New Novel Coming In the Spring

A new thriller, Before the Rain, will be published by Down and Out Books next spring. Here's the long synopsis I just pounded out for D+O's Lance Wright, the man you need to know: A Special Operations “fixer” for Homeland Security, U.S. Marine General Ray Hauser, teams up with Air Force Special Agent Sunny Hicks to recover a stolen GAU-8, the Gatling-gun like nose cannon of the military’s most destructive gunship, the A-10 Warthog. The weapon fires three thousand rounds a minute, each round’s explosive power equal to a stick of dynamite. Attached to a flatbed trailer, parked near Los Angeles traffic at rush hour, three thousand people could die within police response time. Ray has another, more personal incentive to find those who stole the horrific weapon. His wife, Alissa, went missing years ago investigating a similar theft inside the same Arizona desert. If he can solve the GAU-8 case, there’s a chance he can discover what happened to his presumably dead wife, even catch her killers. But that stolen Gatling-gun-like cannon also holds special attraction for Jessie Maris, unhappy wife of the weapon’s chief thief, Nolan Maris, a career criminal who plans to sell the GAU-8 for half a million. Jessie has been abused all her life, especially by the judge in a Family Court case many years ago. When her husband Nolan keeps her in the dark about his plans, then physically beats her, Jessie goes on a rampage that leads her and the GAU-8 to an old abuser and a crowd of innocents. Can Hicks and Hauser stop her? U.S. Special Operations never dealt with a battered, over-the-edge woman like Jessie before

Blue Skies, Les Edgerton

Author, teacher, and friend, Les (Butch) Edgerton died this week at his home in Indiana. He'd been ill for many years, but never stopped writing or helping newer writers find their voice. A man of the street, Les lived a hard, soulful life in New Orleans and elsewhere, eventually writing about the crime and criminals he knew personally, the prisoners he lived with a few years. Easily the nicest, warmest, funniest man I have ever met in half a century of writing, Les made you feel like his best friend on the day you met him. He loved life and he loved humans, understanding our nature in a way no one did before. I loved his books as I loved the man. All of his stories, novels, and writing books are solid examples of marvelous, clean writing. Each is worth reading, though a quirk I admired about the man, his best books carried some fairly unsavory titles, Les refusing all marketing advice from agents, editors, publishers, and writing friends. (Change that title, Butch!) My favorite of his works is called The Rapist. If you were lucky enough to know him, he always signed his emails like this: Blue Skies, Butch.

Casablanca: Plot & Theme Revisited

Since this was one the most important writing lessons I ever learned. (Thank you, Mr. Lehane. I can't call you Dennis because we didn't have a drink together. I still hope.) Anyway, I needed to update my blog and this is the way I'm doing the deed. From many years ago: When the movie CASABLANCA opens and engages us, Humphrey Bogart (Richard Blane) wants the girl from his past, one, and second, to keep himself out of World War II. Rick's hiding. He doesn't like Nazis, but he doesn't want to actively fight anymore. So when the movie ends, when Humphrey and the police captain stroll into the airport fog, does Rick have what he wanted? Oh, hell no, you genre writers! He GAVE UP the freaking girl. She wanted him. He could have taken her back. The love of his freaking life. But no. It was better for the Nazi-fighters if she stayed with her husband. And that's the second part, isn't it? He wanted to stay out of the war, but now, he's not only sacrificing love and happiness, he's marching off to physically fight Nazis again, too. He's changed. He's become a better man. He's placed the whole world above his own little one. (TFA says in the newspaper business, editors used to call this kind of reporter a Crusader Rabbit. After Watergate, they called them boss.) My point? Honestly, troops, I'm not one-hundred percent sure. I'm just a little nervous. Because frankly, when Rick gave up that babe (Ingrid, was it?) to go hold a machine-gun, I had to wonder about his sensibilities. Maybe his manhood. Theme maybe isn't what grabs me. This Casablanca example of theme was the biggest thing TFA says he learned from his writers workshop with Dennis Lehane this past week. Plot is about what your protagonist WANTS. Theme should be woven into what he really NEEDS. Mr. L or his fantastic assistant, Tom Bernardo, mentioned this Casablanca example during class, and it thumped TFA over the head. It's why he risked taking me to a literary writing conference. TFA said he might want to make the Austin Carr Mystery Series grow a bit. I didn't worry much before we went. I figured TFA was full of it. But this Casablanca thing scares me, dudes. I don't want to fight Nazis. You know what I mean. I want to stay single, chase redheads, outwit the bad guys, charm my way out of tight situations. Fun and thrills, right? And now, TFA says he really loves this idea of theme, maybe writing stories so that I, Austin Carr, get what I really need. This is a very frightening thought.

Lehane's New Novel

Our new pal, Dennis Lehane, author of MYSTIC RIVER, SHUTTER ISLAND, and other novels, gave us a scoop yesterday. He showed the writing class (including The Famous Author) the cover of his new novel, A GIVEN DAY, which he said would be published this coming September.

Dennis called it an "historical novel" based on the Boston Police strike of 1919. He said he'd been interested in that day since he was a little boy. The novel has been in the works for four and one half years.

Other tidbits: Dennis says he is done writing and reading mysteries. "I've been Oz, the man behind the curtain, and mysteries just don't interest me anymore." For Patrick and Angie fans, however (the stars of his PI series), Dennis did have one piece of encouraging news. He said a short story featuring his two sleuths would be forthcoming "soon."

Yikes! I guess BIG MONEY won't be on Dennis's TBR pile this year.

TFA and I are coming home to New Jersey tomorrow and--oh boy--TFA says he has a new redhead for our weekly feature. Can't wait to see what he scrounged up last night at that stupid tiki bar.

Dennis Lehane Says...

The author of MYSTIC RIVER, SHUTTER ISLAND, GONE BABY GONE, and other great novels told The Famous Author yesterday that TFA has "a strong, mordant wit" and "a terrific narrative voice." Of course those two lines bookended some serious criticism of our work in progress, BIG MOJO, but his ideas were cogent and thought-provoking, at least for TFA. I mean, I could care less. I just go where TFA tells me.

In other news, it's cold as heck here in Florida. Better than New Jersey, I suppose, but not exactly warm. Brrrr.

Will This Man Rip Us Up?

Oh, man, is The Famous Author nervous. Thursday afternoon, a real famous author named Dennis Lehane will critique my third adventure, BIG MOJO, in front of 12 other fiction students at Writers in Paradise. TFA is certain that Mr. Lehane will tell him the novel sucks, that he can't write a lick, and he should go back to whatever he was doing before.

I think TFA might be obsessing because he's such a fan of Lehane's. Me, I figure the author of MYSTIC RIVER, GONE BABY GONE, and other great novels will fall in love with me like everybody else. I mean, what's not to like? I'm cute. I'm funny. I'm smart, and I'm very modest.

So if Lehane doesn't like me, let him drink Drano.

Working With Lehane & Lippman

The program is called Writers in Paradise. It's in its fourth year. Fiction writers like our own The Famous Author travel to Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL to study craft with Dennis Lehane, Laura Lippman, Sterling Watson, and others. Hopefully, TFA's writing skills will get a bump and a boost.

And last night, TFA said I can come, too! Oh, boy. Am I ready to get out of New Jersey. It's 20 degrees this morning, and the weather people say the temperature won't get above freezing for the next week.

Florida sunshine, here we come.

Oh, yeah. For you TCOAC readers, the next week could be a spotty one for blogs. These writer conferences are full of choice, young, sensitive women. Austin Carr will be busy.