djmont

I got galleys recently of the new books in the series -- and while I haven't read them yet, I'm digging the new trade paper format.

Geofferson

Nice

Jason Bovberg

I'm all for larger representations of that great art, but c'mon...these should be mass-market PBs.

djmont

I much prefer reading trade pb size than mass market. But I do miss the way the smaller size look all lined up on the shelf.

CVB

Info on the second HCC book for 2012 ( April ) has been posted on the official HCC website...

The new book is called BLOOD ON THE MINK ( by Robert Silverberg with art by Michael Koelsch )...

Really great classic style artwork!...

Jason Bovberg

SET A FAKE TO CATCH A FAKE

Somewhere in Philadelphia, a master engraver is turning out brilliant forgeries of U.S. currency plates for organized crime. To bring the operation down from the inside, the government sends an agent undercover posing as a West Coast crime lord’s right-hand man. It’s a dangerous game of impersonation—one that could prove fatal when the agent’s secret begins to unravel...

Unavailable for half a century and never before published in book form, BLOOD ON THE MINK features a new afterword by the author discussing the novel’s origins in the pages of one of the last surviving pulp magazines—plus two of Silverberg’s short stories from the pulps, also appearing for the first time in more than 50 years.

--First publication in any form in 50 years, and first ever under Silverberg’s real name
--Silverberg is a five-time winner of both the Nebula and Hugo awards, science fiction’s highest honors, and was named a Grandmaster by the Science Fiction Writers of America

DJLinus

There's also a short LIFE magazine article/slideshow about HCC:

http://www.life.com/gallery/61281/in...iction#index/0

It includes a pretty neat evolution of the Grifter's Game cover.

Sean O'Hara

It's nice to see HCC being influential, but I think this is a little much:



You can tell that the designer was copying the HCC look instead of that of old fashioned pulp novels.

dgmayor

Charles Ardai
<[email protected]>
To: DGMayor
Date: August 3, 2011, 10:01 PM
Friends,

First things first: If you received this message, it's because you signed up for our mailing list at some point over the past seven years. If you'd like to stop getting mail from us at any point, simply click on the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of this message and we'll take you off our list. It's simple, and it works.

Please do NOT flag this message as 'spam', since if even a small number of you do that we could find ourselves banned from sending e-mail to *anyone* who uses the same Internet service you use. If a dozen AOL members flag this e-mail, we might not be able to send messages to *any* AOL members in the future. If a dozen people with yahoo.com e-mail addresses flag this e-mail, we won't be able to send messages to anyone with a yahoo.com address. And so on.

So: If you don't want to get mail from us, by all means please unsubscribe. But please don't flag this e-mail as 'spam'.

Thanks.

Now, on to this month's news -- and there's plenty of it.

First off, we're only a bit more than a month away from Hard Case Crime's big relaunch. Our first two new titles in over a year come out on September 20th, and our next two arrive on October 4th: GETTING OFF by Lawrence Block, QUARRY'S EX by Max Allan Collins, THE CONSUMMATA by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins, and CHOKE HOLD by Christa Faust. We've already started seeing some early reviews online and I'm delighted to see that people are really enjoying the books. MIchael Rogers of Library Journal, for instance, is halfway through reading THE CONSUMMATA and just blogged "It's a blast." And blogger Julia Barrett wrote this about GETTING OFF: "Occasionally I watch a movie or read a book that makes such a deep and lasting impression [that] I can’t stop thinking about it...Well, GETTING OFF did it to me. Last night was the first time in ages a book has kept me up all night."

If you'd like a little taste of each book, you can find sample chapters and cover art for all four on our Web site, www.hardcasecrime.com. If you would like to pre-order the books -- either in physical or e-book editions -- you can do so by clicking on the "Order Now" link for each book (or by going directly to your favorite local or online bookseller).

A number of you have asked us if our new publisher, Titan Books, will be offering a subscription service along the lines of the "Hard Case Crime Book Club" that our old publisher, Dorchester Publishing, used to offer. Titan has told us they would like to do so -- but it's not something they've ever done before, and they're still looking into how they could pull it off. As soon as we get a definitive answer from them, we'll let everyone on our mailing list know. In the meantime, though, I doubt they'll have it up and running in the next month...so if you'd like to get our new books delivered by mail when they're published, pre-ordering them is your best bet.

For those of you in or around New York City, there's another option, which is to pick up copies in person at the relaunch event we're holding the evening of Wednesday, September 21, at the Mysterious Bookshop. The Mysterious Bookshop is one of the oldest and best-respected mystery booksellers in the world, run by the legendary Otto Penzler, and we're thrilled that he's invited us to unveil our new titles in his store. Lawrence Block will be there to sign copies of GETTING OFF, and Christa Faust will be there from the West Coast to sign copies of CHOKE HOLD. I'll be there, too, and I'll be inviting other Hard Case Crime authors to come. We'd love to see you there, if you happen to be in the vicinity and can make it. The event will probably start around 6 or 7pm (the time hasn't been nailed down yet), and the store is at 58 Warren Street, just off West Broadway. I realize most of you
reading this message aren't anywhere near NYC and won't be able to come -- but for those of you who are, I hope you stop by.

In other news, we've announced our next 2012 title: BLOOD ON THE MINK, by science fiction grandmaster Robert Silverberg. This is one of his rare non-science fiction novels, and in fact may be his rarest novel, period -- it has never been published in book form, only in the final issue of an old pulp magazine called TRAPPED DETECTIVE STORIES half a century ago. It's a terrific story about counterfeiters and the federal agent who goes undercover to bring them down, and it features a great cover painting by Michael Koelsch. You can check it out when you visit our Web site.

Finally, I wanted to remind you that the second season of the TV series "Haven" -- inspired by the book Stephen King wrote for Hard Case Crime, THE COLORADO KID -- recently started airing on SyFy. It's on Friday nights at 10pm here in New York, and it's just been getting better and better. I've been lucky enough to get to work on the show and I can tell you there are some good stories coming. So if you haven't started watching it yet and you find yourself with some free time on a Friday night...check it out. You'll be glad you did.

And when September 20 comes and you start reading our new books...let us know what you think.

Can't wait.

Best,
Charles
-----------
Charles Ardai
Editor, Hard Case Crime

dgmayor

CharlesArdai: Sept.21 at Mysterious Bookshop in NYC: #HardCaseCrime relaunch event w/ Lawrence Block, Christa Faust, me. 7pm, 58 Warren St. (about 2 hours ago from web)

CharlesArdai: Just 6 weeks till #HardCaseCrime relaunch. Start spreading the news... (about 2 hours ago from web)

Meglos

Was able to pick up advanced reading copies of Quarry's Ex and The Consummata at a used book store. Not really digging the new size, but I guess HCC has to make these sort of compromises to continue...

Sean O'Hara

In advance of Getting Off's release, the ebooks of Block's other "Jill Emerson" novels are all $2.99 in the Kindle store.

Lawrence Block

As noted above, the early Jill Emerson novels have been reduced to $2.99 each. They're all available as Open Road eBooks, and have been virtually impossible to find in the aftermarket for many years now; I had a hell of a time finding copies for eBook scanning.

I've added a page to my blogsite devoted to Jill Emerson and all her works, and it might be worth a visit. There's a brief description of each of the seven books, and I'll be adding material to the page between now and Getting Off's publication September 20. The latest item, just added yesterday, is an interview (Lawrence Block interviewing Jill Emerson) that first appeared as a guest blog on Alison Kent's site. I don't seem to be allowed to post a link, but if you Google "LawrenceBlock.wordpress.com" you'll get there.

Having had five books quite brilliantly packaged and published by Charles at Hard Case, it's a pleasure and a privilege to be their first hardcover author. Hope y'all enjoy Getting Off!

Geofferson

Wow, um...speaking for all of us crime fiction fans, welcome to the forum!

Lawrence Block

Thanks—good to be here!

birdseye

I'll echo Geofferson's sentiments and welcome you to the forum, I'm a big fan!

Lawrence Block

Thanks, Birdseye!

xmiyux

I'll add another welcome to the pile!

As for the new HCC books, I'm really anxious to see the physical quality of the new trade paperbacks. I don't relish the fact they won't match all the other HCC books on my shelf but having more space for the artwork will be cool.

Lawrence Block

Thanks, xmiyux. I think HCC's move to a larger format was inevitable; hard to market rack-size paperbacks in the absence of racks. Stores just don't give the smaller-format books shelf space the way they used to. The new format won't fit in one's pocket, but should prove more reader-friendly. And the covers, always a treat with HCC, should be even better.

Jason Bovberg

Yes, welcome! Very pleased to see you here, Mr. Block. Just picked up A DROP OF THE HARD STUFF and look forward to GETTING OFF.

Lawrence Block

Thanks, FDJ. And a good thing your shift key is in good order...

Jason Bovberg

(So cool. I just shared an off-color in-joke with Lawrence Block.)

Sean O'Hara

I know some sci-fi writers who downloaded pirated copies of their own books to use.

Welcome, Mr. Block, and thanks for putting your back catalog on Kindle. The lack of older books is one of the biggest frustrations with ebooks.

djmont

Larry, what are you doing here? Are you stalking me?

Lawrence Block

Sean, it seems to me that a chief virtue of eBooks is that one can keep books in print forever. Open Road has 40+ early books of mine available, and the medium's so reader- and writer-friendly that I've been able to publish two new collections of Writers Digest columns (The Liar's Bible and The Liar's Companion) as eRiginals, along with Afterthoughts, my book-by-book memoir. I don't know that any of this is going to make me rich, but it's very gratifying to have the work out there.

There's a trade-off, in that printed backlist books are fast disappearing. Two years ago I'd walk into a B&N and see two full shelves of my paperbacks. Now I typically see one copy each of three books, and that's all. Publishers may keep the paperbacks technically in print—i.e., they can fill an order if they're forced to—in order to hang onto e-rights. But backlist books, at least from the big houses, are definitely on the endangered species list.

David, stalking you? Would I do that? Certainly not, and it pains me to tall you that you've been wearing the same shirt three days in a row. I just, you know, happened to notice. But stalking you? No way.