Friends/Family/Fans of Max Allan Collins

Target Japan

February 11th, 2014 by Max Allan Collins

I was surprised and delighted to see Mike Carlson, one of the UK’s best and most respected crime fiction reviewers, give TARGET LANCER a rave. Carlson was apparently sparked by the mass-market paperback edition. He seems to share my interest in, and take on, the JFK assassination. I’ve got to get ASK NOT into his hands.

I recommend the film THE MONUMENT MEN and urge you to ignore the mostly negative reviews it’s been getting. It’s a determinedly old-fashioned movie from its star cast (essentially playing themselves or at least their movie personas), a rousing and intentionally Old School score, a compelling episodic structure cutting between story threads, and a respect for history that makes it a DIRTY DOZEN for people who respect art. There’s not a lot of slam-bang action, but the extent of the evil of the Hitler regime comes across effectively in a unique fashion. No, it’s not INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS. And 12 YEARS A SLAVE isn’t DJANGO UNCHAINED, either.

This will be an extremely short update because (A) I seem to be coming down with a cold, and (B) I am prepping to start the Spillane western novel.

So I’m turning the rest of this post over to son Nate, who with his wife Abby recently went to Japan. I’ve asked him to share some photos of that trip.

M.A.C.

* * *

Hi everyone. Nate here. Let’s get right to the pictures!

Our first day, we went to the Comic Market (aka Comiket) in Tokyo, which is sort of like Japan’s San Diego Comic-Con, only even more massive (around 540,000 attendees over three days to Comic-Con’s 130,000 over four days), and with a heavy focus on self-publishing groups (some 35,000 of them divided across the three days—each day has an entirely different lineup) in endless rows of small folding tables and minimal displays (only the industry publishers can swing enough space for booths here, and only in a separate hall with a separate entry line). Sadly, I did not take any pictures of the inside, as there was no room to do so.

Our AirBNB hosts shared us this video of the Comiket line management. San Diego Comic-Con organizers should take note!

The first few days of the new year are the most important holiday in Japan, and one of the many New Year’s traditions is to visit a shrine or a temple. Due to the increased number of visitors, carnival-esque booths selling food and toys often spring up around the holy sites, and if you’re lucky, you might come across performances by traditional entertainers. Above is a ladder acrobatics demonstration stemming from firefighting techniques of the 19th-Century Edo period, when a portable ladder could often provide the fastest vantage point to find the source of a fire. The poles barely visible at the base of the photo are axes held by the other members of the troupe, who balance the ladder for the climber as they await their turn to show off. Would you like to know more?

This is a statue in Kyoto’s Yasaka Koshin-do Temple of Binzuru-Sonja, one of Buddha’s disciples popular in Japan. He is said to help those who touch or rub his statue on the part of the body where they are suffering an affliction.

“Unryuzu” by Kaiho Yusho, Kennin-ji Temple, Kyoto. 16th Century. (Reproduction)

Kamo River, Kyoto.

On one of our favorite days, our friend (and two of her helpers!) dressed us in these lovely traditional Japanese wedding kimono. Truly an honor!

Nate

Tags: admin, Nathan Heller, Reviews, Target Lancer
Posted in Message from M.A.C. | 6 Comments »

The Write Quarry

February 4th, 2014 by Max Allan Collins

It’s very gratifying that THE WRONG QUARRY has generated so much attention, particularly on the Net. This is, after all, the tenth novel in a series begun in 1976. No other book of mine in recent years – including the Heller comeback novels that form the JFK Trilogy – has been so widely reviewed. As I noted a while back, out of what must be around forty write-ups by now, there’s been only one that wasn’t a near rave – and it was mixed.

It appears that a lot of the reviewers and bloggers who dig Quarry are only familiar with the recent five Hard Case Crime novels. I hope that gradually the Perfect Crime reprints, with the cool Terry Beatty covers, will find their way into the hands and minds of these new Quarry fans.

One interesting result of (I presume) younger readers discovering the series through Hard Case is that the premise of Quarry being a hitman who kills other hitmen has been hailed as innovative, and “new” for Quarry specifically and crime novels in general. Of course, many of you who follow these updates (both of you) know that the premise of Quarry using the Broker’s list began back in 1976, in the book now known as (not surprisingly) QUARRY’S LIST. Also, both QUARRY IN THE MIDDLE and QUARRY’S EX from Hard Case are “list” novels.

I’m not complaining. I always thought the “list” concept was innovative myself. I just thought that starting back in ‘76….

* * *

Here’s a nice essay utilizing interview answers from me. The emphasis, not surprisingly, is on Quarry and the current novel.

And, yes, wonderful WRONG QUARRY reviews are still appearing, like this one at Crime Fiction Lover.

Here’s a nice one from Fiction Addict.

On the Mike Hammer front, J. Kingston Pierce at the Rap Sheet has singled out his favorite covers of last year and COMPLEX 90 made the list. He’s giving you the opportunity to vote for your favorite among his. Remember, any vote for Mike Hammer is a vote for America.

Here’s an excellent review of THE GOLIATH BONE. There’s also an explanatory comment from me about who-wrote-what.

Finally, here’s an overview of Crime Fiction in Comics and Graphic Novels that includes a nice section on yours truly (I always want to add “Johnny Dollar” to that…).

M.A.C.

Tags: Complex 90, Mike Hammer, Quarry, Spillane, The Goliath Bone, The Wrong Quarry
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Writer’s Work is Never Done

January 28th, 2014 by Max Allan Collins

When a writer finishes a novel and sends it in to a waiting editor/publisher, a feeling of relief is greater than any sense of accomplishment. What all of us forget, however, is that sending in the “finished” book is only the beginning.

First, there comes an editorial letter, often asking for revisions, followed by a line-edited manuscript, then a copy-edited manuscript and finally galley proofs. For a prolific writer like me, all of these turn up unexpectedly, often at terrible times, and always with a note to get the manuscript or galleys back in something like three days.

Editors don’t care if you’re on deadline with some other book, usually (though not always) for some other publisher. Every editor (rightly) considers the book of yours that is theirs to be the only book.

I also have the problem of not wanting to do any revisions that aren’t absolutely necessary – i.e., a plot point that I haven’t dealt with, or sentences and/or paragraphs that have proved confusing. I rarely agree to elaborate rewrites. Hardly ever. I also am notorious for becoming furious with copy editors. Not all copy editors: just those who have appointed themselves collaborators. About one in three times at bat, I encounter one of these creatures intent upon “improving” my work.

I don’t think I’m alone in this. The only shit fit that Mickey Spillane ever threw in front of me was in response to a copy-edited version of one of his novels. The fury of Mike Hammer at his kill-craziest was unleashed.

But it is the collision of books that can make a writer dizzy.

Last week, after completing QUARRY’S CHOICE, I was immediately thrust into dealing with the galley proofs of the very different SUPREME JUSTICE. Now, because Hard Case editor Charles Ardai is lightning fast, I am already facing the copy-edited manuscript of CHOICE!, before the literary paint is dry. I am grateful and impressed with Charles’ speed, but fear I lack enough distance from the book to effectively work with the copy-edit so soon.

Much of what a professional fiction writer does is little-known or even unknown by readers.

Ahead in the immediate week or two ahead are finishing a TV pitch for a potential Nate Heller TV series, which will require me re-reading STOLEN AWAY and much of TRUE DETECTIVE, taking notes as I go; writing my draft of a “Barbara Allan” Christmas novella called ANTIQUES FRUITCAKE, not due for a while but necessary to deal with now, because of scheduling issues; and getting ready to write a western novel based on an unproduced Mickey Spillane screenplay. The latter prep will include spending many hours with that screenplay, looking at western reference books, and reading some ‘50s western novels by the likes of Jonas Ward and Harry Whittington, to help get the right flavor.

Not complaining, mind you. This beats my other paying jobs (sacking groceries, bussing tables) by some distance.

* * *

Eliot Ness

Be sure to check out the Huffington Post piece on Eliot Ness that Brad Schwartz and I put together to defend the Untouchable from attacks from Jonathan Eig (Get Capone) and others, in reaction to the proposal that a new ATF building be named for him.

My pal and collaborator Matt Clemens visited the Twin Cities recently to read one of our short stories at Noir at the Bar.

Speaking of Matt, here’s a great review of WHAT DOESN’T KILL HER, which – like SUPREME JUSTICE – is a book Matt contributed mightily to.

Check out this very good article on cozy mysteries dealing with antiques. Barbara Allan gets some very nice attention here.

Still haven’t picked up THE WRONG QUARRY? Here’s an excerpt.

Here’s a great WRONG QUARRY review, demonstrating that members of my favorite sex (hint: not male) can relate to Quarry just fine.

And finally a review of QUARRY – the first book in the series. How odd and oddly sweet to see a novel that I began writing in 1972 at the U of Iowa Writers Workshop getting reviewed in 2014.

M.A.C.

Tags: Antiques Fruitcake, Barbara Allan, Eliot Ness, Nathan Heller, Quarry, Quarry's Choice, Reviews, Supreme Justice, Trash 'n' Treasures
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Edgar Nom and Life with Mickey

January 21st, 2014 by Max Allan Collins

I am pleased, and a little astonished, that “So Long, Chief,” a short story by Mickey Spillane and me that appeared in the Strand magazine, has been nominated for an Edgar. The story is one of around five I’ve done so far with an eye on developing a Hammer short story collection, utilizing the shorter fragments in Mickey’s files.

I’ve been nominated a bunch of times for Edgars, but this is only my second for fiction (the previous one was for the Ms. Tree prose short story, “Louise”). Nate Heller has never rated a nomination; Quarry either. ROAD TO PERDITION wasn’t eligible in any category because it’s a graphic novel.

This nomination rights an embarrassing wrong: while he was named a Grand Master Edgar by the MWA (thanks to the efforts of Don Westlake, Otto Penzler and others), this is Mickey Spillane’s first Edgar nomination.

Barb and I have not decided whether we’ll attend the awards ceremony in New York. If I go, I may jinx it, and we already have trips planned this year for San Diego Con and Bouchercon. And I have a lot of work on my plate. We’ll see.

See the full list of short story nominees, and my stiff competition, here.

Photo courtesy South Strand News

In other Spillane news, there’s a Mickey book that I didn’t write that’s about to come out: MY LIFE WITH MICKEY by the effervescent Jane Spillane. I can’t wait to read this myself. Mickey’s lovely widow has attracted lots of press, particularly in the South. Check this wonderful piece out.

I should note that the journalist got one bit a little wrong – Jane found a section of the climax of THE GOLIATH BONE in Mickey’s pick-up, complete with post-it’s…not LADY, GO DIE! To order MY LIFE WITH MICKEY, go here.

I have wrapped up QUARRY’S CHOICE. It went out yesterday to editor Charles Ardai, and was one of the harder Quarry novels for me. First, I had the potential TV series hanging over my head (still no news); and second, in the midst of much reviewer love for the hitman-killing-hitmen aspect of recent Quarry novels, CHOICE is only the third novel to deal with Quarry when he was working for the Broker. (There’s also a short story.) There’s a lot of sex in this one. How much? Well, Barb said I’m now officially a dirty old man.

She’s kidding, of course (aren’t you, honey?) but it touches upon the reaction some reviewers and readers have to the sex in my novels, particularly Quarry ones. Are these scenes gratuitous? Well, a book as dark and violent as any Quarry novel is inherently gratuitous. But I try to use sex scenes for characterization purposes. In THE WRONG QUARRY, a casual, nasty bit of back alley sex shows Quarry and the woman at a sort of low moral ebb; but a later, tender sexual encounter between them reveals they have stirred better impulses in each other. Similarly, an over-the-top sex scene involving a barely legal wild child means to demonstrate its relative emptiness compared to conventional but loving sex with a much older woman. Anyway, that’s what I hope those scenes do.

Scenes of violence in Quarry novels tend to be either very understated (“I got out the wrench”) or go into gory Spillane-style excessive description. A flat scene of violence can indicate the protagonist’s emotional numbness to such carnage; a highly descriptive depiction of that carnage can remind you of the actual physical and human toll.

I share these thoughts with you, because a good number of the reviews – and I mean the positive ones – of THE WRONG QUARRY talk about the book as pulpy fun, and I hope that’s the case, because as I said here last week, I consider the books to be black comedies. But in my novels – in any good fiction dealing with sex and violence – such scenes do not occur in a vacuum. They intend to reveal character.

The reviews of THE WRONG QUARRY continue to roll in. This is one of my most-reviewed books of recent years, and really only one of them (probably numbering close to 35 by now) could be called mixed or negative. (Guess which review I fixate upon.)

I was thrilled to get this glowing notice from one of the key reviewers in contemporary mystery/crime fiction, J. Kingston Pierce at the Rap Sheet.

Careful reading this fun review – there’s a major spoiler (I had to ask the reviewer to attach a SPOILER WARNING before the paragraph in question, which she graciously did).

Here’s another good one.

And another.

Finally, here’s yet another did-you-know-it-was-a-comic-book rewrite about ROAD TO PERDITION, book and film.

M.A.C.

Tags: Awards, Mike Hammer, Quarry, Quarry's Choice, Road to Perdition, So Long Chief, Spillane, The Goliath Bone
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