Archive for August, 2011

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San Diego

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

We arrived in San Diego to typically lovely weather, rented a car and drove straight to El Indio restaurant. I am a Guy Fieri/Diners, Drive-ins and Dives disciple and fully expected to be blown away…and wasn’t. We have much better Mexican food back in Muscatine (the guacamole was an outrage). We made up for it with a visit to Ghiradelli’s for hot fudge sundaes, normally a treat that occurs only on Comic Con visits.

Speaking of which, having visited San Diego for the Comic Con for countless years, seeing the exterior of the convention center populated by a handful of businessmen and not hordes of superheroes and zombies was weird. Ditto for the Gaslamp District. We only know San Diego as Comic Con-ville, and Barb and I felt like we’d wandered into one of those post-apocalyptic movies where only a handful of humans had survived.

The signing at Mysterious Galaxy went extremely well. We hadn’t been to this MG location and were mightily impressed by the mix of science-fiction. horror and mystery. What a great bookstore! Friendly, smart staff, too. We had a great turnout, and a group that appeared to have come for Heller got very interested in the ANTIQUES novels, because Barb presented herself and our series very, very well. Some Spillane interest, too. We just talked and took Q and A and had a delightful time.

A gentleman named Fred told us of a wonderful encounter with Mickey Spillane on the 1994 Comic Con trip that preceded Mickey coming to Muscatine with me for his role in my indie film, “Mommy.” Mickey was very, very sick, and I tried to talk him out of coming back for the shoot — we could bring him in at the end, I told him, after he’d recovered from a serious infection in his leg. Fred told a story of Mickey having to cut short an appearance promoting the MIKE DANGER comic book because of his illness, but then the next day (still sick!) recognizing Fred from the audience of the truncated appearance, and taking him aside for some personal time, signing Fred’s books. Typical Mick.

M.A.C.

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Scottsdale

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

The first day of the book tour took us to the Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, Arizona, one of the great and most influential mystery bookstores. A well-attended discussion moderated by owner Barbara Peters with both myself and Barb plus historical thriller writer William Dietrich (nice guy!) can be viewed directly below:

We had a nice turnout and sold lots of books. We also signed store stock and you can order signed copies of ANTIQUES KNOCK-OFF here.

And BYE BYE, BABY here.

It’s beautiful in Scottsdale but incredibly hot — 116 degrees worth. This morning we toured Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright’s home/school, and it’s incredibly beautiful. You can’t really appreciate his work fully just from photographs. My favorite moment – spotting Ayn Rand’s ATLAS SHRUGGED in his bedroom library…but not THE FOUNTAINHEAD!

We are staying at Valley Ho, a hotel circa 1956 that looks it, in a good way. You expect to bump into the Rat Pack around every corner.

Next stop: San Diego.

M.A.C.

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Spillane/Collins Nominated

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

The Mike Hammer short story “A Long Time Dead” (published in the Strand) has been nominated for a Private Eye Writers of America “Shamus” award. This is me working from a Hammer fragment by Mickey and developing it into a short story. Beyond the half dozen substantial manuscripts in the Spillane files, another ten or so shorter fragments provide the makings of short stories or even novels. The current Hammer radio novel, ENCORE FOR MURDER, was developed form a one-page novel outline in the files.

BYE BYE, BABY has received a lot of attention on the web over the last week or so, but nowhere more generously that in the cyber pages of January Magazine, and it’s all due to J. Kingston Pierce, who is rapidly becoming a major figure in mystery/crime criticism.

First, the book was the Pierce pick of the week, plus the “front page” of the magazine highlighted that pick with a mini-article, then Pierce used extra material from his Kirkus blog to do a BYE BYE, BABY interview.

The interview the latter was culled from came from a Kirkus blog interview about BYE BYE, BABY and Heller that also went up last week.

I also did a BYE BYE, BABY piece for the Romantic Times blog.

And the ubiquitous (and controversial) Helen Klausner has given BYE BYE, BABY a favorable review.

Our one-week West Coast tour is now under way (check above for cities and bookstores and other pertinent info) and I will be doing brief daily updates.

By the way, LADY, GO DIE! – the first of the Titan “Mike Hammer” novels – has been completed and submitted.

M.A.C.

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Hi, Hi Baby

Tuesday, August 16th, 2011
Bye Bye Baby

Today (Aug. 16) is the publication date of the first Heller in almost a decade (but you knew that): BYE BYE, BABY. All I ask is that everybody reading this buy 25 copies and ship them to friends (or strangers if necessary).

The audio book is also available, and is the first of a new series from Brilliance that will present every single Nate Heller novel – and the two short story collections – in new audio presentations. This is exciting news, at least for me, and these audio presentations will tie in with the new trade-paperback/e-book reprint series of the complete Nathan Heller Memoirs from Amazon/Encore.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: I will be doing daily updates while Barb and I are on the road the next week’s whirlwind West Coast Tour for our bouncing BABY (see tour schedule above).

This will be a busy week around the Collins household. Barb and I are preparing for the tour, which also will be promoting “Barbara Allan” and other projects, like Hard Case Crime titles and ongoing Mike Hammer projects. And (speaking of Hammer) I will be continuing a crazy work schedule to complete LADY, GO DIE! before we leave next Monday.

Also this week, Barb and I have our 45th high school reunion and of course Crusin’ is playing for that, this coming Saturday night. The band will have a monster rehearsal this week picking up even more ‘60s material for that very special gig.

There are a few nice MAC mentions that have popped up in the last week or so on the Net. Here, for instance, is a cool discussion of Chicago crime that talks about the movie and book, ROAD TO PERDITION, liking both but liking the latter more.

The New York Post has included BYE BYE, BABY on a “required reading” list.

This blog entry – again from the Ed who isn’t Gorman – has smart things to say about Mickey Spillane and Mike Hammer, and a particularly insightful look at the film KISS ME DEADLY. Ed Who Is Not Gorman also highly recommends my documentary on the Criterion release.

There’s a very nice overview of the hardboiled/noir genre in multi-parts that includes Nate Heller and me. But the whole series is good, with insightful comments about Mickey and Hammer.

You’ll have to scroll down to find it (or just read your way down, because it’s a good blog), but here’s a nice review of the upcoming QUARRY’S EX.

M.A.C.

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