HORNET CHRONICLES, which will be out soon.  You can find the interview here, and check out the rest of the All Pulp site while you're there.  It's a great site, packed with news, interviews, and reviews of all things pulp.

New Interview

I just did an interview with the Italian crime fiction blog Liberi di scrivere.  You can read the English version here, or on Paul Brazill's excellent blog You Would Say That, Wouldn't You.  And the Italian version translated by Luca Conti, for you completists, is here.  I believe there are some things in this one that I haven't talked about in previous interviews, so check it out if you're interested.