Ace Atkins short story nominated for the Edgar!

We are very excited to announce that Ace Atkins's original Nick Travers tale, "Last Fair Deal Gone Down," -- published for the first time in Busted Flush Press's reprint of the first Travers novel, Crossroad Blues -- has been nominated for the 2010 Edgar Award for Best Short Story! He's in good company, with Dana Cameron, Jim Fusilli, Dennis Lehane, and Luis Alberto Urrea. (Find the complete list of Edgar nominations here.)

We wish Ace lots of luck! Be sure to keep an eye on where Ace will be signing his new historical crime novel, Infamous (Putnam; April), about Machine Gun Kelly & his wife... he'll post the tour soon here.

And here's something interesting... there are three Edgar Award streaks of three in effect this year:

John Hart -- Three straight books up for Edgar!
The King of Lies -- Edgar Award nominee for Best First Novel (2007)
Down River -- Edgar Award winner for Best Novel (2008)
The Last Child -- Edgar Award nominee for Best Novel (2010)
(He didn't have a book out in 2008.)

Megan Abbott -- Three straight nominations in years she's been eligible!
Die a Little -- Edgar Award nominee for Best First Novel (2006)
Queenpin -- Edgar Award winner for Best Paperback Original (2008)
Bury Me Deep -- Edgar Award nominee for Best Paperback Original (2010)
(She had no books in 2007 or 2008, but two in 2007.)

Busted Flush Press -- Three straight Short Story nominations!
Bill Crider's "Cranked" from Damn Near Dead -- Edgar Award nominee for Best Short Story(2007)
Daniel Woodrell's "Uncle" from A Hell of a Woman -- Edgar Award nominee for Best Short Story (2008)
Ace Atkins's "Last Fair Deal Gone Down", an original short story published for the first time in Busted Flush Press's reprint of Atkins's first novel, Crossroad Blues -- Edgar Award nominee for Best Short Story (2010)
(BFP didn't have an original story out in 2008.)

UPDATED 01/20/10: Ace Atkins comments on the Edgar nomination...

"One of the best things about being a writer is that an old story is never really old; that story is as new and fresh as when you first wrote it. It’s alive in the hands of your reader in that great collaboration.

"I was more than thrilled to get an early morning phone call from Busted Flush Press yesterday letting me know that 'Last Fair Deal Gone Down' was nominated for an Edgar for Best Short Story. This was a story that had a hell of a time finding an audience. I wrote it fifteen years ago, the first story where Nick Travers, who would find action in four novels, burst into my imagination and started my career as a writer.

"When David and I first spoke about bringing out a new edition of Crossroad Blues, I instantly thought of the short. I hadn’t read it for some time and was really surprised as veteran writer to see how well it held up. Not to say I didn’t make a few small edits, but the story is pretty much as I’d left it back in 1995.

"Chandler wrote about the 'animal gusto' of a new writer really pounding the keys, finding passion and energy in those first stories. And I do believe 'Last Fair Deal Gone Down' had that in spades. I had always thought of the short appearing alongside Crossroad Blues, a book that was initially written as a novella. But as I said, I was a young writer, and when I mentioned the word 'novella' to my editor at St. Martin ’s, he said: 'Can you add about 100 pages in a month?'

"And so Crossroad Blues and 'Last Fair Deal Gone Down' were separated for all these years. The story was relegated to the hard drive of an old computer that never did enter the internet age.

"This story was the first time I felt that I could really do this, work as a storyteller. But I had no idea what I was writing as a fledgling author, only 25, would ever be good enough to be nominated for an Edgar. After all these years, eight novels later, it’s a thrill to see that first tale getting some respect."

Megan Abbott signs two-book deal with Little, Brown!

We are always excited to tout other projects by Busted Flush Press authors, and September has been a busy month for Edgar Award-winning crime writer Megan Abbott (Busted Flush Press's A Hell of a Woman), with her signing two nice book deals, one for novels and another for a graphic novel...

Reagan Arthur Books—a new imprint at Little, Brown headed by esteemed editor Reagan Arthur—picked up Megan's next two novels ("brokered by the brilliant Dan Conaway at Writers House," Megan says). The first, scheduled for spring 2011, will be entitled The End of Everything, and will be Megan's first contemporary novel, told from the point of view of a 13-year-old girl whose best friend disappears.

Acquiring editor Reagan Arthur (whose authors include George Pelecanos, Kate Atkinson, and Ian Rankin) confessed, "I was late to discover Megan's talent. Kate Atkinson told me she's great, a recommendation I take seriously. So I read her books and joined the club, and was thrilled to get the chance to read her new novel... and also that it's contemporary, a new direction for her."

Another fan of Megan's is fellow NYC crime writer Alison Gaylin, who, with Megan, just signed a deal with DC Comics for a graphic novel! According to Megan, the work—Normandy Gold—is still in the early stages.

There's a little mutual admiration going on between these ladies: Megan calls Alison simply "fabuolous," and Alison praises Megan's previous novels as "some of the most haunting and evocative writing that's out there today. Megan is also a great friend, and a lot of fun to work with."

Which brings us to the graphic novel... Alison said, "Coming up with our treatment for Normandy Gold was a blast! One of those collaborations that gets you all excited just to be a part of it. We had a meeting in person, then brainstormed mostly by email, with one of us coming up with a draft of an outline, and the other adding to it and refining, sending it back to the other, etc. We have very different writing styles, but very similar obsessions, and in so many ways we are on the same wavelength." Sounds like a match made in heaven... Look for it late next year!

(And further congrats to Alison who herself just sold a three-book deal with Morrow. Get a load of the first, to be a series debut: And She Was will be about an investigator with hyperthymistic syndrome—a disorder which makes her remember everything that ever happened to her in perfect, visceral detail, including the disappearance of her sister. What a great concept! Visit her online at http://www.alisongaylin.com/.)

And in other Megan news:

* Nothing new on the Die a Little / Jessica Biel film (in the works for the past two years), but Megan did sell an option on Queenpin to Sony, for a possible TV series!

* But Megan would like to point out that "the real news, however, is my husband Josh Gaylord, on a fast-track to literary stardom!" His first novel, Hummingbirds, comes out from HarperCollins in just a few weeks. His second novel—which Megan describes as "Cormac-McCarthy-Does-Zombies"—is called The Reapers Are the Angels—and comes out from Holt in August 2010.

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Megan Abbott is the author of four highly acclaimed historical crime novels from Simon & Schuster: Die a Little, The Song Is You, Queenpin, and 2009's Bury Her Deep. She also edited Busted Flush Press's award-winning female noir anthology, A Hell of a Woman. Her Anthony Award-nominated short story, "Policy" (in Busted Flush Press's Damn Near Dead), was the basis for her Edgar Award-winning novel, Queenpin. She lives in New York City. Visit her website at http://www.meganabbott.com/.

Akashic to reprint Naomi Hirahara's A HELL OF A WOMAN story!

Congratulations to Naomi Hirahara, whose "The Chirashi Covenant" (originally published in A Hell of a Woman) has been selected for Akashic's Los Angeles Noir 2: The Classics, due out in April 2010.

I asked Naomi to say a few words about writing the story:

I've always been curious about beauty pageants, especially ethnic specific ones (Miss Navajo Nation, Miss Chinatown, etc.). We have one in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo that has existed for more than 70 years. Rather than having female characters in their teens during the actual time of the pageant, I thought it would be interesting to jump forward ten years later. I set "The Chirashi Covenant" six years after the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and during the postwar housing boom of Los Angeles. The hope and excitement of being beauty queens have faded and reality has set in. Most of the 1941 contestants have started to rebuild their lives and recalibrate their dreams, but one refuses to abide by the status quo, which eventually leads to the destruction of her family.

Truthfully, I'm very humbled and even a bit embarrassed to be included in a collection with the likes of Chandler, Cain, Macdonald [Los Angeles Noir 2: The Classics]. But when I think about my characters and what they faced and survived, I am truly honored. Thanks to Busted Flush Press, editor Megan Abbott, and A Hell of a Woman for "The Chirashi Covenant" to see the light of day. (Los Angeles Noir 2: The Classics only feature short stories that have been published before.)

Naomi Hirahara, born and raised in Southern California, is the Edgar Award-winning author of the Mas Arai mystery series (Summer of the Big Bachi, Gasa-Gasa Girl, Snakeskin Shamisen), which features a Japanese American gardener and atomic-bomb survivor. A previous editor of The Rafu Shimpo newspaper, she also has produced nonfiction books on horticulture and Asian American history. Her short stories are featured in Los Angeles Noir, A Hell of a Woman, and The Darker Mask, while her middle-grade book, 1001 Cranes, was released as a Yearling trade paperback in June of this year. A board member of the Southern California chapter of Mystery Writers of America, she recently completed the fourth Mas Arai mystery for St. Martin’s/Thomas Dunne, Blood Hina, which is scheduled to be published in March 2010. Her mystery serial, “Heist in Crown City,” appears bimonthly in Asahi Weekly in Japan. An occasional writing workshop organizer, she currently teaches a bilingual writing class with seniors in a program through Poets & Writers, Inc. and funded through a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts. She received her B.A. in international relations from Stanford University. Her web site is http://www.naomihirahara.com/.

Megan Abbott & Theresa Schwegel need your help!

Help Edgar Award winners Theresa Schwegel and Megan Abbott! They're going to be barnstorming the following cities (see below) over the next few weeks, promoting their new books (Last Known Address and Bury Me Deep) and they're looking to see some true crime-related sites along the way. Places like the Scottsdale hotel where Hogan's Heroes' Bob Crane was residing when he was murdered, or the bank Bonnie and Clyde robbed back in 1930, or the strip club Jack Ruby used to own before he shot Oswald. If you know of any interesting crime-related sites or locales that they must check out, post them here or e-mail them to me to pass along.

New York City, NY / Oxford, MS / Detroit (Birmingham), MI / Austin, TX / Houston, TX / Phoenix (Scottsdale), AZ / Los Angeles (W. Hollywood, Thousand Oaks, Westwood, Orange, Irvine), CA / San Francisco (San Mateo), CA

Complete tour schedule with dates at right (scroll to bottom of page). And don't miss seeing Megan & Theresa when they come to your town! Follow their Twitters as they travel: Megan Abbott, Theresa Schwegel.

Both Megan & Theresa contributed to the award-winning female noir anthology, A Hell of a Woman (edited by Megan Abbott; hardback, 978-0-9792709-9-4, $26; paperback, 978-0-9767157-3-3, $18).

Megan Abbott speaks about IN A LONELY PLACE

Over at "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir," Shannon Clute and Richard L. Edwards welcome guest investigator Megan Abbott, the reigning Dark Dame of Noir. Megan's choice for this podcast is the 1950 Nicholas Ray film In a Lonely Place, starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame. It's a joy to listen to Drs. Abbott, Clue, and Edwards discuss one of the great film noir classics, and those of you addicted to Turner Classic Movies should definitely bookmark "Out of the Past." Also discussed at OOTP: Gilda, Force of Evil, Brick, Body Heat, and Thieves' Highway (with guest host Eddie Muller).

[Clute and Edwards both contributed essays to the "appreciations" appendix in the Megan Abbott-edited A Hell of a Woman -- Clute on Kathie Moffat (Jane Greer's character in 1947's Out of the Past); Edwards on Edgar Award winner Theresa Schwegel.]

Ann Savage (1921-2008)

Christmas 2008 saw the passing of a legendary film noir femme fatale, Ann Savage. Best known for her role in the 1945 noir classic, Detour, Savage died at the age of 87.

When Megan Abbott edited Busted Flush Press's 2007 female noir anthology, A Hell of a Woman, she added a 50-page appendix of essays by authors, booksellers, critics, and aficionados of the genre, in which they were asked to pay homage to their favorite noir writers, characters, and performers. Critic /crime writer Tribe contributed a short piece on Ms. Savage, and with his permission, it's reprinted here:

"From her first appearance at the side of the road in Edgar G. Ulmer's Detour (1945) you know Ann Savage is why hitchhikers have a bad name. All skin-tight sweater, wind-swept hair, an icy look that should freeze over the hellish desert landscape, venomous sneer, she plays Vera with all the subtlety of Kali, the Hindu Triple Goddess of fertility, death and regeneration. When she suddenly turns to face schmuck Al Roberts (Tom Neal) for the first time in the middle of his soliloquy, you fully expect her to sprout another set of arms, stick her tongue out to her navel, rip his head off, and have her way with the corpse. That’s the mojo she radiates in Detour. Sex and death. Robert Graves knew it. Once in proximity to the Queen Bitch, you're touched forever. Besides, Kali ultimately kills everyone in the end. Is it really a surprise that actor Tom Neal would shoot his real-life wife in the back of the head with a .45 twenty-years later?"

[In the author's own words: "Tribe fancies himself a critic and writer, but obviously does neither terribly well. Tribe has had short stories published in various print and internet sources including Plots With Guns."]

We also asked noir novelist Christa Faust (author of Money Shot) to say a few words, too: "Ann Savage was a brilliant, beautiful actress with amazing talent and range, but to me she will always be Vera in Detour. Sweaty and disheveled, venomous and ferociously sexual, Vera was less of a constructed, conniving femme fatale than an unstoppable force of nature. Savage imbued that character with a raw, aggressive and almost masculine power that evokes the same kind of dangerous, unpredicable animal magnetism exhibited by Lawrence Tierney in Born to Kill. She was, unquestionably, a hell of a woman."

[Christa provided an essay in A Hell of a Woman on 1950s pulp writer Helen Nielsen, as well as an original noir story, "Cutman."]