Get Together Now

September 3rd, 2013 by Max Allan Collins

Last week Barb and I met with Ed and Carol Gorman and Bob Randisi and Marthayn Pelegrimas for one of our periodic get-togethers at a restaurant in the toursity/rustic Amana Colonies. Every one of us is a published writer, though the “girls” tend to gather at one end of the table (after a family-style repast) and the “boys” at the other. Too bad both ends of the table aren’t recorded secretly, because the conversation is quick and funny and very “inside baseball.”

Ed and Bob are my two oldest and best friends in publishing (not counting collaborators). We were all three involved in the creation of MYSTERY SCENE magazine (me the least – I was the movie reviewer there, serving in that capacity for almost a decade….Being in at the beginning and helping mold MYSTERY SCENE has not led me to a cover story there, more’s the pity). What a pleasure spending time with working writers, discussing the current ever-shifting state of publishing. Anecdotes of recent and fairly ancient vintage got shared, and all of us – with large backlist catalogues – are seeking various ways to get our stuff back out there. Mostly it’s e-book-driven, of course.

Speaking of Ed, he later e-mail interviewed Barb for his terrific blog, and Barb is very hard to nail down for that sort of thing, so enjoy.

Otherwise a slow week for M.A.C. news/attention on the web, with the exception of this very nice WHAT DOESN’T KILL HER review.

On Labor Day (today, as I write this), Matt Clemens came down to deliver some materials on the in-progress thriller, SUPREME JUSTICE. We also explored possible new thrillers and discussed the possibility of publishing an expanded version of our long-out-of-print short story collection, MY LOLITA COMPLEX.

It’s been a while since I commented on movies here, so let me give you a very brief rundown on what Barb and I have seen lately:

Les Daniels’ THE BUTLER – a mess, but fun, unless you are an Obama hater.

ELYSIUM – a mess but no fun. We walked out.

THE WORLD’S END – a wonderfully funny, quirky Brit beerfest and a perfect conclusion to the trilogy that also includes SHAUN OF THE DEAD and HOT FUZZ. I met Simon Pegg and Nick Frost at Comic-Con a few years ago and they were swell blokes.

M.A.C.

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5 Responses to “Get Together Now”

  1. Tim Field says:

    You keep good company. I’m enjoying Randisi’s Rat Pack series. I have Gorman’s Sam McCain series cued up in my to-read pile. You’ve all struck paydirt with historical detective fiction.

  2. mr1take says:

    Will Stacy Ketch be doing the Weeds audiobook?

  3. Frank says:

    Max,
    Books a Million has a book listed by you called ” Flower for the Butcher ” and states it came out in May of this year, but it is not available . Any more info on this one ? Thanks.

  4. Stacy is set to record WEEDS, but hasn’t done it yet. Book isn’t out for some time.

    I don’t know what FLOWER FOR THE BUTCHER is — a mangling of BUTCHER’S DOZEN?

  5. jigjeg says:

    Flower for the Butcher is listed on Amazon and lots of other sites. Some sites even have a price and shipping. It also states that it was published in August 1957. So go figure, lol.