Category: Books

“The Capote Tapes” Poster and Trailer

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I’m not a fan of the poster but I do like the trailer for The Capote Tapes.

Truman Capote became famous for his writing with Breakfast at Tiffany’s and In Cold Blood.  The fact that they were turned into very well received movies added to his fame.  Breakfast at Tiffany’s was nominated for 5 Oscars and won two.  In Cold Blood was nominated for four Oscars.

Although Capote would go on to write other shorts stories, novels and teleplays, he became best known for being famous.  Capote was popular on the talk show circuit.  He was flamboyant and loved telling stories.  I look forward to seeing The Capote Tapes and someday pulling In Cold Blood off my to-be-read bookshelf and reading it.

In the 35 years since his death, Truman Capote has remained a source of curiosity to many. His works, including ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ and ‘In Cold Blood’, have maintained their place in the literary canon of great twentieth century American literature and still appeal to readers across the globe today.

‘Answered Prayers’ was meant to be Truman Capote’s greatest masterpiece, an epic portrait of NYC’s glittering jet-set society. Instead, it sparked his downfall. Through never before heard audio archive and interviews with Capote’s friends and enemies, this intimate documentary reveals the rise and fall of one America’s most iconic writers.
#TheCapoteTapes

“The Heathens” by Ace Atkins is Coming!

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It’s been announced that Ace Atkins will have a new Quinn Colson novel coming out on July 13, 2021.  The Heathens will be the 11th novel in the best selling series and I can’t wait.  Here’s the synopsis…

Sheriff Quinn Colson and his former deputy Lillie Virgil find themselves on opposite sides of a case for the first time after a man is found dead and three delinquent teens go on the run.

The Byrd clan is one of the wildest families in Tibbehah County. The three kids are the ire of school resource and truant officers–they peddle pot and steal car parts, doing what they can to survive with a mother who sometimes disappears for months on end. But when their mother returns with a new husband, a registered sex offender, a homicide soon follows, and the kids hit the highway.

U.S. Marshal Lillie Virgil is convinced the Byrd kids are guilty of murder, and sets off on a cross-country hunt to track them down and bring them to justice. Back in Tibbehah, Sheriff Quinn Colson isn’t so sure. And as he digs deeper into the case, he comes to think there may be a larger conspiracy at work.

If you’ve missed out (or are interested in getting started) here our the Quinn Colson novels in order of publication.

  1. The Ranger
  2. The Lost Ones
  3. The Broken Places
  4. The Forsaken
  5. The Redeemers
  6. The Innocents
  7. The Fallen
  8. The Sinners
  9. The Shameless
  10. The Revelators

MONSTERS by Barry Windsor Smith is Coming!

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The cover above is to Barry Windsor Smith’s Monsters.  As many of our readers know, BWS is considered to be one of the greatest artistic geniuses to have ever worked in comics.  Smith’s last comic work was in 2005 and many thought he had retired.  Little did we know that he had been working on Monsters for 35 years.

35 years in the making, the most anticipated graphic novel in recent comics history! 

The year is 1964. Bobby Bailey doesn’t realize he is about to fulfill his tragic destiny when he walks into a US Army recruitment office to join up. Close-mouthed, damaged, innocent, trying to forget a past and looking for a future, it turns out that Bailey is the perfect candidate for a secret U.S. government experimental program, an unholy continuation of a genetics program that was discovered in Nazi Germany nearly 20 years earlier in the waning days of World War II. Bailey’s only ally and protector, Sergeant McFarland, intervenes, which sets off a chain of cascading events that spin out of everyone’s control. As the titular monsters of the title multiply, becoming real and metaphorical, literal and ironic, the story reaches its emotional and moral reckoning.

Monsters is the legendary project Barry Windsor-Smith has been working on for over 35 years. A 380-page tour de force of visual storytelling, Monsters’ narrative canvas is both vast and deep: part familial drama, part political thriller, part metaphysical journey, it is an intimate portrait of individuals struggling to reclaim their lives and an epic political odyssey across two generations of American history. Trauma, fate, conscience, and redemption are just a few of the themes that intersect in the most ambitious graphic novel of Windsor-Smith’s career.

Monsters is rendered in Windsor-Smith’s impeccable pen-and-ink technique, the visual storytelling with its sensitivity to gesture and composition is the most sophisticated of the artist’s career. There are passages of heartbreaking tenderness, of excruciating pain, and devastating violence. It is surely one of the most intense graphic novels ever drawn.

Black and white illustrations.

Monsters by Barry Windsor Smith will be released on January 19, 2021.  It is available for pre-order now.  Deal me in.

MOON LAKE by Joe R. Lansdale is Coming!

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Any time a new Joe Lansdale novel is announced there is reason to celebrate.  So, depending on how you party, get ready!  

Moon Lake by Joe R. Lansdale will premiere on June 22, 2021.  I’m set to jump on board, but if you need a little more info…

Edgar award-winning author Joe Lansdale returns with a standalone novel following the gripping and unexpected tale of the lost town and dark secret that lie beneath the glittering waters of an East Texas lake.

Daniel Russell was only thirteen years old when his father tried to kill them both by driving their car into Moon Lake. Miraculously surviving the crash— and growing into adulthood— Daniel returns to the site of this traumatic incident in the hopes of recovering his father’s car and bones. As he attempts to finally put to rest the memories that have plagued him for years, he discovers something even more shocking among the wreckage that has ties to a twisted web of dark deeds, old grudges, and strange murders.  

As Daniel diligently follows where the mysterious trail of vengeance leads, he unveils the heroic revelation at its core.

Pre-orders are available now, if you’re so inclined.

Relentless: A Joe Ledger Novel by Jonathan Maberry is Coming!

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Any time Jonathan Maberry has a new book coming out there is reason to celebrate.  When it is a Joe Ledger tale, then it is time to party like you made your inside straight draw.  As you can see from the cover above, Maberry is back with a Joe Ledger yarn called Relentless.

Rogue Team International joins Joe Ledger in a new hunt that spans the globe and journeys deep into the terrifying landscape of the human heart.

JOE LEDGER’s world has been torn apart. The people closest to him have been savagely murdered and Ledger is on the hunt for the killers. His already fragile psyche has cracked apart, allowing a dangerous darkness to overwhelm him.

His hunt takes him deep into the world of the deadly black market weapons sales, and standing in his way are a new generation of private military contractors. These mercenaries have been enhanced with cutting-edge cybernetics and chemical enhancements, transforming them into real-world super soldiers. Stronger, faster, harder to hurt, and fitted with built-in weapons. They are beyond anything Joe has ever faced.

But he is not the Joe Ledger they expected to fight. He is defined by the Darkness now. The attempt to destroy him―to break him―has backfired. Instead his enemies have turned him into a far more fearsome weapon.

Relentless drops July 13, 2021, but is available for pre-order now!  I’m in.

FRIEND OF THE DEVIL by Brubaker & Phillips – Now Available for Pre-Order!

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Two days ago I shared the cover above for Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ next Reckless graphic novel: Friend of the Devil.  It wasn’t available for pre-order, but I said I’d keep you posted.

It’s now available for pre-order and below is the synopsis…

The next book in the red-hot Reckless series is here!

Bestselling crime noir masters Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are back with another new original graphic novel featuring troublemaker-for-hire Ethan Reckless.

It’s 1985 and things in Ethan’s life are going pretty well… until a missing woman shows up in the background of an old B-movie, and Ethan is drawn into Hollywood’s secret occult underbelly as he hunts for her among the wreckage of the wild days of the ’70s.

“No one does crime fic like Brubaker and Phillips, and their collaboration has never felt more new. Explosive. Vital. And yes… reckless.” – Damon Lindelof (LOST, HBO’s WATCHMEN)

Another hit graphic novel from the award-winning creators of PULP, MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN JUNKIES, CRIMINAL, and KILL OR BE KILLED — a must-have for all Brubaker and Phillips fans!

And look for the next standalone book in the Reckless series in October!

As you can imagine. I’m in.

Sly Scouting Locations for His Next Movie?

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There is speculation at JoBlo.com that…

Sly (Stallone) himself may be about to make another action movie with frequent purveyors of gunplay and heist flicks Randall Emmet and George Furla. According to a new Instagram pic posted by Emmet himself, the producer and his partner are currently scouting locations for an unnamed movie. Joining them is none other than Sylvester Stallone.

ANY movie added to Sly’s schedule is ALWAYS welcome.  Fingers crossed it is for Hunter based on the James Byron Huggins’ novel of the same name written for Sly!

JOE LANSDALE’S HAP AND LEONARD: An Overview by Scott Montgomery

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THE EVOLUTION OF JOE LANSDALE’S HAP AND LEONARD by Scott Montgomery at CrimeReads is well worth a read.  If you’re already a fan, you might get a little more insight into the stories and if you’re not a fan, you should be.  Well done, Mr. Montgomery.

Our header art today is a detail from the cover of the Subterranean Press trade edition for Dead Aim and was created by Glen Orbik.

Of Mice and Minestrone: Hap and Leonard: The Early Years by Joe R. Lansdale / Z-View

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Of Mice and Minestrone: Hap and Leonard: The Early Years by Joe R. Lansdale

Trade Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Tachyon Publications

First sentence…

I must have been six or seven at the time, and it was an event that went on for years, this gathering of relatives.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Of Mice and Minestrone: Hap and Leonard: The Early Years contains five short stories about Hap and Leonard during their, you guessed it, early years.  As an added bonus, there’s a section titled Good Eats: The Recipes of Hap and Leonard by Kasey Lansdale (Joe’s daughter).  Let’s take a quick look at each…

The Kitchen is, as Lansdale says in the intro to the book, more of a vignette than short story.   Reading it you get a sense of where Hap got his moral foundation and why family is important to him.  If you’re lucky it will also bring back memories of another time when things moved slower and family get-togethers were special events.

Of Mice and Minestrone is divided into two parts.  In part one, Hap (a 16 year old high school student) has a run-in with a thugish man at a gas station.  Hap apologizes for his part, but the bully wants a fight.  When the thug’s wife tries to calm her husband by saying, “He’s just a kid.  He didn’t mean nothing -” it’s obvious she has overstepped.  The gas station owner comes out and the man and his wife leave.

Later, when Hap unexpectedly sees the woman in town he can tell that she’s been beaten up.  Hap wants to help her, but she’s afraid and Hap is just a kid.  Together they devise a plan to save her.  Part II Of Mice and Minestrone deals with the fallout from their plan and as you can guess things don’t end up all sunshine and roses.

The Watering Shed was a dive bar located a ways from town.  It was a rough place where you could get a drink even if you were under-age, if you had the cash.  Hap and Leonard had some coin and a hankering for a beer.  Had Leonard not been black, there wouldn’t have been a problem.  But he was and there was and it led to two murders.

In The Sparring Partner Hap and Leonard are offered some easy money to assist a promoter in getting his new fighter ready for his next match. Unfortunately the promoter isn’t on the level and his fighter is in waaay over his head.  Hap and Leonard could take their sparring partner money and walk away but we know that won’t happen.

The Sabine was High takes place when Leonard arrives home from Viet Nam and Hap has recently gotten out of prison (for refusing to be drafted). They go on an overnight fishing trip and share stories about the hell each of them has been through.

Good Eats: The Recipes of Hap and Leonard is exactly what you’d imagine, recipes for preparing food from the stories.

Of Mice and Minestrone: Hap and Leonard: The Early Years provides a look at events that shaped Hap and Leonard into the men they would become. You don’t have to be a H&L fan to enjoy the book, but if you are you’ll enjoy it all the more.  My favorite story gave the book it’s title.  Lansdale sets up a classic situation and then throws in twists along the way (doesn’t he always) that will leave you smiling at his storytelling ability and sad at the situations the characters are in.  There’s not a weak story in the book and even though I’m not much of a cook, I think I’ll give a recipe or two a shot.

Rating:

“Death on the Nile” – The Trailer is Here!

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Although I’ve never read an Agatha Christie novel, I enjoyed Murder on the Orient Express starring Kenneth Branagh.  After seeing the trailer below for his return as Hercule Poirot (along with an all-star cast) in Death on the Nile, I’m looking forward to the sequel even more.

Maybe I should check out one of Christie’s novels. Hmmm.

Murder was just the beginning. Watch the new trailer for Death on the Nile, in theaters this October 23.

Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot’s Egyptian vacation aboard a glamorous river steamer turns into a terrifying search for a murderer when a picture-perfect couple’s idyllic honeymoon is tragically cut short. Set against an epic landscape of sweeping desert vistas and the majestic Giza pyramids, this tale of unbridled passion and incapacitating jealousy features a cosmopolitan group of impeccably dressed travelers, and enough wicked twists and turns to leave audiences guessing until the final, shocking denouement.

Death on the Nile reunites the filmmaking team behind 2017’s global hit Murder on the Orient Express, and stars five-time Academy Award® nominee Kenneth Branagh as the iconic detective Hercule Poirot. He is joined by an all-star cast of suspects, including: Tom Bateman, four-time Oscar® nominee Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Ali Fazal, Dawn French, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Rose Leslie, Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Saunders and Letitia Wright.

Death on the Nile is written by Michael Green, adapted from Christie’s novel, and is produced by Ridley Scott, Mark Gordon, Simon Kinberg, Kenneth Branagh, Judy Hofflund and Kevin J. Walsh, with Matthew Jenkins, James Prichard and Matthew Prichard serving as executive producers.

“Young Wallander” – The Trailer is Here!

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Check out the trailer below for the new Netflix series Young Wallander. Wallander first appeared in novels created by Swedish author, Henning Mankell.  Kenneth Branagh played Wallander in a series that ran from 2008 to 2016.  Young Wallander is a prequel and here is the synopsis and then the trailer.  Looks pretty good!

Uncover the case that made the man.

Kurt Wallander (Adam Pålsson) fresh out of police academy witnesses a brutal crime and is pulled into solving it under the wing of superintendent Hemberg (Richard Dillane).

Criminal Deluxe Edition, Volume 3 by Brubaker & Phillips is Coming!

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Fans of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips will be glad to hear that on October 27, 2020, the Criminal Deluxe Edition, Volume 3 Hardcover will be released!  I can’t wait.  Here’s what it will contain…

This oversized deluxe hardback collects several short stories and novellas from the most award-winning team in the history of comics in a fantastically-designed book full of extras — illustrations, selected articles, interviews, behind the scenes looks, painted covers… and much much more! Collects the SAVAGE SWORD OF CRIMINAL and DEADLY HANDS OF CRIMINAL magazines, the novellas MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN JUNKIES and BAD WEEKEND, and issues 1 and 4 of the newest run of the CRIMINAL monthly series, two full length short stories about the LAWLESS family.

A true collector’s edition must-have for any fan of the best in crime comics.

The Criminal Deluxe Edition, Volume 3 is available for pre-order now.  

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips Get “Reckless”

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This is the cover to Reckless, the first of three new graphic novels coming from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips through Image Comics.  Each of the graphic novels will be a complete separate standalone crime story.  Here’s how Brubaker describes Reckless…

Meet Ethan Reckless: Your trouble is his business, for a price.

A former student radical, with the scars to prove it, Ethan is one part repo man, one part private eye, and one part wrecking ball. But when a fugitive from his Weather Underground days reaches out for help, Ethan will have to face the only thing he really fears… his own past.

It’s sex, drugs, and murder in early ‘80s Los Angeles, as Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips launch their first graphic novel series with an electrifying new take on the paperback pulp hero.

Brubaker goes on to say that Reckless will be 144 pages, premiere in December with the second book scheduled for April 2021. Again, each of these books will be a completely standalone graphic novel.  Man, this hits a bunch of my crime fiction sweet spots.

If you subscribe to Brubaker’s free newsletter you are able to see three pages from Reckless and they look wicked.  If you don’t subscribe, you’ll definitely want to check out The Hollywood Reporter’s coverage: Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips to Launch Graphic Novel Series ‘Reckless‘.