Archive for December, 2016

Happy Holidays

Tuesday, December 27th, 2016
XMas 2016

We had Nate, his missus Abby and their cute offspring Sam as guests over the long Christmas weekend. Zero work got done, but much eating heralded a January ahead as a wasteland of dieting.

I believe that the gifts I received from Barb – carefully pre-selected by me – would make excellent evidence at my commitment hearing. Batman, Mickey Mouse, Herschell Gordon Lewis and Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion would be among the witnesses.

The latter, a four-Blu-Ray boxed set, Nate and I blew through starting Christmas Eve (that’s when we do our gift exchange). Remarkable early ‘70s Japanese exploitation fare with feminism bait-and-switching its male audience with their own misogyny. I would swear the female protagonist was a model for Ms. Tree, only I never saw these films before.

The Herschell Gordon Lewis boxed set – festive in its green and red coloration – will enliven the food-deprived days ahead.

Christmas Day evening was given over to RiffTrax shorts. This, sadly, marks the first Christmas since my early childhood that did not include the films Scrooge (Alistair Sim) and Miracle on 34th Street. Barb and I may cheat and watch them this week. But movie-watching is haphazard with a sixteen-month-old Sam in play – lots of vintage Warner Bros cartoons and the new Peanuts movie owned the living room. Sam is almost walking and sort of talking – “Baby!” is his favorite word.

Mine, too.

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Here’s a lovely write-up about my Grand Master award.

At the Rap Sheet, J. Kingston Pierce lists Better Dead with Nate Heller as among his short list of favorites of 2016.

Read about Quarry being one of the best 11 TV shows of 2016 (number 7 to be exact).

Scroll down a ways to get some cool Mike Hammer/Spillane stuff as it relates to the Japanese tribute films.

Then scroll down to number 8 on a Batman list for some rare love for a Collins Batman story.

See you next year!

M.A.C.

Gifts

Tuesday, December 20th, 2016

Andy Landers, left, Ellis Kell, right

Ellis Kell died at age 61 on December 16. He was diagnosed with cancer in October. Ellis played a major role at the River Music Experience in the Quad Cities. As a guitarist and singer, he appeared in concert with many major acts and played with countless musicians in the eastern Iowa area.

I didn’t know Ellis well, and only performed with him once, at the wedding reception of my stellar Crusin’ guitarist, Jim Van Winkle. But Ellis’ presence was warm and kind. He was a good friend of Jim’s, and of Andy Landers, the gifted singer/songwriter currently working major venues in the Seattle area. Andy played rhythm guitar and sang with Crusin’ from 2000 to 2008, and – like Jim – is among the best musicians it’s been my honor to perform with. They would be the first to tell me I should add Ellis to that list as well, though he and I only played a few songs together.

I’ve been performing rock ‘n’ roll since 1966, and much earlier than that appeared in choral concerts and musical comedies as a junior high and high school student. At my age, inevitably, I’ve lost a lot of collaborators. Kathe Bender was my Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. Jim Hoffman was her “get me to the church on time” father. Both are gone. Jim was in Crusin’ at the very beginning, briefly, and since then we’ve lost Bruce Peters, Chuck Bunn, Tom Hetzler, Larry Barrett, Terry Beckey, and Paul Thomas.

My filmmaking collaborators who’ve gone on ahead of me include actors Majel Barrett, Jason Miller, Del Close and my frequent cohort, Michael Cornelison. Steve Henke, the indispensable madman who was my first A.D. and much more, worked on both Mommys, Real Time: Siege at Lucas Street Market and co-produced Caveman (Mike Cornelison was involved with all of those). And there are others whose names will jump into my mind as soon as I post this.

When someone dies around Christmas, it’s sometimes viewed as particularly sad (as if it weren’t sad enough). I’m not sure I agree. With families gathered at that time of year, it’s a perfect moment to remember and celebrate a loved one who’s gone. And TV, magazines and web sites use that time for “in memoriam” pieces about the celebrities we’ve lost throughout the year.

Crusin’ marked the loss of David Bowie and Prince by learning songs of theirs — a band can salute and celebrate in that unique fashion. Because of my own minor celebrity, I’ve come in contact with some real celebrities, whose passings this year have a special resonance for me.

Peter Brown (of Lawman) I met over the phone after he’d read and enjoyed Black Hats. Patty Duke and I had a brief, friendly conversation in a restaurant in Studio City. Mohammed Ali I met in an airport and shook his massive hand, basking in his charisma. Noel Neill signed her book to me at a Chicago comics con and shared stories about George Reeves. The warm, friendly Bobby Vee I spoke with backstage on two occasions. Comedian Kevin Meaney (“We’re big pants people!”) spent time with Barb and me twice after stand-up appearances – a sweeter guy never lived.

Apologies if this sounds like grisly name-dropping. But these moments have become precious in my memory, and are a continuing reminder of the mortality that faces us all.

Last year about this time, I was very sick. I was facing heart surgery early in the coming year, and I was weak as a kitten but not near as frisky. In my office I wrapped my wife’s presents – I do a miserable but sincere job of it – and it occurred to me I might not be around to do so again. That this might well be my last Christmas. When I came downstairs and put the awkwardly wrapped presents under the tree, Barbie got teary-eyed, which she doesn’t do very often (she’s on Prozac – you would be, too, if you lived with me).

Now I’m preparing to wrap her presents this year. And I’ll tell you – it feels like a privilege. No – it feels like a gift. Every minute we spend with people we care about is just that – a gift.

Raise a glass of nog (Captain Morgan optional), would you, to those you love and those we’ve lost? Here’s some you might wish to include: Bob Elliot, Bob of Bob and Ray; Frank Sinatra Jr. (we had tickets to see him we didn’t get to use); Ken Howard of 1776; brilliant Garry Shandling; Anton Yelchin of Star Trek; Hugh O’Brien, who made Wyatt Earp famous again; magnificent Robert Vaughn, the Man from U.N.C.L.E. but also Hustle; and of course Gene Wilder (“We are the music-makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams”). Add your favorites and especially those who’ve given you the gift of laughter and/or music.

Rest in peace, Ellis Kell.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

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Here, oddly, is a nice review of the Criminal Minds novel, Finishing School, on which Matt Clemens collaborated.

Once again Quarry is among the best shows of 2016.

Check out this nice write-up on the Quarry series, having to do with its appearance in the UK.

Finally, here’s a chronology with an article about the Quarry book series, with my comments.

M.A.C.

2016 Movie Wrap-Up

Tuesday, December 13th, 2016

As regular readers here know, Barb and I go to a lot of movies – generally one a week. That doesn’t mean we see everything, of course, so view these lists in that context. No particular order within categories.

Here we go:

BEST MOVIES

Hail, Caesar!
The Nice Guys
Star Trek Beyond
Hell or High Water
Doctor Strange

MOVIES WE WALKED OUT ON

The Boss
Bad Moms
Ben-Hur
The Magnificent Seven
Keeping Up with the Joneses

MOVIES WE WALKED OUT ON & MAYBE SHOULDN’T HAVE

Captain America: Civil War
Kubo & the Two Strings

MOVIES WE SHOULD HAVE WALKED OUT ON
Girl on the Train
Conjuring 2
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice

BEST MOVIE WITH BRENT SPINER

Independence Day: Resurgence

WORST MOVIE WITH BRENT SPINER

Independence Day: Resurgence

MOVIES THAT WERE BETTER THAN THEY HAD ANY RIGHT TO BE

Zootopia
Gods of Egypt
Legend of Tarzan
Deadpool
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising

MOVIES THAT WERE WORSE THAN THEY HAD ANY RIGHT TO BE

Finest Hours
Ghostbusters

MOVIES WE ENJOYED BUT BARELY REMEMBER

Keanu
X-Men: Apocalypse
Central Intelligence

MOVIES THAT DID THE JOB

The Infiltrator
Masterminds
Rules Don’t Apply
Allied

BEST MOVIE WITH THE GROWN-UP KID FROM PERDITION

Everybody Wants Some!!

MOVIES THAT WE DIDN’T SEE BUT HATE ANYWAY

13 Hours
Dirty Grandpa
The Divergent Series: Allegiant
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2
Alice Through the Looking Glass
Office Christmas Party

PRETENTIOUS TWADDLE

Arrival
The Witch
Nocturnal Animals

A few comments, since I didn’t review all of these films here over the year.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR just wore us down. We left with half an hour to go, generally ready to swear off super-hero movies. DOCTOR STRANGE, then, was an intelligent surprise. So was DEADPOOL, and I understand why anyone might not like its over-the-top nilhistic approach, but we both liked the kick to the seat of the pants it gave to super-hero movies.

ARRIVAL is slow and full of itself, and I found its big surprise obvious. THE WITCH was an unpleasant ride to nowhere. NOCTURNAL ANIMALS is misogynistic and generally unpleasant, with only the story-within-the-story having any merit, most of that coming from the always interesting Michael Shannon. RULES DON’T APPLY is an interesting and quirky return to film by star/director/writer Warren Beatty, a loving though occasionally acid valentine to Hollywood and a disguised autobiography. GODS OF EGYPT we watched at home in 3-D and had fun – no apologies forthcoming.

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Our local weekly paper, Voice of Muscatine, did this nice write-up on the Grand Master award.

Here’s a good review of The London Blitz Murders.

J. Kingston Pierce gives a nice mention to the complete version of Road to Perdition published by Brash Books. Order that yet?

Nice words about the Quarry TV series as one of the year’s best literary adaptations.

And here the Quarry show makes another “best of” list.

Finally, be sure to check out the Quarry Facebook page.

M.A.C.

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And this just in!

QUARRY: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON
Available February 14, 2017 on Blu-ray™ & DVD

New York, N.Y., December 12, 2016 – Season 1 of the “wildly entertaining” (TV Guide) Cinemax® series Quarry, loosely based on the novels of Max Allan Collins set in and around Memphis, is set to make its home entertainment debut on February 14, 2017. Starring Logan Marshall-Green as Mac Conway, this “impressively flawless” (Washington Post) series follows two soldiers’ return home from a second tour of duty in Vietnam. Quarry: The Complete First Season will be available to own on Blu-rayTM ($34.98) and DVD ($24.98), packed with bonus content including more than two dozen deleted scenes and new footage of interviews where Mac and his comrades testify to the events that led up to their discharge from the Marines. DVD and Blu-rayTM will also include a Digital Download copy.

Set in and around Memphis during the early 1970s, Quarry is a thrilling action drama that centers on the character of Mac Conway, a Marine who returns home from a second tour of duty in Vietnam. With his relationship with his wife Joni growing tenuous, Mac finds himself tempted by a lucrative offer from The Broker, a shady criminal involved in a network of killing and corruption that spans the length of the Mississippi River. After a series of events, Mac – whom The Broker codenames “Quarry” – finds himself conscripted against his better judgment into The Broker’s crew, a turn of events that has dire consequences for both himself and Joni. Gripping and “startlingly good” (Yahoo! TV), with action packed storytelling, the first season of Quarry promises to not disappoint.

Bonus Features include:

  • Deleted Scenes – A fascinating selection of more than two dozen deleted scenes from Season 1.
  • “Inside Quarry” – Get an inside look at each episode of Quarry with the cast and crew of the acclaimed series.
  • “Quan Thang Inquiry Scenes” – Check out declassified interview footage in which Mac (Logan Marshall-Green) and other soldiers testify to the events of the Quan Thang tragedy.
  • “About Quarry” – Delve inside the setting, characters and storylines of Quarry with the cast and crew.
  • “Music of Memphis” – Join the cast and crew for an inside look at the classic R&B soundtrack and live music seen in the show.
  • “Recreating 1972” – The cast and crew of Quarry reveal how they turned back the clock to recreate the sets and styles of Memphis in 1972.
  • “Love Letters” – Hear the recorded correspondence between Mac and Joni while he served in Vietnam.
  • “Car Chase Picture in Picture” – Join Quarry star Logan Marshall-Green for this action-packed look at the staging of a rough-and-tumble car chase from the series.
  • Music Videos – Watch a collection of music videos featuring some of the blistering tracks from the series.

Other cast members include: Nikki Amuka-Bird (“Luther”) as Ruth, a hardworking mother who is Joni’s close friend; Damon Herriman (“Justified”) as Buddy; Edoardo Ballerini as Karl, and Mustafa Shakir as Moses, three of The Broker’s most capable and ruthless henchmen; Jamie Hector as Arthur, Ruth’s husband and Mac’s best friend, who is also a Vietnam vet; Ann Dowd as Naomi, Buddy’s doting but unconventional mother; Skipp Sudduth as Lloyd, Mac’s father; Josh Randall as Detective Tommy Olsen, a dedicated member of the Memphis Police Department; and Kurt Yaeger as Suggs, who has fallen within The Broker’s sights.

Quarry: The Complete First Season
Blu-rayTM & DVD

Street Date: February 14, 2017
Order Date: January 10, 2017
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Approx. 480 minutes (excluding bonus materials)

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Grand Thanks

Tuesday, December 6th, 2016

The announcement of my Edgar award as a Grand Master from the Mystery Writers of America has garnered congratulations and praise from all over the place. I’ve taken to posting a link to these updates on Facebook and that’s increased the activity.

First, I’m very grateful. It’s particularly fun or, in Facebook terms, to be “liked” (you like me, you really really like me) by old friends, some of whom I haven’t heard from in decades. The world at once seems bigger and smaller.

Second, I’m a little embarrassed. These updates have become more and more confessional. Originally I only wrote an update once or twice a year. My son Nate, who runs this website, said that was not enough – the only way to encourage traffic was with regular content.

So I went weekly, and for some time all I did was talk about books that had recently become available and share links to reviews (I still do that, obviously). Then Nate encouraged me to do updates that gave a behind-the-scenes look at the writing process and what it’s like to be a freelance writer.

People seemed to like hearing about such things, but gradually more personal stuff got into the mix – the major one being my health issues. I didn’t post anything till the day I was set to take my first heart surgery (we had been going through hell for five months prior and I hadn’t made a peep about it here), and what I wrote wasn’t intended to appear till the day I was in surgery.

Then the surgery was postponed, and a second, preliminary surgery scheduled, and suddenly everybody knew about what was going on with my health. As I say, that wasn’t my intention. But I would be lying if I didn’t admit that all the good wishes, which included prayers, didn’t give me a real boost. In the subsequent lung surgery, I found that support similarly spirit-lifting.

I thank you all.

And I thank you, too, for the congratulations about the Grand Master award, which won’t be presented till next April, by the way. This is even more embarrassing than courting good wishes for health reasons, as it falls into the “rah yay me” category.

I’ve been reflecting on the Grand Master this past week, the only troubling aspect of which is that it’s a reminder that a long career preceded it, and that the remainder of that career will be much shorter. Life achievement awards are something people try to give you while you’re not dead. So that part of it is sobering.

Throughout my career – and I will be painfully honest here – I longed for, even dreamed of, receiving an Edgar from the MWA. I have been ridiculously well-honored by the Private Eye Writers of America, also by the Iowa Motion Picture Association; even won an Anthony from Bouchercon, and an award from the Edgar Rice Burroughs bibliophile group. “Barbara Allan” won a major award, too (not a leg lamp, though). But the Edgar, despite half a dozen nominations, has remained elusive.

When I see the array of trophies and plaques, which reflect not only achievement but my own needy efforts to land them – you have to enter many of these competitions to win them – I am a little embarrassed. I obviously need validation. Like most people with big egos, I have self-doubts that are even bigger.

What’s really, really nice about the Grand Master is that you don’t enter to try to win it. A group of your peers just agrees that you should get it. That feels really good.

And the company I’m in includes many of my favorite writers as well as others I admire. For example, Agatha Christie; Rex Stout; Ellery Queen; Erle Stanley Gardner; James M. Cain; John D. MacDonald; Alfred Hitchcock; Ross Macdonald; Graham Greene; Daphne Du Marier; Dorothy B. Hughes; W.R. Burnett; John Le Carre; Ed McBain; Elmore Leonard; Donald E. Westlake; Lawrence Block; Sara Paretsky; Sue Grafton; Stephen King; and Mickey Spillane. That’s just the ones that were influential in my writing life. Two (Westlake and Spillane) were mentors. I omit names of stellar types whose work I am not familiar with, and a handful whose work I dislike (here’s a hint – Angel in Black is a response to one).

I am notorious for not reading much contemporary crime fiction. My glib reason is that contemporary writers in the genre fall into three areas: (A) not as good as I am, so why bother reading ‘em; (B) as good as I am, so why bother reading them, either; and (C) better than I am, and screw those guys, anyway.

The real reasons I don’t read my contemporaries much are less smart-alecky.

First, I am a natural mimic and I tend to pick up the style and habits of other fiction writers. I discovered this writing Blood Money (my second published book) while reading The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins. That writer, a very good one, wrote such distinctive dialogue that I could not shake the cadence of it. Some of it is still in that book.

Second, much of what I write is historical, and that requires a lot of research reading. So what reading I do falls largely into that category. And my pleasure reading tends to be non-fiction, too. Again, reading fiction is dangerous for me.

That’s not to say I don’t read some. I re-read my favorite authors (many of them in my Grand Master list above) and, if I’m on a committee for the MWA or PWA, I read the works submitted for award consideration. Plus, I have friends in the field whose work I often read. Also, if somebody gets really, really popular, I check them out. That’s how I came to read some Robert B. Parker, for example, whose work I don’t care for but whose impact on the field I greatly respect.

He won the Grand Master, too.

* * *

This week past the third Caleb York, The Bloody Spur, was shipped to Kensington. In addition, I did final corrections and tweaks on the proofs of The Will to Kill for Titan (Mike Hammer) and Executive Order for Thomas & Mercer (Reeder & Rogers). The proofs of Antiques Frame await.

The Grand Master news was all over the Net, but in some cases it was more than just a regurgitation of the MWA news release. This, from Mysterious Press, for example, includes ordering info on the Mike Hammer collection, A Long Time Dead.

Brash Books, who published the complete Road to Perdition novel recently, did their own write-up as well.

Here’s a brief discussion of the use of history in Quarry in the Black.

My old pal Jan Grape talks about how authors deal with errors in books, leading off with an anecdote that shows me in a perhaps unflattering (but highly accurate) light.

Here’s a brief Quarry TV write-up, with a deleted scene that I (partially) wrote.

The Quarry show makes this Best list.

And here’s a really great review of the finale episode of Quarry, with a look back at the entire world of the series.

M.A.C.

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(Note from Nate: Quarry is available for pre-order on Amazon on Blu-Ray and DVD, although the release date hasn’t yet been determined. Here’s the link!)

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