[Bulletin: THE PALMS THEATER WEB SITE IS BACK UP! ORDER TICKETS HERE.]

For those of you in the eastern Iowa (and nearby Illinois) area who have been wanting to get advance tickets to the Nov. 1 and Nov. 2 premiere screenings at the Palms Theatre in Muscatine, you will have probably noticed that for some days now the Palms web site has been essentially down.

Tickets are available through Fandango, however.

Tickets for the Friday Nov. 1 screening at 7 pm – with stars Paula Sands and Rob Merritt on hand, as well as myself and numerous others from cast and crew – can be purchased here.

Tickets for the Saturday Nov. 2 screening at 7 pm – with stars Paula Sands and Alisabeth Von Presley on hand, as well as myself and numerous others from cast and crew – can be purchased here.

We’re sorry about the difficulties with the Palms web site, and by the time you read this those difficulties may have been remedied. But for now (on 10-21-24), the Fandango link is what you’ll want to use.

Right now these are the only screenings scheduled for this year, although the Last Picture House in Davenport has expressed a strong interest in having us.

We also will likely have limited runs of Blue Christmas at the Palms in Muscatine and other Fridley Chain theaters in Iowa, as well as at the Last Picture House…but those plans are not yet firmed up.

Blue Christmas will be out on Blu-ray and DVD on Nov. 12 from VCI and MVD. They can be ordered from Amazon here.

Barb and I, as co-authors of the long-running Antiques mystery-novel series, are thrilled with having Death By Fruitcake to demonstrate how effectively our concept can be transferred to the screen. We’ve come very close over the years, with tons of interest from networks and streamers, but it never quite happened. Which is why we decided to do it ourselves, and show how we think it should be done – specifically including breaking the fourth wall, so that Brandy and Vivian can talk directly to the audience from time to time, invoking the unconventional and (we think) fun rule-breaking style of the books.

Two releases in the Antiques/Trash ‘n’ Treasures mystery novel series are imminent.

The new one, Antiques Slay Belles, will be available on Nov. 5.

The previous one, Antiques Foe, is available in a handsome full-size trade paperback on Oct. 29.

We must point out that our publisher (Severn House) is British and sometimes the books are hard to find in the USA – distribution to Barnes & Noble appears limited. So please take advantage of the links above, or buy from whatever on-line bookseller you like and trust (this includes Barnes & Noble). [Target Circle has a “buy 1 get 1 50% off select books” deal active through October 26, and both Barbara Allan books (and more) are eligible. –Nate]

We’ve had good support for our efforts with both our film of Blue Christmas and Death By Fruitcake, with the naysayers being exclusively people who haven’t seen either movie yet – just are contemptuous of any film that doesn’t have a Hollywood budget and the name stars that go with it.

For Death by Fruitcake, we are fortunate to have two regional celebrities in Emmy-winning broadcaster Paula Sands and American Idol/American Songwriter Contest pop sensation Alisabeth Von Presley. Alisabeth, of course, is in Blue Christmas along with Fruitcake co-star Rob Merritt, who is by our yardstick the most successful actor in this part of the world.

I have enjoyed getting back to indie filmmaking and, if it’s not too impractical at my age, to possibly do more of it. I’ve been blessed to have a certain amount of bigtime Hollywood success in Road to Perdition and the Quarry TV series; and fairly big success with The Expert debuting in primetime on HBO and Mommy appearing in primetime on Lifetime. And both Mommy movies were video store hits back in the Blockbuster days. I’ve had things on Iowa PBS (notably Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life) and written several independent features for others, including the Quarry-derived The Last Lullaby and the upcoming Mickey Spillane’s Saturday Night in Cap City.

My point, if there is one, is that this notion of letting budget stand in the way of telling stories is a self-imposed limitation. Sure, Blue Christmas would be “better” if I’d had multiple locations and a bunch of Hollywood acting talent. But figuring out how to tell my story with talented local actors (pro and pro-am) on a single set, and shoot it in six days, was how I was able to finally get a project done (Blue Christmas) that I’d been trying to do since 1995.

Death By Fruitcake was a matter of choosing an Antiques story that could be told using limited locations – and the novella Antiques Fruitcake in the three-novella collection Antiques Ho Ho Homicide was perfect. I knew, from having done Mickey Spillane’s Encore for Murder and Blue Christmas with non-Hollywood talent that Death By Fruitcake was possible. And for all the limitations our micro budget imposed upon us, I could not be prouder of the result.

It’s incredibly gratifying for Barb and me to see Brandy and her mother brought so fully to life by two gifted comic actresses, Alisabeth Von Presley and Paula Sands.

Some of you may have to wait till next year to see it, but I’m confident we’ll get Fruitcake out there in some form for you to partake of a slice. And look for announcements about streaming service availability of Blue Christmas soon.

Although…if you have Blu-ray, the VCI release is packed full of extra features.

Here’s some great area coverage of the Fruitcake premiere weekend.

M.A.C.

Tags: Antiques Foe, Antiques Series, Antiques Slay Belles, Barbara Allan, Blue Christmas, Death by Fruitcake, Death by Fruitcake Movie, Trash 'n' Treasures