A Writer's Life

Stinging and Accomplished

Author and screenwriter Stephen Gallagher wrote about REMAINDERED today and to say I am flattered would be an understatement. He says, in part:

Last night I got to see Lee Goldberg's stinging and accomplished short film Remaindered, and I'm going to recommend it to you without reservation. Yes, I know Lee, and no, friendship has nothing to do with it.

The tale's as well-turned as you'd expect from a pro, and it takes imaginative flight from a reality that'll be recognised by anyone who's ever faced the world over a stack of books at a signing table. OK, so not everyone's done that. But it's about those dying-inside times when your soul and your sense of self-worth are laid bare for strangers to pick at, and there's no escaping them as they oblige.

It's the mise-en-scene, to get fancy about it, that takes it to another level. The small-town Kentucky locale is perfectly textured for the story, and Lee's choices are all spot-on. From the opening shots you've real sense of a place and its people. A special shout-out here for Todd Reynolds as Detective Bud Flanek, whose easy John Goodman-like screen charisma left me surprised to see that he doesn't have a long resume of Hollywood character roles.

 

Wow. Thank you so much, Stephen!

What To Do

I have some time on my hands. Today I turned in the manuscript for my 12th Monk novel, MR MONK ON THE COUCH, which means that, for a few weeks anyway, I don't have any deadlines hanging over my head. I still have to come up with the plot of my next Monk book over the next couple of days (the book is due in June), but that's not worrying me too much.

So I'm sitting here trying to decide what project would be the best use of my time, creatively and financially, over the next four-to-six weeks (assuming some paying gig, like a job on a series or a freelance script, doesn't come along!).

1. THE HEIST MOVIE.  I've got an incredibly detailed outline  for a big heist movie, a project I developed a year or so back for a Big Name Movie Producer...but the project fell through.  It's all mine, there are no strings attached to it, so I could write that up as a new spec feature script. 

2. THE CRIME NOVEL.  I have 20o pages and an outline that I wrote two years ago for a crime novel called KING CITY and then had to set aside for some paying gigs. I could finish that up and give it to my agent...or publish it directly on the Kindle. Or...

3. THE SPEC PILOT. I could go in a different direction and write KING CITY as a spec TV pilot script, since the idea originally began as a TV series pitch that a lot of folks liked, though not enough to actually buy it.

4. THE WALK SEQUEL. My wife thinks I should write a direct-to-Kindle sequel to THE WALK to take advantage of the book's success. The sequel would be set over the same three-day period as the book, but would focus on what was happening to the hero's wife while he was walking across Los Angeles. I have some notions, but I still need to plot the whole thing out.

I'm mulling them all and waiting to see which one inspires me the most over the next couple of days. In the mean time, I've got Men of Mystery to attend in Irvine tomorrow, I want to finish reading Justin Cronin's THE PASSAGE, and I've got lots of episodes of BOARDWALK EMPIRE, NIKITA, and some other shows to catch up on.

Hitchcockian

Media critic Bill Peschel had some great things to say about REMAINDERED on his blog today, singling out the performances of Sebrina Siegel and Todd Reynolds for praise. 

“Remaindered” is a tight 20-minute tale of a writer, Kevin Dangler (played by Eric Altheide), whose first novel was the peak of his career and his second was, in the words of the book’s best review, “a 778-page suicide note for a once-promising writing career.” Dangler is reduced to traveling to backwater towns, flogging his third book with signings in grocery stores.

There, he meets Megan, the town librarian with a passion for first editions and those who write them. She’s played by Sebrina Siegel, who gets a lot of mileage out of a black bra and a line like “read to me.”

Needless to say, their meeting doesn’t end well, but I won’t say more. It’s a neat mystery short-story, complete with a twist ending that loops back to the beginning, and in-jokes mystery fans will appreciate, including a “Monk” reference.

My favorite performances were by Siegel, who played the librarian with the right mix of fannish admiration and seduction, and Todd Reynolds as the detective. He had a small role, but he made it memorable (it didn’t hurt that he was given some very sharp lines).

If someone ever decides to retool Alfred Hitchcock's old TV show, "Remaindered" would fit in nicely. It reminded me of one of the mystery story’s great pleasures: of following a tightly plotted tale with unexpected plot twists and a satisfying conclusion. It’s difficult to pull off, but I’m happy to say that Lee succeeded.

Thanks so much, Bill!

King of the Kindle

Author Parnell Hall sings in this video about wanting to be "The King of the Kindle" and has jam-packed it with author cameos from Bouchercon... including a moment with yours truly. 

 

Read To Me

J. Kingston Pierce at The Rap Sheet blog has some very nice things to say about REMAINDERED, the short film that I write and directed in Kentucky. He says, in part:

This may be the only time you’ll ever hear the dictate “Read to me” uttered quite so seductively. Telling more about Goldberg’s plot would spoil its many criminal and comic delights. And even though I immediately caught the mistake on which this story’s conclusion depends, I never lost interest in its unfolding. Remaindered may not be a mammoth Hollywood production, but Goldberg--whose TV-writing credits include Diagnosis: Murder, Monk, Spenser: For Hire, The Cosby Mysteries, and A Nero Wolfe Mystery--has invested no less attention in its crafting because of that.

Remaindered has evidently been entered in several film festivals, but I hope it also receives wider distribution. It’s a quirky, fun picture that members of the crime-fiction community are sure to enjoy.

And cop-turned-author Paul Bishop also said some very nice things to say, including:

Remaindered is a smooth piece of business – not only crisply directed and acted, but with a sense of humor that resists the temptation to go over the top offered by the film’s content.

We haven't heard back yet from any of the film festivals that we've submitted to...but we have our fingers crossed.  I hope they like the movie as much as Paul and the Rap Sheet did.  Thanks for those great reviews!

Mystery Writers of America De-Lists Dorchester

The National Board of Mystery Writers of America voted unanimously on October 6, 2010 to remove Dorchester Publishing from our list of Approved Publishers, effective immediately, primarily because the company no longer meets two of our key criteria.

First, the initial print run by the publisher for a book-length work of fiction or nonfiction must be at least 500 copies and must be widely available in brick-and-mortar stores (not "special order" titles). In other words, print-on-demand publishers and Internet-only publishers do not qualify.

Second, the publisher must not wrongfully withhold or delay royalty payments to authors. We have been hearing an unusually high number of reports from our members of unpaid advances and withheld royalties on their Dorchester books. 

Dorchester titles will no longer be eligible for Edgar® Award consideration nor will its authors be eligible for Active Status membership for any books published after October 6, 2010. The board made it clear to Dorchester that it is welcome to re-apply once these problems have been cleared up.

 

 

To Speak for the Kindle

Paul Levine's iconic hero Jake Lassiter burst onto the mystery scene with TO SPEAK FOR THE DEAD, the first in a widely acclaimed series that has since gone out-of-print. Now Lassiter is making a triumphant return -- with the out-of-print titles on the Kindle and with a brand new hardcover release entitled LASSITER coming this fall.  So I thought I'd ask Paul what it's like being one of the few authors these days who is both still very active in print and yet diving head-long into the uncharted waters of the ebook biz.

LEE: You're a recent convert to the Kindle... and in the space of just a few months, you've released many of the Jake Lassiter backlist as ebooks, including MORTAL SIN. Have they been successful? What have you learned from the experience?

 The success of the books has startled me.  “To Speak for the Dead” and “Night Vision,” the first two Jake Lassiter novels, both hit number one on the Kindle “hardboiled” and “legal thriller” lists.  So did “Reversal,” my stand-alone Supreme Court thriller.  “False Dawn” and “Mortal Sin,” the next couple Lassiter books, hit number two.

These books were long out of print and originally appeared in hardcover in the early 1990’s.  So, the point for all authors is this: books you thought were long dead have an afterlife.  You can resuscitate your out-of-print and out-of-mind books by electronically publishing them.  Also, and this is BIG: the books gather momentum and grow each month.  This is the opposite of our experience with dead-tree books, which have the same life expectancy as yogurt in the fridge. 

LEE: What are the chances that you'll write an original ebook some day soon?

I have three more Lassiters to put up on Kindle and Smashwords, which then distributes to B&N, Borders, Sony, and the rest.  Then…and I haven’t said this publically before…I’m publishing “Ballistic.”  It’s a loose nukes thriller I’ve adapted from a spec feature script I wrote some time ago.  The script had some close calls, but never was made.  After that, who knows? 

LEE: Do you think releasing the out-of-print Lassiter books will give your traditional, hardcover release next Fall of LASSITER a sales spike? Or do you think it will work the other way around?

Both, I hope! 

But let’s be realistic.  I’m the publisher of the “old” Lassiters, so I can charge $2.99 on Kindle and Kobo etc.  Will those buyers shell out $25 for a hardcover?  Should they?  Remember, too, that I have no control over what Bantam will charge for the e-book edition.  I will plead for as low a price as possible, but we know that won’t be anywhere close to $2.99.

LEE:. Do you think it's wise for unpublished authors to self-publish? What about mid-list authors who have been dropped? Is this the future of publishing...or just an additional revenue stream for authors?

Some smart-alec at the Bouchercon e-books panel said that self-published authors were producing a “tsunami of swill.”  Wait!  That was you.  It’s true, of course, but as you also pointed out, there is some very good fiction being written by otherwise unpublished authors.  It’s so damn hard to break into mainstream publishing now that it’s inevitable that some good writing will be left at the door.  The problem is that way too many writers lack the training or discipline or just plain talent to produce readable fiction.  Separating the wheat from the chaff produces…a lot of chaff.

For mid-list authors who’ve been dropped, it’s a different story.  They have the training, the experience, and some audience.  The Internet can provide a new source of income…and satisfaction.  We write because we have to….because it’s an illness, a fever…not just for the bucks.  If you want to get rich, open a burger joint across the street from a community college. 

As for the future of publishing, I’ll borrow William Goldman’s line about Hollywood, “Nobody knows anything.”

I'm Giving Away THE WALK

When THE WALK came out in hardcover seven years ago, nobody noticed it. I figured that was the end...but 15 months ago, I re-released it as an ebook. It was an immediate success and has sold nearly 12,000 copies so far and is still going strong.  

I want to introduce THE WALK to the next wave of new Kindle, iPad, and Nook owners this holiday season… and to do that, I’d like send you a FREE COPY of the novel in whatever eformat you prefer (epub, PDF, txt, html, etc). Here’s all that you have to do:

1. 1. Send me an email at lee@leegoldberg.com with the subject FREE WALK BOOK and give me your name and the address of your website or blog (don’t have one? That’s okay. Read on).

2. Agree to post a review, positive or negative (but with no spoilers!) on your blog, website, Goodreads page, Facebook page, or the Amazon listing for THE WALK by Christmas Day. (You don't have to buy the book on Amazon to review it there, you only need to have an account). 

3. Email me a copy of the review or a link to the post.

This offer is limited to the first 100 people who respond by November 30.

UPDATE 10-27-10, 5:14 pm: I've given away thirty books already...so if you're interested, you'd better hurry!

TV Main Title of the Week

Starlog Daze

John Zipperer's Weimar World Service Blog has a long and interesting interview with my friend Carr D'Angelo about his days as an editor for STARLOG, a magazine I worked for a lot as a freelancer back in the early 1980s. Reading the article brought back a lot of memories. Here's an excerpt:

ZIPPERER: Tell me a bit about what it was like to work there. How much control did editor David McDonnell have over the magazine – i.e., did he have a lot of freedom to plan it the way he wanted, or were the publishers heavily involved? How much influence did you have?

D‘ANGELO: The magazine was definitely working according to Dave's plan at that point editorially. Generally, working with the possible movies and TV shows that were coming out that would fall under our domain, Dave would assign a writer to do an article or usually a series of articles on the upcoming project. In my opinion, I think we generated too much inventory on certain projects. Since we were always working months ahead, it would sometimes happen that a movie came out, flopped and we still had two or three articles coming out. That sometimes made the magazine feel behind the curve.

The magazine was designed to be a mix of the new and the old, and that was its strength and weakness.

I remember the overkill. On a typical movie, I'd write a "set visit" piece, then write individual articles about each star, the director, the screenwriter, and often the special effects supervisor or production designer (or both!) as well.  It was great for freelancers like me... it meant that one day of interviews on a film set could lead to six or eight articles for STARLOG (at a mere $200 each). But that didn't count the additional income I could earn by reworking the same quotes into new articles for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, the San Francisco Chronicle,  or other potential buyers.  

It was hard, low-paid work, but I loved it and learned an enormous amount about the movie and TV industries. And I picked up some valuable work habits, and writing skills, that continue to serve me well to this day.

 

Remaindered Raves

Bill Crider has some nice things to say about my short film "Remaindered" on his blog today:.

This twenty-minute film is funny, sharply observed, and very well put together. It might be a low-budget production, but it doesn't look it. The actors are having fun, and Goldberg gets the most out of every shot.

I'm pleased to say he's not the only author who enjoyed the movie. Here's some of the other post-Bouchercon feedback that we've received:

“REMAINDERED is brilliant! Hilarious, suspenseful, with booksigning sequences that induce PTSD... bravo! And the music was great, too,” Barry Eisler, bestselling author of “Hard Rain.”

“REMAINDERED was such a hoot. I loved everything about it and had so much fun. More awesomeness from Lee Goldberg,” Sara Gran, author of “Dope” and “Come Closer.”

“REMAINDERED was so well done on some many levels,” Naomi Hirahara, bestselling author of “Blood Hina.”

“The story was great and the actors were outstanding,” Joel Goldman, author of “No Way Out.”

“I loved REMAINDERED!” Daniel J. Hale, co-author of “Red Card.”

“I enjoyed REMAINDERED immensely,” Hal Ackerman, author of “Stein Stoned” and co-chair of the screenwriting department of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television

“One of the highlights of Bouchercon - the world mystery convention - was watching Lee Goldberg's independent film REMAINDERED. If it comes to a film festival near you, don't miss it. It rocked the house,” Julie Kramer, author of “Silencing Sam.”

“A marvelous script. Haven't heard that much out loud laughter from an audience in a long time,” Robert S. Levinson, author of “Ask a Dead Man.”

The short film is not yet available to the public -- we've submitted it to a bunch of festivals around the country and are waiting to see how that plays out first. However, if you are a blogger or print reviewer and are interested in receiving a screener, you can contact me at lee AT leegoldberg.com for a download link or a DVD.

UPDATE 10-24-10: Paul Bishop also blogged about REMAINDERED today and he said, among other things:

"Remaindered is a smooth piece of business – not only crisply directed and acted, but with a sense of humor that resists the temptation to go over the top offered by the film’s content.

Remaindered taps into the nightmare known to many writers, the sophomore slump – when the follow-up book to a bestselling debut novel goes in the tank. In Remaindered, our intrepid author is trying to survive his sophomore slump by schlepping a third novel – this time self-published – through a series of signings in small backwoods venues because nobody else wants to give the book shelf space or attention – nobody else that is except the author’s biggest fan.

Remaindered is a hoot, a low budget production with a big heart and exceptional values. A twenty minute film that keeps you holding your breath until it explodes with laughter.

Thanks so much, Paul!

My Brother Tod is Funny

This week my brother Tod wrote what may be his funniest Letters to Parade column ever.  Here's an excerpt.

...Elizabeth Chambers, hailing from Los Angeles, CA, and presumably reading Parade in the LA Times, as I do, has a question that made me realize that the reason people end up voting for complete fucktards like Sarah Palin is that they don't realize politicians aren't fictional characters. You see, Elizabeth is very curious about that nice young President we have...on THE EVENT:

"Blair Underwood is great as President Elias Martinez on NBC's The Event. Does he have any political experience in real life?" 

Jesus fucking Christ on a bed of wild rice, Elizabeth. Do you really think you somehow missed out on the two terms Blair Underwood spent as a United States Senator? Or what about when he was a Congressman? Or those years when he was Attorney General? Personally, I'll never forget what it was like meeting Blair Underwood when he was just a state Senator --this was during his downtime after his seven year stint on LA Law ended and before he landed his next role four minutes later. I knew then that one day he would eventually either be President or at least play the President in something. He just had that gravity, you know? But then when he was on The New Adventures of Old Christine a few years ago, I was like, whoa, he's just a school teacher in this! Well, he was a school teacher on the show, and, of course, was the Dept. Secretary of Defense, too, but, anyway, I just felt like he was selling himself short. 

For fuck's sake. I mean it. People this stupid shouldn't be allowed to watch television. It's clearly not good for them and thus it's not good for America and, thus, it's bad for the Jews.

 

I Want to Suck Your Eblood

Joe Konrath, F. Paul Wilson, Blake Crouch and Jeff Strand have collaborated on DRACULAS, an original novel for the Kindle. It's yet another intriguing Konrath e-book experiment. He wrote about it all on the Huffington Post. He said, in part:

"Draculas" will be exclusive on Kindle for a year, as a favor to Amazon since they've been so helpful. But those with other brands of ereaders will be able to buy "Draculas" from Amazon and convert it to the format of their choice with free ebook software like Calibre or Stanza. We have instructions for doing this on our website, www.draculasthebook.com. We also plan on doing a print release later in the year, using Amazon's CreateSpace.

Since professionalism is essential, we hired a cover artist and an ebook formatter. A publisher providing these services takes 52.5% of an ebook's cover price, and the retailer gets 30% through the agency model. That leaves only 17.5% for the author. By absorbing these sunk costs ourselves, we're able to earn the full 70% royalties and not have to share them with anyone. Though we're splitting the profits four ways, we're each earning only slightly less per copy sold (51 cents each) than we would on one of our own paperback books (64 cents each), and still only charging the reader $2.99.

The book is 80,000 words and also contains 80,000 words of extras, like the 700 emails the authors sent back-and-forth while writing this book in just eight weeks. If the book is a success, which I suspect it will be, it could lead even more published authors to try self-publishing an original ebook...even as they continue to write novels for major publishers. Judging by the conversations I had at Bouchercon, lots of writers are already considering this, seeing it not as an all-or-nothing alternative, but as an additional revenue stream. I'm one of them. But more on that later...

TV Main Title of the Week

The Mail I Get

I got home from Bouchercon and found this email waiting for me.

Fan of Monk the series, don't care at all for your books. 

What about a spinoff? Randy and Sharrona got married, right.  Why not do a show about them and his new job.  I think this would be a good idea especially with all the special guests.  Randy was a good detective with Barney personality and Sharrona was a good investigator/assistant.  I can see a lot of good shows for them.  Don't forget Benji-Hawaii trip episode. 

Just a thought.

             Nancy

I'm a fan of readers, don't care at all for you or your dumb ideas. What about next time you write to someone, you don't start off by insulting them? Just a thought.

 

Bouchercon Day 3

Another lively day at Bouchercon... it started with a panel on the legacy of Robert B. Parker. My fellow panelists were Joseph  Finder, Dick Lochte, Mark Coggins, Declan Hughes, and Russel McLean. The panelists and the audience seemed to really enjoy it.  Afterwards, a guy came up to me and said "You look like the most hated politician in San Francisco... but now that you're standing, I see that you're fatter."

I thanked him.

The panel was  followed by a signing. A woman asked me to sign her program and, as I was doing so, she said "I really enjoyed your books back  when they were good."

I thanked her, too. Oh, these dumb comments remind me of one that came up when I was "in conversation"  with William Link. A guy in the audience stood up and asked Link "When you created COLUMBO, how much were  you influenced by Huckleberry Finn?"

"Not at all," Link said.

"This brings up an interesting question," I said. "When you created MANNIX, how much were  you influenced by CATCHER IN THE RYE?"

Link was still laughing about the Huckleberry Finn question  today when I signed with him after the Parker panel.

After the signing,  I grabbed a sandwich at Boudin and got a little writing done...then hung out in the bar for a while, talking with David Hewson, Bill Crider, Lynn Sheene, Doug Lyle, Christa Faust, Robert Ward, and probably a dozen others throughout the afternoon. 

But the highlight of the day  and the conference for me was the screening of my short film REMAINDERED tonight. The room was packed with authors, editors, agents, booksellers and fans. And they all seemed to love  it. I couldn't have asked  for a better  first screening. It really was the perfect audience for the film. I just wish the cast and crew could have been there to enjoy it with me. 

The screening  was followed by a lively Q&A and then I headed up to the bar, where I talked ebooks and the future of publishing with Penguin/NAL senior editor Sandra Harding...and later with Mulholland  Books editor John  Schoenfeller and agent Josh Getzler. I also caught up with Sara Gran, Scott Phillips, Joe Konrath, Cameron Hughes, Megan Abbott, Allison  Gaylin, and several other authors.

All in all, it was a terrific Bouchercon for me. I'm so glad that I  came up for it. 

(Pictured: Sara Gran, me, Scott Phillips)

Bouchercon Day 2

I started my day by making a pilgrimage to Kayo Books, one of my favorite bookstores on earth, and spent an hour browsing their amazing stock of pulp novels. I bought some old westerns then walked down to the Hyatt, where I ran into Daniel Woodrell as soon as I walked in the door. The two of us went to the Boudin Bakery and had a terrific conversation over a long, leisurely  lunch. Sourdough and Woodrell, a perfect combo.

After lunch, I spent an hour chatting with various authors before participating in a panel on ebooks. CJ West did a remarkable job moderating, especially considering how big  the subject is, how obnoxious I am, and how many authors there were on the panel...me, Boyd Morrison, Wendy Hornsby, Gary Phillips, Bill Fitzhugh and David Hewson. The audience was very engaged...and I think if the panel had a weakness besides me, it was that we didn't have nearly enough time to field all the questions (I continued answering questions on the topic for much of the afternoon, not that I am any sort of expert). We could easily have filled two  hours on the topic. David Hewson, by the way, is hilarious. 

I didn't attend any other panels. I spent the rest of the afternoon talking to fans and with authors (like Joel Goldman, Declan Hughes, Jason Starr, Michelle Gagnon, Steve Hamilton, DP Lyle, etc). In the early evening,  I attended the Penguin author party,  where I met Scott Brick, the voice of 1000 audiobooks...and then went  out to a terrific dinner with David Ellis, his wife, and Bill Rabkin at the Empress of China. On the way back, we ran into Dick Lochte and Gar Anthony Haywood and spent the walk back talking about ebooks and what a great guy Steve Cannell was.  The rest  of the night was spent at the Lee Child's Jack Reacher party...where I chatted with Lisa Lutz, Robin Burcell, Vince Keenan, Alafair Burke, Parnell Hall, to name just a few folks.

I'm having a grand time and am looking forward to screening REMAINDERED tomorrow....

(Pictured: Jason Starr, Declan Hughes, me, Michelle Gagnon. And in the other picture, from yesterday, me, David  Ellis and Joe Konrath)

Bouchercon Day 1

I am too tired to write anything...at least anything coherent.  The conference is off to a great start and I'm having a lot of fun.  My "Conversation with William Link" went really well even though I left my notes & questions in  L.A. and had to wing it. And I have  had a fantastic time schmoozing with old friends and making new ones.  Here are some photos...you can click on them to enlarge the images.

(It was a nice surprise  seeing two REMAINDERED posters at the registration desk...this is one of them)

(Me with William Link before our conversation)

(Bill Crider, me, and Alan Jacobson)

(Me going all fan-boy over Daniel Woodrell)

(Me  and Meg Gardiner)

 

Open Up Those Golden Gates

I am heading up to San Francisco this morning for Bouchercon, the world mystery conference. I'm on a bunch of panels, including one on self-published ebooks and another on the legacy of Robert B. Parker, but what I am really looking forward to is my on-stage conversation this afternoon with COLUMBO writer/producer/co-creator William Link and the screening on Saturday of my short film REMAINDERED. I'll try to post a few reports from the conference while I am up there.

(Pictured: a screen grab from the film)

Swain is Rolling the Dice on Ebooks

James Swain has started to put his out-of-print backlist of terrific crime novels -- including THE PROGRAM, WILD CARD, and THE MAN WHO CHEATED DEATH -- on the Kindle. They represent a sampler of sorts of his three series for readers unfamiliar with his work... which has won wide and enthusiastic praise (I've always liked this rave that he got from The New York Times:  "Swain uses language with such blunt force he could be hammering in nails”).

I thought this would be a good time to catch up with him and get his views on his career, the publishing industry and the new world of ebooks...

LEE: Your early books -- like GRIFT SENSE, FUNNY MONEY, and SUCKER BET -- are all set against the world of gambling and cons. Were you writing about what you know?

JAMES: Yes, I was. I’ve been a magician since I was a kid, and used to hang out with guys in New York who cheated in private card games. They’d come into Tannen’s magic shop and blow our minds with their skill. In the late 1970s, I was visiting Las Vegas, and saw a guy switch a card while playing blackjack. It was amazing how skillful he was. I later told a magician friend of mine named Mike Skinner who lived in Las Vegas and knew a thing or two about cheating. Skinner proceeded to tell me how the casinos got ripped off all the time by cross roaders, which is a hustler’s term for people who cheat casinos (it refers to parking your horse at the cross roads in a town in case you need to make a speedy getaway). I started researching the subject, and met a number of famous cheaters, and collected their stories. Twenty years later when I started writing the gambling books, I had a wealth of information to work from.

LEE: You branched off into other series... was that a creative decision (to stretch yourself as a writer), a marketing decision (to broaden your brand) or were sales of the Valentine series tapering off?

JAMES: It was a fluke. The Valentine books were doing just fine, and had been sold in many foreign markets and also to Hollywood. I’d written nine of them, with two more set to be published –WILD CARD and JACKPOT. I needed a break, and wrote a book called MIDNIGHT RAMBLER, which is about a down-and-out ex-cop who helps police departments in Florida find missing people. I didn’t tell anyone about RAMBLER except my wife – it was my little secret, just to see if I could do something else. When I was done, I showed it to my agent, and he called me up, and started yelling how good it was. He showed it to my publisher, and they reacted the same way. The next thing I knew, I had a new contract and a new series, and the Valentine books were put on hold.

LEE: How did you feel about that? Was it hard to see those books put on the shelf?

JAMES: It was gut-wrenching. I loved those books, especially the last two. But it’s difficult to argue with your publisher when they’re throwing money at you. I bit my tongue and accepted it.  

LEE: What's your take on the state of publishing today? If you'd written GRIFT SENSE today, would it get published? Do you think it would receive the same kind of enthusiastic support and wide notice you got back in 2001?

JAMES: To be honest, I didn’t get much support when GRIFT SENSE was published. I paid for my own tour, and did most of my own marketing. The book was purchased by a lovely editor at Pocket Books named Emily Heckman, who was let go before the book came out. There wasn’t much support for it in-house.

The support I did get was from the mystery field, which pushed the book heavily. For example, Otto Penzler gave the book to a customer named Anthony Mason, who’s a newscaster for CBS Sunday Morning. That led to be being on the show a year later, which was a huge break for me.

In 2003, I went over to Ballantine Books, and my editor there purchased GRIFT SENSE and FUNNY MONEY (the 2nd book in the series) from Pocket. Ballantine got behind the books, which led to much of the success I’ve had.

So to answer your question, I really think that publishing today isn’t much different than it was ten years ago when I started. The avenues of distribution have changed, as have the ability to market yourself over the Internet, but at the end of the day, it’s still about hard work and catching some lucky breaks.

LEE: You've recently released a bunch of your books on the Kindle (and other e-formats). What prompted you to do that? And would you ever consider writing an original book directly for the Kindle, bypassing publishers altogether? If so, why?

JAMES: My decision to release books as ebooks was brewing for a while. The two Valentine books I mentioned earlier had reverted by contract back to me. I also had a thriller called THE PROGRAM which my agent had been shopping around, then had to pull when I got an offer from Tor to do a new series. So I had these three terrific books sitting on my laptop, which bothered me no end.

Then I bought my wife an iPad, and to my surprise (and hers), she fell absolutely in love with it, and started reading 4-5 ebooks a week on it. That got me thinking that maybe I should take these books I had, and release them as ebooks.

The turning point was hearing Joe Konrath speak at the Mysteries To Die For conference in Sarasota this past summer. Joe answered every question I had about the process, and gave me the confidence to put these books out. Will I ever write an original book directly for Kindle? The answer is yes. I’m working on a new Valentine novel right now, and plan to release it in the spring of 2011.

LEE: You've gotten some terrific blurbs from authors like Lee Child, Michael Connelly and Randy Wayne White. How important do you think blurbs from other authors are in selling your work to booksellers and readers? Have blurbs lost their punch or are they even more necessary today to rise above all the clutter out there?

JAMES: Blurbs are very important. They set you apart from the rest of the crowd. They can also tell the reader what they’re in store for. I’ve never released a book without one.

Steve Cannell in Trash TV

I've been inundated with emails from people asking me about that Steve Cannell clip I posted yesterday. It was from a two-part episode of DIAGNOSIS MURDER entitled "Trash TV." It was actually Steve's second appearance on the series as Jackson Burley, a burned-out, action-adventure TV producer from my book MY GUN HAS BULLETS, which I wrote while I was working for Steve years before on a terrible series called COBRA. How's that for coming full circle? Naturally, my dream was to get Steve to play the part and we were thrilled when he said yes. You can find the scripts for both "Trash TV" and "Must Kill TV" here. Working with Steve on those three episodes was one of the highlights of my career.

I was able to find the entire episode of "Trash TV" on YouTube. One of Steve's best scenes is right after the main titles as he pitches Dr. Mark Sloan (Dick Van Dyke) on his new approach to the "Dr. Danger" pilot.

 

 

 

 

TV Main Title of the Week

The Mail I Get

I guess this guy, who calls himself a "Marketing and Business Development Expert," didn't read my previous post about inept solicitations from self-published authors...(I've changed the name and link to save the author from embarrassment)

My name is X and I am inviting you to view a few chapters of a soon to be released classic. It's a controversal memoir about race, class and pursuing the American Dream. Let me know what you think. XYZ.com. Please forward the link to someone else who may benefit from it.

I especially appreciate his modesty. 

Who Says the Recession is Over?

If the recession is over, why are so many businesses closing? I just learned that my local Barnes & Noble in Calabasas is shutting down in a few weeks...and that one of my favorite BBQ joints, It's In The Sauce in Ventura, is up for sale. This is bad news for me... those are two of my favorite places to go.

Mr. Monk and the Seventeen Steps

You can read an excerpt from my short story "Mr. Monk and the Seventeen Steps" (itself an excerpt from my book MR. MONK ON THE ROAD), which is published in this month's issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. The story marks the first appearance of Lt. Amy Devlin, who has taken over Randy Disher's empty desk in the homicide department.

Steve Cannell is Dr. Danger

Here's a clip from a DIAGNOSIS MURDER episode that Bill Rabkin & I wrote...and that we cast Steve Cannell in as an action-adventure producer doing a TV pilot based on Dr. Mark Sloan's life. When the pilot doesn't sell, he remakes it....upping the action to a ridiculous level and casting himself in the lead. The clip is from that revamped pilot... 

 

Steve's Memorial

The memorial for Stephen J. Cannell was held today in Pasadena and it was a moving, funny, and heartfelt event that was perfectly in keeping with his personality and approach to life. The church was packed with family and friends, network & studio executives, actors & writers... and probably anybody who ever was lucky enough to work with Steve.  The stories told during the memorial shared a common theme -- that Steve Cannell was an incredibly nice, giving and honorable guy in a business that has far too few of them. I certainly owe a lot to him.

Everybody that you'd expect to be there was... actors like Robert Conrad, Tom Selleck, Mario Van Peebles, Ernie Hudson, Lorenzo Lamas, Joe Penny, Mr. T, Ben Vereen, Fred Dryer, Jeff Goldblum, Stefanie Kramer, Michael Dudikoff, James Darren, Kent McCord, and Joe Santos...and writer/producers like Steven Bochco, Joel Surnow, Glen Larson, Patrick Hasburgh, Steve Kronish, Michael Gleason, and William Link...and even a few authors, like Paul Levine and Gregg Hurwitz.

The reception afterwards was truly a festive and upbeat celebration of Steve's life. 

I spent hours catching up with lots of old friends that I hadn't seen in years...and some I haven't seen enough of lately.... it's unfortunate that it was Steve's death that had to bring us all together again. Everyone I spoke to seemed to have a favorite anecdote to share about Steve that revealed his humor and his heart, his talent and his loyalty.

Someone at the memorial -- I can't remember who -- described Steve as larger-than-life. And it's true. He was a character every bit as colorful, endearing, and legendary as the ones he created on the page and on screen. I like to think that his influence, his decency, and his humor lives on in through everybody who was lucky enough to have known him. 

(Pictured: Steve with my Mom, Jan Curran, at an author's event in Ventura last year and Steve and me signing together at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books a few years ago).

Men of Mystery

It's not too late for you to sign up for this year's Men of Mystery on Oct. 30 in Irvine. It's the Raven-award winning, day-long mystery conference and luncheon featuring fifty fantastic male  authors, including Gregg Hurwitz, Don Winslow, Christopher Rice, Thomas Perry, Brett Battles, Tim Hallinan, Alan Jacobson, William Link, and yours truly. Mysterious Galaxy will be on hand to sell books, too. You don' t want to miss it... or the mushroom soap.

Backlist Ebooks

There's a new website -- Backlist Ebooks -- launched by Patricia Ryan and Doranna Durgin that's devoted entirely to previously published, out-of-print books that the authors themselves have made available again on the Kindle. 

Backlist Ebooks is comprised of print-published authors who have re-released our out-of-print backlist titles as reasonably priced ebooks. Our authors include NYT and USA Today bestsellers, as well as those who have won major literary awards--including the Hugo, Nebula, RITA, Romantic Times and more.

You'll find my books there, as well as titles by Julie Ortolon, Lillian Stewart Carl, C.J. Cherryh, Karen French, Libby Fischer Hellman, Patricia Rice and many more. New authors are added everyday. You can also check out Backlist's Facebook page for the latest news.

Remaindered Trailer

A short trailer for a short film.

TV Main Title of the Week

It doesn't get much worse than this. The 1980s in all its horror...and hair.

 

Remembering Steve

My friend Steve Cannell died yesterday. He was a great writer and an incredibly nice man. 

It always amazed me that a man as successful as he was could come across as such a regular guy. I'd known him for years but he had the remarkable ability to make even someone he'd just met feel like his oldest friend.  

I think I captured my feelings and memories of Steve best in the following essay, which I originally posted here in January 2009. 

==================================================================

Every time I do a signing with Steve Cannell, it's reliving a dream. I grew up admiring him and his writing on shows like THE ROCKFORD FILES and THE A-TEAM...and I dreamed of working for him someday. He had the career that I wanted...and the talent, too. I didn't think that working with him was a real possibility but I knew I could learn from him anyway. 

While I was in high school, I covered the television business for The Contra Costa Times (in Walnut Creek, CA) and came up with lots of excuses to do phone interviews with him, never once revealing that I was only 16-years-old or that I had any desire to be a TV writer. I know he liked the articles that I wrote because he told me so...and, more importantly, he never failed to return a call and was always available for a quote if I needed one.

I was still freelancing for the newspaper...and for a number of other publications...when I went down to Los Angeles to attend UCLA. I called him for an article about TENSPEED AND BROWNSHOE (or was it GREATEST AMERICAN HERO?) and I must have mentioned that I'd moved to L.A. because he invited me to his office at Samuel Goldwyn Studios. I was terrified. I was sure that once he saw I was a kid, he'd think I was a fraud and never talk to me again. But I couldn't resist the opportunity to actually meet him.

He did look shocked when I walked in the door, and I think for a moment he was afraid I was going to pitch him for a script, but I started off with a tough question about his decision to go into business for himself and the interview went great after that. Whatever awkwardness either one of us felt quickly evaporated and we talked for a couple of hours.  (I know now, after talking with him about that day, that I proved to him with that question that I was a serious journalist and not someone who'd been running a long scam to get into his office). It was a wide-ranging interview about the business, about the risks he was taking leaving Universal, and it was one of the best interviews I'd ever done. In fact, it was one of the clips that got me a job as a reporter for Newsweek. 

I interviewed him many more times over the years for various articles for a bunch of publications (the best was a huge profile in the trade magazine Electronic Media, now know as Television Week). I eventually gave up reporting and, through a lucky break, become a TV writer with William Rabkin. We sold a few freelance scripts and then got offered our first staff job... on HUNTER, a Stephen J. Cannell Production. It was fate.

Unfortunately, by that point, Steve had a  "hands off" relationship with the show, which was then being run by Fred Dryer and Marv Kupfer. Even so, I'll never forget the fantastic feeling the first day I walked into the Stephen J. Cannell Productions building as one of the writers instead of a reporter.  It was amazing.  A day or two later, I ran into Steve in the hallway.  He thought I was there for an interview and he started to apologize for forgetting the appointment...I was thrilled to tell him that no, I wasn't there for an interview...I was working for him.  He smiled and gave me a hug. 

Sadly, because of the situation at HUNTER, I didn't actually work with Steve at all...I only bumped into him now and then. The job also didn't last long .... we ended up quitting and getting hired onto BAYWATCH...but that's another story. 

The HUNTER experience didn't tarnish my relationship with Steve at all. We saw each other at industry events and he was always amazingly friendly. And as it turned out, a few years later I was back at Cannell again as a supervising producer on the syndicated series COBRA and, much to my pleasure, I actually got to work closely with him this time.  He also used to pop into my office to share bits and pieces of a novel he was working on....which became THE PLAN. 

We've remained friends ever since  -- and have signed together and spoken on panels with each other many times in many cities over the years. (Bill & I even had the amazing thrill of hiring him as an actor in a script we wrote for DIAGNOSIS MURDER...he played a burned-out TV producer of action shows...who becomes an actor!). But every time we get together, I am reminded how lucky I am to have  achieved one of my dreams and to be able to count Steve among my friends. I hope the thrill never dies. 

 ============

UPDATE: My brother  Tod has written a great post about his experiences with Steve. 

Back to Owensboro

I'm flying back to Owensboro today to finish up the post-production on REMAINDERED. With luck, I'll have the finished film and all of the elements (original footage, music, audio, project files, time-coded dailies, etc) on a hard-drive or two in my bag when I get on the plane back to L.A. on Monday.

This trip wasn't in the original plan,  but it's proven to be too difficult and time-consuming to edit from afar...and we haven't even started the sound mix and picture adjustments yet. But the guys have been doing great work and I'm confident we can hunker down and finish everything this weekend.  

And that would be fantastic, because the film has to be finished, polished, and audience-ready when I leave for Bouchercon in San Francisco on Oct. 14 ...the premiere screening is on the 16th in front of a very influential audience.