Archive for August, 2009

Don’t Mess With Ness

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

A pictures-only update this week, starting with these pics from uber-fan Brad Schwartz:

And here are some of PLAYBOY great Doug Sneyd and me at Comic-Con:

M.A.C.

Gearing Up

Monday, August 17th, 2009

No major news to report — I am immersed in Nathan Heller research and will be writing in a few weeks. I also plan to start RETURN TO PERDITION (graphic novel for DC/Vertigo) this coming week.

I will be reverting to the pattern I kept to for many, many years of my career when I was writing comics more regularly and often working on a Heller novel — giving one day a week to comics (usually Wednesday) and spending the rest on the novel. I’m older, of course, and may need to make some adjustments; but I relish returning to the routine of those halcyon days, and can’t wait to get going on Heller. My research associate George Hagenauer will soon be coming to Muscatine for a two or three day session to pull all the research together, and refine the plot.

Terry Beatty came through town this week and we talked about RETURN TO PERDITION, and had our first (brief) story conference on what the MS. TREE graphic novel will be. No, we haven’t signed contracts yet, and the flurry of interest on the web (however gratifying) is probably premature.

Matthew Clemens and I got together and plotted the follow-up to next year’s Kensington serial killer thriller, YOU CAN’T STOP ME.

G.I. JOE killed at the box office on its first weekend; as I write this, I don’t know how it fared second week out. A couple of nice reviews for the books appeared on the net:

Bookgasm: G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA

Luke Reviews: G.I. JOE: ABOVE AND BEYOND

And a belated but welcome BLACK HATS review came from UK crime fiction expert Michael Carlson:

Irresistible Targets: BLACK HATS

Two movies I would heartily recommend: DISTRICT 9, a little exposition-heavy in its opening docu reels, but overall one of the best films for many months and an incredible ride with a great heart despite Peter Jackson-approved splatter; and a DVD release (BLU-RAY, too) THE GREAT BUCK HOWARD, with Colin Hanks wonderful in a show biz-tinged coming of age tale…this disappeared at the box office, so catch up with it now — John Malkovich essentially plays the Amazing Kreskin, and it’s funny and way too true. Somebody called Tom Hanks does well in a small role — he shows promise.

See you next week.

M.A.C.

G.I. Joe & Red Sky in Morning

Monday, August 10th, 2009

GI JOE: ABOVE AND BEYONDGI JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA

By the time you read this, G.I. JOE will have hit theaters, and I’ll have seen it, and so will some of you. This is one of the most eagerly awaited — and vilified — movies of the summer. I have no idea whether it will be good or bad, but I’m fairly confident it will be entertaining. I have written four other novels for Stephen Sommers movies, and none of the screenplays have seemed liked masterpieces to me, and yet they all made entertaining movies…and books.

My two G.I. JOE novels have been out for quite a while, but they should get a boost from the film’s release. I think the books are fun, and am particularly happy with the prequel (which Matt Clemens helped me with). Creating a novel out of an action-heavy, stuff-blows-up screenplay is harder than, say, adapting and expanding THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE or AMERICAN GANGSTER, which are more suspense and character-driven. But getting to do a prequel helped the novelization work better.

Ron Fortier, a terrific reviewer, really got what I was going for in his dual review.

One of the complaints about the film (from people who hadn’t seen it yet, though some had read my novelization, which generated web interest) is that the rebooted G.I. JOE organization is international, not American. The very American term G.I. Joe comes from World War Two and may have been coined by David Breger, who did a cartoon under that name and another called PRIVATE BREGER (which had a long post-war civilian run as MR. BREGER). The film script addressed that problem by making two American G.I.s the central characters, and my prequel novel emphasizes those characters (Duke Hauser and Ripcord Weems) even more.

Red Sky in Morning Paperback

While we’re on this military note, I should point out that my World War Two naval thriller, RED SKY IN MORNING, based on my father’s experiences in the Pacific, is out in paperback with a handsome new cover.

I will use the occasion to reveal that the “Patrick Culhane” penname was not my idea, and was to a degree forced upon me, and I have no plans to use it again. I regret that my real byline is not on this very personal novel, or BLACK HATS for that matter, which is one of my most commercial. And while RED SKY IN MORNING is a title I came up with, my original title — U.S.S. POWDERKEG, which I liked very much — was rejected. One of the great frustrations of the writing life is having a title that you have lived with and woven into a book spurned by an editor (or a sales force). I would be thrilled to see the book reprinted at some point with my preferred title and my real byline…but for now, you need to look for the Culhane byline on this one.

Till next week….

M.A.C.

Seduction Live @ San Diego / Daybreakers CDs

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

This has been a week of catch-up and recovery — the San Diego Comic Con is an intense experience, this time for Nate, Barb and me heightened by one of those nightmarish trips home you hear about. Weather delays and the need to go to an airport where our car and luggage would not be waiting had us enlisting my collaborator Matt Clemens for a ride from Cedar Rapids to the Quad Cities, and us not getting our luggage for another 24 hours.

So for the almost-a-week of the con, there seems to be almost-a-week of aftermath, writing e-mails to follow-up on meetings, sorting purchases, and just waiting for the world to stop reeling under your feet.

From the con I returned with a small stack (around ten) of signed SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT — LIVE AT SAN DIEGO 1999 CD’s. The signatures are mine, Bill Mumy’s, Steve Leialoha’s and Chris Christensen’s. (Miguel Ferrer was filming, though we hope to have the full band back together for whatever our next gig is.) Anyway, I can offer a few of these for $25 postpaid. Or you can get an unsigned copy for $15 postpaid. This was a limited edition of 200 and less than 75 remain.

We have about a dozen of the DAYBREAKERS — HALL OF FAME COLLECTION CD’s that are signed by all five original members (Collins, Bunn, Busch, Bridges and Maxwell). Those are $25 postpaid for signed ones, and $15 postpaid for unsigned (about 25 of the DAYBREAKERS CD’s are all that are left). The CD charts the history of the band from 1966 to date, and includes the songs heard in the two MOMMY films, as well as the infamous “Psychedelic Siren.”

Anyone who would like signed copies of both CD’s can get the pair for $40 postpaid.

Oh — all international orders must add an additional $5.

You can pay via PAYPAL…right, Nate?

[Right!]

[2013 EDIT: Actually….wrong!! All options temporarily sold out! We’ll recheck our remaining stock and make a new post soon!]

Some very nice reviews have appeared lately on the web. Here is a great write-up on my CSI work — books that are among my all-time bestsellers and yet have rarely been reviewed. Reading this made me wish Matt and I were still doing the CSI series:

http://somebodydies.blogspot.com/2009/08/mortal-wounds-by-max-allan-collins.html

One of the really sweet things about the con this year was the surprising number of fans who sought me out to say how much they liked the Jack and Maggie Starr mysteries. I only got to do two of those (though I do hope, one day, to do at least one more), and those books didn’t get a lot of reviews, either, so the following was much appreciated:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1574067/stripping_for_murder.html?cat=38

Quarry, however, has attracted a lot of incredible reviews — and THE FIRST QUARRY in particular has received some stellar ones. I think this one was particularly insightful, though:

http://www.helium.com/items/1349593-review-the-first-quarry

See you next week.

M.A.C.