Let the Drool Begin

Over at Bang, Clayton Moore's blog, comes this tantalizing news that makes this hot Monday in July somewhat hotter.

New York (July 14, 2008) – Charles Ardai, Edgar Award-winning author and creator of the acclaimed pulp mystery series Hard Case Crime, today announced a new series of pulp novels scheduled to debut in the summer of 2009: The Adventures of Gabriel Hunt. Featuring painted covers in the grand pulp tradition by artist Glen Orbik, the series will chronicle the travels and travails of modern-day explorer Gabriel Hunt, who scours the globe in pursuit of precious artifacts, lost civilizations, and secrets that could save the world…or destroy it.

(click on the above link for the full press release.)

Then, go on over to The Rap Sheet for additional tidbits and a link to Hard Case Crime's "50th Anniversary Celebration."

(Checking watch. Dang! Only ten more months.)

A Chicago Video...That You're Not Expecting

Readers of this blog know of my passion for the band Chicago (whose website is now revamped.. The latest released, Stone of Sisyphus, is, to my mind, in the top 3 CDs they've ever done. You can read my review.

Lately, I'm jamming to live recordings from the early days, specifically concerts from 1968-72 where the band's passion and energy is palpable, mistakes and all.

Now comes this video, via none other than Robert Lamm. Talk about energy. I don't know the guitarist (Tomoyasu Hotei from Japan) but I think I may have to find some of his CDs after hearing this cut. And, for a band that used to do covers, it's kinda neat to hear them do something new, even if it isn't their own material (It's "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" from Kill Bill, Vol. 1). Anyway, check out the video and be sure to read Lamm's comments.

Another note: some of the comments remark on the differences between Hotei and Chicago's original guitarist, Terry Kath. While Kath is one-of-a-kind, when I hear Hotei's playing, I am reminded most of DaWayne Bailey, guitarist for Chicago from 1986-1994. These were the years when I started attending Chicago concerts. And this were the years when hair metal ruled the airwaves. Bailey brought back the edge to Chicago concerts. The farther away the Bailey years get, the more and more I appreciate them. This is taking nothing away from Dacus, Pinnick, or Howland, but Bailey was Chicago's second best guitar player. And I don't think Mr. Bailey would mind me saying that, either.

Justice in H-Town - Chapter 2 (reboot)

Over at Texas Pulp Writer, I have posted the rebooted version of Justice in H-Town, Chapter 2.

For those of you who have read the original version of chapter 2, you will notice a few differences. More than one judge and some of my fellow reviewers said that they wanted to see Anne Chambers in a more likable situation. The funny thing about being the writer: I know all the ins and outs of this character...I just need to clue the readers in, too.

A second idea that I had was that I wanted the mess Anne found herself in at the end of chapter 2 to be more dire in the reboot than in the original. I hope you like it.

Enjoy.

Where Star Wars went wrong

I am, and forever will be, a Star Wars geek. And I'm proud of it.

Over at Solar Flare (a great news site for all things SF), there is a discussion started about "Where Star Wars Went (and keeps going) Wrong". I certainly have my take and it jives with the general thesis of the author. But I make a few points about my own memories. Take a look.

Justice in H-Town (Reboot)

Upon reflection, I probably should have finished writing the *entire* book before posting chapters. Alas, I didn't...so I have to resubmit chapters 1 and 2 of Justice in H-Town.

I have 17 chapters written and most of chapters 4-17 I can reuse. I just needed to reset the trajectory of the book. 95% of the book and the story are the same. I just felt like there needed to be more dire circumstances in the beginning. And more than one person told me that my chapter 1 didn't deliver the emotional impact I wanted it to. Thus, I added a secondary scene in chapter 1, which I am posting today. And I'm leaving the original there, too, for comparison.

So, click on over to Texas Pulp Writer for the rebooted Justice in H-Town's Chapter 1. Chapter 2 will follow shortly, after I've let the critique group have a go at it.

Two Films: Foxy Brown and Mr. Majestyk*

Over the long Fourth of July weekend, I caught two films that have been on my list for a little while. I recorded Mr. Majestyk (1974) from one of the movie channels and I watched IFC's Grindhouse Friday's presentation of Foxy Brown (1974). Majestyk was on my list because it's Elmore Leonard. Ironically, Foxy Brown was on my list also because of Leonard via Tarrentino (and Jackie Brown).

I had never seen either film until this weekend. Majestyk is a typical revenge film. And, with its protagonist, pre-dates First Blood's Rambo by at least five years. Interestingly, Majestyk is never really threatened, almost always having the upper hand. The only real threat is from the police and that's just jail time. The bad guy who wants to kill Majestyk never lays a hand on him. Bronson is carrying on cowboy-loner-leave-the-past-behind-me theme of countless stories, be they westerns or crime or SF. In later incarnations of this kind of movie, the hero has to suffer. Majestyk doesn't, except for, perhaps, the bumps and bruises he gets while riding in the back of the pick-up.

Foxy Brown, on the other hand, suffers quite a bit. And it's all for the viewer's benefit. Pam Grier looked fantastic in the film, which is precisely the point. She uses her sexiness to her own advantage to get what she wants: revenge for the people who killed her boyfriend. But, unlike Majestyk, she gets plenty hurt along the way. As I am writing a novel with a female protagonist, I'll remember Foxy's acceptance of certain things that happen to her. You don't want it to happen, but it does. And that says more, to me, than Majestyk's scrape-free escape.

The vibe Foxy Brown exudes is tres cool. The characters really do come to life. Some quick research on the web told me that this is one of the more famous blaxploitation films but there are quite a few things to like and take away from this film. One of which is the score. For those of you who like 70s soul and funk, Willie Hutch's music is fantastic. I'm going to have to hunt it down.

But the stereotypes aside, Foxy Brown revels in the strong woman. And that's what makes this film important, to me and to film history. I'll certainly be channeling some of Foxy Brown as I flesh out my hero.

And this Friday's Grindhouse offering on IFC is "Coffy." Can't wait.

Watching these two movies from the vantage point of 2008 is interesting. In one scene, Majestyk makes a call from a pay phone. On the wall behind him is a poster instructing the gas station owners how to cope with the gas shortages. Are those days returning? Let's hope not. If they do, I'll probably have to open a Netflix account and I'll be sure to put these films and other 1970s gems on my list.

*This is my 100th post, 72 of which are from 2008. Thus, I have fulfilled one of my New Year's resolutions: blog at least 52 times.

Out of the Gutter Magazine Party

This past weekend, at Murder by the Book in Houston, there was an Out of the Gutter magazine event. And it was certainly unique and very fun. Free beer! Roller Derby girls! Practice for the gas siphoning that's already started around the country. Puppet show.

Don't believe me? Take a look at this video from the Houston Chronicle. Oh, and I'm in it, in the background. And check out their website for addition video and pictures.

Best thing I got out of the event was an explanation of the name of the magazine and the philosophy of the magazine. Check out the first video for the answer. I hope to be published in there someday.

Betoj Designs: Vanessa Parker's Art Jewelry

In a bit of shameless spousal promotion, I want to write a short bit about my wife, Vanessa. In 2000, she quit the daily rat-race most of us still run to focus her attention on her own business, Betoj Designs. From her humble beginnings as a beader, she has evolved into a fantastic art jewelry silversmith, if I do say so myself. She has attended classes and honed her skills. Her art jewelry pieces are unique, hand-crafted, and one-of-a-kind. The best thing about owning one of her pieces of art is the knowledge that you own the only one of its kind in the world. Sure, she can make one that resembles your piece, but no one will ever have *your* piece of jewelry. In this age of mass-produced consumables that *everyone* can own, her work is a breath of fresh air.

Vanessa has recently joined forces with a fellow artist, Jan Locander, a glass artist. The finished pieces are beautiful. In June, Vanessa was the featured artist at our old church here in Houston. And, sometime this year, she will be on HGTV's "That's Clever" show. Check out her website for some great jewelry and, of course, the definition of the word "Betoj." You'll laugh. Believe me.

Book Review: The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain

Even before I started this pilgrimage to learn more about crime fiction, I knew the name James M. Cain. Didn’t really know why, but I did. And I knew his two major works: The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity. I have only seen the latter and will soon see the former. Ironically, earlier this spring, my wife watched Mildred Piece. I chose not to watch it only later learning that Cain wrote that one, too. Small world. Guess the crime fiction gods were trying to tell me to read Cain.

Late last year, I bought Otto Penzler’s excellent The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps. (Go to NPR for a great interview with Penzler.) and Cain is represented in, of course, the Villains section. But Audible.com had an audiobook of The Postman Always Rings Twice (TPART) so I started there. Oh, and for as bad as the reader was for The Switch, it was a 180-degree turn with Cain’s book. None other than Stanley Tucci read this book and it’s a testament to the power of a good reader. Tucci could have read the phone book and I’d listen.

In good pulp tradition, TPART starts right off with Frank, the handsome drifter, being thrown off a truck on which he had been sleeping. This was 1934, the depths of the Depression, and Frank was coming back to California from the border. Even those simple facts are enough to intrigue the reader. Soon, Frank shows up at a gas station/café and meets Nick Papadakis, the owner. Then, Frank sees Nick’s wife, Cora. I have a three-novel anthology of these three books. Chapter 1 of TPART is two pages long, less really because of the white space. But that’s all Cain needed to set up the entire story. Genius. I, the sometimes long-winded flowery writer envies this type of streamlined storytelling.

(Side note: In this modern world of ours, especially in the aftermath of 9/11 where we can be overly suspicious of anyone, I marvel at the fact that Nick hired Frank on the spot. I know the 1930s were a different time but holy cow! Nick didn’t know a thing about Frank. Guess Nick should have asked for some references.)

Soon, Frank and Cora get together and the inevitable happens. Two things surprised me as I went along with Tucci’s wonder reading. One, after Frank and Cora are arrested, Cain has a defense lawyer go to great lengths to get them out of jail. It happens and Cain describes it in intricate detail. This type of legal hair-splitting is foreshadowing for Double Indemnity. But the book was only 2/3 finished. What, I thought, could come next?

On the dust jacket, it reads that TPART ‘shocked and riveted the American public’ back in 1934. I have to confess that it shocked me, too, here in 2008. There is a death scene and you don’t see it coming. Sure, you might guess that it’s likely, but not from the source. And the graphic details of the death scene are pretty shocking: dripping blood that one character first mistakes for rain. Shoot! That’s graphic imagery.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Postman Always Rings Twice. And I look forward to reading more Cain, especially the shorter work scattered around. The hunt for these stories will be fun.

What I Learned As A Writer: The story is told in first person, like all good classic pulp crime novels. You really get inside the character’s head and thoughts. There’s an immediacy to it that I like. But, by the end, you actually get the fourth wall knocked down. You realize that the character actually ‘wrote’ the book. Those endings are cool.

Second, the death scene, especially the ‘raining blood’ image. In looking at the printed page, the death scene is only one paragraph. Cain does not go on and on with graphic details. He is terse almost to a fault. But he allows the reader to fill in the gaps. Too often, I think modern writing spends too much time filling in those gaps. I am a fan of allowing the reader to complete the writer’s images. Cain does it very well. I hope I can come close.

Book Review: The Switch by Elmore Leonard

As many regular readers have come to notice, this blog has somewhat evolved into my self-education into the world of crime fiction. One of the giants of that field is Elmore Leonard. As weird as some of you may think this is, I have only started reading Leonard in the last decade. As such, I have nearly an entire oeuvre to read. And it’s an enticing thought.

Up until now, the bulk of my Leonard readings have been with the Webster family. I read Cuba Libre out of the blue soon after it first came out. Good story but I didn’t pursue any other books. I knew who Leonard was, of course. Get Shorty was a great movie as was Out of Sight. Didn’t like Jackie Brown when it came out because I wanted from Quentin Tarrentino Pulp Fiction 2. That was not what Jackie Brown was about.

Jump to earlier this year—when I have become more interested in Leonard’s works—and I learned that the author himself thinks Jackie Brown one of the best adaptations of one of his novels. Hmm, I thought, better give the movie another chance. I did, liked it much better this time around. And I also learned about the earlier novel The Switch which was an earlier adventure with Ordell and Louis. (BTW, I think Leonard’s penchant for going back and writing new adventures with old characters is quite cool.) It was easy to envision Samuel L. Jackson, Robert DeNiro, and Bridget Fonda in these earlier roles.

The Switch (1979) doesn’t suffer too much from its age. Sure, characters have to use pay phones with stacks of quarters for long-distance calls, but mainly, it could have taken place in 2008. As I have mentioned in other reviews, I couldn’t help but come to The Switch with some expectations and pre-conceived notions. The chief one was “Oh, this is an Elmore Leonard crime novel. Bet it’ll be funny.” Nope. Someone else will have to let me know when Leonard went from what I think of as straight crime novels to the funnier, hipper ones of his later career. The Switch was not one of those.

But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t bad. It was good, just not great. The book started off really slow and the reader didn’t help. In fact, the reader nearly made me not want to read the book at all. I found a paperback copy and picked it up just in case the reader was too insufferable. He was close.

By the end of the story (giving away nothing because, hey, the same folks show up in Rum Punch, the novel on which Jackie Brown was based) I liked how certain characters reacted to each other. And the ending was something foretold by the cover art on the audiobook. I’ll admit I liked the book, didn’t love it though. In fact, of the Leonard books I have read to date (Valdez is Coming, Hombre, Cuba Libre, The Hot Kid, Up in Honey’s Room), I like it the least. Of these, The Hot Kid and the two westerns are the best.

But the best thing about coming to an author who has written around forty books or so is that I have so many more to get to. I know Leonard’s next book will have come characters from earlier books so next up on my Leonard reading list will be those books. But I’ll be reading a few other things first.

Question #1 for anyone who knows: does Mickey show up in a later book?

Question #2 for anyone who knows: when did Elmore Leonard shift to the more comedic books he is now known for?

What I Learned As A Writer: I appreciate Leonard’s multiple POV structure. It really helps the reader along by giving us just the pieces we need to move the story forward. That structure also propels the reader to want to read more, always a good thing. But what I personally didn’t like was multiple-POV switches within the same scene. It’s a bit jarring. I prefer to stick with one POV in a scene, have a break, then you can switch. To me, it’s easier for the reader...and isn't that why we write books anyway?

My lack of recent posts

My apologies to readers of this blog. I've been away the past couple of weeks. My family and I went to San Diego for a week (Legoland was a highlight) and, after I got back, I started doing something I had let atrophy: write. I have now jumpstarted the writing of Justice in H-Town and I'm going strong. Ironically, in light of my review of Elmore Leonard's The Switch, I am actually writing the way Leonard writes his novels: by hand, pen and ink. It's a nice experience.

But expect more frequent posts from now on. And I thank your continued patience.