This has been a week of catch-up and recovery — the San Diego Comic Con is an intense experience, this time for Nate, Barb and me heightened by one of those nightmarish trips home you hear about. Weather delays and the need to go to an airport where our car and luggage would not be waiting had us enlisting my collaborator Matt Clemens for a ride from Cedar Rapids to the Quad Cities, and us not getting our luggage for another 24 hours.
So for the almost-a-week of the con, there seems to be almost-a-week of aftermath, writing e-mails to follow-up on meetings, sorting purchases, and just waiting for the world to stop reeling under your feet.
From the con I returned with a small stack (around ten) of signed SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT — LIVE AT SAN DIEGO 1999 CD’s. The signatures are mine, Bill Mumy’s, Steve Leialoha’s and Chris Christensen’s. (Miguel Ferrer was filming, though we hope to have the full band back together for whatever our next gig is.) Anyway, I can offer a few of these for $25 postpaid. Or you can get an unsigned copy for $15 postpaid. This was a limited edition of 200 and less than 75 remain.
We have about a dozen of the DAYBREAKERS — HALL OF FAME COLLECTION CD’s that are signed by all five original members (Collins, Bunn, Busch, Bridges and Maxwell). Those are $25 postpaid for signed ones, and $15 postpaid for unsigned (about 25 of the DAYBREAKERS CD’s are all that are left). The CD charts the history of the band from 1966 to date, and includes the songs heard in the two MOMMY films, as well as the infamous “Psychedelic Siren.”
Anyone who would like signed copies of both CD’s can get the pair for $40 postpaid.
Oh — all international orders must add an additional $5.
You can pay via PAYPAL…right, Nate?
[Right!]
[2013 EDIT: Actually….wrong!! All options temporarily sold out! We’ll recheck our remaining stock and make a new post soon!]
Some very nice reviews have appeared lately on the web. Here is a great write-up on my CSI work — books that are among my all-time bestsellers and yet have rarely been reviewed. Reading this made me wish Matt and I were still doing the CSI series:
One of the really sweet things about the con this year was the surprising number of fans who sought me out to say how much they liked the Jack and Maggie Starr mysteries. I only got to do two of those (though I do hope, one day, to do at least one more), and those books didn’t get a lot of reviews, either, so the following was much appreciated:
Quarry, however, has attracted a lot of incredible reviews — and THE FIRST QUARRY in particular has received some stellar ones. I think this one was particularly insightful, though:
First off, I should note that THE FIRST QUARRY has now received two nominations, for an Anthony and a Barry Award, both for best paperback. The fields of other nominees are tough but it’s nice to see the book noticed. It is frankly weird to have started back up a series I began in college in the ’70s…but fun. Both awards are given at Bouchercon, and I’ll be there.
Second, for eastern Iowa fans and friends: Crusin’ is playing July 4 on the Pearl City Plaza patio for the Underground restaurant. This is the same location where we played not long ago to a capacity audience. We’ll start around 6:45 PM and play up to and for a while after the fireworks (with a great view from the patio). We are doing a mix of originals and classic rock, leaning on bands we appeared with.
When I did that 4 favorites thing last week, I inevitably left some favorites out. There were many of ’em, but I should probably have included LI’L ABNER as one of the four musicals/comedies I could watch over and over. Can’t believe I left that out. It has my favorite exchange in any movie, when Abner (Peter Palmer) asks Appasionata Von Climax (Stella Stevens) about the arrangement with General Bullmoose:
“Does you get bed and bored?”
“Extremely.”
Among the many TV shows I listed, I should have included THE MATCH GAME, particularly the Richard Dawson years. Apparently he didn’t get along with Brett Somers and Charles Nelson Reilly, but they were a great comic trio. You need to seek out THE LIFE OF REILLY, by the way, the wonderful one man show movie with CNR near the end of his life. Very talented and funny man.
Elvis Costello would have been among my favorite male singers but I am among those he continues to irritate with his non-rock ‘n’ roll albums. The current blue grass thing is listenable, at least, unlike the opera singer one (the woman sang horribly off-key) which I threw off the Centennial Bridge crossing from Davenport to Rock Island (the CD, not the female opera singer, though I would have if I’d had the chance).
The San Diego Con is coming up, and Seduction of the Innocent — my “comic book” rock band — is a guest. We aren’t playing, because the con doesn’t have the right venue for us. But we will be doing several signings (dates TBA), and will have 200 copies of an official bootleg of our 1999 gig at San Diego. It includes lots of garage band stuff and a few originals. If we bring any copies home, they will be available here.
I wrote liner notes, but eventually had to edit them way down. I thought you might like to see the longer first draft:
It started with my son Nate, in 1987 only five years old and listening to Dr. Demento. Which meant I was listening to Dr. Demento, too, and got interested in “Fish Heads” and “Party in Your Pants” and other great bad-taste tunes from Barnes & Barnes. I knew Bill Mumy was half of that duo, and approached him at a San Diego Comic Con dance honoring Jack Kirby. He signed something for me, we chatted, I got introduced to Miguel Ferrer, and (since I was a comics pro) got invited to hang out. I knew Steve Leialoha through cartoonist Trina Robbins, and he joined this informal gang as we stood taking in a band that none of us liked. I said to Bill, “We could go up there cold and do better.” (I knew Miguel had been a session drummer.) Bill agreed. Steve, in his low-key way, smiled and said, “I play bass.” Somebody from the con (Jackie Estrada?) eavesdropped all this, and by the end of the evening we had been invited to play at the next San Diego Con. Miguel named the band “Seduction of the Innocent” that very night.
My ‘60s revival band Crusin’, back in Iowa (still together!), had a list of garage-band stuff that Seduction built its set list around. Bill added in some very hip things, like “Cinnamon Girl,” “All Along the Watch Tower” and “Shake Your Hips,” and we practiced in his living room, blowing out all the speakers on his stereo (I don’t believe we ever reimbursed him). It fell together pretty easily and we liked each other’s company, and laughed a lot. That’s all it takes for a band to work.
Over the next decade, we played San Diego numerous times and had a few other assorted gigs (Wondercon, Charlotte Heroes Con, a private party at the Santa Monica Pier). Chris Christensen (who had produced a Will Eisner LP) offered to put out a Seduction CD. We wrote songs for it, recorded it at Bill’s (not using his stereo speakers) and it came out well. “Pussy Whipped” got some airplay, even back in Iowa (Crusin’ had to learn it). Around then, Chris joined the band (playing drums when Miguel sang out front, and guitar when Miguel drummed) and was a terrific addition. We made a music video of “The Truth Hurts” (with our friend Brandon Lee) and played the original stuff at cons. Finally San Diego got too big and unwieldy to find room for us, and this live performance was our last to date…although smaller cons are free to inquire about gigs. We are actors and artists, and can be bought.
The Last Lullaby showings: Des Moines (June 5 – 11), Brooklyn (June 7 – 8), San Jose (June 12 – 18)
THE LAST LULLABY — the film based on the Quarry short story “A Matter of Principal,” and co-written by me — will be showing at the Fleur Cinema in Des Moines from June 5 till June 11. Director Jeffrey Goodman and I will be there for the two evening showings on Friday June 5, and probably on Saturday June 6, as well, doing intros before and Q and A after. This is our last scheduled appearance together in support of the film, and marks the final of the three Iowa bookings.
Jeffrey continues to roll it out slowly and carefully. The film will show at the 6/5-6/14 Brooklyn International Film Festival. Tickets are now on sale at this link. We screen Sunday, June 7th at 9PM and Monday, June 8th at 8PM. Jeffrey will be there for both of our screenings.
The film also plays 6/12-6/18 in San Jose, CA at the Camera Cinemas 3.
The film continues to rack up great reviews. Here’s two of them:
Stark Silvercreek: “A movie that gives the movie industry hope.” (Includes an interview with Jeffrey.) Steve Rhodes: “New filmmakers should look at it as a paradigm on how movies should be made.”
There’s been some confusion about where the novel THE LAST QUARRY fits in. It was based on my draft of the screenplay and written prior to the shooting of the film, which reflects a draft by another writer plus a polish by me. Call it the Writer’s Cut.
Quarry is continuing to make a remarkable comeback for a character who appeared in an obscure four-paperback series in the mid-’70s. I was always proud of this character, and he remains one of my two favorite characters (Nate Heller being the other).
THE FIRST QUARRY has been nominated for the Best Paperback Novel “Anthony,” presented at the Bouchercon. It’s voted on by con attendees, so go to the con and remember what Al Capone said: vote early and vote often.
Also, THE LAST QUARRY’s magnificent Robert McGinnis cover has been chosen as one of the handful of images adorning a new group of Hard Case Crime t-shirts.
And later this year, look for a new Quarry novel, QUARRY IN THE MIDDLE.
This is probably my record year for number of books published (and for me that’s saying something, I know). But I’m really proud of what Barb and I have accomplished of late, and want to make sure you’re aware of what’s out there already, and what’s coming.
In September from Kensington, “Barbara Allan” (Barb and me) will have the reprint of ANTIQUES MAUL (ISBN 978-0-7582-1194-1) out and the new “Trash ‘n’ Treasures” mystery, too: ANTIQUES FLEE MARKET (ISBN 978-0-7582-1195-8), with a Christmas theme. It’s been getting the best reviews of the series yet. These are funny cozies with an edge, and fans of my tougher stuff may be surprised by how much they’ll enjoy these…and we’ve just signed to do two more!
Very soon Harcourt will publish the first new Mike Hammer novel in over a decade — THE GOLIATH BONE (ISBN 978-0-15-101454-5), which I completed from Mickey Spillane’s nearly finished manuscript. This is the first of at least three Hammers I will complete from manuscripts Mickey entrusted to me. To say this is an honor and a thrill is an extreme understatement. It’s also getting great advance notices. Do not miss this one!
The success of THE LAST QUARRY (which has been made into the film THE LAST LULLABY, on the festival circuit now) has led to the new prequel, THE FIRST QUARRY (ISBN 0-8439-5965-7), which Hard Case will publish in paperback in the fall. This is also getting wonderful advance reviews. This one is definitely not cozy, and could be the nastiest noir novel I’ve ever written….
I’m pleased to report that in December VCI Home Entertainment is bringing out my documentary, CAVEMAN: V.T. HAMLIN & ALLEY OOP on DVD! It’s a great package, with an extended Will Eisner interview and a panel discussion at a Des Moines Historical Museum screen of the film that features me, producer Mark Lambert and the current OOP writer and artist team, Jack and Carole Bender. CAVEMAN has been seen several times on Iowa PBS as part of the celebration of the OOP strip’s 75th Anniversary. (This means all of my indie films will now be available on DVD.)
For the past several months, Barb and I have been out in the midwest, appearing at bookstores and libraries and other events, talking about various books (including those just mentioned) and other projects. Here’s what we’ve been talking about:
STRIP FOR MURDER from Berkley Prime Crime — a snazzy trade paperback, a Rex Stout-style mystery that combines graphic novel elements (my longtime MS. TREE cohort Terry Beatty did the comic art), and is a lot of fun. The story is loosely based on the notorious Al Capp (Li’l Abner)/Ham Fisher (Joe Palooka) feud.
RED SKY IN MORNING (ISBN 978-0-06-089255-5) is by “Patrick Culhane” — the byline I began with the Wyatt Earp/Al Capone novel, BLACK HATS (in mass-market paperback now, ISBN 978-0-06-089254-8). This one is special to me, a book I’ve planned for decades based on my father’s experiences in the Navy in WW 2 as a young officer in charge of black sailors handling explosives in the Pacific. It’s my CAINE MUTINY, hinging on the infamous Port Chicago disaster, but there is a mystery. You may have this on the way — please don’t miss RED SKY. EQMM’s Jon Breen says it’s one of my best.
Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz at Forbidden Planet
In non-literary news, I’m thrilled to report that my ’60s garage band, the Daybreakers, has been inducted into the Iowa Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. Over the Labor Day weekend, we appeared with seven other inductee bands in concert at Arnold’s Park on Lake Okoboji, to a packed house of over 1000 rock fans. What made this truly special was that the original line-up of the band — guitarist Mike Bridges, bassist Chuck Bunn, guitarist Dennis Maxwell and drummer Buddy Busch (and me) — were able to assemble from around the country and reunite both to be honored and to perform for the first time together since 1968. We did half an hour and, frankly, we killed — a magical set in which we took a major risk, doing mostly original material at an oldies show!
Of course, our major claim to fame nationally (make that our only claim to fame nationally) was our infamous single “Psychedelic Siren”/”Afterthoughts.” “Siren” is one of the most anthologized garage-band songs of the ’60s, currently available on a Sundazed CD called GARAGE BAND ’66: Speak of the Devil. We managed to reproduce the siren sound on stage and the crowd went nuts. We also played live, for the first time, “I Need Somebody,” an original written by our late great bandmate, Bruce Peters.
A limited edition of 100 CDs called “THE DAYBREAKERS aka Crusin’ — The Hall of Fame Collection” was pressed for the show. This is essentially the long-out-of-print “Thirty Year Plan,” and is filled with Daybreakers/Crusin’ recordings, studio, demo, live, from 1967’s “Psychedelic Siren” to the ’90s songs from the “Mommy” movies. We have about forty of these left.
For $15 postpaid (plus $7.50 for shipping outside the U.S.), you can get a copy of “The Hall of Fame Collection.” For $25 (plus $7.50 for shipping outside the U.S.), you can get a copy signed by the entire band (there are only 15 of these).
[2013 EDIT: All options temporarily sold out! We’ll recheck our remaining stock and make a new post soon!]
We have uploaded footage of “Psychedelic Siren” from our Hall of Fame performance. Check back soon for more clips!
And Crusin’ has added Daybreaker bassist Chuck Bunn to the mix, and will be performing more in the midwest than in recent years. Stay tuned!
