Posts Tagged ‘Deals’

One-Stop Book Tour at Centuries & Sleuths – Plus Heller’s 40th

Tuesday, November 14th, 2023

Despite some further health-related adventures (more about that below), Barb and I are embarking on our final book tour – which is one stop at our favorite Chicago-area bookstore, Centuries and Sleuths, in Forest Park, Illinois.

The appearance is next Sunday, November 19, 2023, from 2 PM to 4 PM. It’s the only scheduled signing to support our new novels Too Many Bullets and Antiques Foe.

More info here.

Again, I am hoping you will (if you haven’t already) review Too Many Bullets, the new Nate Heller novel, at Amazon and/or Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, etc. We had something of a disaster (reported here in recent weeks) that led to all of the trades (Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus, Library Journal, Booklist) failing to review the book. This costs us bookstore sales and library sales and could be the death knell for Nate Heller.

Hard Case Crime is doing its best to get the word out, tying the hardcover Too Many Bullets to the soon-to-be-published trade paperback of The Big Bundle. They have done a great job on a press release that I will share with you here.

* * *
BEST-SELLING TRUE-CRIME DETECTIVE NATHAN HELLER CELEBRATES 40 YEARS
GRAND MASTER MAX ALLAN COLLINS’ SIGNATURE PRIVATE EYE RETURNS IN TWO NEW BOOKS:
THE BIG BUNDLE and TOO MANY BULLETS

Best-selling and award-winning novelist Max Allan Collins, author of Road to Perdition (which inspired the Oscar-winning movie starring Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law and Daniel Craig), is celebrating the 40th anniversary of his groundbreaking, million-copy-selling historical detective series about private eye Nathan Heller with the release of two new books: THE BIG BUNDLE (coming in paperback on December 12) and TOO MANY BULLETS (new in hardcover, available in stores now).

The Nathan Heller novels have sold more than 1 million copies since debuting 40 years ago with True Detective in 1983, and the series has won the Shamus Award twice, as well as the Private Eye Writers of America’s “Hammer” Award for lifetime contribution to the genre. In 2017, Collins was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, the organization’s highest honor, one he shares with John Le Carre, Alfred Hitchcock, and Agatha Christie.

Each of the Heller novels investigates a headline-making true crime, with all the authenticity and detail of a definitive non-fiction account – but seen through the eyes of fictional private eye Nathan Heller. In THE BIG BUNDLE, Heller is brought in to help solve the notorious Greenlease kidnapping, involving the highest ransom ever paid in U.S. history. In TOO MANY BULLETS, Heller seeks the truth behind the assassination of presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.

Featuring appearances by real-world figures ranging from Kennedy and the reclusive Howard Hughes to sports celebrities and filmmakers of the 1960s, these novels immerse the reader in the last century with a powerful sense that you are there, witnessing the events that seized the world’s attention.

“The Heller novels tell the story of the 20th century through the eyes of a cynical, tough-minded detective who takes you on a tour of America’s darker side,” said Hard Case Crime editor Charles Ardai. “The series is a tremendous accomplishment, and we are thrilled to publish these new cases to celebrate its 40th anniversary.”

Both books’ covers feature new painted art by celebrated artist Paul Mann, whose work was recently seen on Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

About Max Allan Collins
Celebrating his 50th year as a mystery novelist, Max Allan Collins has reached the pinnacle of his field, receiving the highest lifetime-achievement honors from both the Mystery Writers of America and the Private Eye Writers of America. His books have been New York Times and USA Today bestsellers and adapted both to television (a Cinemax series based on his Quarry novels) and feature films (including the Academy Award-winning movie based on Collins’ graphic novel Road to Perdition). Collins is also a star in the field of comic books, having penned the adventures of Batman and Dick Tracy and created the longest-running private eye comic in history (Ms. Tree), and he was hand-picked by his friend and fellow MWA Grand Master Mickey Spillane to continue the legendary Mike Hammer novels after Spillane’s death. A native of Iowa (and a graduate of the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop), Collins is also a screenwriter, a film director, and for more than five decades a professional touring rock-and-roll musician.

About Hard Case Crime
Called “the best new American publisher to appear in the last decade” by Neal Pollack in The Stranger, Hard Case Crime has been nominated for and/or won numerous honors since its inception including the Edgar, the Shamus, the Anthony, the Barry, the Ellery Queen, and the Spinetingler Award. The series’ books have been adapted for television and film, with a series based on Max Allan Collins’ Quarry novels airing on Cinemax and Haven, based on Stephen King’s novel The Colorado Kid, running for six seasons on SyFy. Hard Case Crime titles also include Stephen King’s #1 New York Times bestsellers Joyland and Later; James M. Cain’s lost final novel, The Cocktail Waitress; lost early novels by Michael Crichton (writing under the name “John Lange”) and Gore Vidal (writing as “Cameron Kay”); Are Snakes Necessary? by filmmaker Brian de Palma and former New York Times editor Susan Lehman; and Brainquake, the final work of writer/filmmaker Samuel Fuller. Hard Case Crime is published through a collaboration between Winterfall LLC and Titan Publishing Group. www.hardcasecrime.com

About Titan Publishing Group
Titan Publishing Group is an independently owned publishing company, established in 1981, comprising three divisions: Titan Books, Titan Magazines/Comics and Titan Merchandise. Titan Books is an established publisher of exceptional genre fiction in the Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Mystery fields. Recent authors of Titan Books include Kareem Abdul Jabbar, V.E. Schwab, Mickey Spillane, Max Allan Collins, Alice Blanchard, Tim Lebbon, Sarah Pinborough, Andrew Cartmel, Chris Ould and many more. Titan Books also has an extensive line of media- and pop culture-related non-fiction, graphic novels, and art and music books. The company is based at offices in London, but operates worldwide, with sales and distribution in the U.S. and Canada being handled by Random House. www.titanbooks.com

THE BIG BUNDLE | Max Allan Collins | December 12, 2023 | Trade Paperback | 304 pp
ISBN: 978-1-78909-948-5; e-ISBN 978-1-78909-853-2
US $15.95; CAN $19.99; UK £8.99

TOO MANY BULLETS | Max Allan Collins | October 10, 2023 | Hardcover | 304 pp
ISBN: 978-1-78909-946-1; e-ISBN 978-1-78909-947-8
US $22.99; CAN $29.99; UK £16.99

* * *

For all the attention I’ve paid to Mickey Spillane’s anniversaries, I neglected to notice that Nate Heller’s 40th anniversary is…right now! True Detective was published in 1983, after all. I owe thanks to J. Kingston Pierce of the outstanding blog The Rap Sheet who pointed out Heller’s birthday to his clueless creator.

In fairness, I have been busy. In addition to directing my first indie movie since 2006 – the forthcoming Blue Christmas, currently being edited by Chad Bishop and me – I somehow managed to get myself back into a-fib despite having an ablation procedure. The doctor in charge of that got me back almost immediately in for a cardioversion (that’s when they jump-start you like an old Buick) and I am currently taking it easy, post-procedure, to be ready for next week’s Sunday signing in Forest Park.

This is liable to be our final signing in the Chicago area, so we hope readers/fans in that part of the world will come around to see us.

Here is a nifty pic from the set of Blue Christmas that has both me and my son Nate in it (he’s the one working the boom pole).

Blue Christmas behind the scenes
* * *

The great private eye site Thrilling Detective singles out Stolen Away as one of the Big Reads in the field.

Here’s a terrific Too Many Bullets review from Craig Zablo.

If you scroll down, you’ll see Ms. Tree get some love at the 13th Dimension site.

Also, Kino Lorber has a DVD and Blu-ray sale on noir titles that features the Assante I, the Jury and My Gun Is Quick for chump change. Check it out!

And watch Robert Meyer Burnett’s various YouTube shows for info about the Nate Heller dramatic podcasts that you can help get produced.

M.A.C.

Two Books for the Price of…Two Books

Tuesday, October 10th, 2023

[This just in: Max Allan Collins will be a guest on Robservations with Robert Meyer Burnett at 8 pm Central on YouTube today, Tuesday Oct. 10. –Nate]

[Last minute update: This link will go directly to the livestream video. –Nate]

* * *

Too Many Bullets, the new Nathan Heller novel, will be published on Oct. 10 (the day this update first appears). The Hard Case Crime release finds Heller witnessing the RFK assassination and then investigating just what it is that his lying eyes saw.

The new novel by Barbara Allan (Barb Collins and her husband, me) will be published November 7. Antiques Foe is the 17th novel in the series! It is funny as hell. By the way, “foe” in the title is a pun on “faux.”

The book giveaways to support Too Many Bullets are over, and we did not get enough author copies of Antiques Foe to spare any. But good news! There’s still a way for you to get copies of both – buy them. Yes, it’s a radical means of acquiring these novels, but it will work.

Too Many Bullets cover
Hardcover:
E-Book: Kobo Google Play
Digital Audiobook: Kobo Google Play
Antiques Foe cover
Hardcover:
E-Book: Nook Kobo iTunes
Digital Audiobook: Nook Kobo
Audiobook MP3 CD:
Audiobook CD:

For reasons I can’t tell you, advance reviews of Too Many Bullets have been scant to non-existent. Usually the Heller novels are widely reviewed by the “trades” (Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, Kirkus, Library Journal), but so far…nothing.

Antiques Foe has had a couple of strong reviews from the trades. All I can think of is that the postponed publication of The Big Bundle till early this year has had the two Heller novels crashing against each other (but hopefully not burning). Too Many Bullets is a key Heller, an important entry in the saga, and I hope you will buy it, read it, love it, and review it – that’s not asking too much, is it?

If you received a copy in one of the two Too Many Bullets book giveaways, remember you can post a review today (the book has to have been published for Amazon to post any reviews). Not to mention Barnes & Noble and Goodreads and other review sites where it’s also worth posting.

Todd Stashwick
Todd Stashwick

On the Heller front, on Friday, Nov. 8, a talented cast was gathered in Hollywood by Robert Meyer Burnett and his business partner Mike Bawden to record a pilot for the podcast series based on the Heller novels. Headlining as Nate Heller is Todd Stashwick of Picard and 12 Monkeys fame. A Chicago boy, Todd makes an ideal Heller (I’ve heard the podcast session). That he’s a Star Trek fan favorite is an extra boost.

Although it will not be our first full-length production, the pilot is based on the first chapter of Stolen Away.
Much more about this later.

* * *

Daedalus books has two of my Mike Hammer novels in hardcover for $4.98 each, Murder My Love
and Masquerade for Murder.

Here is Ron Fortier’s review of Too Many Bullets (the first that I know of!) from his excellent site, Pulp Fiction Reviews.

TOO MANY BULLETS
By Max Allan Collins
Hard Case Crime
293 pgs

On June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California and pronounced dead the following day. Kennedy, a United States senator and candidate in the 1968 Democratic Party presidential primaries, won the California and South Dakota primaries on June 4. He addressed his campaign supporters in the Ambassador Hotel’s Embassy Ballroom. After leaving the podium, and exiting through a kitchen hallway, he was mortally wounded by multiple shots fired by Sirhan. Kennedy died at Good Samaritan Hospital nearly 25 hours later. His body was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Kennedy’s assassination prompted the Secret Service to protect presidential candidates. In addition, it led to several conspiracy theories. It was the final of four major assassinations in the United States that occurred during the 1060s.”
For the record, we crimped the above from a Wikipedia page not wanting to repeat what most readers already know, or can easily become familiar with via that site or dozens of history books on Kennedy’s life and his death. What concerns Collins is the locale and the tightly packed hallway into the kitchen pantry where the murder took place. Relying on both voluminous research and his own gifted imagination, he pulls the reader into the midst of that chaos when bullets were suddenly fired into the crowed eliciting screams and panic. He sets Nate Heller, an old Kennedy friend, brought in to act as an impromptu bodyguard for the Senator, down into the middle of it all. Tragically the press of supporters stymies Heller’s effort to reach Kennedy and save him.

What few people today recall is that several other people were wounded in the shooting, thankfully none fatal other than Kennedy. They were wounded because of all the bullets that were fired supposedly by the lone gunman. This is the contradiction that confronts Heller days later when attempting to recall the event. He remembers too many bullets. Ultimately he is hired by newspaper journalist Drew Pearson to personally investigate the shooting and determine the truth.

Weaving Heller through an historical landscape, Collins offers up a suspenseful, well laid out narrative that is rife with inconsistencies and outright falsehoods. Heller knows a cover up when he runs into it head first; but that’s not enough. He needs to know the who(s) and is ultimately led down a highway that goes nowhere near the place called Justice. “Too Many Bullets” is both sad and thought provoking; a testimony to the one inescapable fact, we live in an imperfect world. So does Nate Heller.

* * *

Barb and I have been essentially in quarantine after catching Covid. We both had a couple of rough days, but the subsequent ones were like a bad cold. I am at Day Ten with Barb a day or so behind me. The doctors said we should quarantine for five days and, after that, go out masked. We have basically stayed quarantined for the full ten days.

I have had to work on the pre-production of Blue Christmas mostly from a distance with producer Chad Bishop carrying the ball. I did go out on Friday, masked up, at Menard’s to help our set design guy, Bill Turner, pick out and order materials, with me providing my checkbook.

We have a table read Monday evening. Who was that masked man? Me.

It’s starting to feel real.

If you wish to contribute, $100 will get you mentioned in the credits of Blue Christmas as a friend of the production. You can get an Associate Producer credit for $500. Send your ill-gotten gains to Max Allan Collins, 301 Fairview Avenue, Muscatine, Iowa 52761. [Or at the IndieGoGo crowdfunding page! –Nate]

M.A.C.

Another Book Giveaway, An E-Book Sale & Major Announcements

Tuesday, September 12th, 2023

A limited book giveaway kicks off this Update.

I have only five copies I can share with you of the new Mike Hammer novel, Dig Two Graves. So move fast.

[All copies have been claimed. Thank you for your support! –Nate]

IMPORTANT: If you recently won a copy of Too Many Bullets, please don’t enter. If you’re not sure whether you were a winner in that giveaway, e-mail me at the above address and I’ll let you know. But before you do, keep in mind that I contacted everyone who entered who did not win and informed them of it. And please don’t tell Nero Wolfe I used “contact” as a verb.

You agree to write a review (or reviews) at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and/or Goodreads, or your own blog.

* * *

Speaking of Dig Two Graves, the great Andrew Sumner of Titan interviewed me about it recently, and you can watch it right here.

Dig Two Graves will be available from Amazon and others a week from today (Sept. 19).


Hardcover:
E-Book: Amazon Google Play Nook Kobo iTunes
Digital Audiobook: Google Play Nook Kobo iTunes Chirp
Audio MP3 CD:
Audio CD:
* * *

Two of my novels are on sale right now (and until 9/30/’23) at Amazon, e-book editions of Executive Order ($2.95 Amazon) and Girl Most Likely ($2.49 Amazon). Exec is co-written by Matthew Clemens and is a Reeder and Rogers political thriller. Girl is one of my personal favorites.

* * *

Robert Meyer Burnett, You Tube’s finest commentator on pop culture and physical media, made an interesting announcement on air last night (Sunday Sept. 10). All of a sudden he was talking about me! Hearing my name invoked was startling and, I’ll admit, a little thrilling, because I respect this man’s opinions and admire his uncanny ability to hold my attention for literal hours with his good-humored brilliance. But I wasn’t entirely surprised, because he and I (and our mutual friend Mike Bawden, who is the producer of the Burnett podcasts, and happens to be located near me in the Quad Cities) are embarking on a project together.

We are setting out to do a podcast series based on the Nathan Heller novels. Each multi-episode podcast would take on a single book. I will write these adaptations myself. Rob Burnett is, among other things, a Hollywood director (Free Enterprise, Femme Fatales, The Hills Run Red). There will be a crowd-funding effort to get the first podcast off the ground, and I’ve written a 10-page self-contained script (based on the opening of Stolen Away), to be presented as an example of what we’re up to at the crowd-funding site.

These are early days, but I think we’ll be moving fast. We are talking to several terrific name actors about playing Heller on the crowd-funding pilot, and when we’re a go for the podcast (likely six episodes – we’re considering several titles, including Carnal Hours), other name actors will be cast as well.

Since we haven’t had a Heller movie in all these years, despite continued Hollywood interest, I think a superior podcast could really jump start things on that end.

But the podcast on its own will be great fun, and producer Bawden is a genius at promotion and utilizing You Tube. Not surprisingly, my longtime movie collaborator Phil Dingeldein is involved in the project, and we’ll be making behind-the-scenes and behind-the-story “true crime” videos. That, at least, is the plan.

* * *

Meanwhile, work on Blue Christmas continues apace.

We are trying to secure Gary Sandy, but he has several prior commitments we have to find a window between. If we don’t land him, he has nonetheless been a friend to me and my work, and incidentally a fan specifically of Blue Christmas. His taking on Mike Hammer for our Golden Age-radio style local production made recording it (and turning it into a modest but fun little movie) possible.

We are having auditions this week for the rest of the Blue Christmas cast, and I intend to use as many of the players from Mickey Spillane’s Encore for Murder as possible. I was very pleased with their work.

Both the Blu-ray of the expanded Mike Hammer’s Mickey Spillane documentary and a DVD of Encore for Murder will be out in December (exact date TBA). Here is the trailer for Encore.

We are on a very fast track for Blue Christmas – the shoot is toward the end of October.

* * *

Yesterday afternoon/evening (Sunday Sept. 10), my band Crusin’ made its last appearance of the summer. Rain kept threatening but never happened, and a large appreciative crowd seemed to have a great time.

Crusin' September 10, 2023
Crusin' September 10, 2023

Barbara and Samuel dance to Crusin’

I had to postpone this from a scheduled August appearance, due to my health stuff; but I was pretty much fine for this performance, although I admit to tiring easily. It’s becoming obvious that I’m near the end of my rock ‘n’ rolling days, and I think next summer (if the rest of the band is up for it) we’ll do a Farewell Tour of three gigs here in Muscatine.

We’ve been preparing new originals for one last CD, which would include the Crusin’ originals from Real Time: Siege at Lucas Street Market.

This version of the band has been very gratifying. This is the line-up, basically, that appeared at the 2018 Iowa Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame induction concert. Our late bass player, Brian Van Winkle, appeared with us there. He passed away not long after, most unexpectedly, and his sunny presence and self-deprecating humor is sorely missed – in many respects he was the heart of the band. His replacement – our guitarist Bill Anson’s son Scott – is one of the best bass players I’ve been privileged to appear with. He has his own sly sense of humor, too. By the way, Bill Anson came aboard just to fill in for a while – that was seven years ago.

I hate to hang it up, but I figure I’ve accomplished everything I ever will in this artistic/performing arena, and will concentrate whatever time is left to writing novels and working on movies. Blue Christmas is, in part, an experiment to see how I do directing a movie at this rarefied age.

I have designed it to be low-budget – a necessity, particularly since we didn’t get the expected Greenlight grant – and wrote it to be shot on a single set in a studio-style setting. I will have some wonderful actors lined up (with or without Gary, though I sure hope he’s able to do it) and great collaborators in Phil Dingeldein, Liz Toal and Chad Bishop.

Since Encore came out well and the filming of it was something of a last minute, impulsive decision, I had originally conceived Blue Christmas to be presented as a play that we’d shoot. There are advantages to that approach, but also disadvantages – shooting it film-style, without an audience, will broaden our market, and be more artistically satisfying to boot.

Wish us break a leg and stay tuned for reports from the front lines.

* * *

Here, from the Pulp, Crime & Mystery Books site, is a nice review of Dig Two Graves.

Finally, here’s a short but great write-up on Too Many Bullets from Craig Zablo.

William Friedkin, Collector Burn-Out, Bargains & Batman

Tuesday, August 15th, 2023

First, I want to share two very good deals with you.

Spillane: King of Pulp Fiction cover

Spillane – King of Pulp Fiction by Jim Traylor and me is 50% off (!) at Barnes & Noble. Going for a mere $13.47 for this hardcover thing of beauty. If you’ve been waiting to spring for a copy, now’s the time.

The Long Wait cover

The Long Wait, one of the best Spillane movie adaptations (it stars Anthony Quinn!) is on sale, a combo 4k and Blu-ray package. Even if you don’t have 4K, the Blu-ray alone is well worth the price. I did the commentary and provided an extensive gallery of stills. From Classic Flix, $21.98 (regularly $39.99).

* * *

I’ve fallen a little behind writing Quarry’s Return because of what I’d been told would be a simple out-patient procedure. First of all, that may have been simple for the surgeon but for me it was a long day of assorted inconvenience and unpleasantness.

Then I was sent home with a complication waiting to kick in — bleeding that wouldn’t stop — but an ER trip the next day to get some stitching up (in a good way) has me doing much better. But I have had to recuperate all (and some of next) week.

For the first time since 1965 (!) I had to cancel a band job (actually, we were able to swap places on the roster of Second Sunday concerts here in Muscatine, allowing me to trade August for September (not a bad trade generally). Crusin’ will appear at 5 pm on Sunday September 10.

* * *

Robert Meyer Burnett, one of my two favorite pop culture podcasters, discusses Friedkin below. He also discusses Friedkin on his weekly Midnight Musings, but that goes far afield including a discussion of the anniversary of Hip Hop.

Here’s my mini-memoir about Friedkin, which I shared with Burnett the night of my hospital procedure – hence a tad fried.

I Slept in William Friedkin’s Guest House

My wife Barb and I were guests of Friedkin by way of his then-wife Kelly Lange, the LA newscaster. Miguel was going with (they were engaged at the time) Kelly Lange’s daughter, whose name was also Kelly (her mother’s real name was, I believe, Dorothy). Kelly Jr. was funny and sweet and a babe, and I thought Miguel had done very well for himself. No idea what happened there, but Miguel and BIll Mumy and Steve Leialoha and I were at the time in the process of putting our band Seduction of the Innocent together to play at San Diego Comic Con. We’d go on to perform there around half a dozen times and at a few other comics cons and once for a comic book shop that rented out the Ferris Wheel hall for us at the Santa Monica Pier. One of our roadies was Brandon Lee.


Seduction of the Innocent, Santa Monica Pier

I am, as you know, from a small town in Iowa. I never did the con circuit, just San Diego Con. There is little reason why I should have otherwise encountered anybody famous. But my early Nate Heller novels had ridden my comic book Ms. Tree’s coattails to some geek recognition; so had the fact that I was the second guy after Chester Gould to write the Dick Tracy strip. How Bill, Miguel, Steve and I got together is for another time. (Chris Christensen came a little later.)

Where he hell is Billy Friedkin in this? Patience.

Kelly Jr. gave us a tour of Friedkin’s house. He and Kelly Sr. were away. (Honeymooning, my memory wants me to believe.) I remember a vast ornate bed with black sheets. In the living room were a few huge framed vintage movie posters from famous films…of the ’20s and ’30s.

By way of thank you, I left a copy of the first Heller, True Detective, for Friedkin with a fannish inscription. And of course I hoped he’d read it. He got in touch with me by phone, leaving a message, wanting to inform me of something. For that to mean anything, I have to describe the first section (briefly) of True Detective.

Young police detective Nate Heller is drinking rum out of a coffee cup in a speak when the cops known as the Two Harrys come in and grab him to come along on a bust, telling him nothing more. They are Mayor Anton Cermak’s two-man “Gangster Squad.” In a sports book on a high floor of a Loop building overlooking the Chicago River, the Two Harrys roust Frank Nitti himself. They shoot him several times in the neck and back, leaving him to bleed and die. They send the horrified and very pissed Heller (he will have to share the blame for this!) in to make routine arrests in the sports book, but a guy heads for a window and the fire escape. Heller tells him to stop and he doesn’t and Heller shoots him (“He wasn’t in the window anymore”). Heller decides to quit the force, not because it’s corrupt or even because for the first time he’s killed somebody (the graft is why he had a rich uncle get him on — it’s the Depression) and, in exchange for providing building security for his childhood friend, boxer Barney Ross, he gets a one-room office over Barney’s speak (aka Blind Pig) where he works as a PI (and sleeps on a Murphy bed).

Where the fuck is Friedkin?

So the two Harrys come around in the middle of the night at Heller’s flop, having heard Heller quit the force, and drag him to see Mayor Cermak at the Congress Hotel. Heller, who is young and tough and has scruples when necessary, is asked by Cermak why he (Heller) quit the PD. Heller turns down an offer to become the third man on the mayor’s Gangster Squad; but promises if his new one-man PI business is left alone, he’ll say whatever is necessary at the inquest and later trial. Having made this deal, Heller leaves but knows he’s now on Frank Nitti’s shit, er, hit list. Middle of the night, he’s hauled by Outfit gangsters to a suburban hospital to see Nitti…WHO HAS SURVIVED (historically, this happened — the whole Nitti roust is real, except for my substituting Nate Heller for the compromised young cop). Nitti gives Heller a pass, because it’ll give him an inside man with Cermak, who is soon to head to Miami (where of course history thinks the assassination target was FDR when it was actually Cermak).

That’s all 1933.

Around 1987, William Friedkin contacts this punk kid mystery writer in Iowa who somehow — it’s crazy — not only slept in his guest house, but knows about his Uncle Harry! Harry Lang, who was a Chicago cop in the ’30s! And he wants to know all about the Nitti hit. Friedkin told me his uncle was exactly that guy, the Harry Lang was who half of the two Harrys (I used photographs in the book, and Friedkin said he was flipping through and saw his uncle’s picture!).

There was talk of Friedkin making True Detective but that obviously didn’t happen. He was making TV movies at time — C.A.T. Squad…with Miguel.

Now they are both gone.

There’s a bittersweet postscript: Jason Miller was one of the stars of my little indie feature Mommy.

* * *

Heath Holland (my other favorite pop culture podcaster) at Cereal at Midnight discusses collecting burn-out, and I am given an extensive shout-out.

I wrote Heath with the following response:

I am honored to have been invoked on Cereal at Midnight. Got a real kick out of it.

And what an excellent, frank discussion of a real problem. I wrestle with the collecting bug constantly. And, despite a decent income, I spend way too much. My wife sees me watching you or Burnett or another three or four unboxing type podcasts and says, “This doesn’t mean you’re getting more ideas about what to buy, does it?” Not in the most loving voice.

@fiendformojitos: So you purchased 4 new Blu rays in the July Barnes and Noble Criterion sale, correct? Yes that's accurate. But isn't it true you haven't even opened any of the Blu Rays you purchased in the November sale?

What resonated with me most was one word you used: obligation.

This is when your collection starts to own you. This sounds ridiculous, but the main thing I am trying to do is not buy anything I don’t like or am probably not disposed to like. For example. Jess Franco — I have bought a lot of Franco stuff because of the enthusiasm of so many for his work in this hobby. There’s a line of European horror that came out some time ago that I was (wait for it) attempting to get every numbered spine, which meant every damn release. That line-up included at least half a dozen Franco titles. How could I not own them? They had numbers on the spine that I needed!

But I freed myself and got rid of them. Jean Rollin is constantly hyped and I know smart people who like those movies, but I am not one of them. Yet I bought them (and have since dumped them). I see podcasts from people, like Brandon Chowen (I think is the spelling), whose enthusiasm I get a kick out of…but he’s clearly not watching much of what he’s buying. He’s collecting stuff by directors he’s heard are good and intends to watch one day…but shouldn’t we be collecting because we like something already? Or contains cast/director/writer/genre that means we’d probably be inclined to like it?

That doesn’t mean I am entirely rational. I will get a film noir I don’t particularly like, because that’s a collection I want to maintain. I will hold onto any Hitchcock title, whether I like it or not, because I generally love him and I have a completist streak. Ditto Joseph H. Lewis or Sam Fuller or Brian DePalma. But if it’s a journeyman director, who is sometimes good, sometimes okay, sometimes bad, why not keep just the good?

And as you point out — time is distressingly, frustratingly limited. I am in my seventies…who am I trying to kid about ever watching a fraction of what I’ve collected?

This is art we’re collecting, not baseball cards.

But it’s hard. So hard. I hated To Live and Die in L.A. when I saw it in the theater. Hated it so much it pissed me off. And then I hear Rob Burnett enthuse over it, rhapsodize over it…and I ordered a copy. Arggggggh!

That’s the new rule I want to follow, and it is stupidly obvious: only buy, only keep, what you like. You don’t even have to love it. But at least like it.

* * *

This is a long overdue (in my biased opinion) discussion of why I deserve some credit for the popular Batman character, Harley Quinn.

And the same site, apparently taking the unpopular stand of defending my Batman run, discusses my Robin and how he and I are misunderstood.

Finally, here’s a great review of Fancy Anders Goes to War.

M.A.C.