UNLOADED :: West Coast Launch and Giveaway

The West Coast launch of the highly anticipated anthology Unloaded: Crime Writers Writing Without Guns was held at Pegasus Books in Berkeley last Friday. Organizer/Master of Ceremonies Eric Beetner and his panel put on a spectacular event and wowed the full house. To hear the panelists tell it, Eric is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and as much as I love a good argument, I cannot quarrel with their testaments. I'm proud to call him my friend and sometimes partner in crime.
Unloaded is Eric's brainchild and he has put together an outstanding group of crime writers, all of whom jumped at the chance to contribute to the anthology sans compensation. As we all become both horrified by and, to some measure, inured to, the mass murders and other gun fatalities in this country, many writers of crime fiction have begun to ponder the issue of guns in their work. Are they necessary? Are they easy/lazy? What would happen if stories didn't include guns?

Rather than a reading, Eric facilitated an engaging discussion, with Kelli Stanley, Tom Pitts, Holly West, Joe Clifford, and S.W. Lauden providing perspectives from a variety of backgrounds, writing styles, and personal beliefs. Serious topic aside, the evening was also anything but short on humor.

The twenty-five top-notch authors involved in this project prove their words are mightier than any weapon. The lineup is full of best-sellers, award-winners and nominees, old vets and new blood alike. They fall on all sides of the political spectrum when it comes to gun control, and some are gun owners. But to a one, they jumped at the chance to show that we can all make do without gun violence.

Down & Out Books has published a great anthology, edited by Eric, and thanks to them all of the proceeds will go to benefit the nonprofit organization States United To Prevent Gun Violence (ceasefireusa.org). Contributors include:

J.L. Abramo

Patricia Abbott

Trey R. Barker

Eric Beetner

Alec Cizak

Joe Clifford

Reed Farrel Coleman

Angel Luis Colón

Hilary Davidson

Paul J. Garth

Alison Gaylin

Kent Gowran

Rob Hart

Jeffery Hess

Grant Jerkins

Joe R. Lansdale

S.W. Lauden

Tim O’Mara

Joyce Carol Oates

Tom Pitts

Thomas Pluck

Keith Rawson

Kelli Stanley

Ryan Sayles

Holly West

Here are some shots from a grand night out:

     Eric listening to Kelli Stanley's always-interesting take one of many heady questions.

     Current Anthony Award nominee Holly West!

     Tom Pitts is a funny and fascinating dude. 

          Joe Clifford's story is a doozy from a wonderfully weird mind:

     S.W. Lauden's story includes a clown. Creep.

If you haven't read the above authors, or have and want to know what they have going on in the recent and near future, here's a quick look at what you can check out from each of them:

Eric has a great bunch of work coming out, including a re-release of the first in his hit man series, The Devil Doesn't Want Me, in June, followed by the sequel, When The Devil Comes To Call, out in July or August. Leadfoot, which is the sequel to crazy fun and awesome Rumrunners, is out in November. The Short List, the sequel to The Backlist, co-written with Frank Zafiro, is out in August. Somewhere in there will also be Eric's second western novella, Blood Moon.

 Kelli has been working feverishly on the fourth Miranda Corbie novel. Miranda is a private detective plying her trade in mid-Century San Francisco. If you want to be transported to that time and place, there's no one better than Kelli, who is a research goddess. City of Sharks is coming soon, so there's time to catch up on the first three in the series.

Tom just had his novel, Hustle, re-released by Down & Out Books with a super cool cover. He also has two novellas available, Piggyback and Knuckleball.

Holly is working on what sounds like a great new modern day piece, but you can jump right into her Mistress of Fortune series (Mistress of Fortune -- nominated for a Left Coast Crime Best First Novel Award -- and Mistress of Lies), set in late 17th century London and featuring amateur sleuth Isabel Wilde, a mistress to King Charles II who secretly makes her living as a fortuneteller. Holly was also just nominated for an Anthony Award for her short story Don't Fear the Ripper, which can be found in the Protectors 2 anthology edited by Thomas Pluck.

 Joe has also written a series that garnered Anthony attention (I told you this was a stellar group, didn't I?). The first in his Jay Porter series, Lamentation, was a nominee for Best Mystery Novel in 2015. The second in the series, December Boys (awesome cover), is coming in June. You can also pick up Joe's Junkie Love, a harrowing tale of addiction and mental illness based on Joe's own experiences.

Steve has two very different books out at present, Bad Citizen Corporation (punk rock crime fiction) and Crosswise (murder in a Florida retirement community). I think his next offering comes out next year.















If you've stuck with me this long, you deserve a prize, even though you've learned about some great crime fiction and a few potentially new authors. I have a copy of Unloaded to give away. Just leave a comment below and I'll pick a winner by random number generator over the weekend. This is one you want to get your hands on and the proceeds go to a good cause, so even if you don't win, go pick up a copy or two.

AUTHOR EVENT :: Sunil Yapa

Your  Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist
Sunil Yapa
January 12, 2016
Lee Boudreaux Books
Hardcover, 320 pages

If charm alone could sell books, Sunil Yapa would be at the top of all the bestseller lists. I haven't yet had the chance to read Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist, but the raves of some of my fellow bloggers had me intrigued. Also, I'm a sucker for a multi-POV format, so when I heard the author was coming to Book Passage this past Saturday, I jumped at the chance to hear what he had to say.

Those who know me know I'm not a regular attendee of author events. I don't particularly enjoy being read to, and there always seems to be "that guy" in the audience (and oh was there "that guy" on Saturday), so I settled in with some resignation. Sunil stood by my chair while being introduced and rather than stand and listen to his praises, he bent down and communed with Bird, who was lying on the floor next to my feet. Well played. Point scored, game on.

By the time Sunil was done, I was completely won over (and I think my aunt has a little crush; ok, me, too) and Heart has charged its way up my TBR stack. The reason I do attend author events is that every once in a while you get a real gem. The author has personality to spare, the background stories are fascinating or humorous or both, the questions, or at least most of them, are on point and stir discussion. This was one of those events, due in no small part to the personality of Sunil Yapa.

If you haven't heard of the book, set in Seattle during the 1999 WTO protests, here is the summary from Amazon, which selected Heart as an Amazon Best Book for January 2016:

On a rainy, cold day in November, young Victor--a nomadic, scrappy teenager who's run away from home--sets out to join the throng of WTO demonstrators determined to shut down the city. With the proceeds, he plans to buy a plane ticket and leave Seattle forever, but it quickly becomes clear that the history-making 50,000 anti-globalization protesters--from anarchists to environmentalists to teamsters--are testing the patience of the police, and what started out as a peaceful protest is threatening to erupt into violence. 

Over the course of one life-altering afternoon, the fates of seven people will change forever: foremost among them police Chief Bishop, the estranged father Victor hasn't seen in three years, two protesters struggling to stay true to their non-violent principles as the day descends into chaos, two police officers in the street, and the coolly elegant financial minister from Sri Lanka whose life, as well as his country's fate, hinges on getting through the angry crowd, out of jail, and to his meeting with the President of the United States. When Chief Bishop reluctantly unleashes tear gas on the unsuspecting crowd, it seems his hopes for reconciliation with his son, as well as the future of his city, are in serious peril. 

In this raw and breathtaking novel, Yapa marries a deep rage with a deep humanity. In doing so he casts an unflinching eye on the nature and limits of compassion, and the heartbreaking difference between what is right and what is possible.

Sunil started by sharing some character background and reading passages from various perspectives. I was hooked out of the gate, and the reading portion was, to my pleasant surprise, a real treat. We got a taste of some of the major players and it left me wanting more.

When asked (great question), Sunil shared how his biracial heritage (his father is from Sri Lanka - came over with the Beatles if he is to be believed [hint: he is not to be believed] - and his mother a Montana native) leads him somewhat naturally to a multi-point-of-view writing style. This makes total sense but it was still fascinating to hear how those varied backgrounds and cultural points of view were present in Sunil's life and impact his writing.

The great thing about an author's family and/or friends being in the audience is that they often (sometimes slyly) ask a question that unearths a great story which would otherwise remain untold. An old friend of Sunil's asked about the number of characters he started with, which branched off into the horrific yet ultimately uplifting story about his first draft, which was epic in both number of pages (over 600) and number of characters (I forget the number, but it was a large one).

Sunil was writing his book in another country. His entire manuscript was on his laptop. He had no
external electronic backup. He had no printed copy. All was fine until he returned to the U.S. and his laptop was stolen. All that work gone. The bright side of the story is Sunil still had his notes and realized he needed to make changes. The result of that theft and subsequent realization and reworking is the wonderful book that came out last month.

I was happy I dragged my sorry self out to see Sunil and I am now hankering for some extra time to fit Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist into the schedule. I know I'm looking forward to it all the more after meeting the man behind the words and I highly recommend checking Sunil's speaking schedule. If you have the chance to see him at a reading or other event, do so, you won't be disappointed. You will be charmed.

The passed-out-flat-on-back-with-legs-in-the-air position was not a reflection on Sunil's reading.

AUTHOR EVENT :: Bert Ashe

Intrigued by the cover and description of Bert Ashe's Twisted: My Dreadlock Chronicles, I went to hear Professor Ashe speak and read from his book (published June 9, 2015 from Agate Bolden) at my local Books, Inc. last week. It was a fascinating reading and discussion, made all the more so by an audience full of good questions and including many of the author's family and friends.

Bert Ashe is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Richmond, his focus on late twentieth and early twenty-first century literature and culture. Twisted is the very personal account of Professor Ashe's lengthy (no pun intended) transition from his usual, "conventional," close-cropped hair to "getting locked."

It's a transition steeped with much deeper meaning, and Twisted addresses issues of Ashe's struggle with identity as a black male (owing perhaps in part, he shared, to his "sheltered" upbringing in Southern California), as well as commentary on the historical and cultural significance of, and reactions to, dreadlocks in America.

The reading itself was well-done (Professor Ashe has great pipes - unsurprisingly he has a background in radio and unfortunately does not narrate the audio version of Twisted), but the discussion was the highlight of the evening, with several people sharing their own experiences with dreadlocks.

According to Professor Ashe, he decided to make the change to dreadlocks in late 1998 when staring at himself in the mirror one morning just shy of 40 years old. A decision that, he hilariously recounted, his wife sussed out that same morning without him having said a word about it. Ashe is engaging and witty and tells a great story; Twisted tells an important story. Black hair matters. I left Books, Inc. all the more anxious to dig in to Twisted.

(In the bottom right picture, Professor Ashe is answering a question asked by the young man in the very cool alligator t-shirt - that dark green piece you see was one of many spikes growing from the spine of the shirt. It was really neat to see a little boy interested in books and culture and talking about both.)

THE ANIMALS, Christian Kiefer, and Author Events

Last Thursday, I went to my local Books, Inc. to see Christian Kiefer speak about his latest book, The Animals. It got me thinking about the different reasons people go to author events. I've never been much for sitting and being read to, and the only books I generally have signed are those that are my very favorites (if I ever have the opportunity) or written by people I know.

I heard about Kiefer's book early on, and while it sounded right up my alley, I was on high alert about the animal bent. Sure, I come across books with violence done to or about animals, and while I don't like it, I lump it. I even respect it when done for reasons that work with or add to the plot. But I don't often seek out a book I already know has such scenes without knowing more.

Then my friend Shannon over at River City Reading wrote a review about the book, which you can read here. It sparked a good discussion and I'm sure the review is fantastic and you should read it. I did not read it, because if I ended up reading the book I wanted to come to it fresh for any review I might write of my own. But Shannon told me she thought it was squarely in my wheelhouse. Curiosity double-piqued.

So why did I go to Christian's event? Here's my thing. I don't go to author events to hear about a book. I don't go to hear a reading. I don't go to get an autograph. All of those things are likely to happen, but that's not why I go. I go to learn about the person. What was going to push me over the edge to reading The Animals wasn't going to be what Christian read to me, it was going to be Christian.

Although there are certainly exceptions to my premise, I'm a fairly firm believer that interesting people with great senses of humor write the kind of book I like to read.* That doesn't mean their books are necessarily funny. Most of what I read is pretty dark and gritty. But those are my people. The wicked smart, the totally nerdy, the utterly engaging, the ones that make me want to laugh and break out the bourbon and sit around a scarred wood table and have a chat. In life I like to surround myself with people smarter and funnier than I am. Why would I want something different in my books?

(*Within my general reading areas. No smart and funny author is going to get me to read dinosaur porn. It's a thing, look it up - or not. Though now that I think about it, if it was FUNNY dino porn, oh never mind.)

When Christian was done reading and speaking, I couldn't get my copy of The Animals signed fast enough. It was a really diverse and interesting reading/discussion. Christian talked about his love for long sentences (big points scored) and meticulous drafting (30-40 drafts!) to get things just as he likes them as a Faulkner-obsessive.

We talked about his fascination with our philosophical centers, who we are, what gives us purpose, makes us better people, makes us tick. I asked him if anything in particular brought about the use of animal rescue as a backdrop for his story, and he told me about a visit he made to the Animal Ark, a wildlife sanctuary and education center in Reno, Nevada.

While visiting, he was in the middle of what he called "a failed draft" of The Animals, and it struck him that a place like the Ark was where his protagonist needed to be. That's how well he knows his character and his character's center. That's a character/author connection I want to read.

Smart? Well, he reads Martin Heidegger. For fun even, maybe? Hell, I can barely make sense of Heidegger's Wiki page. We talked about free will and "umwelt" (the self-centered world; thanks, Google!). Christian mentioned that his next book deals with cartography (something I didn't have to Google, huzzah!) and he'll dive deep into research on that subject as well.

Funny? Yep. We talked about stupid decisions and at some point a small boy went running down the main aisle of the bookstore yelling "Ahhhhhhhhhh!" To which Christian responded without missing a beat by raising a fist in the air and repeating "Ahhhhhhhhh!" From that we learned about his six sons.

I was fascinated by Christian's bird tattoos. I'm a lover of birds (heck, I have a dog named Bird) and the stories behind tattoos, and we got a chance to chat about them briefly. They all relate to his family, his wife and sons.

This is why I go to author events. I don't go often, but when I go and get to meet a person who is that smart and engaging and can still relate to anyone and everyone in the audience who asks a question and do so with grace and humor, I call that a total win. I couldn't tell you much about what Christian read from his book, but I can tell you I bought it and I can't wait to read it . And the one after that as well.

If you get a chance to go see Christian, do so. He's also a poet and a musician and wrote a soundtrack to go along with The Animals. It's called What You Have Come for Is Death, and it can be found on iTunes along with his other music. The rest of the tour can be found here on Christian's website, xiankiefer.com. If you live in New Mexico, Colorado or California you're in luck.

Why do you go to author events? Alternatively, why do you not?