Posts Tagged ‘Bombshell’

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

Collect ‘Em All, Kids!

Tuesday, December 18th, 2012

Last week, Amazon offered for sale the new Thomas & Mercer trade paperbacks (and corresponding e-books) of fourteen of my novels, including two by Barb and myself appearing for the first time under our “Barbara Allan” byline (REGENERATION, BOMBSHELL).

These are outstanding packages, with outstanding covers, really just beautiful. I’m thrilled that these novels – all out of print, some out of print for years – are available again. It’s any author’s dream to have his or her work perpetually available, and one positive aspect of the changing world of publishing is that that dream has come true for many writers, myself included.

The five Mallory novels and the six “disaster” mysteries make up the bulk of the list, with the Barbara Allan titles and the standalone eco-thriller MIDNIGHT HAUL rounding it out. Virtually everything of mine is in print now – Perfect Crime has the Nolan and Quarry series, and Speaking Volumes has Eliot Ness.

The new Thomas & Mercer titles are priced very reasonably, and look for great promo deals from Amazon after the first of the year. I have done interviews on both Mallory and the disaster books, and Barb and I did a “Barbara Allan” interview, and I’ll let you know when and where those are going to show up. [Note from Nate: Click each cover for links to purchase Kindle, trade paperback, and audiobook editions at Amazon, major booksellers, as well as local independent booksellers via Indiebound]

Barb and I appeared at Centuries & Sleuths in Forest Park, Illinois, on Sunday. This was a great event – lots of fans, plus we were generously made a part of the Midwest chapter of the Mystery Writers of America’s Christmas party. In fact, my Q and A was the entertainment. It was a treat seeing so many wonderful writers, particularly my friends Bob Goldsborough and Raymond Benson, who are with me in the very small club of writers being chosen to continue great series (Nero Wolfe, James Bond and Mike Hammer respectively). Centuries & Sleuths, with its history and mystery theme, is one cool bookstore. The book tour has one last stop, in nearby Davenport’s BAM! on Dec. 22.

In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook tragedy, be prepared for books, comic books, video games, rap music, movies, and other popular culture to be served up as a safe, convenient scapegoat. This is a very old, sour tune that our society just can’t get enough of – just like it can’t get enough of violent entertainment. Personally, I would like to see the assault rifle ban reinstated, and a campaign of education to advise people of the risks taken by owning a hand gun in a home where mentally disturbed and/or depressed people live. If you have a troubled loner son, maybe taking him to the shooting range to “learn responsibility” isn’t such a great idea.

The second of three installments of Dan Luft’s in-depth look at the Nolan series has just appeared. Smart stuff.

Take a look at this incredible TARGET LANCER review.

And speaking of censoring pop culture, here’s another nice advance review of SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT.

M.A.C.

The Big Year

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, this will be a big year for me, and for my collaborators Barb, Matt and Mickey.

Some of this has to do with publishers holding onto books a while before publishing; some of what is seemingly a big output has to do with my working with those gifted collaborators I just mentioned. My big fear is that some of this work – all of which, I think, finds us at the top of our collective game – may slip through the cracks. Those of you who follow these updates are encouraged (well, actually I’m begging) to support this stuff, and tell your friends, write about the stuff on blogs, and post Amazon and Barnes & Noble reviews.

Encore for Murder

Writers who are at all prolific suffer – we “grind” out and “crank” out books. People who use that kind of phrase really don’t know much at all about writing. But expect to hear that sort of thing said about me this year. Now, the Hardest Working Man in Show Business is okay. That’s fine. I am still rock ‘n’ rolling, after all.

This week we are sharing with you the first look at the terrific cover of THE NEW ADVENTURES OF MIKE HAMMER VOL. 3: ENCORE FOR MURDER. This was about as fun and rewarding a project as you could imagine. Working with actors like Stacy Keach, Tim Kazurinsky, David Pasquale, and Mike Cornelison is a dream come true. As I’ve mentioned before, Tim is one of my favorite Second City/SNL talents, and Pasquesi is a great stand-up who shared the stage with Jeff Garlin and Fred Willard at the Second City Reunion last year. And Mike Cornelison is probably the best Pat Chambers ever. The previous Hammer audio, THE LITTLE DEATH, was adapted from a screenplay; but ENCORE FOR MURDER was written specifically for the audio novel format, and I’m really proud of it. Like Sinatra said after listening to a playback, “If you don’t like that, you don’t like ice cream.”

Also coming up in the Big Year are:

ANTIQUES KNOCK-OFF, Kensington hardcover, March. Both Barb and I think this is the best of the Antiques novels, both in terms of mystery and funny, and it presents a conclusion to the story arc of the first five books. Best cover we’ve snagged.

NO ONE WILL HEAR YOU, also Kensington but a paperback, and also March. This is the second J.C. Harrow novel by Matt Clemens and me, and we both think it’s superior to the first one (which was well-received, and which we like, but there was room to improve…and we did). It’s a satire on reality TV and features two really scary serial killers. We went for broke on this one. Frankly, if this doesn’t do well, there won’t be another. Please support this one. Here’s an idea: buy thousands, go up in a plane, and dump them over your town. Just a thought.

KISS HER GOODBYE, Harcourt “Otto Penzler” hardcover, May. This was a particularly strong unfinished manuscript from Mickey, circa 1975, and I am hugely happy with the results. I think it’s at least as good as THE BIG BANG. I had great material to work with. Thanks, Mick!

BYE BYE, BABY, Forge, hardcover, August. The first Nate Heller novel in ten years. This was delivered in 2009, and faces the clutter of the other M.A.C. novels out there this year. Marilyn’s murder, solved. Find out what really happened, and see if Heller at age 58 is any less violent or randy than he was back in the ‘30s and ‘40s. (Hint: he hasn’t mellowed.)

QUARRY’S EX, Hard Case Crime, trade paperback, August. Postponed from last year. Made some “best book of the year” lists in 2010 without being published. Good trick, even for Quarry.

THE CONSUMMATA, Hard Case Crime, trade paperback, October. The long-awaited sequel to THE DELTA FACTOR by Mickey with me batting clean up. Cubans, bondage, and Robert McGinnis!

RETURN TO PERDITION, DC Vertigo hardcover, October. Graphic novel. The final chapter in the PERDITION saga, with MS. TREE artist Terry Beatty coming on board. This may not be the final PERDITION novel or even graphic novel, but it is guaranteed the last chronologically. Terry is doing his best work.

In addition, I am close to signing an agreement that will bring all of the Nate Heller books back out in trade paperback and e-book, including two new collections of short stories and novellas. The Ness novels are already out, as are the early Quarrys (though not yet on e-book), and likely Nolan will be next. Also, trade paperbacks of the Barbara/Max Collins collaborations REGENERATION and BOMBSHELL are on the horizon (with e-books), as well as short story collections of both authors. Look for Barb/Max titles to appear as “Barbara Allan” works.

After our exchange of views on his review of an early Quarry novel, David Rachels asked me to contribute to his regular feature “Five Quick Questions” at his always interesting Noirboiled site. Despite the brevity of the format, some new things came up. And David, who teaches Japanese lit, e-mailed to say he had ordered Nate’s book, SUMMER, FIREWORKS & MY CORPSE!

Both QUARRY’S EX and THE CONSUMMATA are nicely showcased in the latest news release from Charles Ardai about the return of Hard Case Crime. It appeared lots of places, but this link takes you (appropriately enough) to the Violent World of Parker site.

Similarly, the news release about the e-book-oriented Top Suspense Group (of which I’m a member) got wide cyber attention, but here it is at my pal (and fellow TSG member) Lee Goldberg’s great website.

Jeff Pierce of Rap Sheet fame has a wonderful site about sexy covers of tough mysteries, and he went nicely nuts over the McGinnis cover of THE CONSUMMATA.

Did I mention that 2011 is my 40th anniversary in the writing game? BAIT MONEY sold in December 1971.

M.A.C.

Got Live…Do You Want It?

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

The Crusin’ gig at Wilton Founder’s Day (Friday night Aug. 27) went well – we had a nice big Friday night crowd (though not rivaling the Saturday night mob hometown boys the XL’S drew). The night was cool and pleasant, but humid, with lyric sheets and guitar/keyboard cases getting soaked; and playing on a long/narrow flatbed truck was daunting – we were lined up like the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, and I couldn’t even see guitarist Jim Van Winkle down there somewhere past bassist Chuck Bunn and drummer Steve Kundel.

We needed a professional sound company for the gig, which the fee didn’t really cover, but my pal Mark Johnson of Rock Island’s Brass Sail Recording (he did the sound and co-wrote the music for Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life) cut us an amazing deal. In addition, Mark made a sound-board recording, and the result was positive enough that I’m thinking about putting together a live CD. This would primarily be a promotional tool for getting Midwest bookings, but I may offer it here on the site, as well.

I am in frequent touch with Charles Ardai, who is being courted by a number of publishers in the search for a new home for Hard Case Crime (and QUARRY’S EX). I can’t be specific, but I will say I’m optimistic. And one of my first projects for a new Hard Case may be finishing THE CONSUMMATA, Mickey Spillane’s sequel to THE DELTA FACTOR with modernday pirate, Morgan the Raider. Speaking of Hard Case, here’s a fun write-up on Hard Case Crime.

And check out this a nice little review of ROAD TO PERDITION (the graphic novel).

BombshellNate and I are discussing starting up an e-book company to get my backlist back in print. We may do Heller, although I probably will make at least some effort to get the series back into traditional print first. I fear e-book publishing may doom titles to never seeing “real” book format again.

With BYE BYE, BABY coming out next July – Nate Heller solving Marilyn’s murder – I am considering putting out an e-book of BOMBSHELL, the Marilyn book Barb and I wrote (we may use the popular “Barbara Allan” byline). I’ll probably include some bonus features – possibly the original short story that the novel was expanded from and a Marilyn “vampire” story, both written solo by Barb. Maybe I’ll include the Heller novella, KISSES OF DEATH. We’ll see.

Opinions welcome….

M.A.C.