Message from M.A.C. – March 18, 2005

March 18th, 2005 by Max Allan Collins

A quick update.

You’ll see here info about my new documentary, CAVEMAN: V.T. HAMLIN & ALLEY OOP. This one’s been in the works for several years, and will start making a few select festival appearances. We have not begun shopping it to TV and/or DVD yet.

My anthology feature, SHADES OF NOIR — which includes the short films “Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life,” “A Matter of Principal” (Quarry) and “Three Women,” PLUS the documentary “Mike Hammer’s Mickey Spillane” — is finished and will be delivered to Troma Entertainment as soon as editor/D.P. Phil Dingeldein and I can find time to do the commentary track.

Troma also plans a boxed set including SHADES, the two MOMMYs and REAL TIME. New commentaries on the MOMMYs need to be done, too, which has held us up.

What is probably the final “disaster” novel for Berkley Prime Crime will be out in June — THE WAR OF THE WORLDS MURDER. It’s out just in time to take advantage of the Spielberg movie, though my book focuses on the radio “invasion” and teams Shadow creator (and magician) Walter Gibson with Orson Welles himself. You will have fun.

I just completed ROAD TO PARADISE, the final book in the trilogy (although the door remains open for more books in the saga). It’s been delivered to my editor at Morrow and the response has been wonderful. Very proud of this one — look for it late this year or early next.

Just yesterday (March 17), I delivered the new CSI novel, IMPERFECT CRIMES. The previous CSI novel, BINDING TIES, hits the stands any day now. Also, I’m doing a CSI: NY comic-book mini-series for IDW called “Bloody Murder.” And my CSI assistant Matt Clemens has been helping me on all of that, plus two CSI: NY jigsaw puzzles. (No, I’m not doing the CSI: NY novels — Pocket wants me to concentrate on Vegas).

Breaking news — I’ve just signed with HardCase to do a movie tie-in edition to promote SHADES OF NOIR. I’ll be expanding the Quarry story, “A Matter of Principal” (the award-winning film of which appears in SHADES) into the full-length THE LAST QUARRY. It will utilize the screenplay I’ve written for director Jeffrey Goodman, who seems close to get the Quarry movie up and running. This is the first Quarry novel in twenty years. And it probably will be the last, as the title indicates.

I’ve also done a very fun movie novelization — my first in several years — but I’m not sure I can mention what it is yet. Let’s just say it’s about an incompetant French detective and a famous jewel named after a feline.

Finally, it looks like we’ll be mounting my play ELIOT NESS: AN UNTOUCHABLE LIFE (greatly expanding the short film of the same name) in a few months at a terrific venue in Des Moines. We did a one-night only presentation in Des Moines last year. NESS has been nominated for a Best Play Edgar. Michael Cornelison, the John Wayne to my John Ford, will star. If we get the venue that I think we’ll get…it’ll be worth a trip for any Ness or Collins or Cornelsion fans.

And, yes, Phil Dingeldein and I will be shooting the production.

Stay tuned.

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