Category: Authors

Darwyn Cooke’s Big Update

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Yesterday Darwyn Cooke wrote a guest article for Jimmy Palmiotti’s blog and gave us quite an update!  Here are a few highlights:

  • Darwyn is providing covers for The Last Resort which he describes as a “Horror/Comedy… kind of a cross between an Irwin Allen picture and some of the great serials that you’d get back in the day from Heavy Metal.”  It’s written by Jimmy Palmiotti and will be published by IDW this summer.
  • Darwyn is designing and contributing color for the dustjackets on The Complete Torpedo Collection, the five volume set which for the first time ever collects the entire Sanchez Abuli and Jordi Bernet classic series.
  • Our buddy, John Highashi got a shout out for his bowling prowess!
  • Darwyn’s friend Calum Johnston hosts “Almost Darwyn Cooke’s Blog” which provides updates on what the main man is working on.  Until yesterday I didn’t know this blog existed and now it’s on my must read list.

Speaking of must read — if you want to check out Darwyn’s entire guest article, then click here.

Maberry & Patient Zero

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I’m currently about halfway through Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry and I’m totally diggin’ it.  The story reminds me of something that you’d get if you combined the best of Charlie Huston, Lee Child, Steve Niles and Duane Swierczynski.  Yeah, it’s THAT good.

Maberry has a blog where you can learn more about him and Patient Zero [and it’s sequels — I can’t wait!], read interviews, reviews and more.

Beat the Reaper

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The Pitch: Beat the Reaper is like The Sopranos meets ER as written by Charlie Huston and Duane Swierczynski

The Overview: Peter Brown, a mafia hitman,  now in the witness protection program finds his cover as an emergency room physician blown when he is recognized by one of his own associates.  With hitmen in the hospital, Brown will have to use his new skills as a doctor coupled with his hitman abilities if he is to survive.

The Good: Josh Baszell’s writing presents a unique spin on a mafia hitman.  Nothing is as it seems.  Footnotes.  Yes, footnotes.  This book moves.  The characters.

The Bad: Being dumped in a shark tank.  Stuck with a hypo full of **** and another full of infected fluids.  Thrown out of a 6th story window.

The Ugly: What Brown has to do to survive.

The Summary: I loved Beat the Reaper.  I can’t remember the last time I read a book by a first time author that I enjoyed so much.  Bazell has created a winner and I can’t wait for his follow-up.

Robert B. Parker Speaks!

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Robert B. Parker is a busy author.  He writes the Spenser series, the Jesse Stone series, the Sunny Randall series, young adult novels, and has just finished up his western trilogy.  It all averages out to about three new books a year.  You’d think that at age 76 that would be a bit much.  Not for Parker.

He even found time for this interview with the Wall Street Journal.

The Apocalypse is Coming!

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I’m a big fan of Victor Gischler’s Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse.  Yesterday at his blog Victor announced:

I’m happy to report that producer Brad Wyman — the dude responsible for some pretty cool films — has optioned my novel Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse. Mr. Wyman is eager to make the film version as close to the novel as possible, and I’m thrilled as hell.

Me too, Victor, me too.

Joe Bluhm Gives It Away

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Joe Bluhm’s drawings are dead-on.  Folks say Joe Bluhm has “crazy skills.” “Mad talents” cry others.  I’m starting to wonder if maybe both groups are right… and not just about his skills and talents.  See, Joe has a new art book coming out called Sketch Infectus.  And that’s where things start to head into crazyville.

Joe’s Sketch Infectus is an 80 page hardcover art book filled with nearly 400 of Joe’s drawings.   He’s selling this sweet package for just $19.95.  That comes to less than 20 cents a sketch.  Insane, right?  Well, it gets better my friends.

Joe also went out and gathered quotes, tips and advice from some of the top artists working today.  People like Tom Richmond, Steven Silver, Phillip Burke and others.  Did Joe raise the price?  Nope.

Then to show you how out there Joe is with this offer, let’s quote the man himself:

Anyone who pre-orders by February 5th (happens to be a good friend’s birthday!) will get an original sketch. And by sketch, I don’t mean I’ll draw a little 5 second scribble… I mean I’ll actually be cutting out the sketches from these and other sketchbooks and giving them to you! You might get something IN the book and you might get something else! Your sketch might have a doodle on the back. Who knows!

Now that deal is insane and crazy.  And if you don’t jump on it, you’d have to be too.

Sign Me Up for The Eternal Prison

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Jeff Somers jumped to the top of my MUST READ AUTHORS list with his first Avery Cates novel, The Electric Church.  His second in the series, The Digital Plague was even better.  So you can imagine how much I’m looking forward to his third Avery Cates novel, The Eternal Prison.  Here’s what we have to look forward to:

Avery Cates is a wanted man. After surviving the worst bioengineered disaster in history, Cates finds himself incarcerated – in Chengara Penitentiary. As Chengara has a survival rate of exactly zero, the system’s most famous gunner must do some serious plotting. And a betrayal or so later, he achieves his goal. At a price.

All he has to do now is defeat some new personal demons, forge some unlikely alliances, and figure out why the people he’s killed lately just won’t stay dead.

Since The Eternal Prison won’t be out until this August, if you haven’t read the first two books now is the time to get on it.  If you’ve already read them,  you’ll have to be satisfied with hanging out at Jeff’s Blog or the official site for The Eternal Prison.

Viking Crime Story?

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I love crime stories.  Movies, comics, novels, it doesn’t matter if it’s well done.  I’ve read modern crime stories, futuristic crime stories, but I’ve never read a viking crime story.  That’s about to change in April.  Check out what writer Ivan Brandon had to say about his project:

“VIKING is everything I love about crime fiction filtered through one of the most violent and fascinating periods of human history.  It’s been in the works for so long at this point that I’m overwhelmed to finally get to show it to people. The overwhelmingly positive response to the teaser alone has Nic and I humbled.”

I Die at Midnight for Free

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I’ve talked about what a great artist and writer Kyle Baker is many times.  On many occasions I’ve encouraged you to visit Kyle’s site.  Tonight, I’m going to once again suggest that you stop by.  If you do,  check out Kyle’s graphic novel, I Die at Midnight,

Kyle posted up the entire book which can be read for free, and told me:

I thought this might be a cool experiment, since I had the PDF anyway.  If people respond well, I’ve got about 20 books to follow it up with.  It might be nice to turn my site into a public library. We’ll see if people download it.   The fascinating thing about the web is the access to statistics. I’m often surprised at which posts get the most hits.   We’ll see if this is popular.

How cool is that?  Most folks would post up a preview and then try to get you to buy the book.  Kyle not only posts it up in its entirety, but talks about doing the same with his other books.

Kyle Baker is a great artist and writer — he’s a generous one as well.

Mills Premieres Cooke’s Hunter

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Chris Mills made my day when he posted the cover above to Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation of Richard Stark’s novel The Hunter.  If anyone is more excited about Cooke’s plans to adapt Stark’s work than me, it’s probably Chris Mills.  He is not only an author himself, but also an expert in the crime genre… and do I have to remind any ZONErs how much I dig Chris’ character Gravedigger?

Remembering Donald Westlake

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It just came over the wires that Donald Westlake has died at the age of 75 from an apparent heart attack.  Mr. Westlake was one the most successful, popular and prolific authors of our time.  Not only did he write over 100 novels under various names [ Richard Stark, Tucker Coe, Samuel Holt, Edwin West as well as his own], but he also won three Edgar awards and an Academy Award nomination for his screenplay for “The Grifters.”

My favorite Westlake stories were his crime novels written under his pen-name of Richard Stark.  I wasn’t alone in their enjoyment.  Not only were they fan favorites, but they were also  turned into movies several times with the likes of Lee Marvin, Robert Duvall and Mel Gibson playing the lead.  If you like crime stories, then you probably love the Parker novels.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Mr. Westlake’s family, friends and fans.

The Eternal Prison

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The last time I mentioned Jeff Somers here at the ZONE, it was in praise of his second Avery Cates novel, The Digital Plague. I know it’s hard to believe, but I enjoyed The Digital Plague just a bit better than The Electric Church [which I loved].
Over at his blog, Jeff recently posted the Jae Lee cover to the third book in the series, The Eternal Prison. If you haven’t yet read the first two Avery Cates novels, now is the time to jump on board. The third one doesn’t come out until next year and that would give you plenty of time to catch up.

You could also hang out at Jeff’s blog where he regularly posts and interacts with fans. [I guess you could hang out there even if you didn’t read his books, but if Jeff found out he’d probably send his winged monkeys after you. So if you choose to do that, you do so at your own peril. You have been warned!]

Reasoner’s Review – Batman Vampire

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Author James Reasoner really enjoyed the Batman: Vampire compilation. [Of course what’s not to love when it’s written by Doug Moench with art by Kelly Jones and John Beatty?] Here are a few quotes from the review:

This is classic Batman with a horror spin… Doug Moench was one of my favorite comics writers… His scripts on these three Batman stories are excellent, with plenty of action and angst… the artwork in this collection by Kelley Jones reminds me a little of Gulacy’s work, as well as Berni Wrightson’s… I’m glad I was able to catch up to these three stories all in one book, and if you’re a Batman and/or horror fan, I think you’ll enjoy them, too.

You can check out Reasoner’s full review here and the Batman: Vampire compilation here.