The Black Hole of Noir

Listen up folks, here is a book that you all need to pickup on November 1st. I have been waiting for this book to hit and was lucky to be sent an ARC over the summer. Hansen writes material that is damn dark and right on that it is scary. This is avoice that needs to be heard and Speedy demands a wide audience to tell his story. Once you start this book, it is hard to put down and harder to purge your mind of its powerful story.

STREET RAISED is on my favorite reads of the year. For those of you who used to read PLOTS WITH GUNS, Pearce was a regular and made it to the PLOTS WITH ANTHOLOGY that was edited by Anthony Neil Smith.

Here is an example of his work.

But you ask, who is Pearce Hansen? Here is his bio:Pearce Hansen was born in SF and came up on the streets of the East Bay. Homeless at several points in his life, his only real education was self-inflicted through omnivorous reading: he counts Thucydides & Spillane, Dostoevski & H.P. Lovecraft, Dickens & Nietzsche among his dearest friends. Pearce spent decades in “the Life,” misspending his youth careening from one terror-in-retrospect abortive learning experience to the next. Cab driver, bouncer, kick boxer, Marine: all the stereotypical noir writer's breeding grounds apply here. He’s had some pretty insane adventures along the way, starring a diverse cast of characters in some extremely surreal milieus. He’s not nearly as dysfunctional as his writing and life history might seem to imply. His family and friends are the linchpins that saved his soul, they tolerate his foibles and idiosyncrasies: his inability to relax, his hatred of cameras and mirrors, his insomnias and nightmares. He’s been writing for ten years, drawing on the experiences of a youth spent as disposable gutter trash. He writes because he’s good at it: he’s been published many, many times, and has made enough money to move his wife into a nice house, and put his son through college. His first novel, STREET RAISED, will be published by Point Blank Press shortly; his sophomore novel, STAGGER BAY, is looking for a home; and he is presently editing his completed third novel, THE STORM GIANTS.

Jason Starr LIGHTS OUT

As promised, I'm blogging and posting pics again. Here is Jason Starr on tour for his book LIGHT OUT. I was great finally getting achance to meet him and chatting on line with him for the last year.

During his signing at Mysteries To Die For Jason talked about what it was like to work with Ken Bruen on BUST, comparing writing story stories to novels, and as one customer asked why does his novel belong in a mystery bookstore.

Pictured below is Jason with Terrill Lankford.

Mr. Connelly - The ECHO PARK signing

Yesterday, at the fabulous Mysteries To Die For, I attended the Michael Connelly signing. I know that Duane has said that he claims Mike as his hometown boy, but Mike explained that he has lived in Los Angeles longer than any other location. So, welcome home Mr. Connelly.

As you can imagine it was standing room only, approximately 200 people showed up for the signing and Mike was gracious as alway.

Well, Blogger is having a hard time loading images at the moment....I'll Be Back!

UPDATE: Blogger seems to be cured!
Connelly signing THE OUTLOOK, a serial novel that the New Your Times is running for 16 weeks. Connelly said that this may turn into a novel next year.

And finally Mr. Connelly and Mr. Calcagno (Mystery Dawg)

The blog thing....or damn, I'm lazy

Terrill Lankford has been on my case of late. Yesterday, he said to be.."Aldo, man, you gotta post. People are depending on you," or something of that sort. I was thinking about and yeah, I have been rather lazy about this blog thing and letting down the good people who would like to see this stuff. So over the next few days, I will be back posting signing that I have attended this year.