From Huff Post to Penthouse

May 15th, 2012 by Max Allan Collins
Barnes and Noble Davenport Signing 2012
Barnes and Noble Davenport Signing 2012

Lots of nice readers stopped by to chat and buy a book or two (or more) at our book-signing at the Davenport Barnes & Noble Sunday afternoon. The store got in lots of interesting titles besides LADY, GO DIE! and ANTIQUES DISPOSAL – all of the Quarry Hard Case Crime titles, all of the Eliot Ness “Speaking Volumes” trade paperback reprints, among other titles. The hardcovers of BYE BYE, BABY and ANTIQUES KNOCK-OFF are there, too. We signed all the stock. We are not doing a major tour, so if you want signed books, you can contact Paul at CRM2970@bn.com. He’ll help you out.

I am not writing an in-depth Update this week because there is plenty to read about me and by me right now as my Internet “tour” continues to generate lots of web attention.

Of the interviews I’ve done, the standout is (not surprisingly) by Jeff Pierce of The Rap Sheet, who really went in depth about the writing process behind LADY, GO DIE!

The big flashy, splashy appearance was an article with slide show I did at Huffington Post on the game-changing detectives. Be sure to read the comments to see how many “readers” don’t bother to read what they’re commenting on.

Here’s a brief behind-the-scenes article by me followed by an excerpt from LADY, GO DIE!

The Playlist did an interesting, mostly favorable review of LADY, GO DIE! that got picked up all over the place.

The Criminal Element posted an essay I wrote for them discussing “noir” as the replacement word of “hardboiled.”

George Kelly briefly, nicely discussed LADY, GO DIE! as a “forgotten book.” Well, it was forgotten by Mickey….

In the midst of the Spillane flurry, Bill Crider posted a great review of ANTIQUES DISPOSAL. Bill’s site remains my favorite in the mystery field, even when he isn’t reviewing me.

I wrote a brief blog on the Mike Hammer movies for Destroy the Brain. For the complete story, take advantage of the Barnes & Noble huge discount on the just-published MICKEY SPILLANE ON SCREEN by Jim Traylor and me.

Here’s another nice LADY, GO DIE! review from Daily Rotation.

Finally, check out this month’s Penthouse – Mike Hammer is mentioned on the cover, and LADY, GO DIE! gets an excerpt with cool art on the inside. Yes, you should read it for the articles and the fiction…like I do.

M.A.C.

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Current Deals

May 8th, 2012 by Nathan Collins

There are a lot of promotions going on right now, so I thought I’d collect them all in one post:

MICKEY SPILLANE ON SCREEN, a complete study of the television and film adaptations of Mike Hammer, from academic press McFarland, can be snagged at Barnes and Noble for 33% off, or $30.37. The tome was slated for a September 2012 release, but Max received his copies today, and McFarland’s online store lists the book as shipping now.

Two Nathan Hellers, TRUE CRIME and THE MILLION DOLLAR WOUND are both on sale on the Amazon Kindle store. TRUE CRIME is $1.99, with the end of sale unknown, and THE MILLION DOLLAR WOUND is also $1.99 through the end of May.

THE GOLIATH BONE, the chronologically last Mike Hammer, and the first by Mickey Spillane and M.A.C., is still a steal for the Kindle at $1.85.

QUARRY and QUARRY’S VOTE are discounted on the Kindle store, with the QUARRY $1.99 sale and QUARRY’S VOTE $1.99 sale extended until the end of May.

The QUARRY trade paperback is also 35% off, this week only, when purchased directly from Perfect Crime’s printer, Create Space. The entire Nolan series is also 20% off through the end of the month, and the deals can be combined in one order to save on shipping. Just add both codes below separately to your cart. At 20% off, orders of two or more will beat Amazon, and the more you buy, the better the deal. I suggest all of them, of course.

Nolan series 20% off code: LX2E2WBF

QUARRY 35% off code: 62LHK8WT

Create Space Links: QUARRY | FLY PAPER | HUSH MONEY | SCRATCH FEVER | SPREE | MOURN THE LIVING

And don’t forget to check out LADY, GO DIE!, the lost sequel to I, THE JURY, and ANTIQUES DISPOSAL, the newest Trash ‘n’ Treasures cozy from Barbara Allan. Both are in stores now!

Continue below for this week’s post from M.A.C.

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The Weird Ways of the Net

May 8th, 2012 by Max Allan Collins

For yet another week, I spent much of my time on a sort of internet tour for LADY, GO DIE! (out this week). Later in this update, I will provide links to various pieces I’ve written and interviews I’ve given. How odd it is, to be doing most of my promo on the web – not in book stores or even on TV or radio.

On the other hand, I should note that Barb and I have a book signing this coming Saturday, May 12, at Barnes & Noble in Davenport, Iowa, from 1 p.m. to 3. This is the first signing for both ANTIQUES DISPOSAL and LADY, GO DIE! It’s at North Park Mall, 320 W. Kimberly Road, Davenport, IA 52806.

But isn’t the internet weird? Sometimes wonderfully so. For decades, I wondered and even searched for Ennis Willie, author of the Sand novels that had (along with Richard Stark’s Parker series) inspired me as a teenage writer, in particular Nolan, the series Perfect Crime has recently reprinted in trade paperback. Then one day, out of the blue, I hear from Ennis Willie himself – neither a penname nor an African American (both had been speculated) – in my e-mail box. Since then, he was published two collections of his “Sand shockers” and I have written introductions to both.

Now I’m about to share with you an e-mail and my response. It comes from Ennis Willie’s 1960s editor at Merit Books. When I was 15 I wrote this gentleman, asking him if he’d look at my first novel, without telling him my age (the book was called The Gray Flannel Thugs). He said he’d look at the book. Meanwhile, forty-eight years later, this turned up in my e-mail box:

Max -

As an old man now, I was thinking about fiction I had enjoyed and Ennis Willie popped into my head. Wondered if he had written anything lately. Picked up “A Sand Shocker” from Amazon. Was surprised to see my name in it at least four times. Also, your editor used the short stories I had Willie do for Rascal. He never wrote any before I came onboard.

If you are interested, I might be able to fill you in on some of the Camerarts details. Although not there from the beginning, I did spend four years there.

Lastly, I was/am a big Dark Angel fan. Liked very much what you did on Before the Dawn. You’ve come a long way, baby.

Cheers,

Tony Licata

This was my somewhat astonished response:

Dear Tony –

How amazing to hear from you.

You have the honor of being the only editor who rejected me who I look back on fondly and with gratitude.

As you may recall, I had my parents drive me to your office in Chicago to deliver my first novel manuscript in person. I was, I believe, 15.

You wrote me a very long, helpful, encouraging editorial letter, and when I tried a novelette for Rascal, you responded with a similarly long and helpful letter. You didn’t have to do that. Hard to know just how much you aided me in my career at that very important juncture.

I wound up writing four novels in high school, and then the novel I wrote in community college (Mourn the Living) — very much a Sand imitation — got me into the undergrad Writers Workshop at Iowa City. Richard Yates, author of Revolutionary Road, was my instructor and mentor. The next two books I wrote sold before I got out of grad school, and that community college novel eventually got published, as well.

How odd and sweetly strange it is that you read one of my DARK ANGEL novels as a reader and not an editor. Somehow that’s the greatest compliment of all. I’d love to send a few other books of mine, not based on anybody else’s concepts, to show you how really far I’ve come.

Thank you for getting in touch with me, and thank you for the time you spent with an enthusiastic kid from Iowa, who was writing sex scenes long before he ever had any. Of course, I never did shoot anybody, either, and I’m still writing about that….

Warmly,

Max

* * *

I wrote a very in-depth piece about the process of putting LADY, GO DIE! and the other “lost” Hammer novels together for Lit Reactor.

Here’s a well-conducted interview about LADY, GO DIE! at Slacker Heroes.

The Slacker Heroes interviewer also did this nifty review of the book.

Another nice interview with lots of comics images can be found at CBR’s fun site.

MTV.com asked me to rate my top ten crime comics.

Flavorwire wanted a beginner’s guide to crime fiction, and I chose these ten books.

Finally, Criminal Element presented an excerpt from LADY, GO DIE!, but you won’t need to read that, will you? Since you’re going to buy the book this week….

M.A.C.

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New Edition Nolan Trade Paperbacks 20% Off

May 3rd, 2012 by Nathan Collins

To celebrate the new editions of heist artist Nolan’s adventures, Perfect Crime Books is offering a 20% discount through the end of May when ordering straight from the printer’s secure store at createspace.com. Each book comes with a new introduction from Max (aside from Mourn the Living, which includes the intro from the Five Star Press run). For me, shipping on one book came out to be around $3.50, and was only a couple dollars more for an order of all six, so the deal is better the more you buy.

Click on the covers below and enter the following code at checkout:

LX2E2WBF

For the maxallancollins.com book pages:
Fly Paper | Hush Money | Hard Cash | Scratch Fever | Spree | Mourn the Living

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