Friday, April 16, 2010

Duke it Out


Like I mentioned over at Ransom Notes, tax time is always a sobering ordeal for me. I look at the paltry sum I've collected in the last year and think, I worked harder than that, didn't I? There's been a lot of discussion in the last week or two around the publication of Needle magazine and the notion that writers ought to get paid. Lots of folks have weighed in with their opinions and now crime stylist Jason Duke has whipped out his check book to put his money where your words are. He's set up a fiction contest that will pay the top two positions and get your work viewed by a couple top agents - Stacia Decker and David Hale Smith, (representing Allan Guthrie, Seth Harwood, Scott Wolven and Scott Phillips, Vicki Hendricks, Sean Doolittle respectively - those lists go on and on btw). So, got something to prove? Good opportunity, me thinks.

Speaking of So, Gerald So is the editor of a curious publication - The Lineup - poems on crime recently published their third edition featuring the likes of Patti Abbott, Reed Farrel Coleman, James W. Hall and more. I'm not much of a poetry guy, but I've enjoyed reading these, (and having to treat them as prose - sorry poets) little glimpses of crime from all angles. My favorite title in there? Decomposing Women. There are also some really nice cops' eye view of minor mayhem that are nicely put.

One writer risen through the online pulp ranks nicely is Jordan Harper who is now a writer on The Mentalist and I tune in to check out his episodes every time. Next week is his final penned episode of the season. I'll be there checking it out and plotting ways to make his talents work for me. He's been awful busy with paying work lately and hasn't kept up the fiction output like he did a few years ago, but the anthology Blood, Guts and Whiskey comes out in about six weeks and features one of my favorite stories of his Red Hair, Black Leather. (My own story Mahogany & Monogamy will also appear - order one)

Another online-pulp pal and anthology mate, Greg Bardsley has good news too. His story Crazy Larry Smells Bacon that originally appeared in Plots With Guns is making its way into print this year in the anthology By Hook or by Crook edited by Ed Goreman and Martin Greenberg.

Saw release dates for the two most highly anticipated films of the year for me and wouldn't you know it, they're separated by a mere one week. Winters Bone, Debra Granik's adaptation of Daniel Woodrell's novel comes out in June, and The Killer Inside Me, Michael Winterbottom taking on Jim Thompson is seven days later.

June is gonna be a busy month. It's kicking off here in St. Louis with Suspense Night at the library with Scott Phillips, Reed Farrel Coleman, John Lutz and Gabriel Cohen. The next evening, Scott and I are pleased to have wrangled Laura Benedict and Pinckney Benedict to town for a Noir at the Bar event, (still not an official announcement - but save the date already) and not to be outdone, the next evening the library brings in Richard Russo, novelist and screenwriter par excellent.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Damn, Noir@B3 is looking solid. That would be cool if Reed was able to stick around for it? And Russo, that going to be a great appearance.