This coming Valentine’s Day weekend, Barb and I are Guests of Honor at the Star City Film Festival, being held this year at the Fleur Theater in Des Moines. It will include (on Saturday night) the first showing of the final cut of Mickey Spillane’s Cap City, which I adapted from the novella A Bullet for Satisfaction developed by me from an unpublished Spillane manuscript (it appeared in The Last Stand).

Here is the press release courtesy of Dr. Katie O’Reagan, the Star City fest director:

Barb and I will be there all day Saturday (with time out for meals and a nap) (or two). Probably Friday afternoon, too.

Those of you who live close enough to attend – we hope to see you there! A slightly (slightly) different version of Cap City was shown in August last year at the Last Picture House in Davenport, Iowa, as part of the Alternating Currents Fest.

I can say that seeing Cap City on a big screen in a real theatrical setting was an entirely different experience than getting advance looks at it on a computer or my TV. Very pleased with what my co-writer, co-producer and director/co-star David Wexler did with the material.

This is a long-in-the making picture, starting with a screenplay written with a budget in the low millions in mind. When fund-raising fell through, and David faced the reality of having to move onto the next project, I used Blue Christmas as an example of how a noir mystery could be told in a single setting. He gave me the go-ahead and I rewrote the script into one that takes place almost entirely at the crime scene.

I’m an old hand at finding a way to make a movie on a (sometimes ridiculously) low budget.

The response to Return of the Maltese Falcon continues to be overwhelmingly favorable and wide-spread. The only disappointment has been the lackluster “support” from Barnes & Noble’s brick-and-mortar chain. I get sporadic reports both that a copy or two are in stock or not at all – the latter includes the Cedar Rapids Barnes & Noble, where I have done business for decades and have done numerous book-signings.

This is not the store’s fault – they simply were sent no copies by corporate. They have since, I’ve learned, ordered copies.

I am glad to say rival chain Books-a-Million (aka BAM!) are doing a better job of it. Note the two unbiased shoppers below at the Davenport BAM! These two, coincidentally, closely resemble my grandson Sam and granddaughter Lucy.

And the Davenport Barnes & Noble has ordered a substantial number, God bless ‘em.

Do please continue to send photos of Return of the Maltese Falcon seen “out in the wild,” particularly at Barnes & Noble.

Another reader sent this, spotted at a Texarkana, Texas BAM!.

The worldwide release of True Noir: The Assassination of Anton Cermak is imminent: Feb. 17. The 4-CD set can be ordered at Amazon.

Even for somebody prolific like me, it’s unusual when two major releases debut the same day. But True Noir comes out Feb. 17, as I said, and so does Death By Fruitcake, which will hit DVD on the same date. There will be no Blu-ray (that I know of), so this is your physical media way to get (and support) our little film, based on the Antiques series written by Barb and me.

In other Nate Heller news, we have a lovely little write-up from Ed Catto about the Hard Case Crime title, The Big Bundle.

I have just proofed, corrected and approved the typeset Quarry’s Return for editor Charles Ardai at Hard Case Crime. That doesn’t come out till November – the 50th anniversary Quarry.

And I’ve also just signed to do two more novels for Hard Case Crime – what they will be, I won’t tell you.

Finally, a few days ago Barb and I delivered Antiques Web to our publisher, Severn House.

M.A.C.

Tags: Antiques Series, Antiques Web, Appearances, Barbara Allan, Cap City, Death by Fruitcake, Death by Fruitcake Movie, Mickey Spillane, Nate Heller, Quarry, Quarry's Return, Return of the Maltese Falcon, The Big Bundle, Trash 'n' Treasures