Noir Fatale Mass Market Edition!

I received my author copies of the mass market edition of Noir Fatale, a national bestseller, in which my story, A String Of Pearls, appears! Thank you, Baen Books! The mass market joins the hardcover, ebook, and audio editions!

Here’s a little about Noir Fatale from Baen’s website:

NEW SCIENCE FICTION, URBAN FANTASY, AND MYSTERY STORIES WITH A NOIR THEME FROM BEST-SELLING AUTHORS LAURELL K. HAMILTON delivering an Anita Blake series story, LARRY CORREIA, penning a Grimnoir series adventure, an original Honor Harrington series tale from DAVID WEBER, AND MORE.

The silky note of a saxophone. The echoes of a woman’s high heels down a deserted asphalt street. Steam rising from city vents to cloud the street-lit air. A man with a gun. A dame with a problem . . .

NOIR.

From the pulpy pages of Black Mask Magazine in the 1920s and '30s, through the film noir era of the 1940s, to today, noir fiction has lured many a reader and movie-goer away from the light and into the dark underbelly of society. Names such as Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and James M. Cain; titles like The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, The Postman Always Rings Twice . . . these have inhabited our collective consciousness for decades. Humanity, it seems, loves the dark. And within the dark, one figure stands out: that of the femme fatale.

Here then, Noir Fatale an anthology containing the full spectrum of noir fiction, each incorporating the compelling femme fatale character archetype. From straightforward hardboiled detective story to dark urban fantasy to the dirty secrets of futuristic science fiction—all with a hard, gritty feel.

As Raymond Chandler said, “Down these mean streets, a man must walk who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.” Because, as these stories prove, doing the right thing doesn’t necessarily mean you get the big bucks or the girl. But you do the right thing anyway.

Noir Fatale

Noir Fatale was released in early May and I’ve been looking forward to this anthology for a long time! I had the good fortune to be invited into this anthology. All those years of wearing hats, pocket squares, and loving film noir finally paid off!

The story I wrote for the anthology (the theme being femme fatales which, if not the main character of the story had to be present) is called A String Of Pearls. It’s about a woman carrying precious cargo on a train barreling into a world of trouble in a near future New Orleans.

The anthology is currently available in multiple formats: hardcover, ebook, and digital audio (it also appears the anthology will be available on CD in July). Links: Amazon Audible I’ve listened to the audio book and the narrators did such a wonderful job bringing these stories to life!

Here’s how the anthology was doing during it’s first couple of days!

From Baen’s website: NEW SCIENCE FICTION, URBAN FANTASY, AND MYSTERY STORIES WITH A NOIR THEME FROM BEST-SELLING AUTHORS LAURELL K. HAMILTON delivering an Anita Blake series story, LARRY CORREIA, penning a Grimnoir series adventure, an original Honor Harrington series tale from DAVID WEBER, AND MORE.

The silky note of a saxophone. The echoes of a woman’s high heels down a deserted asphalt street. Steam rising from city vents to cloud the street-lit air. A man with a gun. A dame with a problem . . .

NOIR.

From the pulpy pages of Black Mask Magazine in the 1920s and '30s, through the film noir era of the 1940s, to today, noir fiction has lured many a reader and movie-goer away from the light and into the dark underbelly of society. Names such as Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and James M. Cain; titles like The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, The Postman Always Rings Twice . . . these have inhabited our collective consciousness for decades. Humanity, it seems, loves the dark. And within the dark, one figure stands out: that of the femme fatale.

Here then, Noir Fatale an anthology containing the full spectrum of noir fiction, each incorporating the compelling femme fatale character archetype. From straightforward hardboiled detective story to dark urban fantasy to the dirty secrets of futuristic science fiction—all with a hard, gritty feel.

As Raymond Chandler said, “Down these mean streets, a man must walk who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.” Because, as these stories prove, doing the right thing doesn’t necessarily mean you get the big bucks or the girl. But you do the right thing anyway.

All new stories by

Larry Correia
Kacey Ezell
Laurell K. Hamilton
David Weber
Sarah A. Hoyt
Robert Buettner
Alistair Kimble
Griffin Barber
Michael Massa
Christopher L. Smith and Michael Ferguson
Hinkley Correia
Patrick Tracy
Steve Diamond

Published: 5/7/2019

In A Lonely Place

In A Lonely Place is one of the few films that nearly equals the novel upon which it was based. The novel of the same name, by Dorothy B. Hughes, is a masterpiece and quite daring for the time, the 1940s. Hughes compares quite favorably with James M. Cain (author of Mildred Pierce, Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice) and in many ways surpasses him as a writer of noir. Her character development exceeds Cain's, in my opinion.

I highly recommend picking up a copy of Women Crime Writers - Four Suspense Novels of the 1940s. Not only do you get In A Lonely Place, but also, Laura (another wonderful film), The Horizontal Man, and The Blank Wall. There is another volume, but Suspense Novels of the 1950s. If you want both, I believe a box set is available.

I don't want to give away the novel or the film--though you'd think a novel from the 1940s and a film from 1950 should be fair game. But I've found so many people today haven't paid the classics any mind and that's a real shame. The novel is actually much darker than the film and ultimately heartbreaking and tragic (the film is also heartbreaking, but in a different way).

Criterion (I've gushed over Criterion products before on here and on social media) is releasing In A Lonely Place on 5/10/2016.  Criterion Blu-Rays are more expensive than other Blu-Rays, but if you're a film buff there are no better versions to buy. The films are restored versions and always have plenty of extras.

While the film deviates from the novel (it's a very loose adaptation), it doesn't take away from the novel. They're both equally enjoyable and tragic. So noir.
 

Turner Classic Movies

I recently dumped my satellite television service, and the channel I watched the most was TCM.  This isn't a post about satellite or cable or even TCM the cable channel (which is the only reason I was even holding on to my satellite for so long).

Have you ever wanted to see Jaws on the big screen? How about Gone With The Wind or Casablanca? How about Grease? Hitchcock films?

Guess what? You can.

Turner Classic Movies has been bringing classic films back to the big screen. These films usually only play for two days, but if you follow TCM's schedule you'll be in for a treat.  Last year, we enjoyed Casablanca, Gone With The Wind, and Rear Window. If you haven't seen those, go watch them immediately, you're missing out. All three of those are in the top 50 films of all time.

This year, TCM's schedule is full of great films:

Jaws 40th Anniversary – Sunday, June 21 and Wednesday, June 24
Double Indemnity – Sunday, July 19 and Monday, July 20
Grease Sing-A-Long – Sunday, August 16 and Wednesday, August 19 
Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho – Sunday, September 20 and Wednesday, September 23
Dracula (1931)/Drácula (1931) Double Feature – Sunday, October 25 and Wednesday, October 28
Roman Holiday – Sunday, November 29 and Tuesday, December 1
Miracle on 34th Street – Sunday, December 20 and Wednesday, December 23

We missed Jaws, which I would have loved to have seen in the theater (I was 5 when that came out, but I remember being terrified of the movie poster and ads). I didn't want anything to do with water at that point and I hadn't even seen the picture!

However, we did see Double Indemnity--not only one of the all-time great film noir films, but one of the all-time great films. Read the short novel by James M. Cain, then watch the film starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson. The movie was directed by Billy Wilder (now go and watch every single film this man directed--want a sample? Some Like It Hot, Hollywood Boulevard, Stalag 17, The Apartment).

You can sit home and watch these films, but there is something to be said for heading to the theater and experiencing them on a big screen, surrounded by others who also appreciate these movies. I'm looking forward to Psycho--not my favorite Hitchcock film, but it will be amazing on the big screen. During the original release, theater owners would not allow people in once the film began.

I almost forgot Ghostbusters. In 2014, TCM also re-released Ghostbusters for the film's 30th anniversary. What I loved about the release was that a bunch of high school kids showed up and had fun. I remember seeing the movie with a bunch of friends when it came out in 1984--I was 14. To see modern teenagers laughing and enjoying the movie made me smile and think that perhaps these final gasp Millennials/tip of the spear Generation Z kids aren't all that bad--boy do I sound like an old and curmudgeonly Gen-X'er right now.

Check out the website for TCM's film lineup and go see an old movie!

Where To Start: Mysteries

I've decided to start a series of posts about where to start. This could be where to start almost anything--books, movies, collecting, clothing, style, food, etc.

I'm starting with a literary genre today:  Mystery

A few years back I took a short story workshop, and then last year took a mystery workshop taught by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (if you want to kickstart your writing, or want to be tossed into the deep end with writing, I highly recommend traveling to the Oregon coast and take one of Kris's, or her husband Dean Wesley Smith's writing workshops).

Why do I bring up the workshop? Well, apparently I had some notion that most mysteries were simply Agatha Christie cozies and hadn't given much thought to sub-genres.  There are many, many sub-genres.

So back to where to start: This is a broad overview of mysteries and ultimately, you're going to have to sample the sub-genres to determine what works for you as a reader. I loved cozies growing up, but now I enjoy hardboiled, noir, detective, and police procedurals more.

Cozy:  Cozy mysteries are usually not bloody or graphic and typically take place in more confined settings. They typically have an amateur detective working toward solving the crime with the occasional cameo by some sort of law enforcement - often they're of the bumbling or not-quite-with-it variety.

Cozies are a pretty popular sub-genre right now and they have a definite look to them on the shelf. Bright colors, titles that are puns, sometimes cats on the cover as well. Also, cozies are the shortest of the genres, so they're a quick and fun read.

But where should you start?  Go ahead and start with a Christie--any old Miss Marple will do, though on television and movies I'm partial to Hercule Poirot.  Try A Murder Is Announced:  A bunch of people are summoned to a house and someone is murdered right under everyone's noses.

Detective:   Detective stories can be private detectives/investigators or law enforcement detectives.  These range from light, near cozy style to dark mystery, noir and beyond--pretty much a catch-all category. These are not police procedurals --that is a separate sub-genre. These stories focus on the detective.  Honestly, even cozies fit into this category since many of them are using amateur detectives. TV version of the standard detective story would be: Magnum P.I. for example.

But where to start?  I'd say go for Michael Connelly and his Harry Bosch series, beginning with The Black Echo.  I'd characterize the series as a standard detective series that is squarely in the middle of the light to dark spectrum (cozy being light, noir being dark).

Police Procedural:  The main character works for the police, or is an attorney, or is a federal law enforcement officer, etc.  These stories focus on the procedures in solving a crime.

Hill Street Blues is a great TV example of the procedural--in fact, the series was based off Ed McBain's 87th Precinct novels which I'm going to recommend here. There were also plenty of TV movies based on these novels. But if you enjoy seeing how the justice system works or how police go about solving crimes, then procedurals are for you.

Where to start?  Ed McBain--he wrote a ton of books based around the fictional 87th Precinct. They are great reads and pretty fast.  You can start almost anywhere with them despite them having recurring characters. McBain wrote these from the mid 1950's all the way until around 2005--so, there's quite a bit of material there.

Hardboiled:  I think these are my favorites. Character driven and a lot of attitude. You feel the world, see everything from the character's point of view. The main character is cynical, but has a moral code.  The world the character inhabits is visceral, gritty, and typically urban.

There are modern examples of hardboiled, but I love the classics:  Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Mickey Spillane. If you enjoy tough, gritty guys slapping people around, but have a need to make things right, this is the genre for you.

Where to start? Here you could go with The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, or I, The Jury.  The movie versions of Sleep and Falcon are great since you get to watch Humphrey Bogart. For the Mickey Spillane I recommend Kiss Me Deadly. I wrote about the film here.

Noir:  I hadn't read too much noir before taking the Mystery Workshop. For the class we read The Ghosts Of Belfast by Stuart Neville. We were also assigned Fatherland by Robert Harris which I had read before. Fatherland  can also double as a detective genre as well as alternate history. Ghosts is straight noir. If you enjoy dark, hopeless stories and people who are really screwed up, and everything sucks, well--maybe you should seek counseling.  These aren't light books, or light reading: be prepared for an ending that isn't likely to be pretty.

Where to start?  For really dark, try The Ghosts of Belfast. If you prefer a little detective and alternate history involving Nazis then try Fatherland.  Batman can be noir by the way and science fiction has quite a bit of noir.

There is another type of crime novel--which is really what the mystery genre should be called by the way.  Thriller.  I'm not going to get into this sub-genre since it's really the least pure of the crime novels.  Though, I do enjoy a good heist movie or novel--but heists aren't always Thrillers since they can be paced slower and thrillers are definitely quickly paced with hardly a rest.

Hopefully this was a decent primer on reading the various genres of mystery--many thanks to Kris Rusch for teaching me what is required to be able to write in the sub-genres.