Blogpourri: Part III

Ah yes, "Blogpourri: Part III." And just like Al Pacino and Silvio from "The Sopranos," just when you thought you were out...I'll pull you back in. Of course, unlike "The Godfather: Part III," it won't take up over two hours of your time and there will be no critics savaging Sofia Coppola here.

Since I opened this posting with a crime reference, let's kick this off with the most relentless crime fighter this side of Batman and the most tenacious detective this side of Inspector Jalvert, Bubs. Bubs has hit the big time with Arresting Tales! We're talking about a blogger being sponsored by the Chicago Tribune's Media Company and Joe Bubs shows you what life is like from his side of the badge. Believe you me, it's not all about taking your sunglasses off and making inane quips, à la David Caruso.

Next, I give you Quin, and I give you Veronica. Two writers that in the original vernacular, "school me on a regular basis." Unlike most of us who put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, their writing evolves and improves with every piece.

First, just as this blog was originally designed to be, Quin has all of her published online work one one blog. It's all Quin, all the time, with better quality overall than Video On Demand, and unlike the cable companies, she won't put a dent in your wallet.

Next, after a two week-hiatus, Veronica is back. Two weeks is too long, but hey, I won't complain if she follows it up with a post every two days (please?).

Mental Wall

For some reason, right around 5:45 this morning, I hit a mental wall.

Be assured, as physics dictates, the wall will always win.

Blogpourri Redux

Corey Wilde's interview with David Zeltserman is here and it is a must read for fans, and non-fans of crime fiction. We're talking not only his books, but a nice little foray into the publishing world. My favorite excerpt-

It’s also interesting that publishers have no problem publishing subversive dark books if they’re labeled literary, such as what Chuck Palahniuk’s been writing. It’s only when the books are labeled mystery/crime that they blanch at this and don’t trust their readers with anything other than what they consider safe books.

I just read Palahniuk's "Snuff" last week and I couldn't agree with him more.

The King is dead, long live The King. If you missed Paul D Brazill's (a.k.a. Sir Paulie Decibels deHartlepool) "Swamplands" on Flashshot, A Twist of Noir has reissued it.

Last but not least, The Missus has created two-

new


necklaceseseses, necklai?*




*I know, I know, "necklaces."

Blogpourri Time

My friend, author, animator and illustrator Stephanie Olivieri has joined blogdom, with I'm Just Saying. Please drop on by place and welcome her to the Blogosphere.

For Bubs? What could've been. Nick Cave has allegedly wrote a great sequel script to "Gladiator" and Russell Crowe was all for it, but the studios nixed the deal. I'll say this; Nick Cave wrote the best damn Australian western I have ever seen in "The Proposition," and it could've been just as easy to make the movie about Maximus's brother.

Gary Dobbs is on Crimewav this week, reading Rhondda Noir.

Last, but not least; tomorrow, Corey Wilde will be interviewing David Zeltserman, the author of "Pariah." Corey's review had convinced me to put "Pariah" on my October TBR pile.

Katie Schwartz, I presume

Becker and Fagen got it wrong, Katie didn't lie, she merely changed blogging engines.

No, you're still not listening, it was Elvis that left the building, Katie is still here.

Now everything you wanted to know about Farmhouse editor, author extraordinaire, fighter of evil, and my best online for forever, Katie Schwartz, is at a new blogging address at http://katieschwartz.wordpress.com. That's http://katieschwartz.wordpress.com/, please make a note of it.

Dave Eggers Says Don't Give Up Hope

In the Book Bench section in the online version of The New Yorker Magazine, Dave Eggers has a message to writers, publishers and readers...don't give up hope.

To any of you who are feeling down, and saying, “Oh, no one’s reading anymore”: Walk into 826 (Valencia) on any afternoon. There are no screens there, it’s all paper, it’s all students working shoulder to shoulder invested in their work, writing down something, thinking their work might get published. They put it all on the page, and they think, “Well, if this person who works next to me cares so much about what I’m writing, and they’re going to publish it in their next anthology or newspaper or whatever, then I’m going to invest so much more in it.” And then meanwhile, they’re reading more than I did at their age. …

Nothing has changed! The written word—the love of it and the power of the written word—it hasn’t changed. It’s a matter of fostering it, fertilizing it, not giving up on it, and having faith.

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream At Sp*m, Because It's Obscene

I'm not going to tell sp*mmers how to improve their sp*m, but I will say this...


...putting, "I am very urgently waiting for your response" in the email's title, will not win me over. It is not the email equivalent of flowers, dinner and a movie; it's just not doing it for me. It is the email equivalent of picking a flower out of my neighbor's front yard, because you are too cheap to even buy those wilted, moldering discount supermarket flowers with the price tag still attached.

I tell you what, Mister or Missus Too Lazy To Use Grammar Check? I myself, am "very urgently waiting" to be recognized as a literary tour de force, and "I am very urgently waiting to win the lotto." If either of these come through for me? Well, I will "very urgently," actually answer your sp*m and send you $1,000, no questions asked.

Please note that I will choose the denomination, which will most likely be, the rustiest, crustiest and greenest pennies I can find. Please also note that these funds will arrive at your destination in a heavy duty chest that is chained and crossed chained, with locks that have been welded shut. Finally, note that this $1,000 will be promptly conveyed to you, after you deposit fifteen thousand U.S. Dollars into my bank account. Just because I will be either rich or famous, or hopefully some wonderful combination of both, doesn't mean I'm picking up the tab.

Sp*mmers? I very urgently await your response.


Yours truly,

Cormac "S.O.B." Brown

"So Deaf" Is On Powder Burn Flash

My story "So Deaf" was just posted on Powder Burn Flash.com this morning and this story is bitter sweet for me. The stalwart station of San Francisco Bay Area jazz, KKSF has shut down the terrestrial station and now its presence will be strictly online. Though I haven't listened to the station as much as a I used to, it was still my main non-classical music refuge when I was driving.

Until last year, they had the "Jazz Cafe" on Sunday nights, which was a link to KJAZ in both spirit and in the audio flesh, with a former KJAZ dj running the show. Corporate radio is going to force me by default to switch to Sirius/XM, bastards.

Anyway, the tie-in to my story is that the protagonist is on his way to a jazz club in The Fillmore district here in San Francisco, when he gets a call for assistance. You see, Sgt. Hewitt works with the Gang Suppression Unit and there has just been a shooting not too far from his destination. This my first police procedural, so please, take a look at "So Deaf."

Be assured that like me, my character Sgt. Hewitt had KKSF on his radio before he got the call.

An inside look at Super Editor Katherine Tomlinson via Inside Look Magazine

When she's not putting Astonishing Adventures Magazine together or handling coverage for production companies from virtually every corner of the world, Super Editor Katherine Tomlinson writes as well.

The May/June issue of Inside Look features sacred places and Katherine wrote a wonderful article about Machu Picchu. Go to the bottom left and click "Machu Picchu, Emerald City In The Clouds."

Whatever You Do, Don't Step On "Delete"

When In Shenzhen, whatever you do, do not step on "delete."

Seriously.

Come to think of it, be careful as well who is standing next to you when step on "enter."

Best Of: "A Cool Breeze Licked The Back Of Her Neck"

This will be the last "Best Of" until some time during the summer. It's a quick read about a girl's valiant last stand. Here is "A Cool Breeze Licked The Back Of Her Neck" and as with all of my stories, don't try this at home.

Quoth The Toni Morrison

"If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."

– Toni Morrison


From the Creative Screenwriting Weekly Newsletter

The Missus Has A Pic Of Me On The Web...

...but you're going to have to go to here and blow up the last photo.

And while you at her blog, check out the rest of the photos she did for Associated Content.

That's Me In Corner...

That's me...though that's not...quite...right
Appearing in a Paul D. Brazill story.

Between keeping up with off-season NFL moves, crime fic blogs and my blog roll, I don't get a lot of chances to get over to Gary Dobbs's Tainted Archive, the finest western blog that I know of and in all likelihood, the best ever. This is a shame, because Mr. Dobbs covers both classic and neo westerns with equal passion, while most blogs tend to stick to one or the other. If you are ever on a game show, and you need a phone lifeline concerning western literature or film, Gary has to be your lifeline, period.

So the little "blogs that I'm following" window said that he was featuring guest blogger Paul D. Brazill. I read a little further and it turns out that Mr. Brazill wrote a story and well, you'll just have to read it for yourselves.

"Going To See A Whale About A Man"

The Heist Man commeth, and he has changed careers for the moment. I have a story up at A Twist Of Noir called "Going To See A Whale About A Man." It features the return of The Heist Man and features both, a certain crime author famous on both sides of the pond, and the jewels of America's most famous bimbo.


As I sit down, I notice that Kieran is twice as good as I am at scanning a room. You wouldn’t know that he’s taking everything in, unless you too had pay attention to everything in order to stay out of jail and stay alive. His eyes go to the front door as he raises his beer, and then they go to the bathroom as he puts the glass down. His eyes widen ever-so-slightly as they return to the front door, and that’s tipped me off that something is about to go down.

From their angry mumbling, I’m guessing that they are Vietnamese, but I don’t know Vietnamese from Laotian. I do know that they have guns, because they are doing such a poor job of disguising this fact, that I can see this in the dirty mirrors behind Kieran. I’m screwed because they’ve taken up position behind me, and any move on my part at this time will most likely get me shot. Kieran has his right hand under a napkin on the table and I guarantee that’s not a fork under it.

“Gentlemen, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Kieran lays it on thick, solely for the benefit of the diners. Despite the beer-filled haze, everyone in here seems to have figured out that these guys aren’t here as some kind of new alternate entertainment for a mariachi band. The one behind me with the pink and green gel-covered hair, straight out of an anime, leans over me and puts a gun in my back.


Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you "Going To See A Whale About A Man."

Quoth C.S. Lewis

"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it."

– C.S. Lewis

From the Creative Screenwriting Weekly Newsletter