Friday, January 14, 2011

This Just In...


Sorry for the info dump, but for those of you who have lives and haven't been following me on Tweeter or don't religiously visit the This Just In... portion of The Thrilling Detective Web Site, I thought I'd re-post some of my recent ramblings and stray thoughts...

Sad news to report. Joe Gores, the Edgar-winning creator of the astounding DKA series, and the man behind Spade & Archer, Interface, Hammett, Cases and a slew of other great detective and crime fiction, both in print and on television, passed away a few days ago. I had the chance to meet him a few years back, in a bar at Bouchercon, and we killed a little time while we waited for our wives. He was charming and gracious, and a full-tilt storyteller 24/7. He will be missed.

Joe Gores passes away, and a new short story by his hero is discovered. "So I Shot Him" by Dashiell Hammett is scheduled to be published in the Winter/Spring issue of The Strand Magazine.

New Law Passed by United Nations
Unanimously, in fact. Joe Pike and Jack Reacher are prohibited by international law from being in same time zone simultaneously. Something about disrupting the time/space/testosterone continuum, evidently...

Good News! The suits at NBC have decided to pass (for now) on the "reimagining" of America's most beloved private eye, and a grateful nation heaves a collective sigh of relief. But we're not out of the soup yet. Last year's unaired pilot, starring Dermot Mulroney and scripted by "House" creator David Shore wasn't picked up, but it's still kicking around, and while NBC has dropped plans to rework it, it may be only temporary. I'm sorry, but given how popular the original series was, and how respected and admired James Garner is, remaking this series would be like NBC pissing on a whole country. Don't do it, NBC! Remake something that was crappy to begin with. Or -- gosh! -- come up with a NEW idea.

It sounds sexier than it is, but still... By the way, her new Tess Monaghan novella The Girl in the Green Raincoat is now out: as neat as reworking of Rear Window as I've seen, and about as respectful and graceful an exit as an author could give a beloved character, if Lippman decides to let Tess go. Although I hope she doesn't.


Okay, "private eye" might be a little bit of a stretch, but insurance investigator Ralph Henderson, who appeared in the 1862 serial The Notting Hill Mystery, which predates The Moonstone, Lecoq and Sherlock Holmes himself, sure qualifies as a private detective. In fact, I'm so jazzed by this one that I've done a new cover!

The Pulp/Noir issue of India's Tehelka Magazine is now available online featuring stories, videos and all sorts of goodies. And let's face it, where else are you going to read lines like this one from "Damsel in Distress" by Siddharta Chowdbury: "the girl sitting diagonally opposite me at Pindi Sweet House in Kilokri near Maharani Bagh had tits that would delight even the great Jogen Chowdhury." Hey, I read 'em all.

How the Hell did I miss this? One of the pitfalls of my wilderness year is how much flew right by me. Anyway, it looks like plenty of folks have rushed in to pick up the slack since we dropped fiction at Thrilling Detective. One of the very best I've seen is Needle, an honest-to-God-damn print magazine, which bills itself as "a magazine of noir." Many of the contributors will be familiar to readers here, including old pals like Ray Banks, Kieran Shea, Patti Abbott, Dave Zeltserman, Sandra Seamans, Sarah Weinman, Stephen Blackmoore, Anthony Neil Smith, Libby Cudmore and Graham Powell. Check it out!

Because the Night Belongs to Gumshoes?
In the December 26's New York Times, columnist Maureen Dowd talks of rocker Patti Smith's passion for "writing detective novels." Evidently, something about the writing of the National Book award-winning Just Kids has evidently unlocked Smith's inner Mike Hammer? Stay tuned...

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home