Tuesday 30 June 2015

2 BY LEE GOLDBERG

A couple this week from author, TV writer and producer and Brash Books owner/publisher – Lee Goldberg.

Both are related to Adrian Monk – a character in the hit TV series in which Lee Goldberg was heavily involved. I was never an avid fan of the series, but it was enjoyable enough when it was on and a not unpleasant way of passing an hour or so.

I reckon I will enjoy these without necessarily being blown away by them.









I have enjoyed the collaborative efforts of Goldberg alongside Janet Evanovich in the past year or so, 
His website is here.

Brash Books are here.








Mr Monk on the Road (2011)

Monk's out on the open highway-but crime is a hitchhiker that won't be ignored.
With his job secure and his wife's murder finally solved, Adrian Monk is feeling strangely...satisfied. He'd like his agoraphobic brother Ambrose to feel the same way, so Monk puts a secret ingredient in Ambrose's birthday cake: sleeping pills. When Ambrose wakes up, he's in a motorhome on the open road with Monk determined to show him the outside world.

But Ambrose isn't the only one struggling to let go. As little crimes pop up along the highway, Monk can't resist getting involved. Now it's up to Monk to stop a murderer from turning their road trip into a highway to hell.






Mr Monk on Patrol (2012)

When the local government of Summit, New Jersey, is hit with a string of arrests, Chief of Police Randy Disher finds himself acting as mayor. With a town to run and a series of robberies to investigate, he calls on Adrian Monk to serve as a temporary policeman.




Monday 29 June 2015

LOGGING THE LIBRARY - PART THIRTY-EIGHT

Tub 38, books 1851 to 1900.........rough calculation, 10 books a month, 120 a year, 15 years reading minimum logged!

Pre-logging look!

Laura Lipman, Shane Maloney, David Baldacci, Steve Lopez, John Harvey,

Australian crime fiction - Murray Whelan.

Jeffery Deaver, Michael Harvey, Len Deighton, Alistair MacLean, Tony Hillerman,

Native-American crime

English espionage!

Debut novel - Michael Kelly series

Dan Kavanagh, John Del Vecchio,

Julian Barnes in disguise - a 4-fer about a gay PI.


Humour

Tim Relf, William Boyd, Chuck Culpepper, Danny King, Howard Jacobson,

Danny King - Crime diaries series

Garry Disher, Brian McGilloway, Richard Stark, Robert Mason, Leonard B. Scott,

Short stories

Parker series by from Westlake's alter-ego!

Donald Bodey, Joe T. Heywood, Fred Vargas, Robert Campbell,

Jimmy Flannery series book,

French crime

Vietnam novel,

Vietnam book, Michael J. Fox - autobiography, George MacDonald Fraser,

Another Flashman book,

Tom Cain, Gerald Seymour, Len Deighton,

Series espionage,

English author


Biography about a boxer falsely imprisoned.

Martin Beck series book,

East European intrigue

John Irving memoir,

Helen MacInnes book originally from the 30's

James Reasoner, Garry Disher, Jonathan Tulloch,

Sports fiction


James W. Hall, David Loyn

Short stories

Dan Vyleta, Tess Gerritsen,

Laidlaw series book,

Ron Rash - US Literature?


Hal Challis series book,

Classic Forsyth

Post-logging look!



HIGHLIGHTS........ A few here from my Vietnam reading period, I wouldn't mind reading or re-reading, Steinhauer, MacInnes, Vyleta and Irving look promising, as does Deighton

LOWLIGHTS....... Baldacci again, I'm no longer a fan of house-brick books,

FULL LIST OF 50..........


AUTHOR TITLE YEAR SERIES
BALDACCI DAVID THE SIMPLE TRUTH 1998
BODEY DONALD F.N.G. 1985
BOYD WILLIAM ARMADILLO 1998
CAIN TOM THE SURVIVOR 2008 SC2
CAMPBELL ROBERT W. NIBBLED TO DEATH BY DUCKS 1989 JF6
CULPEPPER CHUCK UP POMPEY 2007
DEAVER JEFFERY BLOODY RIVER BLUES 1993 JP2
DEIGHTON LEN SPY STORY 1974 HP5
DEIGHTON LEN SPY LINE 1989 BS5
DEL VECCHIO JOHN THE 13TH VALLEY 1983
DISHER GARRY STRAIGHT, BENT & BARBARA VINE 1997
DISHER GARRY THE DRAGON MAN 1999 IC1
FORSYTH FREDERICK THE DAY OF THE JACKAL 1971
FOX MICHAEL J. LUCKY MAN 2002
GERRITSEN TESS BODY DOUBLE 2004 JR+MI4
HALL JAMES W. PAPER PRODUCTS 1990
HARVEY MICHAEL THE CHICAGO WAY 2007 MK1
HARVEY JOHN LAST RITES 1998 R10
HEYWOOD JOE T. TAXI DANCER 1985
HILLERMAN TONY PEOPLE OF DARKNESS 1980 JC1
HIRSCH JAMES S. HURRICANE FIGHTER: THE LIFE OF RUBIN CARTER 2000
IRVING JOHN THE IMAGINARY GIRLFRIEND 1996
JACOBSON HOWARD WHO'S SORRY NOW? 2002
KAVANAGH DAN PUTTING THE BOOT IN 1985 D3
KAVANAGH DAN FIDDLE CITY 1981 D2
KAVANAGH DAN GOING TO THE DOGS 1987 D4
KAVANAGH DAN DUFFY 1980 D1
KING DANNY THE BANK ROBBER DIARIES 2002 CD2
LIPPMAN LAURA BALTIMORE BLUES 1997 TM1
LOPEZ STEVE THE SUNDAY MACARONI CLUB 1997
LOYN DAVID FRONTLINE: REPORTING FROM THE WORLD'S DEADLIEST PLACES 2011
MACDONALD FRASER GEORGE FLASHMAN AND THE MOUNTAIN OF LIGHT 1990 F9
MACINNES HELEN ABOVE SUSPICION 1939
MACLEAN ALISTAIR WHERE EAGLES DARE 1967
MALONEY SHANE THE BIG ASK 2000 MW4
MASON ROBERT CHICKENHAWK 1983
McGILLOWAY BRIAN BLEED A RIVER DEEP 2009 IBD3
McILVANNEY WILLIAM STRAIGHT LOYALTIES 1991 JL3
RASH RON THE WORLD MADE STRAIGHT 2006
REASONER JAMES TEXAS WIND 1980
RELF TIM STAG 2004
SALLAH/WEISS MICHAEL/MITCH TIGER FORCE 2005 N
SCOTT LEONARD B. THE HILL 1995
SEYMOUR GERALD THE UNTOUCHABLE 2001
SJOWALL/WAHLOO MAJ/PER THE ABOMINABLE MAN 1972 MB7
STARK RICHARD BREAKOUT 2002 P21
STEINHAUER OLEN THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS 2003 YB1
TULLOCH JONATHAN THE SEASON TICKET 2000
VARGAS FRED SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR 2004 CA2
VYLETA DAN PAVEL & I 2008

Sunday 28 June 2015

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH PAUL J. HEALD


Paul J. Heald's Death in Eden was read and enjoyed earlier this month - review here.

Paul was kind enough to answer a few questions for me.......

From information gathered, I understand you’re a Professor of Law in Illinois, can you tell us a bit about your career path?

Almost all authors need a day job, and what better way to make a living that researching and writing about copyright law!  I have done more empirical studies of the public domain than anyone, and readers might been interested to see some of the more pernicious effects of copyright by checking out my blog, https://copyrightforauthors.wordpress.com/https://copyrightforauthors.wordpress.com/ or papers http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=227781. 

From a bit of internet searching I believe you have previously had a novel published – No Regrets back in 2003. Can you tell us a bit about your previous work?

No Regrets is a lovely story about music, friendship, and dying, which I'm currently revising.  It should be reissuing sometime next year.  No murders here!

Have you always had aspirations to write?

Yes, but until I got divorced, remarried, and had kids, I had nothing to write about.  Once the kids got old enough, I had the time to finally do more than write crabby emails and academic papers.

How long did Death in Eden take from conception to completion? With an eleven year gap in-between your two novels Has “Death” been that long in the creation?

Death in Eden took about a year to write and another year to edit.  Finding an agent and publisher delays things still longer . . . but not eleven years!  I was writing two other books during that time.

Did the end result mirror the book you have thought you were writing at the start?

Yes!  I don't start to write until I have an firm ending.  That helps keep things on the rails.

I’m guessing the academic setting is something you are remarkably familiar with, judging from your occupation and career-path, I’m curious as to how you researched the adult film industry – did you have to go undercover incognito? Was it a stiff assignment?

It was hard work . . .I read all the books I could find, watched documentaries and interviews, subscribed to the Playboy channel, and surfed the net . . the most helpful source is described in the book, a series of interviews of porn stars done by a UCLA psychologist/anthropologist.

What's is your writing process?
Do you write for a set number of hours a day? What's a typical Paul Heald writing day consist of?

It's exhausting, so 90 minutes a days, any time of day is all I can manage . . .

Are you a plotter and do you have a beginning middle and end mapped out in your head or do you just write and see where the story takes you?

Yes!

Would any of your family and friends recognise parts of themselves in your characters?

Angela, the protagonist's wife, and my wife have very similar views of the sex industry.  He, however, is rather unlike me, except our occasional frustration with students and administrators!

Any unpublished gems in the bottom drawer?

You bet!  COTTON, a new book featuring Stanley Hopkins once again, should be out by spring!

What's the current writing project in hand? Is it proving easier or more difficult to write than the last?

Book three in the Clarkeston Chronicles has been written, and I'm doing a big rewrite/edit right now.

What kind of books do you read for enjoyment?

Right now I'm in love with Jussi Adler-Olsen and Elly Griffifths.

Last five books you've read.

All by the above two authors!
Is there one all-time favourite book you wish you had written?

V by Thomas Pynchon

How do you relax away from the writing?

Home DIY and quenching my thirst with a nice micro-brew IPA afterward.  Right now I'm watching the women's world cup with much interest.  Go England and Franny Kirby!!

If I pop back in a couple of years’ time, where do you hope to be with the fiction writing?

Having fun as Graham Norton interviews me about book 5 of the Clarkeston Chronicles!  

Thanks again! Cheers, Paul

Thanks to Paul for his time!