Mike Hammer « Friends/Family/Fans of Max Allan Collins

Little Death up for Big Audie

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

The big piece of news this week is that my radio-style novel for audio, THE NEW ADVENTURES OF MIKE HAMMER VOL. 2: THE LITTLE DEATH, has been nominated for an Audie, the Academy Award of the audio book world. We are in the Best Original category, which makes it as much the writer’s award as anybody’s…but I am the first to salute the great cast headed by everybody’s favorite Mike Hammer, Stacy Keach, and my pal Mike Cornelison, and to applaud producer/director Carl Amari, the maestro behind the Twilight Zone radio series.

This would seem as good a time as any to remind you that THE NEW ADVENTURES OF MIKE HAMMER VOL. 3: ENCORE FOR MURDER comes out…today.

Nook | Kindle | Sony

Nook | Kindle | Sony

As mentioned last time, to celebrate my birthday on March 3, we have arranged with Kensington for free e-books of ANTIQUES ROADKILL and YOU CAN’T STOP ME at any on-line retailers, starting today, March 1, through March 3. Actually, it’s more to celebrate the release of new books in the respective series represented by those two titles, ANTIQUES KNOCK-OFF and NO ONE WILL HEAR YOU.

What do I want for my birthday? I want you to take advantage of this free offer and then, out of guilt or shame or generosity or whatever might move you, order the new titles and, this time, cough up the dough. [Nathan: and if you like the books, rate them!]

I have just returned from St. Louis, where Barb, Nate and I (and Nate’s girl friend Abby) celebrated my birthday (not yet a national holiday…we’re working on it). That town is evil where food is concerned – everything from barbecue to cupcakes – but between meals, we managed to see two excellent films, the Iowa-based (but not shot) CEDAR RAPIDS, a sweet dramedy (what an awful word) that was consistently amusing and fitfully insightful; and the utter delight that is THE ILLUSIONIST. The latter is a French animated feature from the great Jacques Tati’s final unfilmed-in-his-lifetime screenplay. Since Tati was a genius who only made a handful of films, suddenly having another one seems like a gift to the world. When THE ILLUSIONIST began, in black-and-white, and Tati’s magician character appeared, I was so stunned by the animator’s ability to restore Tati to life via his every facial expression and characteristic body movement that I damn near cried into my popcorn. Fortunately I am too much of a tough guy to do that, and anyway it was already over-salted.

Another terrific review for KISS HER GOODBYE has turned up. This guy gets it.

And the Library Journal has given ANTIQUES KNOCK-OFF a favorable verdict.

Politics Daily talks about Mike Hammer’s favorite gun, and mentions both Mike and me.

Be sure to check out Matt Clemens’s new book piece on Ed Gorman’s blog about the painful birth of NO ONE WILL HEAR YOU.

Finally, a conservative website lists Mike Hammer in the number two slot on an array of right-leaning fictional heroes…and they think I am terrific! Do they know I voted for Obama?

M.A.C.

[Nathan: Also, head over to the Download Page for a wallpaper-ized QUARRY’S EX cover!]

Tags: Antiques Knock-Off, Antiques Roadkill, Awards, Barbara Allan, E-Books, Encore for Murder, Free, Mike Hammer, No One Will Hear You, Quarry, Quarry's Ex, Spillane, The Little Death, Trash 'n' Treasures, Wallpaper, You Can't Stop Me
Posted in Message from M.A.C. | 8 Comments »

Hey Kids – Free E-Books!

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

The offer to send out advance copies of ANTIQUES KNOCK-OFF, NO ONE WILL HEAR YOU, and KISS HER GOODBYE got plenty of responses. Books have been shipped. We ran through the Spillane title very quickly, though, and we were not able to fill requests outside the USA.

If you still would like review copies, and have a review blog or write reviews for a newspaper or magazine, you can write me at macphilms@hotmail.com, and I’ll pass the requests along to the publishers. Be specific about which book (or books) you’re interested in.

BUT we have a brand new offer for free e-books…

…starting March 1 and going through March 3rd (my birthday), you can get a free download of the first Trash ‘n’ Treasures mystery, ANTIQUES ROADKILL at all e-book retailers. Those of you who have ignored these books because they are not hardboiled now have an opportunity to see what you’ve been missing, and for free.

AND…you can get a free download of the first J.C. Harrow “Killer TV” novel, YOU CAN’T STOP ME, also from March 1 through March 3rd (did I mention that was my birthday?). Again, those of you who ignored this novel when it was published, because it was a CSI-type book and not a Quarry or Heller, can get a free look. We had a great response on YOU CAN’T STOP ME, and the early reaction to the sequel, NO ONE WILL HEAR YOU, is even stronger.

Please take advantage of this generous offer from Kensington, and spread the word to any of your friends who read e-books. It helps spread the word about both series, and the last time a promotion of this kind was tried for us, it made a top five bestseller out of the first Harrow.

How can we do this, you ask? Volume, volume, volume!

Really, it’s the dope dealer ploy – first one’s free.

Last week there was a lot of Collins coverage on the net. Not so much in the last seven days, though a very fun write-up of my second, long-out-of-print MIKE HAMMER comic strip collection turned up at the fun blog, Davy Crockett’s Almanack. You can find this book and the first volume as well on e-bay without much difficulty.

The prolific reviewer Harriet Klausner has posted a very nice review of ANTIQUES KNOCK-OFF. Some people criticize Klausner for reviewing too much, but her write-ups get carried all over the net, and we’re glad to have her support.

See you next week. On March 1st. Two days before my birthday (not yet a national holiday in all states).

M.A.C.

Tags: Antiques Knock-Off, Antiques Roadkill, E-Books, JC Harrow, Kiss Her Goodbye, Mike Hammer, No One Will Hear You, Reviews, Spillane, Trash 'n' Treasures, You Can't Stop Me
Posted in Message from M.A.C. | 2 Comments »

Hey Kids, Free Books!

Tuesday, February 15th, 2011

Some really terrific reviews have come in, and some generally cool coverage of M.A.C. stuff past and present. I’ll share all that with you below, but first, I want to let the reviewers among you know that I have some copies available for you, if you want to review one of the new books on your blog or at Amazon and/or Barnes & Noble.

I have half a dozen advance reading copies of KISS HER GOODBYE, the new Mike Hammer novel. We have four hardcover copies of ANTIQUES KNOCK-OFF available, and eight copies of NO ONE WILL HEAR YOU.

Just e-mail me at macphilms@hotmail.com, provide your snail mail address, and I’ll send these out till I run out.

Also, here’s a fun bonus for followers of this weekly blog – a site has posted my BATMAN comic strip story from 1989. I was hired to develop and write a BATMAN syndicated strip, teamed with the great Marshal Rogers, and then was forced by the Tribune Company Syndicate to quit or else be fired from DICK TRACY (which they soon did anyway) or be sued. The story appeared without my byline, but I wrote it, and here it is. It’s a Catwoman tale.

Okay, back to the reviews. Romantic Times has given ANTIQUES KNOCK-OFF a flat-out rave. Their reviews include some plot summary, which I’ve omitted:

ANTIQUES KNOCK-OFF ****1/2 (highest rating any mysteries get this month in RT)

If you like laugh-out-loud funny mysteries, this next Trash ‘n’ Treasures installment will make your day. Place your bets on this screwball comedy cozy where the clues are thick and the mother-daughter dynamics are off the charts.

The Kingdom Books site has a lovely review of KNOCK-OFF, too.

Craig Clarke, at his fine site Somebody Dies, has reviewed NO ONE WILL HEAR YOU. Craig is a big supporter of my work, but he did not like the first Collins/Clemens novel, YOU CAN’T STOP ME, and made no bones about it – he didn’t even bother finishing it. He made some apt criticisms of the first novel, and Matt and I took them to heart, so it’s gratifying indeed that the first major review of the novel comes from Craig…and it’s a rave.

The ubiquitous Harriet Klausner also likes NO ONE WILL HEAR YOU, and her reviews are carried all over the web. Some don’t like Harriet because she reviews so much, and often gives favorable reviews – neither of these seem like bad things to Matt and me!

Bookreporter.com has a lengthy excerpt from NO ONE WILL HEAR YOU here, and their own offering of reading copies.

Bookreporter.com also has posted an informational piece on NO ONE WILL HEAR YOU.

Though it’s very early for a book not coming out till next May, rave reviews are already coming in for the Spillane/Collins KISS HER GOODBYE. Check out this incredible review from the talented comics writer Ron Fortier.

And I would rate Bill Crider’s review of KISS HER GOODBYE, at his incredible Pop Culture Magazine site, among the most gratifying I’ve ever received. Few know pulp mysteries better, and Bill is one of the most solid mystery writers of his generation. Unfortunately, he is also one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met, so I find it impossible to resent him. Anyway, check this out!

Yet another article labels ROAD TO PERDITION one of the 10 Best Comic Book movies. A fun, smart list also worth checking out.

That terrific all-around-pro James Reasoner has said some very nice and (I think) smart things about the new Perfect Crime reprint of QUARRY (aka THE BROKER), the first Quarry novel. I have to admit it’s weird and even disconcerting to read a review of a novel you wrote going on 40 years ago, but a good review is a good review. And I’ll be damned if Reasoner doesn’t “get it,” which is important. His description of what I’m up to in QUARRY is exactly what I’m up to in the novels about the character written in the last few years. So either I’m consistent, or I haven’t grown a whit.

The always interesting site Noirboiled Notes has posted a second patch of Five Quick Questions with me, this time strictly about me and Mickey Spillane.

Paul Bishop is a real cop, great guy and first-rate writer, plus he has a terrific site called Bish’s Beat. He talks about both KISS HER GOODBYE and the QUARRY reprints from Perfect Crime here.

I am heartsick at the news about Borders, crossing my fingers that the stores in Davenport and Des Moines aren’t among those closing. These are choppy, dangerous waters in the book biz, but as long as there are readers, guys like me should manage. Nate and I are still discussing doing some e-book publishing, and keep an eye out in the coming weeks for a Top Suspense Group e-book anthology.

M.A.C.

Tags: Antiques Knock-Off, Interviews, JC Harrow, Kiss Her Goodbye, Mike Hammer, No One Will Hear You, Quarry, Reviews, Road to Perdition, Spillane, Trash 'n' Treasures
Posted in Message from M.A.C. | 4 Comments »

Mike Hammer is Selected

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

By Hook Or By Crook
Tyrus Books

I’m pleased to announce that the Mike Hammer short story, “A Long Time Dead,” which appeared last year in the Strand magazine, has been selected for the 15th edition of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s The Best American Mystery Stories 2011.

Otto Penzler selects the fifty stories that he regards as the outstanding mystery/crime stories of the year and submits them to a guest editor – this year it’s Harlan Coben – who whittles the list down to twenty.

And “A Long Time Dead” made the cut. This is the first time one of my stories has been chosen for the BAMS honor (or, for that matter, one of Mickey’s).

The story was developed from one of eight or so shorter Mike Hammer fragments in Mickey’s files. The unpublished Hammer material falls into three categories: a., substantial novel fragments of approximately 100 pages or more, sometimes including plot and character notes; b., shorter novel fragments of a chapter or two, sometimes including plot and character notes; and c., single chapters or less, (again) sometimes including plot and character notes. A previous Hammer story developed from such a fragment appeared in 2010 in the Strand (“The Big Switch,” was chosen for Ed Gorman’s rival “best stories of the year” collection, By Hook or By Crook).

It’s gratifying that these Hammer short stories are being so well-received. I hope to develop the rest of the shorter fragments into short stories in the coming years, with an eye on an eventual collection. With some odd exceptions, Mickey himself never really published a Hammer short story. The exceptions are “The Night I Died,” which I short-story-ized from a radio script of Mickey’s (the only ghosting of sorts that I did for him during his lifetime) for the Spillane/Collins-edited anthology The Private Eyes, and “The Duke Alexander,” an offbeat humorous Damon Runyon kind of thing, starring Hammer but not at all typical, which appeared in Byline: Mickey Spillane (edited by Lynn Meyers and me). I believe “The Duke Alexander” was intended primarily as a screen treatment.

Other exceptions are short story-length condensations of Mickey’s Mike Hammer novels,The Killing Man and Black Alley, both of which appeared in Playboy. I don’t know who created those condensations, but I doubt it was Mickey (it wasn’t me).

So “The Big Switch” and “A Long Time Dead” – both chosen for “best of the year” collections now – are the first actual Mike Hammer short stories in the conventional sense. And there will be more….

M.A.C.

Tags: A Long Time Dead, Mike Hammer, Short Stories, Spillane
Posted in Message from M.A.C. | 2 Comments »

Posts Tagged ‘Mike Hammer’

Little Death up for Big Audie

Hey Kids – Free E-Books!

Hey Kids, Free Books!

Mike Hammer is Selected