Tweeting at the Edgars!

The Edgar Awards banquet is now 10 days away (Thursday, April 29)... and yours truly, Busted Flush Press's David Thompson will be there with his/my beautiful bride, McKenna Jordan, owner of Houston independent mystery bookstore, Murder By The Book. As a service to our MBTB customers -- and frankly, just fun for the Twitterin' fun of it -- I'll be Tweeting live Edgar Awards results as they are announced, through MBTB's Twitter feed. Be sure to follow us that evening! (And please keep your fingers crossed for BFP's nomination: Ace Atkins's Best Short Story nom for "Last Fair Deal Gone Down," published for the first time in the recent reprint of Crossroad Blues!)

And if you're attending the Edgars week symposiums, please look for BFP authors Megan Abbott (A Hell of a Woman), Ace Atkins (Crossroad Blues), Reed Farrel Coleman (Walking the Perfect Square), Laura Lippman (Damn Near Dead), and S. J. Rozan (Damn Near Dead 2), all of whom are speaking on various panels. Register for the symposium panels here.

Covers for Daniel Woodrell reprints!

Behold, the covers for Busted Flush Press's upcoming reprints of Daniel Woodrell's two most acclaimed novels, Tomato Red and The Death of Sweet Mister!

Tomato Red
Trade paperback, $15 (Canada $18)
September 2010 / 978-1-935415-06-0
New foreword by Megan Abbott!
(And very special thanks to photographer Katherine White for that chilling cover image!)

"Reading Tomato Red -- the first Daniel Woodrell novel I came upon -- was a transformative experience. It expanded my sense of the possibilities not only of crime fiction, but of fiction itself -- of language, of storytelling. Time and again, his work just dazzles and humbles me. God bless Busted Flush for these glorious reissues. It's a service to readers everywhere, and a great gift." -- Megan Abbott, award-winning author of Bury Me Deep

The Death of Sweet Mister
Trade paperback, $15 (Canada $18)
March 2011 / 978-1-935415-08-4
New foreword by Dennis Lehane!

"I can't remember coming across a more precise evocation of innocence lost since Golding's The Lord of the Flies. With The Death of Sweet Mister, Daniel Woodrell has written his masterpiece — spare, dark, and incandescently beautiful. It broke my heart..." -- Dennis Lehane, best-selling author of The Given Day

And have you registered for NoirCon 2010 yet?? Daniel Woodrell is scheduled to be there!

BookPeople's Scott Montgomery names his top ten of 2009!

Last June we interviewed Scott Montgomery, who runs the mystery section of Texas's largest indie bookstore, BookPeople in Austin. (Read the interview here.) Now, he's come up with his list of favorite books of 2009. We're happy to see Tower make the cut, of course, but it's a damn good line-up regardless. Enjoy!

1. Dope Thief (by Dennis Tafoya; St. Martin's Minotaur)
2. Tower (by Ken Bruen and Reed Farrel Coleman; Busted Flush Press)
3. Devil’s Garden (by Ace Atkins; Putnam)
4. The Long Fall (by Walter Mosley; Riverhead)
5. Dark Horse (by Craig Johnson; Viking)
6. Spade and Archer (by Joe Gores; Knopf)
7. Bury Me Deep (by Megan Abbott; Simon & Schuster)
8. Road Dogs (by Elmore Leonard; Morrow)
9. A Quiet Belief in Angels (by R. J. Ellory; Overlook Press)
10. Filthy Rich (by Brian Azzarello & Victor Santos; DC/Vertigo Crime)

2010 Hammett Prize nominations!

The 2010 Hammett Prize nominations have just been announced, and two BFP authors made the list!

Megan Abbott, Bury Me Deep (Simon & Schuster)
Ace Atkins, Devil's Garden (Putnam)
Jedediah Berry, The Manual of Detection (Penguin)
Walter Mosley, The Long Fall (Riverhead)
George Pelecanos, The Way Home (Little, Brown)

IACW/NA awards The Hammett Prize annually for literary excellence in the field of crime-writing, as reflected in a book published in the English language in the U.S. and/or Canada. The winner receives a "Thin Man" trophy, designed by sculptor Peter Boiger. Go here for more information on IACW & The Hammett Prize.

Megan Abbott & Ace Atkins have also been nominated for the 2010 Edgar Award (Megan for Best Paperback Original and Ace for Best Short Story).

BFP acquires two Daniel Woodrell books!

We announced last month that Busted Flush Press will be reprinting two novels by Daniel Woodrell, one the most important American novelists that most people have not yet heard of...

A year before James Lee Burke released the first Dave Robicheaux novel, Woodrell introduced the genre to Cajun cop Rene Shade in Under the Bright Lights (1986; still in print from Simon & Schuster). Woodrell followed with two more Shades: Muscle for the Wing (1988) and The Ones You Do (1992). His other early novels include Woe to Live On (1987; a.k.a. Ride with the Devil), set in the last days of the Civil War; Give Us a Kiss (1996), a "country noir" novel... and then he wrote Tomato Red (1998) and The Death of Sweet Mister (2001), the two noir novels that BFP will reprint in 2009/2010, with new forewords by Megan Abbott and Dennis Lehane, respectively. Both were New York Times Notable Books, and both are considered by critics & fans of the genre to be among the best noir novels of all time. Hyperbole, yes, but please read on...

And once I announced the Woodrell reissues, I discovered that some of Woodrell's biggest fans happen to be Busted Flush Press authors, as they made known very quickly through e-mails that included many exclamation points... then through Twitter and e-mail, I learned that this acclaim was shared by many other crime writers. Below are some early comments from some of Woodrell's peers...

“There are writers who break all boundaries and break your heart with the sheer level of their art. Daniel Woodrell is not only the most truly humble writer I've encountered but one of the very few I refer to again and again to learn how true poetic writing is achieved. His on-the-surface simple style conceals a master craftsman at work. There is no writer I know I would love to devote a whole novel to just quoting from his work. There are crime writers… literary writers… and then… Daniel Woodrell. Nobody comes near his amazing genius and I very doubt anyone ever will.”—Ken Bruen, award-winning author of London Boulevard

"Reading Tomato Red -- the first Daniel Woodrell novel I came upon -- was a transformative experience. It expanded my sense of the possibilities not only of crime fiction, but of fiction itself -- of language, of storytelling. Time and again, his work just dazzles and humbles me. God bless Busted Flush for these glorious reissues. It's a service to readers everywhere, and a great gift." -- Megan Abbott, award-winning author of Bury Me Deep (and she'll write the foreword to the new edition of Tomato Red!)

"Genius is a word that gets thrown around a little too much these days, but when it comes Daniel Woodrell, it’s nearly an understatement." -- Reed Farrel Coleman, award-winning author of Innocent Monster

"I can't remember coming across a more precise evocation of innocence lost since Golding's The Lord of the Flies. With The Death of Sweet Mister, Daniel Woodrell has written his masterpiece — spare, dark, and incandescently beautiful. It broke my heart..." -- Dennis Lehane, best-selling author of The Given Day (and he'll write the foreword to the new edition of The Death of Sweet Mister!)

"The Death of Sweet Mister is a strong contender for my all-time favourite novel, crime or othewise." -- Allan Guthrie, Edgar Award-nominated author of Slammer and Killing Mum

"Put [The Death of Sweet Mister] on the shelf alongside Faulkner, Jim Thompson, and Cormac McCarthy. With this one, Mr. Woodrell has earned himself a piece of immortality." -- George Pelecanos, best-selling author of The Way Home (and writer for HBO's The Wire and The Pacific)

"Daniel Woodrell is one of those authors that's doing something not enough writers do. Write well about rural people, and about people that aren't all savvy and hundred dollar bills. He knows how to just tell the story. Reminds me of the storytellers I grew up with. They knew the power of a simple tale well told, and so does Woodrell." -- Joe R. Lansdale, award-winning author of Vanilla Ride

"Daniel Woodrell is consistently referred to as 'The Greatest Writer You Haven't Read Yet,' and as much as I hate that kind of labelling, I can't argue its veracity. Fact is, The Death of Sweet Mister is one of the finest novels, regardless of genre, published in the last fifty years, and Tomato Red is snapping at its heels. Nobody else can condense whole lives into less than 200 pages with such emotional truth, and nobody else comes close to the brittle perfection of his prose, stiletto sentences that leave you wondering why Woodrell isn't held in higher regard. Perhaps it's just because people haven't read him. I hope that changes with the new editions, and I envy those coming to him for the first time -- they're about to read real noir, the kind that comes from human beings, not characters." -- Ray Banks, author of Sucker Punch and No More Heroes

"City slickers like me go on and on about the 'mean streets,' but the country noir of Daniel Woodrell can be so rawboned, nasty and violent, it sends me scurrying back to relative safety and comfort of the closest dark, seedy alley. Grab all of the Woodrell you can find -- but don't say I didn't warn you." -- Duane Swierczynski, author of Expiration Date

"Tomato Red. Death of Sweet Mister. The Ones You Do. Under the Bright Lights. Give Us a Kiss. Woe to Live On. These are just a few of Daniel Woodrell's stunning, unforgettable, and beautifully written books. His prose is lean, brutal and poetic, as are his characters. And yet despite the tragedy, violence and emotional pain in his stories, Woodrell always manages to find the humor, and the humanity... and even a little redemption. This man should be a bestselling author, held in the same high, popular regard as Michael Connelly, T. Jefferson Parker, George Pelecanos, and Dennis Lehane. But while he's well-reviewed, he's not well-read, which is a shame. Hardly anybody besides critics and fellow writers are aware of him despite the fact that he's one of the best crime writers alive today... hell, he's one of the best novelists out there in any genre. He's the writer that other writers read to see how a master does the job... and to stay at the top of their game. If you love crime fiction, or just damn good writing, you've got to read this guy." -- Lee Goldberg, author of Mr. Monk in Trouble and The Man with the Iron-On Badge

"The first Daniel Woodrell book I ever read was Tomato Red. You know that feeling you get when you read something by a new to you author and your heart beats just that wee bit faster. You think 'this is it -- this guy is going to be one of my all time favourite authors' -- what a great feeling that is. From the first, awe inspiring sentence which is over 250 words long to the last heartbreaking page I was simply transported. As it happens, the second Daniel Woodrell I read was The Dead of Sweet Mister -- an uncomfortable, painful, brutal tale which is also poetic and beautiful and just... breathtakingly wonderful. It's a book of lost innocence, simmering rage, and ineffable cruelty that makes your heart ache. Daniel Woodrell is the master of making you care about people who live "lives of rancid nothingness". Their stories are so big, yet their lives are so small. I am so glad that Busted Flush Press are reprinting these two great books. Daniel Woodrell deserves a far wider audience. He's a genius." -- Donna Moore, author of Old Dogs and Go to Helena Handbasket...

"Daniel Woodrell's work transcends genre. Don't bother calling it 'crime' or 'noir' or 'southern gothic.' Just call it 'brutally magnificent' and get your dirty hands on as much of it as you possibly can." -- Tom Piccirilli, author of Shadow Season

We'll have covers for Tomato Red and The Death of Sweet Mister in about a month, as well as book synopses, trade reviews, excerpts, and more! In the meantime, we encourage you to seek out Woodrell's latest release, Winter's Bone (2006, Back Bay Books), which is also very highly recommended by Busted Flush Press!

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).

BFP interviews Austin bookseller Scott Montgomery!

Scott Montgomery runs the mystery section of Austin's BookPeople, Texas's largest independent bookstore.

BFP: Tell us a little about yourself.

SM: Grew up in my family’s horse business outside of St. Louis and was in love with books and movies early on, particularly crime fiction and westerns. Studied film and went to L.A., spending eight years eight years as a failed screenwriter. There I was a customer and eventual employee of The Mystery Bookstore in Westwood, one of the more respected bookstores in the country. The two managers “Dark Bobby” McCue and Linda Brown (no nickname that can be publicly given) showed me how to use my passion for the genre as a selling tool. The place was a life preserver in a place I was getting sick of. When I decided it was time start saving money to get out, my new landlord was serving evictions on all of us that moved in years ago when rent was low in a rent controlled section. A settlement got me to Austin, fourteen years after I said I wanted to live here after I visited it for the first time. Now life is talking about books, writing, drinking Shiner, and flirting and dancing with fun women. All of that done while listening to some of the best music in the country.

BFP: Tell us a little about BookPeople & Austin.

SM: BookPeople is the largest independent bookstore in Texas. It has the size and selection with the knowledgeable and passionate staff of your small local store. Everybody cares about the written word and is quite knowledgeable. Many of us also like to discuss zombies and barbecue, I don’t know if there’s a connection.

My partner in crime, Charlie Cale, are considered the mystery guys. With inventory managers Raul Chapa and Allison Laubach; buyer, Elizabeth Jordan; and floor manager and all-around papa bear Bryan Sansone, we’ve turned our section into Austin’s defacto mystery bookstore with more niche books genre aficionados can discover. There’s The Dark Alley display dedicated to hardboiled noir (my favorite), and two book clubs The 7% Solution (general mystery) and The Hard Word, dedicated to the tough stuff. This summer we’ll have authors like Craig Johnson, C.J. Box, Megan Abbott, Joe R. Lansdale, and Karen Slaughter, making in store appearances.

BFP: Who are some of your favorite authors?

SM: I hate this question, since so many of my friends are writers. Dashiell Hammett, Max Allan Collins, and Elmore Leonard got me interested in the genre. I’m a sucker for stylists like Peter Rabe, Jim Thompson, and Richard Stark. Of the current gang, Craig Johnson has one of the most original voices out there, along with Joe R. Lansdale, Megan Abbott, Christa Faust, and Duane Swierczynski (talk about stylists), and Reed Farrel Coleman is the greatest living PI writer, I don’t even consider that an opinion. Those names, many more, and James Crumley was a god.

Outside the genre, Elmer Kelton is probably my favorite western writer and is much more than that and I’m blown away by Richard Matheson’s craftsmanship and subtle depth in no matter what he wrote.

BFP: Favorite books?

SM: Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest for the impact, Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye for the poetry, and James Crumley’s The Last Good Kiss (possibly my favorite) for tying everything and more together. Others would be Dennis Lehane’s Mystic River, Craig Johnson’s The Cold Dish, Reed Farrel Coleman’s Walking The Perfect Square, and Elmore Leonard’s Freaky Deaky. This list could go on forever.

When it comes to westerns, Kelton’s The Day the Cowboys Quit, based on a true story when ranch hands went on strike along the Canadian River in the 1880s and Richard Matheson’s Journal of the Gun Years.

BFP: Favorite movies / TV shows?
SM: The Wild Bunch, The Searchers, and Round Midnight, a film about American jazz musicians in 1958 Paris, and most of whatever Clint Eastwood is associated with, especially The Outlaw Josey Wales. As far as crime films go, Chinatown, Murder My Sweet, Heat, L.A. Confidential, Asphalt Jungle, and anything directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, or starring Robert Mitchum or Charles McGraw, a guy that sounded as tough as he looked. Basically, if anything wasn’t put on film after 1980, I’d survive.

TV would be Veronica Mars, The Wire, The Rockford Files, and even though it hurts my “guy cred," Gilmore Girls (the dialogue's great and Lauren Graham’s hot... that’s the story I’m sticking with).

BFP: What do you look for in a mystery/thriller/crime novel?
SM: My perfect crime novel delivers all of the standards in the genre presented in a fresh way with strong mood and dialogue, a look into social or human conditions with no pat answers, and a strong emotional pull. I think I just described every Dennis Lehane novel.

BFP: Author(s) you wish wrote faster?
SM: I believe in giving an author all the time he needs to deliver the best book, since I have hundreds of books to read in my to-read pile with more coming in. That said, I wish there were more James Crumley books.

BFP: Author(s) you wish hadn’t died?
SM: Crumley. I was lucky enough to spend some time with him a couple of years before his passing. By then, he was the aged lion who just wanted to hold court at whatever bar and entertain and be entertained by those around him. He had little tolerance for B.S. and sycophants. It was always comfortable to be around him, but it was always an adventure. You’d think about this character you’d hang out with, then read one of his books and be floored by a single sentence. What Hunter Thompson did with journalism and Peckinpah did with film, he did with the PI novel. Hopefully that’s what he’ll be remembered for, the books.

BFP: Authors/books you wish were back in print?
SM: Jeff Shelby’s Killer Swell and Wicked Break about part time PI and full-time surfer, Noah Braddock. They move at a furious pace, with great action and humor, so fast you don’t notice the depth of the them. L.J. (Livia) Washburn’s Lucas Hallam series, that deals with a former cowboy and Pinkerton agent, that works as PI between stuntman gigs in Twenties Hollywood.

The one that bothers me the most are the three John Van Horn novels written by Edward Wright. They concern a blackballed B-movie cowboy in the postwar L.A., who works as a collector for a casino owned by the actor who played his Indian sidekick. They are rich in lines like “the air was mixed with dust and regret” and strong humor, humanity, and style. The first book, Clea’s Moon, was as good as it gets, then each following books doubled in quality. It should be considered a considered a cultural crime that the last book, Red Sky Lament, that deals with the McCarthy era and draws modern parallels, is not in print in the U.S. Luckily he has a UK publisher for this series.

BFP: Books coming out soon that you’re most looking forward to?
SM: James Ellroy’s third book in the “tabloid trilogy”, the U.S. debut of Jason Starr’s Fake I.D. [out this month from Hard Case Crime!], and Swierzcynski’s Breakneck that he said was about, infidelity, car chases, and the end of the world. Two of my favorites, Reed Farrel Coleman and Ken Bruen will have a book out this fall. What intrigues me even more about it (Tower) is that Allan Guthrie’s the editor. That’s having the craziest person run the asylum.

BFP: New/unknown authors you’d like to tout?
SM: Clyde W. Ford has two books, The Long Mile and Deuces Wild, about a former New York cop and ex-con that works for a branch of Homeland Security. Ford uses his expertise in world mythology, tying it to hardboiled fiction and the modern world, dealing with a human hero caught between warring powerbrokers and story tellers as he tries to connect with his estranged son. If that’s not enough, he writes a hell of an action scene.

BFP: Favorite mystery magazine / blog / reviewer?

SM: I’m a huge Thrilling Detective fan. I can waste two hours there, no problem. Craig Johnson writes great post-its on his website, dealing with life as a writer and Wyoming misadventures that will get you buy until his next book. Swierczynski’s Secret Dead Blog is great. Joe Lansdale puts up a free story on his each week. For the most part, I look at the sites of mystery bookstores, particularly my old store and Murder By The Book to see what they’ve discovered and are touting. I realize I’m impartial, but I think booksellers have the best opinions on what’s good.

BFP: Do you have any dreams of writing yourself? If so, what kind of book would you love to write?

SM: I’ve done a lot of short stories I’m planning to send out and working on two novels. One is a rural hard-boiled that takes place in my Missouri stomping grounds with a guy trying to get revenge on the murder of his favorite barmaid. The other deals with an Austin PI looking into the murder of a singer who was in a band he used to belong to and uncovers the secrets his friends have been hiding.

BFP: What accomplishments are you most proud of?

SM: Helping establish books I love, particularly The Cold Dish and Walking The Perfect Square, as some of the top selling books in the stores I’ve worked; BookPeople’s 35% increase of sales in the mystery section last year; and anytime an author says “You really understood my book.” Those things and finally moving to Austin and finding peace of mind in a life of crime (and a western whenever I can).

BFP: Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

SM: A) This is a great genre to be a part of. Even though many authors have used it for great allegory, there’s no need. Like Hammett, Ross Macdonald, Crumley, and George Pelecanos you can directly deal with the here and now. A lot of our best writers are doing that right now and setting the bar a little higher each year.

B) Anybody within visiting distance of BookPeople should check out our new book club, The Hard Word. I stole the name from a great Aussie caper movie starring Guy Pearce and Rachel Griffiths. We meet on the last Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m. to discuss a book of tough guys with codes, dangerous women with passion, dealing with lives and actions that don’t always lead to happy endings. On June 27th, we’ll be discussing Queenpin with a call in from Megan Abbott.

Heading for New York!

This weekend I meet with one of the most important cogs in the new Busted Flush Press machinery: the wonderful Consortium Book Sales & Distribution sales reps! I happen to be very excited about this part, talking up BFP titles to those men & women who will be selling my books to bookstores, libraries, wholesalers, etc... They won't be able to shut me up! And in a little more than 3 weeks, Consortium will be distributing BFP... woo-hoo!

A quick word on a mystery festival coming up next week... The BookHampton Mystery Festival, May 15-17, held at the various store locations in Amagansett, East Hampton, Southampton, and Sag Harbor. Authors attending include Reed Farrel Coleman (The James Deans), Megan Abbott (A Hell of a Woman), Lee Child, Alafair Burke, Susan Issacs, Andrew Gross, and many more. And here's the magic word: All the events are free! The panel I'd love to hear: "High Heeled 'Shoes: When Women are Dicks," with Linda Fairstein, Lorenzo Carcaterra, Reed Farrel Coelman, and Megan Abbott. Find out more here.

Random stuff...

BFP's publisher David Thompson (and wife McKenna) will be attending the 2009 Edgar Awards banquet this Thursday. If you see us, please say hi! BFP authors Alex Carr (a.k.a. Jenny Siler; "3-A", in Damn Near Dead), Christa Faust ("Cutman", in A Hell of a Woman), and Meg Gardiner (essay on Phyllis Dietrichson, in A Hell of a Woman) are up for Edgars for Best Paperback Original, and Laura Lippman ("Femme Fatale", in Damn Near Dead; essay on Mildred Pierce, in A Hell of a Woman) is up for Best Short Story... we wish these ladies lots of luck!

BFP author David Handler (The Man Who... omnibuses) will have a new stand-alone thriller, Click to Play, out this fall from Severn House. His previous experiences with thriller fiction include the internationally best-selling actioner Gideon, co-written under the pseudonym Russell Andrews.

Catch BFP authors Ken Bruen (A Fifth of Bruen; Tower) and Megan Abbott (A Hell of a Woman) at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival 2009 (July 23-26). Held every summer in the North Yorkshire spa town of Harrogate, this is the biggest crime writing event in Europe. Other scheduled authors include George Pelecanos, Laura Lippman, David Simon, Mark Billingham, John Harvey, and more!

Assorted stuff...

Zoë Sharp (A Hell of a Woman's "Served Cold") on writing short stories.

Megan Abbott (A Hell of a Woman) on 1952 noir film Clash by Night.

Cool interview with the late Donald Westlake.

Charles Ardai (Damn Near Dead's "Fathers and Sons") launches the new Hunt for Adventure site.

DAMN NEAR DEAD news!

For an anthology published back in 2006, Damn Near Dead is still plugging along...

Internationally best-selling, award-winning thriller writer Jeff Abbott (Panic, Fear, Collision) has just sold a film option on his hitman short story, "Tender Mercies," from Damn Near Dead: An Anthology of Geezer Noir (edited by Duane Swierczynski; Busted Flush Press; 2006; trade paperback original; $18). Jeff has this to say on his blog:

"'Tender Mercies' is about a 70-year-old retired CIA hit man who hires himself out under a false name and gets hired to kill a dangerous target: himself. I remember when I wrote the story I really liked the main character, Lionel, and kept thinking I should bring him back in a novel -- he felt too big for the constraints of a short story. My wife said Lionel was one of her very favorite characters of mine and kept urging me to write another story with him. (I don't think, though, I can say Lionel is 'mine' -- he seems to belong to himself.) I'm glad that Lionel will have a chance now to star in his own, expanded story. (Obviously, the story has to be expanded to feature length.) For those who think suspense is all about plot, think again: the character of Lionel is what's driving the project. I'm thrilled to be working with Adam Wilkins (a very smart young producer)."

That's just the latest in good news for Damn Near Near Dead contributors... here's more:

* Bill Crider ("Cranked") earned a Derringer Award, and Edgar & Anthony nominations.

* Stuart MacBride ("Daphne McAndrews & the Smackhead Junkies") was nominated for a Derringer.

* Megan Abbott's "Policy" earned an Anthony nomination and became the basis for her Edgar Award-winning novel, Queenpin (Simon & Schuster).

* Maxim Jakubowski chose four stories -- John Harvey's "Just Friends," Allan Guthrie's "The Killer Beside Me," Mark Billingham's "Stepping Up," and Donna Moore's "Pros and Cons" -- for his anthology, The Mammoth Book of Best British Mysteries (Running Press; April 2008).

And Bill Crider reads "Cranked" over at Crimewav.com.
Read "Cranked" for free here.

Find Damn Near Dead at your favorite indie, chain, and online booksellers!

Covers for TOWER!

That's right, covers, plural. Tower (by Ken Bruen & Reed Farrel Coleman; 978-1935415-07-7; $15; September 2009) will have two covers, playing off the split-narrative aspect of the novel; half is written by Bruen, half by Coleman.

Some early praise to whet your appetite...

“Taking up the storied themes of crime fiction—loyalty and betrayal, temptation and treachery—Tower lifts and elevates them, forging a tale both barbaric and baleful, swaggering and broken-hearted. Brutal, soaring street poetry to take your breath away.”
—Megan Abbott, Edgar Award-winning author of Queenpin and Bury Me Deep

“Tower goes off like a slo-mo explosion, a raging blast of white-heat light. It’s a compelling study of pathologies, and style, and friendship and fate. Fuelled by tenderness and murderous hate, it’s as tender as it is brutal, tender as a savage wound, ragged and raw. Here be monsters, crippled monsters: Nicky and Todd are the truest angels and demons of our mean streets I’ve read for some time. Be afraid.”
—Declan Burke, author of The Big O

Look for more to come on Tower in the upcoming weeks...

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."]