JEN FORBUS INTERVIEW, PART 2/HAMMETT'S

Jen Forbus offers the second half of her two-part interview with me at her site, Jen's Book Thoughts.

Topics include Hemingway's death, FBI conspiracy, and literary vs. genre debates, the new novel, PRINT THE LEGEND (appearing in stores Feb. 16) and the state of contemporary crime fiction, among many other topics.

Interview excerpt:

Q. The age-old debate comes through in Hector’s story through his friendship with Hemingway. Hector the “genre” writer and Hemingway the “literary” writer. And it is especially pronounced in PRINT THE LEGEND with all the scholars present. But there are also some interesting viewpoints on that debate in this book... Are there crime fiction writers today that you think we’ll look back on and find that they’ve influenced writing as a whole? How do you feel about the legitimacy of the debate??

A. This past week, in fact, brought the usual dust up about that fissure on the web…a debate about putting a moratorium on the term “transcending the genre” and so forth. Having this year sampled something like 300 crime and mystery novels, speaking as a former genre critic, interviewer and current genre writer, I’d submit we desperately need to push boundaries and “transcend genre” more than most authors in genre currently seem impelled to do or many publishers are willing to buy. Many acquiring editors won’t buy things that fall between or meld genres. A lot of current crime and mystery fiction, for me, is frankly stultifying as written. There are astute people in publishing houses in New York who’ll say the same thing to you, quietly. Staying in the lines is choking genre fiction.

Read the whole interview here.

Part 1 of the interview can be seen here. Jen's reviews of PRINT THE LEGEND and TOROS & TORSOS are here and here.

(NOTE: Regarding that vast number of books I read last year alluded to in the above interview excerpt, I can now reveal I served on the Hammett Awards Reading Committee. Our selections for award consideration can be seen here. The award winner will be selected later this year from among the five nominees that me and my fellow committee members put forward.)

JEN FORBUS INTERVIEW, PART 1

Jen Forbus offers the first half of her two-part interview with me at her site, Jen's Book Thoughts.

Topics include the Hector Lassiter series, the new novel, PRINT THE LEGEND (appearing in stores Feb. 16) and the philosophy of writing a series, among many other topics.

Excerpt:

Q. Your “series” with Hector Lassiter doesn’t follow a traditional chronological order. Instead the events from each novel intertwine with each other. It’s kind of like taking the concept of the epic novel and blending it with the serial novel. What made you decide to use this approach? What are the greatest benefits and what are the greatest drawbacks or challenges?

A. For better or worse, events in our own lives are never discrete from one another: it’s all like a kind of oil spill. I wanted to capture some of that in a series format which is something I don’t think has ever been done before. For me, it’s all one big book. This way of using time also allows me to recontextualize things and kind of never shut off Hector’s evolution as a character...I think the only way to pull this concept off is to do the crazy (or audacious) thing I did: Draft all eight novels, then revise them tightly as a block. Then cross your fingers and hope nothing falls apart in the process of preparing/polishing the books with an editor.

The entire interview appears here.

HECTOR LASSITER & THE LONE STAR STATE

Today I’m guest blogging at the Murder by the Book blog site. (I’ll be visiting Murder by the Book in Houston, Texas on Sat. Feb. 20 at 5 p.m., and BookPeople in Austin, Sun. Feb. 21 at 2 p.m.)

When MBTB honcho David Thompson extended the invitation to write something for the site, he asked if I had any Texas angles I could bring to the table.

As it happens, my continuing character, Hector Lassiter, has long been established as a native Texan — born on January 1, 1900 in Galveston.

There are other Texas ties that are explained in the guest blog.

You can read more about all that, and the story behind Hector’s surname, here.

David also provides some more information regarding the collectible "COLT" chapbook that will be available at the Texas signing.

DAY THREE AT JEN'S
Also, over at Jen's Book Thoughts, day three of her week of focusing on the Hector Lassiter series turns attention to reviewing my new novel, PRINT THE LEGEND, which will be released next Tuesday.

DAY 2 AT JEN'S: TOROS & TORSOS

Day two of Jen Forbus' week of special coverage keyed to the release of PRINT THE LEGEND continues today with her review of my second novel, TOROS & TORSOS.

The week continues Wednesday here.

JEN'S BOOK THOUGHTS

The amazing Jen Forbus — mystery/crime novel reviewer, interviewer and exceptionally nice person — is kicking off a week of coverage tied to the release of my third novel, PRINT THE LEGEND, at her most excellent site, Jen's Book Thoughts.

In addition to reviews, Jen is also going to present a special two-part interview she conducted with me regarding the new novel and the overall Hector Lassiter series, among other topics.

Jen's also offering a chance to win a copy of the PRINT THE LEGEND advance reader's copy.

You can check out her introduction here and watch here for updates throughout the week.

DECLASSIFIED: THE SECRET FILES OF DONOVAN CREEDY

If you head over to my official site, you’ll see on the welcome page a link to explore “The Secret Files of Donovan Creedy.” It’s something a little different to mark the release of PRINT THE LEGEND on Feb. 16.

Creedy, a dangerous and calculating man, reported directly to J. Edgar Hoover for nearly six decades. But he secretly served many masters and combined many surprising roles in his time of service not just to the FBI, but apparently to the CIA, perhaps to the post-Batista Cuban government…maybe to other foreign powers.

Creedy was also a published—albeit straight-to-paperback—thriller writer. Across many decades, the lives of crime novelist Hector Lassiter and Donovan Creedy crossed, often in subtle exchanges. In 1965, Creedy finally edged onto Lassiter’s radar in a very major way — a war of wills that drives the plot of PRINT THE LEGEND.

Through the secret Donovan Creedy files, you can access some of the action of the novel that’s implied between the lines in PRINT THE LEGEND.

You’ll receive some glimpses of Hector Lassiter, Ernest and Mary Hemingway, and of Hannah Paulson that you won’t find in PRINT THE LEGEND, the published novel.

The fact is, HEAD GAMES and TOROS & TORSOS, the first two novels in the Hector Lassiter series, were printed about 99-percent as written. Every book goes through an editing process, but those two volumes appeared substantially as initially crafted.

As originally conceived, PRINT THE LEGEND would actually have run a good number of pages over its final printed length. So the “Creedy Files” consist of materials cut not because they weren’t up to snuff or because they were rendered moot by other editorial changes. Rather, these are vignettes that were largely omitted to bring the book into a more manageable length.

In all, those who care to explore the Creedy files can gain access to approximately 10,000 words of previously unseen material.

Of course making these pieces available in this format also gives some potential insight into the finishing work of shaping the novel: just the sort of insight into process I usually try to obscure.

But some of the chapters contain passages I cut with real reluctance. I’m curious what those who’ve read the finished novel and take the time to explore these “secret files” make of these extras: Did they add to your reading experience? Did they enhance or detract from your estimation of the finished book?

Explore Creedy's dark and private world HERE.

WOODY HAUT REVIEWS PRINT THE LEGEND
Woody Haut (author of the excellent crime fiction studies PULP CULTURE, NEON NOIR) reviews PRINT THE LEGEND.

PRINT THE LEGEND TOUR SCHEDULE/LTD. ED. CHAPBOOK

While a few more dates around central Ohio may be added in the days to come, below is the schedule for the PRINT THE LEGEND book tour. If you’re interested in a signed or personalized copy of the new novel, but can’t make it to one of these venues, I’d urge you to contact one of the dealers below via email or phone to have your copy inscribed/signed when I visit the bookstore of your choice.

As a possible added incentive, several of these bookstores will be made available copies of a limited-edition chapbook containing an original Hector Lassiter short story entitled, “Colt.”

When Head Games was released in 2007, I prepared a special-limited edition chapbook of the short story, “The Last Interview,” which introduced Hector Lassiter. Like “Colt,” “The Last Interview” was available exclusively through independent booksellers. That first chapbook became a kind of collectible in its own right.

“Colt,” serves as a partial origin story for Hector, supplying some heretofore unshared background regarding Hector’s early family life.

In the short story, a teenage Hector stumbles across a badly injured old man in the desert south of El Paso…a chance meeting that deeply affects the old man and changes the life of the aspiring young writer.

Embodying its title, “Colt” also answers the question of exactly how Hector came into possession of his iconic, 1873 Colt Peacemaker.

The tour schedule follows; hope to see you somewhere down the trail:

Saturday, February 20 at 5 p.m.
Murder by the Book, Houston, Texas
Address: 2352 Bissonnet St, Houston, Texas
(713) 524-8597

Sunday, February 21 at 2 p.m.
BookPeople, Austin, Texas
Address: 603 N. Lamar, Austin, Texas
(512) 472-5050

Saturday, February 27 at 2 p.m.
Poisoned Pen Press, Scottsdale, Arizona
Address: 4014 North Goldwater Blvd, Scottsdale, AZ
(480) 947-2974

Saturday, March 6 at noon
Big Sleep Books, St. Louis, MO
Address: 239 North Euclid, St. Louis, MO
(314) 361-6100

Wednesday, March 10 at 7 p.m.
Foul Play Mystery Bookshop
Address: 27 E. College Ave., Westerville, OH
(614) 818-CLUE

Saturday, March 13 at 1 p.m.
Books & Company at the Greene, Dayton, OH
Address: 4453 Walnut Street, Dayton, OH
(937) 429-2169

Saturday, March 20 at 1:30 p.m.
Aunt Agatha’s, Ann Arbor, MI
Address: 213 South 4th Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI
(734) 769-1114