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Seduction of the Innocent on Shelves Now!

Tuesday, February 19th, 2013

Seduction of the Innocent hits bookshelves real and virtual today. If you already pre-ordered your copy, take this reminder to go pick it up, or alternatively, to call in sick and wait by the mailbox, and skip on down to the regularly scheduled update from Al below. And if you haven’t (for shame!), this is for you…

Part noir, part pulp, and part comic book, Seduction is a detective thriller a la Rex Stout and inspired by the real-life 1950s witch-hunt against Tales From the Crypt publisher EC Comics. With an insider’s view of the history of comics, more than a dozen brand new illustrations in the classic EC style by comic book legend Terry Beatty, and a killer, Hard Case Crime-worthy cover by the great Glen Orbik, Seduction of the Innocent is not to be missed. But maybe I’m biased, so for you jaded Internet-savvy readers out there, here’s what everyone else has to say:

“Truly a breath of fresh air.”—Ron Fortier

“Thoroughly entertaining…Be on the lookout; you don’t want to miss it.”—Bill Crider

“Superior storytelling”—Ed Gorman

“A wonderful, fun, frothy mix of genres… a fast, exciting read, well worth carting along for moments-between or sitting down with for some self-indulgent reading.”—The Geek Girl Project

“Permeated with a sense of, well, joy. Murderous, sexpot, hard-drinking, gun-totin’ scandelous joy.”—pornokitcsh

“Ingenious…great fun, whether or not you are an aficionado of the comics of that era.”—Crime Time

“A must read for crime and comic fans alike.”—MysteryPeople

“Seduction of the Innocent is marked by careful plotting, sharp dialog, and a mastery of genre conventions…”—Nerds of a Feather

“Everything I like in one handsome little package”—Books and Writers

Convinced? Buy Seduction of the Innocent today!

Paperback: | E-Book:

Audio CD: | Audio MP3 CD: | Audible:

UK: | CA: | AU:

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February Kindle Sale: TRUE DETECIVE and BOMBSHELL $2.99 Each!

Tuesday, February 5th, 2013

Nate here again with a quick word on a sale before letting Al take over with his regularly scheduled update (below). All February long, Amazon is featuring Nathan Heller novel True Detective and Barbara Allan collaboration Bombshell for $2.99 each on the Kindle storefront. If you already got ’em, skip on down. Otherwise, mandatory reading:

True Detective is the first Nathan Heller and a great, natural entry point into the series for new readers (although really, you can start with any of the Hellers and skip around). The 1984 Shamus Award Winner for Best P.I. Hardcover, True Detective earned some very impressive raves:

“There’s a special energy that powers True Detective, the raw brawling energy of 1933 Chicago. Collins’ Chicago is perfectly convincing, and so is his detective, Nate Heller. A fine piece of craftsmanship and a deeply satisfying read.” —Laurence Block

“I knew Chicago during Prohibition was supposed to be both dangerous and exciting, and now I know why. . . . A terrific read.” —Donald E. Westlake

“One of the best stories I have ever read.” —Mickey Spillane

“True Detective succeeds on several levels, where other novels have failed on a single one. It is not only a fine private eye novel, but a damned good mystery, and interesting historical novel, and a well-crafted suspense novel.” —Robert Randisi

And Bombshell is a Barbara and Max Allan Collins collab freshly back in print under their joint pseudonym, Barbara Allan. I highly recommend this to Heller fans who want more Marilyn after reading Bye Bye, Baby, or to Trash ‘n’ Treasures fans looking for more Barbara Allan while they wait for Antiques Chop to hit the shelves. And if you’re not really either of those? Well, how’s this sound for a plot:

In an attempt to soothe growing Cold War tensions between America and Russia, Premier Nikita Khrushchev visits the US to see all that his “enemy” has to offer. Top of his to-do list? A trip to Disneyland and an introduction to sexual icon Marilyn Monroe.

Thanks to the impossible security requirements, Disneyland is out of the question. Marilyn, on the other hand, jumps at the chance to put on a show for the Russian official. During her appearance, she overhears the details of an assassination plot designed to spark an atomic holocaust and devastate both superpowers. When the Secret Service refuses to believe her, Marilyn risks everything to whisk Khrushchev away to safety—in the happiest place on earth.

With US agents and the KGB hot on their trail, Marilyn and Khrushchev enjoy the thrills of the amusement park while fighting to stay one step ahead of the assassins and prevent the horrors of an unprecedented war that would annihilate millions.

“[Barbara Allan has] taken an event based in history—Khruschev’s U.S. visit—and shaped it with wonderful characterizations (Nikki and Marilyn have never been more interesting) to re-create an era within the context of a delightful comic adventure (a cold-war variation on Roman Holiday).” —Booklist

“Fanciful conjecture indeed, but told with warmth, attention to historical detail, and serious tone.” —Library Journal

Don’t forget that these books are also available in handsome physical editions at all major online retailers as well as your local bookseller through indiebound.org. Stay tuned below for your regularly scheduled update.

True Detective on Amazon

Bombshell on Amazon

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Kill Your Darlings Kindle $1, Bill Plympton on Kickstarter

Tuesday, January 29th, 2013

Two quick notes before we continue with Max’s weekly update below:

Kill Your Darlings on the Kindle is $1.00 for the next five days, if you’re willing to jump through a couple small hoops. Here’s the deal—AmazonLocal is a website that offers discount vouchers for various local and national products and services (like rival websites Groupon or LivingSocial, if you’ve heard of those). Right now, one of their promotions is a $1.00 voucher redeemable for one of 25 select Kindle novels, including Mallory novel Kill Your Darlings. There is a limit of one book per customer.

Since this is kind of a new process, here’s how to do it—don’t be daunted, as Amazon provides detailed instructions throughout, and the whole thing took me less than five minutes.

Step One: Go to AmazonLocal. You can skip the subscription step, and if asked for a city, any city will have this deal listed for the duration.

Step Two: Order the voucher (you will be prompted to sign in with your Amazon account) and wait for your voucher code e-mail. The e-mail will also lead you through the rest of the process, which is…

Step Three: Go to the promotion page, enter your code by midnight Pacific time on February 7, and purchase one of the 25 books. There are plenty of good ones on there, including several of Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct novels, but since you can only get one, I of course recommend Kill Your Darlings as the only proper choice.

——

Our good friend Bill Plympton (you may know him as I first did, through his brilliant and totally fried animations on MTV, or his Academy-Award nominated short Your Face) is running a Kickstarter funding campaign for his next animated feature, and there’s only three days left to help fund his project and its gorgeous new coloring style. Backer rewards include digital and physical copies of the completed feature, signed original drawings, and more. The video gives a better pitch than I ever could, so watch the video, and check out his Kickstarter page!

Your regularly scheduled update continues below….

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January Kindle Sale: DAMNED IN PARADISE, $2.99

Tuesday, January 8th, 2013

This month, Amazon is featuring Nathan Heller novel DAMNED IN PARADISE on sale for $2.99 on the Amazon Kindle store. Nominated for the 1997 Shamus Award for Best P.I. Hardcover, DAMNED IN PARADISE is a great entry into the Heller series, and one not to miss for already fans. Here’s Publishers Weekly‘s write-up:

“Seven of the eight volumes in this series, which blends classic American crime with the fictional efforts of detective Nate Heller, have been nominated for Shamus awards (two have won). This tale warrants another. Collins gives us pre-statehood Hawaii and the Massie case, which revolved around the alleged abduction and rape of a Navy lieutenant’s wife and the subsequent murder of a suspect by lieutenant Thomas Massie and his mother-in-law. The sensational crime stirred racial hatreds in Hawaii and stoked a movement to place the territory under military rather than civilian rule. It’s 1932, and Heller, wrapping up his involvement in the Lindbergh kidnapping case (Stolen Away), lunches with Clarence Darrow. Darrow has been lured out of semi-retirement to defend Massie, his mother-in-law Grace Fortescue and two seamen against charges of murdering one of the five mixed-race youths accused of raping Thalia Massie. As Darrow’s investigator, Heller cuts through the incompetence, corruption and confusion that surrounded both the original crime and the subsequent murder of the suspect. Collins’s vivid sketch of a deeply divided polyglot culture is spiced with colorful real-life characters in Darrow, Buster Crabbe and Chang Apana, the Hawaiian policeman who served as a model for Charlie Chan.”

http://amzn.to/UT056h

A good number of Max’s other novels are on good deals right now too — click this link for an Amazon search — with most digital titles under 5 bucks. Now’s a great time to load that Kindle up for the coming year. And all these books are also available in handsome physical editions at all major online retailers as well as your local bookseller through indiebound.org. Stay tuned below for your regularly scheduled update.

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