Posts Tagged ‘Mike Hammer’

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Los Angeles/Orange

Friday, August 26th, 2011

We were booked into a hotel in Beverly Hills, which is very swanky and great and everything, but Orange is fifty miles away. We had just enough time to swing up to Book Soup (one of the great bookstores anywhere) on Sunset to see what eclectic wonders were on display. Among the latter were two Hard Case Crime racks, with a lot of my stuff face out. In addition, they had copies of BYE BYE, BABY and KISS HER GOODBYE on their shelves. I introduced myself, and wound up dealing with several nice (and seemingly impressed) staffers who had me sign everything. This is about as hip a bookstore as mankind has yet produced, so I was pleased.

We freshened up at the hotel and hit the road — it took an hour and forty-five minutes to get to Orange in traffic that seemed otherworldly to mere Iowans. I was skeptical about Book Carnival, because it had been one of the really superior mystery bookstores but reflected the vision of its original owner, who passed away a while back. Surely the new owner couldn’t maintain that special vibe…but current owner Ann Saller has really pulled it off. The store is stocked with new books and tons of fantastic used books; lots of signed books like the Maureen Jennings “Murdoch” title I snagged for under $20. A clean, brightly-lit store filled with treasures. She served up food and drink for the capacity crowd, who brought tons of books for me to sign and just as many questions. Barb again presented “Barbara Allan” in a funny, real manner that got any number of ANTIQUES books sold, and we sold stacks of BYE BYE, BABY. The people were so nice and warm and knowledgeable, I thought I might be hallucinating.

I also learned that Brandi and Jerrod, my two favorite stars on my new favorite show, “Storage Wars,” have their thrift shop just down the street from Book Carnival. I did not get to stop in and brag about my pal Phil Dingeldein being the guy who shoots “Pickers” back in the Midwest…but maybe we can do a dual promo thing when the next Barbara Allan comes out — ANTIQUES DISPOSAL, dealing with storage-unit auctions!

Three bookstores in three days…and three home runs. Tomorrow: M IS FOR MYSTERY in San Mateo. I have never signed at a bookstore in the San Francisco area, so I am hopeful.

M.A.C.

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Spillane/Collins Nominated

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

The Mike Hammer short story “A Long Time Dead” (published in the Strand) has been nominated for a Private Eye Writers of America “Shamus” award. This is me working from a Hammer fragment by Mickey and developing it into a short story. Beyond the half dozen substantial manuscripts in the Spillane files, another ten or so shorter fragments provide the makings of short stories or even novels. The current Hammer radio novel, ENCORE FOR MURDER, was developed form a one-page novel outline in the files.

BYE BYE, BABY has received a lot of attention on the web over the last week or so, but nowhere more generously that in the cyber pages of January Magazine, and it’s all due to J. Kingston Pierce, who is rapidly becoming a major figure in mystery/crime criticism.

First, the book was the Pierce pick of the week, plus the “front page” of the magazine highlighted that pick with a mini-article, then Pierce used extra material from his Kirkus blog to do a BYE BYE, BABY interview.

The interview the latter was culled from came from a Kirkus blog interview about BYE BYE, BABY and Heller that also went up last week.

I also did a BYE BYE, BABY piece for the Romantic Times blog.

And the ubiquitous (and controversial) Helen Klausner has given BYE BYE, BABY a favorable review.

Our one-week West Coast tour is now under way (check above for cities and bookstores and other pertinent info) and I will be doing brief daily updates.

By the way, LADY, GO DIE! – the first of the Titan “Mike Hammer” novels – has been completed and submitted.

M.A.C.

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Hi, Hi Baby

Tuesday, August 16th, 2011
Bye Bye Baby

Today (Aug. 16) is the publication date of the first Heller in almost a decade (but you knew that): BYE BYE, BABY. All I ask is that everybody reading this buy 25 copies and ship them to friends (or strangers if necessary).

The audio book is also available, and is the first of a new series from Brilliance that will present every single Nate Heller novel – and the two short story collections – in new audio presentations. This is exciting news, at least for me, and these audio presentations will tie in with the new trade-paperback/e-book reprint series of the complete Nathan Heller Memoirs from Amazon/Encore.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: I will be doing daily updates while Barb and I are on the road the next week’s whirlwind West Coast Tour for our bouncing BABY (see tour schedule above).

This will be a busy week around the Collins household. Barb and I are preparing for the tour, which also will be promoting “Barbara Allan” and other projects, like Hard Case Crime titles and ongoing Mike Hammer projects. And (speaking of Hammer) I will be continuing a crazy work schedule to complete LADY, GO DIE! before we leave next Monday.

Also this week, Barb and I have our 45th high school reunion and of course Crusin’ is playing for that, this coming Saturday night. The band will have a monster rehearsal this week picking up even more ‘60s material for that very special gig.

There are a few nice MAC mentions that have popped up in the last week or so on the Net. Here, for instance, is a cool discussion of Chicago crime that talks about the movie and book, ROAD TO PERDITION, liking both but liking the latter more.

The New York Post has included BYE BYE, BABY on a “required reading” list.

This blog entry – again from the Ed who isn’t Gorman – has smart things to say about Mickey Spillane and Mike Hammer, and a particularly insightful look at the film KISS ME DEADLY. Ed Who Is Not Gorman also highly recommends my documentary on the Criterion release.

There’s a very nice overview of the hardboiled/noir genre in multi-parts that includes Nate Heller and me. But the whole series is good, with insightful comments about Mickey and Hammer.

You’ll have to scroll down to find it (or just read your way down, because it’s a good blog), but here’s a nice review of the upcoming QUARRY’S EX.

M.A.C.

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Lady Goes Live

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011

I am beginning the writing of LADY GO, DIE! today. The prep for this one has been extensive, as this is only Spillane manuscript that dates to the early period of the Mike Hammer books. In fact, you can’t get any earlier than this – the 20,000 word partial manuscript was probably written in 1947, shortly after I, THE JURY. That makes it the second Hammer novel.

By way of prep, I have been reading – and marking up like a school boy getting ready for the big test – large-print copies of I, THE JURY, MY GUN IS QUICK and THE TWISTED THING. The latter – published in 1966 but written before the official second Hammer, MY GUN IS QUICK – is particularly instructive, because it uses the same smalltown setting (fictional Sidon on Long Island) and has a few shared characters. Some of the latter will require me changing character names. Readers of THE TWISTED THING may recall the vividly rendered small-town cop/thug Dilwick. He appears prominently in LADY GO, DIE!, but will appear (unfortunately – because “Dilwick” is a wonderful, typically Spillane moniker) – under a different name in the finished novel.

Interest in the new Spillane/Hammer novels, to be published by Titan, was high on the net this week. Most of the write-ups are reworkings of the original New York Times piece.

This nice article, however, comes out of a phone interview I did, and it’s worth checking out.

In the meantime, the buzz about Harrison Ford as Wyatt Earp (in BLACK HATS) continues, apparently unslowed by the somewhat disappointing opening of Ford and Daniel Craig’s COWBOYS & ALIENS. They tied with the SMURFS. Too bad it wasn’t one movie, because that would have been more interesting, probably, than either existing film – COWBOYS & SMURFS? I’m there.

M.A.C.

Cowboys & Aliens

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