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November 3rd, 2015 by Max Allan Collins

I’m not going to write much of a piece this week, since I’ve already done one for J. Kingston Pierce’s terrific blog, Killer Covers. Read it here.

On the same topic, here is the best article/appraisal ever written about the Quarry novels, and I don’t say that merely because the author calls me one of the greatest writers of the second half of the 20th Century. Really, the least he could have done is add “and also the first half of the 21st Century.” Seriously, folks, you gotta check this out.

A shorter but also nice piece on just the reprint of the first QUARRY novel (as opposed to the novel THE FIRST QUARRY) is here.

And while we’re basking in the sunshine of that Quarry series appraisal, have a look at a similarly in-depth and flattering look at the entire run of MS. TREE. Thank you to a reader named Terry Beatty, who kindly forwarded this link to me. Your No Prize is in the mail.

Finally – and that’s the end of the links – I’ll report that I’ve seen the first cut of the final episode of the eight-episode run of the Cinemax QUARRY series. Frankly it’s great. For the first time you see Quarry in Vietnam, in an extended series of flashbacks. Again I warn hardcore fans that the series is an extended look at the character’s back story, and often goes its own way, though always with underpinnings of my work.

And I’m told if the series is picked up for a second season, the next batch of episodes will draw heavily on QUARRY’S CHOICE, which is among my personal favorites of the novels.

M.A.C.

M.A.C. and his latest work (pumpkin, left, Collins, right)

Tags: Hard Case Crime, Ms. Tree, Quarry, Quarry TV
Posted in Message from M.A.C. | 3 Comments »

Fate of the Union Approaches

October 27th, 2015 by Max Allan Collins

FATE OF THE UNION, the second Reeder and Rogers political thriller, will be published November 10. But I have ten advance copies available to the first ten readers who ask for one, on the condition that they post a review at Amazon and/or elsewhere. (If you are a blogger and have a regular review column, let me know and I’ll see that you get a copy from Thomas & Mercer.) The only other condition is that this is for USA residents only – postage overseas and even to Canada has gotten prohibitive.

Request a copy by e-mailing me at . Be sure to include your snail-mail address!

Some of you may not have read the first Reeder and Rogers novel, SUPREME JUSTICE, but if you like anything of mine, you’ll likely enjoy this series. SUPREME JUSTICE, ironically not read by as many of my regular readers as other titles of recent years, is among my bestselling books ever – nearly 300,000 copies are out there. The majority of those readers have come to SUPREME JUSTICE on Kindle.

As I’ve mentioned here before, Matthew Clemens gets cover billing this time, though truth be told he deserved it last time, as well (and on the previous Thomas & Mercer thriller, WHAT DOESN’T KILL HER). I’ve made no secret about the fact that Matt has worked with me on almost two dozen novels, mostly TV tie-ins (CSI, BONES, DARK ANGEL, CRIMINAL MINDS). For the record, I’ve done all the movie novelizations (dreaded term) myself.

Since I’ve moved away from doing tie-in work, I took Matt along for the Amazon thrillers because our collaboration is a comfortable and I think outstanding one. We did two thrillers at Kensington – where Matt shared co-author billing – that have done very well, building sales over the years, particularly on Kindle, due to the success of the Thomas & Mercer-pubbed thrillers. Those books are YOU CAN’T STOP ME and NO ONE WILL HEAR YOU. We also have written many short stories together – almost always with Matt sharing byline – and gathered some of them into a book called MY LOLITA COMPLEX (2006), which has become something of a high-ticket item, though the title story is available from Amazon on Kindle for a mere pittance.

Back to FATE OF THE UNION. Joe Reeder is an ex-Secret Service agent who has his roots in my IN THE LINE OF FIRE novelization and BOMBSHELL by Barb and me (now available under our shared “Barbara Allan” byline), both of which starred tough Secret Service agents. He is partnered with a young FBI agent, Patti Rogers, who is not his love interest. The books are tough and violent, and have been somewhat controversial.
Though I thought I was hitting the ball right down the center in SUPREME JUSTICE, some conservative readers (I should say “readers,” since some seemed to be posting bad reviews at Amazon without actually reading the book) disliked the novel, apparently because Joe Reeder is a Democrat. The book deals with the assassinations of Supreme Court Justices by a bad guy who wants to reconfigure the court into a more leftist manner – how that makes the book anti-conservative is bewildering to me.

Despite the efforts of some politically motivated “readers,” SUPREME JUSTICE has a four-star rating at Amazon, and an astonishing 3440 reviews (last time I checked).

FATE OF THE UNION deals with a multi-millionaire (perhaps billionaire) who decides to run for the presidency; there is an assassination attempt in the midst a string of what appear to be serial killings. The theme is the destructiveness of extremism, no matter what the politics behind it.

This past week Matt was interviewed by a Crimespree reviewer and he deals very effectively and frankly with how our collaboration works. Read it here.

While we’re at it, here’s a fun piece about how and why I quit as writer of the BATMAN comic book.

The same folks revealed why the DICK TRACY novelization doesn’t reveal the bad guy’s identity until the 6th printing.

Finally, here is a really nice article – smart and lengthy – about MS. TREE and her place in the history of crime comics.

M.A.C.

Tags: Batman, Comics, Dick Tracy, Fate of the Union, Giveaways, Ms. Tree, Reeder & Rogers, Supreme Justice
Posted in Message from M.A.C. | 1 Comment »

Quarry On TV – First Look!

October 20th, 2015 by Max Allan Collins

Here’s a first look at Quarry on TV, with a trailer released by HBO/Cinemax. It’s on various sites but we lifted this from Red Carpet Crash, which has a good write-up on the series.

The trailer is getting a very positive response on the Net, and I like it very much myself – great noir-ish mood and a fine evocation of the early ‘70s.

Fans of the novels will need to keep a few things in mind, when the series premieres sometime in the first half of 2016. The first season explores and expands the Quarry back story. We see him come home from Vietnam, and meet his wife Joni and watch the Broker weave a web to pull the young Vietnam vet into the contract killing business. There are new elements, but many, even most, of the characters come from the novels.

The major difference is the Southern setting – the show is set in Memphis and shot there and in New Orleans. While the books are solidly Midwestern, this shift of locale creates mood and color appropriate to Quarry.

One thing you may have noticed in the various publicity materials is that Quarry’s real name is given as Mac Conway. The initial drafts of the pilot script avoided revealing a real name, but it quickly became unwieldy – it was necessary to give the character a “real-life” name, Quarry being (of course) the Broker’s code name for him. Graham Gordy and Michael Fuller, the creators of the TV version, told me the “Mac” was a salute to a certain M.A.C.

* * *

Here’s a write-up about the last straw that caused me to quit the BATMAN comic book, many moons ago.

Check out this lovely piece about my “disaster” series. Nice things are said about me, so clearly the writer has a lot on the ball.

M.A.C.

Tags: Batman, Disaster Series, Quarry, Quarry TV
Posted in Message from M.A.C. | 9 Comments »

Bouchercon Photo Gallery

October 13th, 2015 by Max Allan Collins

Bouchercon at Raleigh, NC, was a blast. I’ll let these pictures (mostly taken by Gene George) tell the tale, but the event, as usual, was about as pleasant and fun as a work trip could be. The only frustrating thing is running into old friends – like Otto Penzler, Ted Hertel, Ted Fitzgerald, Bill Crider, Jeff Pierce, and Alan Turkus, among many others – and not having a chance to really sit down and chat with them. Various events, meeting and meals got me in touch with my agent and various editors and other publishing luminaries.

A highlight was the Shamus Awards banquet, at a very funky Southern-style restaurant, where I presented the best short story award (having won the year previous). The various nominees were mostly from noir collections gathering stories worldwide, giving me a chance to mispronounce almost every nominee’s name (in the case of Lawrence Block’s story, he thoughtfully provided me with a foreign name within the title).

M.A.C.