Posts Tagged ‘Ms. Tree: Heroine Withdrawal’

True Noir Is Here! So Is Christmas…Blue or Otherwise

Tuesday, December 24th, 2024
True Noir Act One Cover

Yes, boys and girls, dads and moms, True Noir: The Assassination of Anton Cermak (from the Casebooks of Nathan Heller) has “dropped” (a term I just can’t get used to). Well, Act One of it – the first three episodes. The all-immersive, ten-episode audio drama written by me from my novel True Detective (and directed by the great Robert Meyer Burnett) is available at the usual places, though you may wish to go directly to TrueNoir.co to order the complete series.

The only major venue that doesn’t have True Noir yet, that I know of anyway, is Audible, who won’t carry it till all ten episodes have, yup, dropped.

I am knocked out by the work of a truly stellar cast, including Michael Rosenbaum’s definitive Nate Heller and David Strathairn wonderful as Frank Nitti. In these early episodes you’ll also hear Jeffrey Combs as Mayor Cermak and Katee Sackhoff as Nate’s main squeeze, Janey…among many others.

It’s difficult for me to express how rewarding and thrilling it is to hear a full adaptation of the first Nate Heller novel after all the years. A number of times True Detective was optioned for film and never happened (although Road to Perdition came close). The hope, of course, is that this may lead to a film or TV series; but this audio drama, thanks to Rob Burnett and producer Mike Bawden, is an amazing experience for me. And I think you’ll like it.

Is it any good?

Read this review from the great Bill Hunt at Digital Bits.

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Quarry's Return Cover

I am pleased to report that the fine web site Borg has named Quarry’s Return the Best Contemporary Crime Novel of the 2024. You can read about it below, but you’ll have to scroll down a ways.

* * *

This is the last update before Christmas, and the last chance for all for things Yuletide this year, starting with my appearance with Heath Holland on Cereal at Midnight, a YouTube staple.

I’ve done several of these shows with Heath, who is an articulate, well-informed, smartly opionated and personable host. We focus on some genre, most often, like westerns or film noir. But the idea is never to do a “best of” list, rather a “favorites” one, and in this case we look at Christmas movies that may get overlooked.

You won’t be able to order and receive the physical media of Blue Christmas before the holiday. But you are still encouraged to order it – the Blu-ray is packed with extras but the DVD looks fine (we’re not exactly Die Hard). What you can do on Christmas Eve or Day is watch it on Amazon Prime for $2.99. And it’s free on Fawesome (with commercials).

J. Kingston Pierce at The Rap Sheet has a lovely review of Blue Christmas here (and an in-depth interview with me about the making of the film and many other subjects, including the forthcoming last Mike Hammer, Baby, It’s Murder, and Return of the Maltese Falcon).

M.A.C. directing on the set of Blue Christmas

If you want to give me a Christmas gift, you can do so without spending a cent. How? If you’ve seen Blue Christmas and liked it – post a review at Amazon. We have a handful already posted there, and like the other reviews they either love the movie or hate it. A reviewer who falls in the coal-in-your-stocking category proves his point about how bad Blue Christmas is by dinging me for having the credits say “Principle Photography” instead of “Principal Photography.” Yes, that’s the kind of thing that really ruins a viewing experience.

Funny thing about that.

First, let me say that Blue Christmas is admittedly compromised by its meager budget and tight shooting schedule; the writer/director, the producer/sound designer, and the co-producer Director of Photography all worked without a pay check. (All the actors were paid.) We were limited to six days in the studio space, and the d.p. could give us only those six, and we had to work around the day jobs of a number of actors. It’s not easy making any movie for eight grand. But when the alternative is not making it, I’ll accept the limitations.

Second, I struggled – I was the one who did all the credits, with proofing from my producer – with whether to use “Principle” or “Principal.” Some of you may recall that the Quarry short film I wrote (which led to the feature film, The Last Lullaby) was called “A Matter of Principal.” Constantly during that short film’s life the title would get “corrected” to “A Matter of Principle.” But if you know the Quarry character, you’ll know he did not behave in that story as a matter of doing-the-right-thing, but to make a financial score. In other words, “Principal” in the money sense, not the ethical one.

I was aware that “Principal Photography” was more commonly used, but sometimes “Principle Photography” was – and I struggled with it. We talked about this conundrum, the producer and my wife Barb and I. I used the word as a synonym for “primary.” “Principal,” however, seems correct – it is being used in the sense of “chief” – principal photography is the main photography; second unit covers the other stuff.

So I was wrong.

Therefore, obviously, my movie sucks.

My God, there are a lot of cruel, petty people in this holly jolly world of ours. But some of us tear down and others of us create.

I’ve discussed this before, but I used to be a movie critic. I was the movie reviewer for Mystery Scene magazine in that late great publication’s early years. Later I was coerced into writing a movie review column for Asian Cult Cinema, another unfortunately defunct magazine. I came aboard on Asian Cult with the understanding I would only write about movies I liked.

I had already stepped down from the Mystery Scene slot because I had made my first film, Mommy (1994), and now knew how hard it is to make a movie. It’s brutal, all-consuming, and even on a six-day shoot (and one evening of second unit) like Blue Christmas, you spend many hours, many days, in an editing suite. And in some ways your work has just begun – getting it into film festivals, finding distribution, doing promotion.

I’m not complaining. I wrote about my attitudes where criticism is concerned a few weeks ago – that I generally regard them in an is-it-going-to-help-or-hurt way. Truth is, it’s hard even to make a bad movie (this is where some of you may say, “You should know!”). All I will add is that it’s easier to write a bad review than make any movie.

Now that Blue Christmas will largely disappear from these updates (at least till next year, although Death by Fruitcake will take its place), I want to thank the reviewers who have given so many lovely notices to our little movie, and to those reviewers who wrote mixed or even negative reviews but were civil and fair-minded about it.

Here’s one of the good ones from Russell Trunk’s online Exclusive Magazine, written by Anne Carlini:

Going in knowing that this was Chad Thomas Bishop’s first feature film production and that he also had to play a small role in it after a cast member dropped out of the project, just made me more inclined to let the small stuff drift pass me and to concentrate on the art of the low budget cinematic experience.

And I am genuinely glad I did as Blue Christmas (which is based on the novella A Wreath For Marley, which was written by director Max Allan Collins) is a rather delightfully shot, acted, and scene-set movie that harms no one and is a pure unadulterated little gem to behold this holiday season.

Virtually engaging from the off, or at least once the opening holiday drinks scene has set the scene, sure it meanders and feels unfocused at times, but then it clicks right back into place very nicely; very effortlessly.

Shot at Muscatine Community College, Collins’ alma mater, yes, of course, you can see where most of the low budget went when certain scenes are filmed, but for the most part you allow such things to waft over you.

Already a top competitor to become one of my favorite Christmas movies to turn to each holiday period, the way it occasionally uses the lens distortion at the edges of the screen to emphasize the severity of the dialogue at its center (instead of changing focus depth) is a genuine masterstroke also.

Here’s another nice one.

And another.

Here’s a three-star review (and glad to get it).

And one more.

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I don’t usually reprint fan letters (not that I get that many), but I asked the writer of this one, Chris Dingsdale, permission to use it here.

Hi Max,

Thought I would take a few moments to say how much I enjoyed the Blue Christmas Movie which arrived in the UK from the US last week.

I simply love the original tale – a perfect synthesis of two genres. Really what more can I say?

While A Christmas Carol seems to be about forgiveness and change, Blue Christmas (to me anyway) tells us not to let the past define you but use it to learn and move forward. Wonderful.

Actually I read the tale first some years ago in an Otto Penzler compilation; this was exactly the message I needed to hear. I re-read the story every year without fail.

When I read on your website how the story came about I was thrilled to find that it meant a lot to you as the author – there is emotion and feeling in every line, Max.

The Movie was similarly great. It was a joy to read and follow the production on your site. I loved your verve and enthusiasm in making the Movie (and I’m sure that you didn’t relate much of the bad times and frustration!).

Everyone was great – but a special call out to Rob Merritt (is it me or did he make Richard a more beneficial character in his performance?) and Alisabeth Von Presley – that lady has presence and charisma in (Sam) Spades.

The DVD is excellent, not listened to the commentary yet nor the feature about some writer from Muscatine, Iowa (apparently he’s pretty good?).

I am in Florida and Vegas for Christmas and will pick up my Encore for Murder DVD from a friend (I couldn’t wait for Blue Christmas – had it shipped to the UK – lol! )

I’ll sign off by saying that I really love your work, Max, and recent times have been an absolute gift – the Ms Tree Casebooks, Nolan Reprints (loved Skim Deep!) etc etc

I am a longtime Nathan Heller fan (one day the world will wake up and say – “have you read these books – this is literary magic in front of your eyes!”).

Merry Christmas to you and your family, Max – hope you all have a terrific festive season and please take a moment to reflect on how much your work means to so many people – I (and thousands like me) cannot imagine what it takes to make career from being creative.

Luckily writers like you do it for us readers. You are a creative tour de force, sir.

* * *

One of my favorite reviewers, Ron Fortier, periodically goes back and picks up on something I did a few years ago. Here he writes about The Hindenburg Murders, a book I have fond memories of because its hero detective is the creator of the Saint, Leslie Charteris, one of my favorite authors in my adolescence, reflecting an early interest in mystery and crime fiction.

Here’s a nice review of Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher by Brad Schwartz and me.

Finally, here’s a fine write-up about the recent collection, Ms. Tree: Heroine Withdrawal by Terry Beatty and me. I am so grateful to Titan and Hard Case Crime for collecting the complete Ms. Tree like this.

By the way – Merry Christmas (and Happy Hanukkah).

M.A.C.

Cut it Out!

Tuesday, April 9th, 2024
Cutout Cover
E-Book:
Digital Audiobook:
Audio MP3 CD:

Barb and I have a new book out, Cutout, a novella, and we’re assured it’s coming out in paperback as well as audio (from the great Skyboat) and Kindle (from Amazon of course). But right now all we have info on is the audio and e-book.

While I am the co-author, this is Barb’s baby – her vision and her strong first draft (that I just fiddled with a little) carried the day. I think it’s one of the best books we’ve done together.

Here’s some info:

Cutout (2024)
A Novella by Barbara Collins and Max Allan Collins

A young woman from the Midwest, recipient of an unexpected college scholarship, is recruited into a lucrative courier job that shuttles her from Manhattan to Washington, D.C. There’s a slight drawback: the previous two “cutouts” died by violence.

Sierra Kane – who has bounced from one foster family to another – faces an uncertain future when she receives an unapplied-for scholarship to Barnard College specifically designed for orphans whose academic records are merely above average. A second unexpected boon comes her way when another recipient of that somewhat mysterious scholarship offers her a part-time courier job.

Soon Sierra is caught up in a whirl of espionage and murder, with a new boy friend who may or may not be part of a plot, a college mentor with a possible agenda of her own, and an FBI agent who rebuffs Sierra’s plea for help.

It’s a classic story of a small-town girl caught up in an overwhelming big-city world; but Sierra Kane is a young woman whose curiosity and determination will lead her to the truth…and into more than one deadly confrontation.

Married writing team Max Allan Collins (Road to Perdition) and Barbara Collins (Bombshell) – whose Antiques mystery series is a long-running mystery fan favorite under the name Barbara Allan – have crafted a novella that is at once as timeless as a fairy tale and as modern as a headline.

YOU CAN READ A GENEROUS SAMPLE OF CUTOUT RIGHT HERE!
https://neotextcorp.com/fiction/cutout/

* * *

M.A.C. in the Q and A session with a packed house at the Cedar Rapids Film Festival.

Our two Saturday, April 6 screenings of Blue Christmas at the Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival – held at the Collins Road Theatre, where our C.R. premiere went down last month – were extremely well-attended and received. I had good comments all day from particularly those who’d been part of the packed house for the 1:05 p.m. showing.

We were one of the three nominees for Best Feature at the fest, but lost out to the wacky anthology Friendly Faces (sporting eight directors) and the nicely shot, well-acted Knee High. In a heavy field of submissions, just snagging an Official Selection slot is a positive.

Three of our Blue Christmas actors were on hand – Rob Merritt, Dave Juehring and Chris Causey. Also great to see them and chat (about our next project!). Too bad individual awards weren’t given out for acting, direction, writing, etc., but the format skews heavily toward students and pro-am.


M.A.C. with Collins Road Theater honcho, Bruce Taylor

We are not planning to attend very many (if any) other festivals, since we already have physical media (VCI) lined up and representation to the streaming services (MVD). Right now no public screenings are scheduled (with the exception of one at 10 a.m. on May 4 in Forest City, Iowa, as part of an Iowa Motion Pictures Awards mini-festival). We anticipate getting into a good number of Iowa theaters with Blue Christmas, judging by the interest expressed by the Fridley movie chain, the Collins Road Theater in Cedar Rapids, and the Last Picture House in Davenport. Our premiere events at two Fridley theaters – the Fleur in Des Moines and the Palms 10 in Muscatine – had sell-out crowds. We think we can do well with limited runs during the holiday season at these venues.

* * *

You have to scroll down to see it, but there’s a request for my brief newspaper run on Batman (with the late, great Marshall Rogers on art) being reprinted. This article is a reprint itself, a 2010 column by another late, great: Greg Hatcher.

You don’t have to scroll down very far to see the recommendation for watching Road to Perdition at Amazon Prime. At the C.R. film fest, supposed young film buffs would come up to me and say, “I’ve heard of Road to Perdition, but I’ve never seen it.” Now’s your chance.

Here’s a nice review of the Ms. Tree collection, Heroine Withdrawal.

Here’s another variation on Tom Hanks extolling the virtues of a certain film of his he thinks doesn’t get enough attention:

Finally, Road to Perdition is number eighteen on this list of the best 90 Mafia movies.

M.A.C.

Back in Business

Tuesday, January 9th, 2024

Somehow it’s the first week of 2024 and it seems to be business as usual around M.A.C. Productions. Which means we are busy but there’s nothing “usual” about it. But it’s all good news, and good problems, so despite the Buck Rogers sound of the date on my calendar, I am rarin’ to go.

First news to share is that we have lined up four Iowa premieres for Blue Christmas in February and March.

We will have the World Premiere in Des Moines at the Fleur Theatre on Saturday, February 24. The Fleur is a terrific venue. They have a quote from me on the wall! We had a big Road to Perdition event there on the film’s release, and a few years ago I introduced (and spoke after) a screening of Kiss Me Deadly.

Our Cedar Rapids Premiere will be Wednesday March 13 at the Collins Road Theater. Another great venue, Collins Road Theater (love that name) is very supportive of independent film, hosting the Cedar Rapids Film Festival.

(We are entered in the fest and, if selected, there will likely be another Collins Road screening of Blue Christmas on the weekend of the fest, April 5 – 7.)

We will have our hometown Premiere at the beautiful Palms 10 Theater here in Muscatine on Saturday, March 16. It’s a treat and a privilege to have our film made available to our friends and family so close to home. We’ll go the Red Carpet route and everything.

On Saturday March 22, the Quad Cities Premiere will be held at the Last Picture House in Davenport. This is the brand spanking new theater that is the brainchild of the Quiet Place//65 filmmakers (local boys!), Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. Their support of their home-state filmmakers is much appreciated.

We – Chad Bishop, Phil Dingeldein and I (the executive producers of Blue Christmas) – are very grateful to the various managers of these theaters for welcoming us onto their screens. It came together remarkably quickly and is extremely gratifying.

Chad and I will be participating in a Q and A session after each screening with various cast members present. Phil Dingeldein will be there as much as his busy schedule allows, as will star Rob Merritt and his co-star, Alisabeth Von Presley. Alisabeth and Rob have been confirmed for the Cedar Rapids premiere.

As you may know, we shot the principal photography in Muscatine Community College’s Black Box Theater, and we are working out details for a screening there as well for students and teachers.

If you were a contributor to the fund-raising effort, and were promised admission to a premiere, please write me at macphilms@hotmail.com and let me know which of these premieres (choose one, please) you would be able to attend. More details will follow.


I’m centerstage with my back to the camera, directing Alisabeth Von Presley and Rob Merritt in Blue Christmas; left of me is Liz Toal, first camera assistant, and I’m blocking my buddy Phil Dingeldein, at right.

A lot of people who keep up with these updates helped make this film possible, and we are very grateful. I frankly thought I’d hung up my indie film shootin’ iron with Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life (2006). But Encore for Murder came together so well as a play, we shot it at the last minute and soon the ol’ juices were flowing. Which in a man my age isn’t pretty….

I will tell you, with no modesty at all, that Blue Christmas came out most satisfactorily (as Nero Wolfe might say). That our cash budget was $14,000 indicates just how remarkable a feat this was. (The budget would sky-rocket if everyone, myself included, who took no remuneration were actually…you know…paid.)

Heath Holland at Cereal at Midnight on YouTube showed off on both the Blu-ray of Mike Hammer’s Mickey Spillane (which includes Encore for Murder as a bonus feature) and the DVD of Encore on his wrap-up of new releases. Thank you, Heath! (I am recording an interview with Heath tomorrow.) You can also rent both the documentary and the recorded Golden Age Radio-style play on Amazon Prime and VUDU.

* * *

And so the writing year begins.

I have just completed what I’m calling Conversations With Nathan Heller, a 13,000-word look at the entire Nate Heller novel series to date. The format is that I am visiting Heller at his Boca Raton digs to interview him before beginning each book in the series. This has been done for Otto Penzler at Mysterious Press, and was just shipped yesterday. What Otto’s reaction will be is hard to say, but obviously I hope he likes it. The title may change – that will be up to Otto, at least to some degree – but I think any Heller reader will get a charge out of it.

No idea when this will be published, but I will keep you informed here. I’m told there will be a square-bound hardcover edition.

Additionally I have corrected and tweaked Quarry’s Return, the copy edited version on its way back to editor Charles Ardai. The novel is scheduled for December, I believe. Going to be a busy December, with Blue Christmas possibly playing in some regional theaters (we’re working on that).

In the meantime, Barb has been working on her draft of Antiques Slay Belles – another Christmas book! I will start my draft yet this week.

After that I will be starting the massive podcast script combining the novels True Detective and True Crime (the first two Hellers) into one massive dramatic piece.

Stay tuned.

* * *

I received today copies of the fifth Ms. Tree collection, Ms. Tree – Heroine Withdrawal. It’s (as Chester Gould used to say) a honey. Just physically lovely. I am so grateful to Nick Landau and Vivian Cheung at Titan for keeping after to me to do these Ms. Tree collections with them (a shout-out to the great Andrew Sumner).

I also received two books from Gary Kato, who helped Terry Beatty out on Ms. Tree from time to time – Peter Pan in Return to Never Never Land and Satin’s Ways – both written by my pal Ron Fortier. Both are published by Redbud Studio.

M.A.C.

Dirty Deeds (Sometimes) Done Dirt Cheap

Tuesday, January 2nd, 2024
Ms. Tree: Heroine Withdrawal cover
Paperback: Bookshop Purchase Link
E-Book: Google Play

The latest “archive”-style edition of Ms. Tree is available now: Ms. Tree – Heroine Withdrawal. Titan has done a beautiful job with this one (volume #5) and it contains some of Terry Beatty’s best work (and, maybe, mine). These books are a little pricey, but they are beauties and jam-packed. Even if you have a complete run of the original comics, these are worthwhile.

There’s a particularly nice price for the volumes here.

We did, as I mentioned recently, make a number of Best Of lists. But Craig Zablo (bless him) is the first to put two of my novels on his list of year’s best. Check it out here.

My books for Thomas & Mercer are turning up in book promotions (there are e-books one and all, on Amazon).

The War of the Worlds Murder will be promoted via Limited Time Deal in the US marketplace, starting 1/8/2024 and running through 1/14/2024. 1.99 USD during the promotion period. ()

The Lusitania Murders will be promoted via Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle book deals in the US marketplace, starting 1/1/2024 and running through 1/31/2024. 1.99 USD during the promotion period. ()

Fate of the Union will be promoted via Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle book deals in the US marketplace, starting 1/1/2024 and running through 1/31/2024. 2.99 USD during the promotion period. ()

The best deal of all is from Wolfpack, however: Max Allan Collins Collection, Volume Two: John Sand (John Sand Books #1-#3) for $0.99! ()

Wolfpack has five collections of my novels, and a lot of other titles of mine, including an anthology title, Murderlized, that includes the first story about Secret Agent John Sand. Check them out here.

That page includes some titles by good pals of mine, Steve Mertz and Paul Bishop.

* * *

For those of you following the trajectory of my movie Blue Christmas, here’s a brief report. Editor/producer Chad Bishop and I completed our edit and this Saturday past ran it by our partner in crime, Director of photography Phil Dingeldein. We screened the feature and Phil had a grand total of three notes, and I had one.

Today – the first day of January 2024 – Chad and I made what I think are the final tweaks, reflecting the notes Phil and I had (Chad a few himself, also).

So we have crossed that finish line, with other challenges ahead. Two Iowa theaters are interested in having premiere screenings, and more are likely to come. We should have word soon about distribution (physical media and streaming). We have entered the Iowa Motion Picture Awards and two festivals.

I hope some of you have sampled Mike Hammer’s Mickey Spillane (75th Anniversary Expanded Edition) on Amazon Prime or VUDU, and the Hammer Golden Age Radio play, Encore for Murder, on those same venues. Both are reasonably priced. And you can get the Blu-ray from Amazon here (right now, at only $20).

But from the distributor, VCI, directly you can get the expanded Spillane documentary for $14.98.

The Blu-ray includes Encore for Murder as a bonus feature. But Encore is also available, stand-alone, as a DVD, here, directly from VCI for only $9.99.

I don’t know how long VCI’s reduced prices are going to last, so if you have an interest in Spillane (and me), now’s the time.

* * *

Here’s an interview with yrs truly.

Finally, here’s a pretty decent review of Ms. Tree – Heroine Withdrawal.

M.A.C.