Newly announced title (June 2008) from Hard Case. Look how small that title is. Curious. Looks more like a tagline than a title.

That looks a little weird. Just by glancing, it looks like the title is "Donald E. Westlake".

I totally dig that cover.

I asked Charles about it and he said they played around with the size of the type, but that was the only way it worked. (You wouldn't want it to cover up the art.)

Besides, "Donald E. Westlake" is why people are buying the book anyway. That's certainly what interests me.

On a separate matter... Doesn't she look a lot like Marilyn Monroe? Maybe too much?

I guess there is a little Marilyn there, but when I look at it, I just think generic hot blonde conniving mischievous dame.

Interesting email news this morning from Charles Ardai...Looks like we'll have some competition in the arena of Hard Case Crime discussion boards. Sounds great!

************************

Friends,

We've got some interesting things cooking. One that you'll be able to check out starting on October 1 is a new online Crime Book Club we've created in collaboration with the folks at BN.com, the Web site of Barnes & Noble. It's going to be a public message board where readers and writers of crime fiction can gather to talk about their favorite books, and a number of Hard Case Crime authors (plus some "friends of the family") plan to participate, including Jason Starr, Ken Bruen, Allan Guthrie, Duane Swierczynski, Charlie Huston, and Megan Abbott. I'll be there, too, as one of the moderators, and topics we'll be discussing range from the essential books every fan of crime fiction should read to the impact of female authors on the development of the hardboiled crime genre and the ongoing influence of Old Masters such as Raymond Chandler. The curtain won't go up on the Crime Book Club until October 1 -- but we hope you'll give it a visit then. You'll find it at www.bn.com/crime and it should be fun.

Two more pieces of news:

First, we just signed a contract with Max Allan Collins for a book we're very excited about. We can't say much about it yet, but the title will tell you a lot all by itself. The book will be called THE FIRST QUARRY.

Second: By the time you read this, there's a good chance that Ken Bruen and Jason Starr's very dark, very funny, entirely outrageous new novel -- SLIDE -- has already arrived in stores. If not, it'll be there within days. If you see a copy, grab it. It's a sequel to last year's very popular BUST (currently up for a Barry Award as we speak) and if you liked that one, you'll love this one.

So what part of that's news, you ask? It's hardly news that SLIDE is coming out this month -- that's been on our Web site for ages. Well. The news is that Ken and Jason are currently working feverishly on a *third* book in the series, to be published in 2008! The title of the concluding chapter of the BUST trilogy (if we can call it that) is THE MAX and it'll take our favorite miscreants to a new environment: prison...

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

I've had it about a week now & just started it the other day & it absolutely F'n rules. Bust is still one of my favorites of the HCC line & it's pretty much the book that got me hooked on these things. Just reading the story of what Max Fisher moves on to after Bust takes place, is so great. This book will definitely be near the top of where I rank the HCC line.

One more reminder, for those of us buying these in stores. Slide is on its way to your reading pile...

Coming in July:



THEY BACKED THE WORLD’S GREATEST GAMBLER
TO BRING DOWN AN HONEST MAN

Joe Martin ran the biggest independent casino on the Las Vegas strip—and the Syndicate wanted him out. So they brought in Bello, the most famous gambler in the world, to challenge Joe to a marathon craps game. The stakes: everything Joe owns...

NO HOUSE LIMIT offers a sizzling insider’s view of Las Vegas written by the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of numerous classic noir films, including Raymond Chandler’s Lady in the Lake, Humphrey Bogart’s Dead Reckoning and Tokyo Joe, and the atypically dark final film in the Thin Man series.

First publication in more than 45 years!
Fisher wrote hundreds of movies and TV shows, including scripts based on the work of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Cornell Woolrich
Author of the pulp classic I WAKE UP SCREAMING
Features an all-new afterword by Fisher’s son, Michael
The Washington Star praises NO HOUSE LIMIT for its "sex, sadism and action."
Woody Haut, author of PULP CULTURE: "Fisher deserves a place on a short list of influential noirists."

Another new author for me. Never heard of him. (I WAKE UP SCREAMING is an enticing title.)

Anybody finish SLIDE yet? It's on the top of my to-read pile.

Slide is great. I enjoyed Bust better, but Slide is just different enough to not make it a rehash... As far as sequels go, it is very satisfying. I read it in one sitting!

I did just finish up Fright, though, and did not enjoy it as much as the other HCC (I've got them all and have read over ten). Anyone read Fright and like it?

I read SLIDE a few months back and liked it a lot. Even better than BUST. I haven't read FRIGHT, although I'm not surprised to hear it's not great. (It is, after all, one of Woolrich's lesser books.) I'll still give it a try, though, if I ever get around to it.

That Vegas book (above) looks good.

I didn't care much for Fright -- lost interest 1/2 way though.

Latest newsletter from Hard Case Crime...that Christa Faust novel sounds nice and nasty, and good news about Schow. I've been a fan of his since before he was married to Faust!

**************************************

Friends,

In February 2008, we'll be publishing our first book ever by a female author, Christa Faust's MONEY SHOT. It's a terrific yarn, told in an irresistible voice, about a former adult film star who finds herself first on the run from, then on the trail of, a pack of vicious killers out to exploit young women. Early word for this one is really terrific.

Be aware that while the book is not itself pornographic by any means, there is a modest amount of what might euphemistically be called "adult" content. To put it in perspective, discussing this book put me in the position of having to explain first to Vicki Hendricks and then to Lawrence Block what an "airtight reverse cowgirl" is -- and neither Vicki nor Larry is exactly someone you'd describe as an innocent in the area of sexually frank fiction. So you might say it's an educational book.) Best of luck to everyone who enters!

For those of you who are curious about what's coming down the pike later in 2008, we have a couple of pieces of news to share. First of all, if you visit our Web site -- www.hardcasecrime.com -- you'll see the very cool cover of Steve Fisher's NO HOUSE LIMIT. NO HOUSE LIMIT is a story of Las Vegas, where a man's future can turn on a roll of the dice. It's by the legendary pulp author of I WAKE UP SCREAMING, who was nominated for an Academy Award for the screenplay of DESTINATION TOKYO and also wrote the scripts for films such as Raymond Chandler's LADY IN THE LAKE, Humphrey Bogart's DEAD RECKONING and TOKYO JOE, and the last film in the THIN MAN series. Fisher was a real talent and this particular book is tense, suspenseful, heartbreaking and full of local color that only a Vegas insider would know. (In a touching afterword, Fisher's son reveals how his father came by his intimate knowledge of the Strip.)

Later in '08, we'll be publishing a brand new book called GUN WORK by the fine horror novelist and screenwriter David J. Schow -- who, entirely coincidentally (I didn't know this till after we bought the book), was once married to Christa Faust. (All together now: "It's a small world, after all...") Schow's years in Hollywood show through in GUN WORK -- it's one of the most action-packed novels we've had the pleasure of publishing, and man oh man can the guy write a great gunfight! But it's not "just" a shoot-'em-up -- this is an intense story with a lead character in a perilous predicament, and the emotional tension runs high from beginning to end. I'd be shocked if this one didn't end up on film some day -- but you'll be able to read it here first...

Finally, at the very end of '08 we'll be coming up on our 50th title -- and I've sat down to start writing this one myself. I don't want to say too much about it yet (don't want to jinx it!), but we plan to make it a very special book, with some treats and some surprises for long-time fans. The title: FIFTY-TO-ONE.

In the meantime? Well, Ken Bruen and Jason Starr's SLIDE is in bookstores now and got a great review in Entertainment Weekly; in a few weeks, Mickey Spillane's brand new crime novel, DEAD STREET, will be out; and at the start of December you'll be able to get your hands on Max Allan Collins' first-ever "Ms. Tree" novel, DEADLY BELOVED (which is currently in development by the Oxygen Network to become a TV movie).

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

I searched and couldn't find anything on this...

I opened my copy of Grifter's Game last night for the first time and discovered that the first page is page number 11 (the beginning of the book), then it continues until page 33, then the normal HCC Praise for... pages, then restarts at the beginning. It looks like the whole book is there (hopefully), but those pages are printed twice...

Anyone else's like this? It's strange because it looks like the cover wouldn't fit right if it wasn't like this...

My copy isn't like this.

Thanks for responding.

Strange. I ordered it directly from the publisher... seems odd that it would be unique. There's gotta be a whole messed up batch out there, I would think. (But, I don't know anything about how books get published.)

Printing errors like this happen occasionally. I heard from an author recently whose latest paperback release had an entire section in it that was from a book by one of the publisher's other authors.

Interesting... Well, the book is good so far despite the misprinting, that's all that really matters anyway!

Your friendly monthly reminder...now appearing in your local bookstore's Mystery section...

Finished it yesterday. Pretty damn good!

Really? I finished it a while ago was pretty dissapointed in it. All the contemporary nods kind of made it feel like it wasn't a classic Spillane story. I know he wrote it not too long before he died & the rest was ghost written but the book just felt kind of stale to me.

Well, look what just popped up at the Hard Case site. A John Farris book by the name of Baby Moll, due August 2008. I'm a Farris fan from the 1980s, when he was churning out some cool horror titles. Interesting emphasis on horror novelists these days (along with David Schow, Robert Bloch, and even Christa Faust)...



From the site:

BY THE BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF THE FURY

Six years after quitting the Florida Mob, Peter Mallory is about to be dragged back in.

Stalked by a vicious killer and losing his hold on power, Mallory’s old boss needs help—the kind of help only a man like Mallory can provide. But behind the walls of the fenced-in island compound he once called home, Mallory is about to find himself surrounded by beautiful women, by temptation, and by danger—and one wrong step could trigger a bloodbath...

First publication in 50 years!
First publication ever under the author's real name (originally published as by "Steve Brackeen")
Farris’ novels have sold over 17 million copies
Features a new cover painting by the legendary Robert McGinnis

The dame on this cover really gets around (& dyes her hair a lot). . .

Well, with those freakishly long legs, she can travel quite effortlessly.