tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260658972024-03-07T17:04:53.065-05:00Live at the Heartbreak LoungeMusings on books, movies, music and moreWallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.comBlogger455125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-81855190756947929602022-04-28T12:01:00.000-04:002022-04-28T12:01:10.454-04:00HEAVEN on E Street<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq4MED-tBGuqSoLNP7Q-Ptzsx0yBFA2MLU0pnBDCmXyVWtEw-d-Zdi0iui0mI4-b_Uj_1JZl9wmBllYl5RYuddIJjMyStN395C1w_VFuC3haWSDvKp0Q1iqAXGucZ9GPNDCxMLngiDSQ1PPyq-xs_eZZDoB0xBTY2mSDLDIUtv_QCayXS4OA/s4032/nils.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq4MED-tBGuqSoLNP7Q-Ptzsx0yBFA2MLU0pnBDCmXyVWtEw-d-Zdi0iui0mI4-b_Uj_1JZl9wmBllYl5RYuddIJjMyStN395C1w_VFuC3haWSDvKp0Q1iqAXGucZ9GPNDCxMLngiDSQ1PPyq-xs_eZZDoB0xBTY2mSDLDIUtv_QCayXS4OA/s400/nils.jpg"/></a></div>
Thanks to Patrick Millikin at The Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Arizona for sending along this photo of E Street Band member, guitar great (and crime fiction fan) <a href="https://nilslofgren.com"/> Nils Lofgren</a> at the store. Hoping to see Nils, Bruce and the rest of the band on stage again in the not-too-distant future.Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-53387054006915103112021-04-09T13:51:00.006-04:002021-04-09T19:11:34.753-04:00HEAVEN'S A LIE on NBC's Today Show <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieoAMlYRC1LGGhI3KK5pmUj3yP1jQUhCqH4dfJR4SjG0ImcK6HciJFPEC1sJTIA4FIBv_v8URIeCg8njjwf_EP_f4FZtfly3uaXFCxD_F2PkpcpJku3w5UJ1GzIVAmNA-e-Ku3/s2048/STROBY-TODAY+1+%25282021%2529.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1221" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieoAMlYRC1LGGhI3KK5pmUj3yP1jQUhCqH4dfJR4SjG0ImcK6HciJFPEC1sJTIA4FIBv_v8URIeCg8njjwf_EP_f4FZtfly3uaXFCxD_F2PkpcpJku3w5UJ1GzIVAmNA-e-Ku3/s400/STROBY-TODAY+1+%25282021%2529.jpg"/></a></div> "A pure hit of adrenaline ... it's like a speeding bullet." Best-selling thriller author – and fellow New Jerseyian – <a href="https://www.harlancoben.com/">Harlan Coben</a> – whose new novel WIN is the No. 1 book in the country right now – had some kind words for <a href="https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/wallace-stroby/heavens-a-lie/9780316540605/">HEAVEN'S A LIE</a> on NBC's Today Show Thursday morning. You can watch the whole segment <a href="https://www.today.com/video/what-to-read-this-spring-according-to-harlan-coben-109853253771?fbclid=IwAR23EF46uHXzdQnfsAiyZX49DpiE9H1dQuSSQzuJUF_qp_ikn4z_UOLuO8Q">HERE</a>. Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-23155358158054617842021-03-31T15:23:00.003-04:002021-03-31T18:55:27.389-04:00HEAVEN'S A LIE in NEW YORK Magazine<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9IYSsYbB1j5oBuXAkevrHg0Urkysc-E10WE_28mg_HB84ZzGNLw6wkgfVXTUMJKTdTQ1IbaKk1xtPv0l-nIREyDqh_jeywQgBfoQ0izXlJhcUu_g9sUYjCRwfu5MjDFTfJpky/s600/nym.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="513" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9IYSsYbB1j5oBuXAkevrHg0Urkysc-E10WE_28mg_HB84ZzGNLw6wkgfVXTUMJKTdTQ1IbaKk1xtPv0l-nIREyDqh_jeywQgBfoQ0izXlJhcUu_g9sUYjCRwfu5MjDFTfJpky/s400/nym.jpg"/></a></div>
</br>"A driving thriller ... fast and hard." New York magazine recommends <a href="https://bit.ly/3fq86jF">HEAVEN'S A LIE</a> in its "To Do" list in the current issue. Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-23672178304921750002021-03-18T16:34:00.000-04:002021-03-18T16:34:15.691-04:00HEAVEN'S A LIE on the Vodka O'Clock podcast<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjciQrh3auHmwwVqZpz1cSHix4XvT8CO6F3RxL2zsAxyVSVvMDFBSqjZTdhm8uG_53o3MqBErpghIEYE4eSJiEkkRh84DCflKxK1qTqVaASXyHhLxvQDrsP2uJ1q6lACpY5L3ZX/s300/vodka-oclock-300x300.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjciQrh3auHmwwVqZpz1cSHix4XvT8CO6F3RxL2zsAxyVSVvMDFBSqjZTdhm8uG_53o3MqBErpghIEYE4eSJiEkkRh84DCflKxK1qTqVaASXyHhLxvQDrsP2uJ1q6lACpY5L3ZX/s400/vodka-oclock-300x300.jpg"/></a></div>
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Thanks to Elizabeth Amber (aka <a href="http://www.amberunmasked.com/">AMBER UNMASKED</a>) for having me as a guest on her Vodka O'Clock podcast. Got to talk about how <a href="https://www.mulhollandbooks.com/titles/wallace-stroby/heavens-a-lie/9780316540605/">HEAVEN'S A LIE</a> came about, what shaped it along the way, and what was going on in my mind – and life – when I wrote (I also got to reuse one of my favorite Lawrence Block quotes, around the 38:43 mark). </br> </br>You can listen to the podcast <a href="https://www.hipcast.com/podcast/Hp936Ndk%20">HERE</a>. Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-48503834453877124432021-03-12T17:58:00.000-05:002021-03-12T17:58:13.297-05:00Publisher's Weekly on HEAVEN'S A LIE<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh_8diRrF6wqusvFDjAu_jL-yq9GBDYd16Rdwmxnc5rgmM_NpTb335PhiQPCEl9CR2aM1VKqjKta3DW-pOKQpoTQZuq-y82E3_oaPIMUs2mjW47mHjT6VDH2lZusSxRkPjoBeP/s852/hal+pw.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="852" data-original-width="635" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh_8diRrF6wqusvFDjAu_jL-yq9GBDYd16Rdwmxnc5rgmM_NpTb335PhiQPCEl9CR2aM1VKqjKta3DW-pOKQpoTQZuq-y82E3_oaPIMUs2mjW47mHjT6VDH2lZusSxRkPjoBeP/s400/hal+pw.png"/></a></div>
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"Stroby will win new fans with this gripping tale of one determined woman’s battle against the odds." Publishers Weekly gives a Starred review to <a href="https://www.mulhollandbooks.com/titles/wallace-stroby/heavens-a-lie/9780316540605/">HEAVEN'S A LIE</a>. You can read the full review <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-316-54060-5">here</a>Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-60987431004510791862021-02-03T17:31:00.020-05:002021-02-04T14:35:22.056-05:00Early praise for HEAVEN'S A LIE<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSLkvzGpNGfhkrOKMwVshRxsPoQgOJrBMYczWZTWLjKrpuVy3y5V4rm3lzIimholFLmvNtnp3fVKAbMQ9s7zxSHFhcGnHAoFNoqOvJDpYSo11cnboMVDhBwBJ1mthyDozkk7mV/s2048/HAL.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSLkvzGpNGfhkrOKMwVshRxsPoQgOJrBMYczWZTWLjKrpuVy3y5V4rm3lzIimholFLmvNtnp3fVKAbMQ9s7zxSHFhcGnHAoFNoqOvJDpYSo11cnboMVDhBwBJ1mthyDozkk7mV/s400/HAL.jpg"/></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJFU-1KDJ_lRWM5u21594WKPqWirWogey3rV0RT6Hpp8yH1vFruWkrrXXoc8bURdm1bxPZdSTGBiiGjRWRXj3-OhjDJ5kIluUWp3lu3s_qVCP8f_CdZ11snMNl6qr5faTWtJL/s1417/HEAVEN+backcover.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="1417" data-original-width="961" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJFU-1KDJ_lRWM5u21594WKPqWirWogey3rV0RT6Hpp8yH1vFruWkrrXXoc8bURdm1bxPZdSTGBiiGjRWRXj3-OhjDJ5kIluUWp3lu3s_qVCP8f_CdZ11snMNl6qr5faTWtJL/s400/HEAVEN+backcover.png"/></a></div>
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My ninth novel, HEAVEN'S A LIE, will be published by Mulholland Books / Little, Brown & Co. April 9, 2021. It's a standalone suspense thriller set entirely at the Jersey Shore in the dead of winter. When a young widow witnesses a fiery car accident outside a Shore motel, she's suddenly thrust into a nightmare of gang violence, guns, and money that she can't outrun. You can find more info and pre-order links <a href="https://www.mulhollandbooks.com/titles/wallace-stroby/heavens-a-lie/9780316540605/?fbclid=IwAR3nxZO8N5785nHiTio1K50iCTy4VukhZmJu2XDgITsTNxBHPirBjkuGHWc">HERE</a>.</b></br></br>
In addition to that evocative cover, Mulholland has also gathered some kind words from early readers:
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</br>"A masterpiece. This is a honed razor of a thriller, a must for fans of No Country for Old Men, that poignantly captures the grit of everyday life in my home state."
— <i><b>Matthew Quirk, bestselling author of THE 500 and THE NIGHT AGENT</i></b></br></b></br>"I've been reading Wallace Stroby for years and he never disappoints."— <b><i>Lawrence Block, bestselling author of the Matthew Scudder mysteries</b></i>
</br></br>"Tight, taut, and terrifying. In HEAVEN'S A LIE, the action blisters along at a furious pace."
— <b><i>Kathy Reichs, author of the bestselling Temperance Brennan Bones series</b></i>
</br>></br>"Tough and touching...Blue collar grit meets noir, then takes a wild turn down the finders-keepers crime alley.... HEAVEN'S A LIE has primal appeal, a perfect read in this wobbly world."
<b>— <i>Joe R. Lansdale, author of Edgar Award-winning THE BOTTOMS and the Hap & Leonard series</i></b>
</br></br>"Wallace Stroby is one of the best writers in crime fiction, and he outdoes himself with HEAVEN'S A LIE. A lightning-paced noir tale with shatteringly tender moments, the book had me losing sleep as I rooted for tough, whip-smart, big-hearted Joette Harper— my favorite heroine in quite a while."
— <b><i>Alison Gaylin, internationally bestselling author of IF I DIE TONIGHT</i></b>
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"Vivid characters, nimble plotting, swift pacing, gritty, authentic dialogue, and startling action sequences. This one cements Stroby's place in the top rank of crime fiction writers." – <i>Ted Tally, Oscar-winning acreenwriter of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.</i></br> </br>
</br>"One of the finest suspense novels I have ever read ... (a) stunning talent." – <i>Barry N. Malzberg, author of BEYOND APOLLO.</i></br> <i></br> </br> "Stroby always delivers." – <i>writer/producer George Pelecanos</i></br> </br>For all media contacts, Advance Reading Copies, etc., contact Shannon Hennessey at Little, Brown (Shannon.Hennessey@hbgusa.com).</i>Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-91391951179804286152020-10-23T20:21:00.004-04:002020-10-25T21:05:27.834-04:00A conversation with Robert Campbell - Part One<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimHa7IeADu0fIenTqYjUyuaNxm-hrfJaTxLMRWqRHdBt8DJfozRNMMBaJuwtMgNr-SXl3Kz2-S4gSMbiOyhqqu22nKUMoHZi3vqZyGKN59e4hcaniyUdqJZSgD5XZxakBnuxWn/s1600/campbell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimHa7IeADu0fIenTqYjUyuaNxm-hrfJaTxLMRWqRHdBt8DJfozRNMMBaJuwtMgNr-SXl3Kz2-S4gSMbiOyhqqu22nKUMoHZi3vqZyGKN59e4hcaniyUdqJZSgD5XZxakBnuxWn/s400/campbell.jpg" width="400" height="379" data-original-width="457" data-original-height="433" /></a></div>
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<i>You may not know Robert Campbell's name, but chances are you know his work. A prolific novelist and screenwriter, he penned more than two dozen books, and almost as many films, including a number for legendary producer/director Roger Corman. Campbell's screenplay for the 1957 Lon Chaney biopic MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES earned him an Academy Award nomination.</br></br> He also acted in several films, sometimes alongside his brother, veteran actor William Campbell (for a time, his sister-in-law was Judith Campbell Exner, best known for claiming to have had affairs with both JFK and Chicago mobster Sam Giancana). This interview was the first of a number I did with Campbell, a Newark, N.J., native, for various publications. We stayed in touch off-and-on until his death in 2000. </br></br>
</br> At the time of this interview, he'd just released his novel ALICE IN LA_LA-LAND, the second in his series about a quirky not-quite-official Hollywood private detective named Whistler. He had two other series under way at the same time, one about Chicago ward boss and neighborhood troubleshooter Jimmy Flannery, and another featuring railroad detective Jake Hatch. The first Flannery book, THE JUNKYARD DOG. won the 1986 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original. (His 1975 novel THE SPY WHO SAT AND WAITED, was a finalist for the National Book Award that year). </br></br>This interview was conducted by phone from his home in Carmel, Calif., in November 1987, with an in-person follow-up at the Wyndham Hotel in NYC not long afterward.</br></br></i>
</br><b>WALLACE STROBY</b>: First of all, I enjoyed the new book a lot.</br>
</br><b>ROBERT CAMPBELL:</b> Which one was that?</br>
</br><b>STROBY: </b>ALICE IN LA-LA LAND. Is there something else you have out that could be construed as new?</br>
</br><b>CAMPBELL:</b> Yeah, I have the third book in the Jimmy Flannery series, called HIP DEEP IN ALLIGATORS. That was out the month before ALICE IN LA-LA LAND. And then I have another book, which I still consider a new book, that was out about two months before that, under the name “R. Wright Campbell,” called HONOR.</br>
</br><b>STROBY:</b> That was your screenwriting name, wasn’t it?</br>
</br><b>CAMPBELL:</b> Yes, I wrote as R. Wright Campbell as a screenwriter for many years, but I also used (that name) for my first six novels. Then I started writing under Robert Campbell, but R. Wright Campbell was put on HONOR because it was not quite this kind of urban streets voice that I’m speaking with now in the Robert Campbell books. (Those books) are a little bit more in the argot.</br>
</br><b>STROBY:</b> How many books have you written altogether?</br>
</br><b>CAMPBELL:</b> Well, let me see ... There were seven as R. Wright Campbell. I wrote one book as “F. G. Clinton” called THE TIN COP. I’ve published three Flannerys so far, but there are two more Flannerys that are already written that will be out soon.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicgGmnEKqsVXBe-5KzuZpCLHjj9zWEUvl-ZSp6bNDSyJv4TOsDe3OtPAr0TelAer9a3nm83i41Hh12poH-UMu8Q67OrMyCeYdH1ZnU-783Y_oF7e24E2gTUVlNF9Z7jyvtrAkF/s1600/alice.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicgGmnEKqsVXBe-5KzuZpCLHjj9zWEUvl-ZSp6bNDSyJv4TOsDe3OtPAr0TelAer9a3nm83i41Hh12poH-UMu8Q67OrMyCeYdH1ZnU-783Y_oF7e24E2gTUVlNF9Z7jyvtrAkF/s320/alice.png" width="213" height="320" data-original-width="555" data-original-height="832" /></a></div>I’ve published two LA-LA-LAND books so far, and the third one I’m working on right now (SWEET LA-LA LAND), and that’ll soon be completed. And then I have a book coming out from Pocket Books, another detective named Jake Hatch, who is a railroad detective working the Burlington-Northern line between Denver and Chicago. He works out of Omaha. The first book in that series is called PLUGGED NICKEL, and that’ll be coming out in March. That’ll be (under) Robert Campbell too. And then I’ve got a contract (for) another book in that same series called RED CENT that’s coming out. </br>
</br>And then I just sold a book to Simon & Schuster – through Pocket Books, which is under the Simon & Schuster umbrella. for a book called JUICE, which is one of these urban crime novels, but is not in any series. It’s not the beginning of any series either. It’s just a standalone crime novel. </br>
</br><b>STROBY: </b>Have the novels been something you’ve been doing mainly in the latter part of your career or were you writing books while you were doing screenplays?</br>
</br><b>CAMPBELL:</b> No, what happened was in – I’m probably not too clear on these dates – in 1971 or ’72 there was a major strike with the screenwriters guild down in Hollywood. At that time, I turned to the novel.
</br></br> I always wanted to write a novel. I think a lot of screenwriters do. They’d like to either write a play or a novel. Not so much that it’s more substantial, but certainly they have greater control over it. </br>
</br>I’ve had some absurd things happen to me as a screenwriter, but I took the attitude that what I wrote in my original draft was my contribution to my own sense of achievement, and that whatever they did with it afterward (was up to them). If they said to me, “Hey, we’d like to change this from five cowboys to five Orientals on a raft,” I’d say “Sure, what the hell? Why not? Let’s go for it.” That can drive you really mad.</br> </br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIrOX7X1I6MPVdC7StgZBEXpVl-tRwwm_Hmmkw2mK822iEUXdbmTvDPBCuwxRXU2NMsvhhk8ti2iI8XrzzYoutkzfkoDCqXuUxEuE7Q7R_WqwUew3mH9Z0qrrEq_fW4osh9QdY/s491/SPY.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="491" data-original-width="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIrOX7X1I6MPVdC7StgZBEXpVl-tRwwm_Hmmkw2mK822iEUXdbmTvDPBCuwxRXU2NMsvhhk8ti2iI8XrzzYoutkzfkoDCqXuUxEuE7Q7R_WqwUew3mH9Z0qrrEq_fW4osh9QdY/s320/SPY.png"/></a></div>So I finally sat down and I wrote THE SPY WHO SAT AND WAITED (1975) and made some inquiries in New York and got an agent, and it gave me at least the courage (to pursue writing novels). I wrote a couple of books after that before I finally made the move. </br></br> But Hollywood at that stage of the game was becoming – not only the profession but the city itself – was becoming so extraordinary ... Everything was based upon money, everything was based upon greed. Listen, money is okay, we all need money. But sometimes in certain professions an odd line is crossed where people who were pretty decent and with some integrity in practically any given situation, suddenly turned from simply ambitious people to greedy people, and then all bets are off. They would sell you down the river for a nickel. And it became such a terrible atmosphere that I hate to even go down there. </br></br>
<b>STROBY:</b> How long have you lived in Carmel?</br></br>
<b>CAMPBELL:</b> Ten years.</br></br>
<b>STROBY:</b> How many screenplays have you done, do you remember? </br></br>
<b>CAMPBELL:</b> I did about a dozen, maybe a little more. Early in the game, many times you do things and you don’t take credit for it, for one reason or another. Either because your contribution you feel isn’t great enough, or sometimes you’re asked to come in and save a picture, and you don’t even want to bother. Then, of course, I did a lot of television. When the business started to change, it was almost a requirement.</br></br>
<b>STROBY:</b> How did you get hooked up with Roger Corman?</br></br>
<b>CAMPBELL:</b> Roger is, as you know, sort of an odd sort of a guy. He’s got a reputation for having discovered people. The way he discovered people – and this is not a criticism of him, it was actually a wise way of going about it – was that he didn’t pay (them) anything. What he did do was give young writers or newcomers to the business opportunities they wouldn’t otherwise get. Unfortunately, Roger never allowed any of the writers to grow with him. When he got better opportunities, he very rarely called upon the writers that had more or less worked with him in the beginning.</br></br>
But frankly, that’s another matter altogether. To me, it’s almost as if my movie career was a separate life and, from my point of view, has no bearing upon the novels that I write.</br></br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigFp97cX3Wvmt7eTqqoGhL6RVIjF86uywcQ2Zj6ETpeibL-e_shqLcNoPwf70UrzqaWKOukRyRLuHZD8pjz6JUWh4aBEVZ9gDm_z4CRpNj6-6AhnrfPVZtrGjjO_b1bF52eveH/s539/LL.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigFp97cX3Wvmt7eTqqoGhL6RVIjF86uywcQ2Zj6ETpeibL-e_shqLcNoPwf70UrzqaWKOukRyRLuHZD8pjz6JUWh4aBEVZ9gDm_z4CRpNj6-6AhnrfPVZtrGjjO_b1bF52eveH/s320/LL.png"/></a></div><b>STROBY:</b> The LA-LA LAND books seem to indicate a love/hate relationship with Hollywood that eventually seem to fade to simple disgust. Would that be an accurate evaluation?</br></br>
<b>CAMPBELL:</b> (Sighs) Yeah, yeah, yeah. When I first went to Hollywood years ago, my brother had just gone out there to go under contract to Warners. I was an artist back in New York. He came back east to buy a new Chevy convertible, because my father had contacts at some big car joint and it would save my brother several hundred dollars. Anyway, my brother asked me to help him drive his car back to California.</br></br>
At that time, Bill was living in a furnished room behind Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, and around Hollywood and Vine it was like a small town. It was extraordinary. Remember, I came from a big industrial city – Newark, New Jersey – so this really seemed like hicksville to me. People would stroll along Hollywood Boulevard at night doing window shopping. </br></br>
The thing that really knocked me out was that they had these juice stands on the street where you could get any fresh juice you wanted. Strawberry juice by the glassful, who could believe it? Bill and I would drive around in his open Chevy, which he was very proud of, and then stop at one of those big circular diners they had at the time, those great drive-in diners.</br></br>
<b>STROBY:</b> How did you end up a screenwriter?</br></br>
<b>CAMPBELL:</b> I first went to Hollywood in 1952, when I was 25 years old, but then I got my draft notice and had to go into the Korean War for two years. I had come home on leave at the same time Bill was back from Hollywood to visit our folks at Christmas. He had a script with him that he was about to do called BATTLE CRY. I read the script and asked him, “How much does somebody get for writing something like this, Billy?” “(He said) Oh, he probably got $50,000.” I said, “God, Billy, anybody can write this kind of stuff.” Billy laughed, and told me that it wasn’t as easy as it looked.</br></br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEialDEDaOOeP5vRbIC7ke3KEhbGT_e0znH30B7pmVEMnsCZdNZisbM5nDmHtkOeVd0M2x1CRG3pslu3fPinnCZbRyyQ_zRog_DxXT1n9PFoPPI9jftTm1ItUY4yPuGxX-3-7fuo/s750/Sunset_and_Crescent_Heights_1954.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="741" data-original-width="750" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEialDEDaOOeP5vRbIC7ke3KEhbGT_e0znH30B7pmVEMnsCZdNZisbM5nDmHtkOeVd0M2x1CRG3pslu3fPinnCZbRyyQ_zRog_DxXT1n9PFoPPI9jftTm1ItUY4yPuGxX-3-7fuo/s320/Sunset_and_Crescent_Heights_1954.jpg"/></a></div> After the war, I returned to Hollywood. I used to hang around, like everybody did, at either Schwabs, the drugstore, or a coffee shop named Googies that was right next door. We’d sit around and chat, and there would be all kinds of people there – actors, directors, writers, people that were trying to make it.</br></br>
There was a guy named Jackie (Jonathan) Haze that I knew, and Jackie was a young actor who had some kind of connection with Roger Corman. I think he had worked as a grip or something on one of Roger’s pictures, just to pick up the extra dough. And Jackie had a cousin, Red Hershon, who was an agent. So what happened was that Jackie told me that Roger was looking for somebody to write this western (FIVE GUNS WEST, his directorial debut) for very small money, and I said “Well, hell, I’ll do it.”</br></br>
I only got $200 for the script, but that was the first real movie sale I made. I said to Roger, “Jesus, Roger, that’s not a hell of a lot of money to live on.” I told him I noticed that all the actors, because they were in the Guild, made more money than I did, even the bit players. He said, “You want to play a part?” and I said “Why the hell not?” So the next thing you know, I was acting in my own picture. </br></br>
<a href="http://wallacestrobycom.blogspot.com/2020/10/a-conversation-with-robert-campbell_23.html" target="_blank">PART TWO: FIVE GUNS WEST, working for Roger Corman, and an encounter with Lon Chaney Jr.</a>
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Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-88740112730521681642020-10-23T19:49:00.002-04:002020-10-24T17:05:11.196-04:00A conversation with Robert Campbell – Part Two<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyTHA8jFaXPhAhiKALcBHINnICOJRNY-xj8Sq0OVDCNo9IW-eMTE-CeBlrA1PaTagyNUZuqjS3rQ_nVv9_5xKes5YXO6Kl4pIrdBpCz10sSAlDB1LPrCGg0OEuBBK-ioEJz_ID/s720/5+guns.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyTHA8jFaXPhAhiKALcBHINnICOJRNY-xj8Sq0OVDCNo9IW-eMTE-CeBlrA1PaTagyNUZuqjS3rQ_nVv9_5xKes5YXO6Kl4pIrdBpCz10sSAlDB1LPrCGg0OEuBBK-ioEJz_ID/s400/5+guns.png"/></a></div><i>In Part Two of this archival interview from 1987, the prolific screenwriter and novelist Robert Campbell talks about his days writing – and acting – for director Roger Corman, and his Oscar-nominated screenplay for the Lon Chaney biopic MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES (1957). You can read Part One <a href="http://wallacestrobycom.blogspot.com/2020/05/a-conversation-with-robert-campbell.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</br></br>
Above, Campbell (left) with Jonathan Haze in Roger Corman's FIVE GUNS WEST (1955). </i></br></br>
<b>WALLACE STROBY:</b> What part did you play in FIVE GUNS WEST?</br></br>
<b>ROBERT CAMPBELL: </b>I played a guy named Billy Candy, who was supposed to be this kind of deadly, quiet killer. And the funny part about it was I got sensational reviews, which made me laugh because I didn’t want to be an actor.</br></br>
<b>STROBY:</b> FIVE GUNS WEST was Corman’s first film as a director, and your first film as a writer and actor. In an interview, Corman once said that he was nervous and sick to his stomach the whole time the movie was being shot and could barely make it to the set. What are your memories of the picture?</br></br>
<b>CAMPBELL:</b> What I remember most about that movie was that we used to go out to Irison’s ranch to shoot and we were in the same dirty clothes day after day after day and they got filthier and filthier.</br></br>
I also remember that I learned to ride a horse on that film. I was a city boy, you know. Ben Johnson was married to Fat Jones’ daughter, and Fat Jones was the guy who supplied all the horses for motion pictures back then. He had this big rental ranch with all kinds of stagecoaches and everything. So it was Ben Johnson who taught me how to ride.</br></br>
I used to ride this little horse called Shorty, which was also the horse Jimmy Stewart always rode. He was a real nice little horse. One day, however, I arrived at the ranch and found out that Shorty had been put onto another picture. As a substitute, Ben brings out the biggest horse I ever saw. (I said) “Ben, what happens if I fall off that horse?” “Well,” he said. “You fall off that horse, you’ll never fall off again.”</br></br>
Touch – his name was Touch Connors in those days – Mike Connors, also went riding with us. He learned how to ride there too. I remember one day his horse started to paw the ground, and he asked Ben what was going on. Ben said, in his Texas drawl, “He’s ‘bout to lay down.” “What’ll I do?” asked Mike. “Step out of the saddle,” answered Ben.</br></br>
It was fun. I remember Roger well. Roger was always working on short change. He didn’t have any money, and some of the actors were unhappy with that, but, you see, I wasn’t an actor. After I did that first film, I wrote another picture for Roger (NAKED PARADISE 1957), and this time I got $400. I also told him I didn’t want any credit for it.</br></br>
<b>STROBY: </b>How many films did you do with Corman?</br></br>
<b>CAMPBELL:</b> Five or six. After that, Red Hershon took me on as a client. I had written an original screenplay that was sold to Kirk Douglas. That film was never made, oddly enough, but that was the picture that broke me out. The next picture I did was GUN FOR A COWARD (1957), which I sold to Warner Bros. Warners bought it for James Dean, but then Dean got killed. So we took it to Universal and it was made over there.</br></br>
<b>STROBY:</b> In those days, working with Corman, when you were facing tight schedules, low budgets, scrambling for everything, were you enjoying yourself or was there too much stress to really do that?</br></br>
<b>CAMPBELL:</b> It was fun. A lot more fun, I’m assuming, than it is now. I think what happens is that youth is a powerful sweetener of whatever you’re doing. Nobody was making any big career moves. But some of the older actors in FIVE GUNS WEST, like Paul Birch, got a little unhappy because Roger didn’t have it on the schedule to get in for the closeup.</br></br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBT_epWCcTMzaP6vS0MkX1lSIgZQgrx3JrbJvHU9A5wH4T817VgASYs4RmImOyeP-btN4vCRwfmXhHX70I43owpp83RgBuRechvlrFn1BO28gZEOKpzIpYQkqwLq0hGaB75SVN/s450/q5fvpn9jjJINZLtWBpoJ01RZkYT.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBT_epWCcTMzaP6vS0MkX1lSIgZQgrx3JrbJvHU9A5wH4T817VgASYs4RmImOyeP-btN4vCRwfmXhHX70I43owpp83RgBuRechvlrFn1BO28gZEOKpzIpYQkqwLq0hGaB75SVN/s320/q5fvpn9jjJINZLtWBpoJ01RZkYT.jpg"/></a></div></br></br>
I thought it absurd one day in a (scene) where I’m under the cabin and I’m shooting up through the floor to try to kill the hero, John Lund. Lund finally runs out of the house, across the porch, and I’m firing like this (points up). He scrambles in behind me and I was supposed to turn around and shoot at him. </br></br>
Now, it had been established in the screenplay that I was a deadeye, that I could pick off a fly at 300 yards. The cameras are rolling and Lund, who wasn’t all that athletic, is supposed to be crawling around under there while I’m winging off shots. I must have shot six times and John never fired back. He was supposed to get me with one shot. Well, it looked silly as hell, but of course Roger never reshot because there wasn’t any time. That was a take.</br></br>
I have to admit, that little picture made a lot of money for him for its day. He made it for spit.</br></br>
<b>STROBY:</b> What kind of time frame were you looking at when you wrote a screenplay? How long did you have to work on it?</br></br>
<b>CAMPBELL:</b> I could write a screenplay in about a month, that’s how long it took me. I don’t know why it takes people so long to write screenplays, except that everybody wants to get in on the act. And that was less true of Roger. The one thing that could be said of working with him is that Roger didn’t spend a lot of time romancing anybody or with nonsense. Roger would say, “Here on Page 20, I’d like to have some violence.” You’d say, “Roger, there’s no motivation for it.” “Well,” Roger would say, “Find a reason for it because it seems to me that it’s slowing down and the crowd that comes to our pictures wants to see a little something.” </br></br>
So okay, it was pretty cut and dried. You were a tailor that was telling a guy “You want purple pockets on your tan suit? It’s okay with me, babe. It’s not going to look good, but I’ll do it.”</br></br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNMxqNibPykSdMdr0SEUogjRVlMbdS02BvXsilvZok2IVTbcAjT48cs7ds7_LrJk9QwyVCkOwGxZW99g0rq7Fbhk_9klcEHPFQO1oU8I0zaB3TK0bpEkrD_PTGHUY0qS-AZn93/s900/1000.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNMxqNibPykSdMdr0SEUogjRVlMbdS02BvXsilvZok2IVTbcAjT48cs7ds7_LrJk9QwyVCkOwGxZW99g0rq7Fbhk_9klcEHPFQO1oU8I0zaB3TK0bpEkrD_PTGHUY0qS-AZn93/s320/1000.jpg"/></a></div></br></br>
<b>STROBY:</b> How did the MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES project come about? It may be your best-known film as a writer.</br></br>
<b>CAMPBELL:</b> Producer Bob Arthur came to me and said he had been impressed by the fact that I had been able to establish a language in film that identified the era and the place, that had a great sense of the time in which the film was taking place. He was talking about, I think, the westerns that I had done. It was on that basis that I got the assignment.</br></br>
There was one guy (Ralph Wheelwright) who got a screen credit for having done the notes as well. He had worked with Chaney and had kept all these notebooks. That was the basis for the story.</br></br>
<b>STROBY:</b> While you were writing the screenplay, were you in a position where you had to do research into Chaney’s life or did you use those notes exclusively?</br></br>
<b>CAMPBELL:</b> The guy was right there on the scene, so there was no requirement for research. But in those days the so-called harsh – well, the more candid, let’s put it that way – biographies that are done today were not possible. </br></br>I remember when I came walking up the aisle from a screening – a studio screening, and there were just a few people there. I didn’t realize it, but Lon Chaney Jr. was sitting in the back of the room. As I passed, he said to me, “You really whitewashed the son of a bitch, didn’t you?”</br></br> Lon Chaney Jr. had nothing to do with it. There were no consultations, no conferences, no discussions, no nothing. It may well be, for all I know, Bob Arthur may have had discussions with him, but I was never asked to get into it. I knew Lon from around the lot but I just saw him that one day when he was sitting in the back watching the picture.</br></br>
<b>STROBY: </b>In your estimation, how much of the finished film is Hollywood and how much maybe accurately reflected Lon Chaney’s life?</br></br>
<b>CAMPBELL:</b> I don’t know. I think it was probably ninety percent his life. Remember, what we’re talking about here too is a matter of attitude. Lon Chaney was apparently a very jealous husband, he was a very obsessive father. He didn’t like the idea that Lon Chaney Jr. wanted to go into the acting profession, for whatever reasons he had. Maybe he wanted to be the king of the hill, who knows, (maybe) he didn’t want competition from his own son.</br></br>
On the other hand, you talk to the old-timers, if there’s any left – the grips and the electricians, and everything – and they’ll tell you that Lon Chaney would come driving along on the boulevard on the way to the studio in his great big gray open car. He’d see guys that he knew from the crew standing at the bus stop waiting for the bus, and he’d pile them in the car and take them to work. He was apparently a very generous, easy-going sort of a guy. It’s like anybody’s life. There’s no such thing as a life that’s all black or all white. It’s a matter of choosing details.</br></br>
I don’t know what Lon Chaney Jr. meant about “whitewashing the son of bitch.” I thought we were being fairly accurate based upon this guy’s notes, that we were being accurate about his personal life. Of course, I had no access to hidden interviews that may have changed this guy’s opinion. He was a friend of Chaney’s. I don’t think he was out to do a hatchet job on him. </br></br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijweK0muQY1FI5L5f6ORvR5GDKXM1-DZRWXiQ6KdZvdr0QIizRmnc6QJTbabY2_9k_lmlHqmaLwVl8iM0uZ1bP9ZVaBxAhkrOgB1p-g1GYVFjEo3HPfCE5bdp_AEseRdTRhFFF/s600/lf.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijweK0muQY1FI5L5f6ORvR5GDKXM1-DZRWXiQ6KdZvdr0QIizRmnc6QJTbabY2_9k_lmlHqmaLwVl8iM0uZ1bP9ZVaBxAhkrOgB1p-g1GYVFjEo3HPfCE5bdp_AEseRdTRhFFF/s320/lf.jpg"/></a></div><b>STROBY: </b>Did you work with Charles Beaumont on Corman's MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (1964)?</br></br>
<b>CAMPBELL:</b> No, what happened was Charlie was very, very sick. He had taken on a lot of assignments because he wanted to leave his family with some money (<i>A prolific film and television writer – notably for THE TWILIGHT ZONE – Beaumont died in 1967 at age 38, from a degenerative brain disease linked to a childhood case of spinal meningitis</i>).</br></br>
Charlie was one hell of a writer. He was damn good, but he was under such stress and he had taken on so many assignments to provide for his family. What he had done was taken the Poe short story “Masque of the Red Death” and used that as the only source for the entire film, and that’s where the screenplay failed. There just wasn’t enough material there.</br></br>
I was living in London at the time and Roger called me and said Vincent Price had read Beaumont’s script, and that if changes weren’t made by the time he arrived in London, he was going to take the next flight back to the United States. So then I got the idea of taking another Poe story, “Hop Frog.” and putting the two of them together.</br></br>
Roger had already leased the sound stages and (art director) Danny Haller had already built some of the sets, some of which I think were borrowed from another film (BECKETT) that had also been shot there. So Roger asked me if I could write it – it was a castle set with a big clock on the wall and all. So I simply said, “Yeah.” I went over to Elstree (Studios) one day, I think that’s where we were shooting, and I got the physical layout in my head and I went home and wrote it in ten days. When Price arrived, they went right into production. I never even met Charlie.</br></br>
<b>STROBY:</b> Some people consider it Corman’s best film (as a director). There were a lot of talented people involved, like cameraman Nicolas Roeg.</br></br>
<b>CAMPBELL:</b> It was one of his classics. It had a lot of elegance and it had a hell of a lot going for it. Danny Haller did a great job art directing on that thing ... Yeah, it was a good one.</br></br>
<a href="http://wallacestrobycom.blogspot.com/2020/10/a-conversation-with-robert-campbell.html" target="_blank">PART THREE: Francis Ford Coppola, young racers and teenage cavemen.</a></br></br>
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Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-43029041066205940302020-10-23T19:31:00.006-04:002020-10-25T19:40:00.684-04:00A conversation with Robert Campbell – Part Three<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR40FsA0nl2QalBSv13icbcbEIO9qkUvCNhan94dydvhuAjC6JN5O4ceg7hUM4R-PMyTFbBS1xK5uzac7FqEIfgerDd7-lqthtXU382tmE6Eh65MQV9pUeGBYqDVrAR5RSzCOg/s570/racers.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="447" data-original-width="570" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR40FsA0nl2QalBSv13icbcbEIO9qkUvCNhan94dydvhuAjC6JN5O4ceg7hUM4R-PMyTFbBS1xK5uzac7FqEIfgerDd7-lqthtXU382tmE6Eh65MQV9pUeGBYqDVrAR5RSzCOg/s400/racers.png"/></a></div>
<i>This is Part Three of an archival interview conducted in 1987 with prolific novelist and screenwriter Robert Campbell (1927-2000). You can find Parts One and Two <a href="http://wallacestrobycom.blogspot.com/2020/05/a-conversation-with-robert-campbell.html" target="_blank">HERE</a> and <a href="http://wallacestrobycom.blogspot.com/2020/10/a-conversation-with-robert-campbell_23.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>).</br></br></i>
WALLACE STROBY: What do you think was the best film made from one of your screenplays? Do you have a personal favorite?</br></br>
<b>ROBERT CAMPBELL: </b>Yeah, a little film called QUANTEZ (1957). Harry Keller directed it, and it starred Fred MacMurray and Sydney Chaplin. That was a lovely experience, probably the nicest experience in terms of working conditions as well. It was a very laid-back set. There were not a lot of egos flying around, and nobody was trying to hammer anybody else into the ground. Everything was realized that I wanted to be said in that little screenplay.</br></br>
<b>STROBY:</b> Were you often on the set when you were working on a Corman film? Was it his policy to have writers on the set to do rewrites, or did it end when you handed in the script?</br></br>
<b>CAMPBELL: </b>It ended when you handed in the script, but this is true of most of Hollywood. They would rather the writer get off the set, and they don’t want him around. For one reason, they feel that actors will come up and agitate him for an improvement in their role or long discussions about this or that. In fact, there was one occasion when I was in Dubrovnick, Yugoslavia, when a picture of mine (THE SECRET INVASION) was being shot. The actors kept coming up to me with just those kinds of things and I put it to them bluntly. “I’m here on holiday. I didn’t come here under Roger’s auspices. He didn’t pay my way.”
</br></br> They were appalled by that. They thought I should be there, and as long as I was there Roger should put me on the payroll. But, of course, Roger would never do that.</br></br>
<b>STROBY:</b> Is it true THE YOUNG RACERS (1963) came from Corman bringing everyone to Europe on a holiday?</br></br>
<b>CAMPBELL:</b> No. What happened was, one of the ways he attracted people to the idea of doing the picture was the way the races themselves were set up. There were circumstances where you’d be at Elstree, you’d shoot the races for that day or the day of practice, so you’d be out there with cameras for those two days. They would shoot what they could on locations around Elstree and then, of course, there’d be a three-day wait for the next race in Spa or someplace. So everybody just sort of took off, for sometimes four or five days.</br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLGdNV9hI1CaYouQ4jXQqXRO6tEm59aFjUNb5xkceSk2Ev6eCG8w6cylu-W-y_YXBPKOFVG4mxTXhuq9CuUCaTy_xZCGky4h-0I2oWC0YHKMG4h892eRt4gEtsx4B7pVTHsiQr/s600/dementia_13-935405486-large.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLGdNV9hI1CaYouQ4jXQqXRO6tEm59aFjUNb5xkceSk2Ev6eCG8w6cylu-W-y_YXBPKOFVG4mxTXhuq9CuUCaTy_xZCGky4h-0I2oWC0YHKMG4h892eRt4gEtsx4B7pVTHsiQr/s320/dementia_13-935405486-large.jpg"/></a></div></br></br> I went with Francis Ford Coppola (<i>a Corman protege and soundman on THE YOUNG RACERS</i>) to Ireland, and that’s where I introduced him to this producer, Raymond Strauss, who put up the European half of the money that Francis shot DEMENTIA 13(1963) with. He asked my brother to star in it, and the English actor Patrick Magee, who was also in THE YOUNG RACERS. In fact, Francis got most of his crew from people who worked on that picture. He also called up some friends of his.</br></br>
<b>STROBY: </b>You had a fairly large role in THE YOUNG RACERS yourself.</br></br>
<b>CAMPBELL:</b> Yeah, I played my brother’s brother. I was an awful actor. At the time I did THE YOUNG RACERS I had an excuse for it, because I had developed Bell’s Palsy so part of my face was paralyzed, and it was very difficult to act with half your face. But I never thought much of acting as a means of living your life. It’s a pretty boring process. </br></br>
Later on, when my brother did CELL 2455, DEATH ROW (<i>The story of “Red Light Bandit” Caryl Chessman, based on his memoir</i>) for Columbia, they wanted somebody who looked enough like Billy to play him when he was younger. It ended up I co-starred in that picture with my brother, and most people didn’t even know there were two actors, so I must have done a pretty good job. But I never wanted to act.</br></br>
<b>STROBY: </b>Do you miss those screenwriting days at all?</br></br>
<b>CAMPBELL: </b>No. I’m sure there are some screenwriters – Robert Bolt and others – who have had prestigious assignments right from the beginning and have managed to get in a group that works well together and frequently. My career didn’t go that way.</br></br>
Most screenwriters will tell you of their bitter frustration, even though they are the initiators of the material that allows everything else to go forward, they are treated as third-class citizens and they are the low man on the totem pole. Their opinion counts very little.</br></br>
<b>STROBY: </b>And yet, some of Corman’s best films had screenplays by you – MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, MACHINE-GUN KELLY...</br></br>
<b>CAMPBELL:</b> Going back to what I said before, Roger – even though he paid so little money – was probably the least intrusive of any director I ever worked with. Roger didn’t have any personal artistic ax to grind. Roger was out there to make films that were going to make him money. That’s what his interest was.</br></br>
Now, in more recent years with all the publicity Roger’s gotten, I’m sure he considers that he always did have a game plan artistically, but I don’t believe he did. I think Roger was simply trying to make films as efficiently as he knew how for as little money as he could.</br></br>
Roger was a guy who knew how to make pictures lean and mean. And I was a guy who knew how to write dialogue and make concise characters very fast. Not stereotypes, they were characters with unique possibilities, but there they were and you could roll. His career would have been much different if his films had budgets which could support huge stars.</br></br>
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<b>STROBY:</b> By the same token, you wrote what many people considered a very thoughtful, maybe thought-provoking, script called “Prehistoric World,” and when it came out it had the exploitation title TEENAGE CAVEMAN.</br></br>
<b>CAMPBELL:</b> Yeah (<i>laughs</i>). I was in London at the time when they called me about the name change. I just laughed because, as I say, right from the very beginning I grew a very thick skin.</br></br>
Later, I met Robert Vaughan in a coffee shop on the Sunset Strip and we were talking. I asked him about his latest effort. He mumbled something about having just completed filming a screenplay called “Prehistoric World,” “an allegory.” I said, “You mean TEENAGE CAVEMAN?” “That was regrettable,” he said. Bob is a very serious fellow, you know. So I said, “I know, Bob. I wrote it.”</br></br>
That wasn’t the most serious injury done me on that film. The whole thing was an allegory, as you know, about the destruction of the world by atomic power. And here is mankind trying to struggle out of it, building all the myths, the taboos, doing all the things that were supposed to preserve the remnants of the race long enough for it to survive. And when Vaughan’s character goes stumbling off into the lush forest, when he goes daringly out there – which is also allegorical, that somebody sooner or later is going to turn their back on the teaching of the elders and find out that what was said was not true – he was supposed to come upon this spaceman in what I envisioned as a marvelous, elaborate spacesuit, you know, Victorian, sort of like the kind of stuff Disney did in 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA. </br></br>Well – and this is why I say Roger really had no artistic intent about most of what he did – instead of this, he came up with this lizardman suit he’d found. Here this was supposed to be this elaborate spaceman, and he’d come up with this lizardman suit. I think he said it cost $65 (<i>laughs</i>).</br></br>
(<i>Robert Campbell's – mostly – complete filmography can be found <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0132790/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3" target="_blank">HERE.)<</i> </br></br>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d36tM8QYKw0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></br></br></br></br>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pZsYGYPKhlQ" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-90042911637555040752020-07-03T18:05:00.001-04:002020-07-03T18:21:25.805-04:00The short stories<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpn8HGg0yweQCfh9qfwz6opZcKztWAgD5YdZ6OBA5htMQ0Rcx3k4unhPdXBEoVAN1dGXU0wrmeeZbpxiCe368J2K6-ZSbWI81c7V5lxlfc6PdHPx_l5tsBaGbzPxXmO9wtgU02/s1600/bams.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpn8HGg0yweQCfh9qfwz6opZcKztWAgD5YdZ6OBA5htMQ0Rcx3k4unhPdXBEoVAN1dGXU0wrmeeZbpxiCe368J2K6-ZSbWI81c7V5lxlfc6PdHPx_l5tsBaGbzPxXmO9wtgU02/s400/bams.jpg" width="267" height="400" data-original-width="1067" data-original-height="1600" /></a></div>
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Was asked recently if there was anything on-line that cataloged the handful of short stories I've published over the last few years. There isn't (and the brief one on my website is woefully out of date), so here they are.
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– <b>"Nightbound"</b> – A Crissa Stone short story, originally published in the Lawrence Block-edited anthology AT HOME IN THE DARK, released in 2019 by Subterranean Press. It's also been selected to appear in the upcoming (and final) edition of BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES, guest-edited by C.J. Box, which will be out in Oct. The 2020 edition also contains stories by James Lee Burke, John Sandford, Tom Franklin and others. The cover is above, and preorder links can be found <a href="https://www.hmhbooks.com/shop/books/The-Best-American-Mystery-Stories-2020/9781328636102">here</a>.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju07f3xGlnXYTfgtDf-9qz8dXE27ocZqV6kj8a37yjMGKQSWBe9J58sPc7N-W6NZHrqH92za6aP7MP_BXSjM-mFqc5fDPRYmT-3aAfzbW2JY9xE0axAzLr1HYkre8ebsRxE5JJ/s1600/AHITD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju07f3xGlnXYTfgtDf-9qz8dXE27ocZqV6kj8a37yjMGKQSWBe9J58sPc7N-W6NZHrqH92za6aP7MP_BXSjM-mFqc5fDPRYmT-3aAfzbW2JY9xE0axAzLr1HYkre8ebsRxE5JJ/s320/AHITD.jpg" width="214" height="320" data-original-width="642" data-original-height="960" /></a></div><br> <br> The story was originally written for the AT HOME IN THE DARK anthology, and the limited edition hardcover sold out quickly, however it is still available in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/At-Home-Dark-Lawrence-Block-ebook/dp/B07N96FTBH/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1550933575&sr=8-1&linkCode=sl1&tag=lsb09-20&linkId=ae02f60d4a3874604ae4fc5cf2d81e21&language=en_US">trade paperback and e-book</a>.
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"Nightbound" takes place sometime between the events of the third and fourth Crissa Stone novels, <a href="http://www.wallacestroby.com/kingsofmidnight.html">KINGS OF MIDNIGHT</a> and <a href="http://www.wallacestroby.com/shootthewomanfirst.html">SHOOT THE WOMAN FIRST</a>, and follows her through one long and dangerous night in Brooklyn while she tries to hold on to a bag of stolen cash. A preview of the story <a href="https://lawrenceblock.com/at-home-in-the-dark-preview-2/">can be found here on Lawrence Block's site. </a> If you'd like to hear Larry and I talk about the anthology – and his amazing 60-year-plus career – <a href="https://www.blogtalkradio-beta.com/authorsontheair/2018/10/26/lawrence-black-wallace-stroby-in-conversation-on-authors-on-the-air">you can tune in here</a>.
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– <b>"Night Run"</b> This standalone story was originally written for the 2016 Mulholland Books anthology <a href="https://www.mulhollandbooks.com/titles/patrick-millikin/the-highway-kind-tales-of-fast-cars-desperate-drivers-and-dark-roads/9780316394857/">THE HIGHWAY KIND: Tales of Fast Cars, Desperate Drivers and Dark Roads</a>, edited by Patrick Millikin from the Poisoned Pen bookstore.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHlkQPyLehTOqIlZy9288Zxb4lxnTDRXhVNkaDvgmh13D6S0lPd-SRLcE4WtGz1vD2q8lpTDNYebqMvdWjLgGA8uQnMVfUPaAmBmjsMtJ6T1-_-Tk8uY9v2vZ4KQZAIT_9HfH9/s1600/THK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHlkQPyLehTOqIlZy9288Zxb4lxnTDRXhVNkaDvgmh13D6S0lPd-SRLcE4WtGz1vD2q8lpTDNYebqMvdWjLgGA8uQnMVfUPaAmBmjsMtJ6T1-_-Tk8uY9v2vZ4KQZAIT_9HfH9/s320/THK.jpg" width="213" height="320" data-original-width="450" data-original-height="675" /></a></div> It's a road-rage story that's somewhat of an homage to Richard Matheson's classic short story "Duel." The story was later reprinted in the <a href="https://www.hmhbooks.com/shop/books/The-Best-American-Mystery-Stories-2017/9780544949089">2017 edition of BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES</a>, edited by John Sandford.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKDq9TgUc45pDDu-zrNZ431npS5pT2sI9x5DOGBIScxUr5oZvnor7KV1ma_QNx6-qNbyxvtjo_ON-PcSGJuITEqkxwq9VglnPa2PHNVrtuHmoaYOjEFLf0FCyjHnvPoVVyBh9_/s1600/BL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKDq9TgUc45pDDu-zrNZ431npS5pT2sI9x5DOGBIScxUr5oZvnor7KV1ma_QNx6-qNbyxvtjo_ON-PcSGJuITEqkxwq9VglnPa2PHNVrtuHmoaYOjEFLf0FCyjHnvPoVVyBh9_/s320/BL.jpg" width="208" height="320" data-original-width="292" data-original-height="450" /></a></div><b>–"Heart"</b> This story was written for the 2006 <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/171967/bloodlines-by-edited-by-jason-starr-and-maggie-estep/">horse-racing-themed anthology BLOODLINES, edited by Maggie Estep and Jason Starr.</a> A slightly revised version was later printed in the 2009 summer fiction issue of INSIDE JERSEY magazine, and it was shortlisted for that year's edition of BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES, edited by Lee Child. The story takes place on a hot summer day at Monmouth Park racetrack. The main character, an aging drug gang enforcer named Morgan, later appeared in my 2010 novel <a href="http://wallacestroby.com/gonetilnovember.html"> GONE 'TIL NOVEMBER</a>.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVBS8Rk-0XHMlX9WbGmiwo_skmn-7EChdIEX2SGD3bV0G8ysWdY_Ce_0BOfJqygcCYW8Q64T1yfqIRUVnnik09BTm3uEynUuRLy_UCURI-76tuayfKswk44bF5vhhjDPOMkN8Z/s1600/LOVERS+IN+THE+COLD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVBS8Rk-0XHMlX9WbGmiwo_skmn-7EChdIEX2SGD3bV0G8ysWdY_Ce_0BOfJqygcCYW8Q64T1yfqIRUVnnik09BTm3uEynUuRLy_UCURI-76tuayfKswk44bF5vhhjDPOMkN8Z/s320/LOVERS+IN+THE+COLD.jpg" width="213" height="320" data-original-width="1067" data-original-height="1600" /></a></div>– <b>"Lovers in the Cold" </b> This story was commissioned by Jessica Kaye and Richard Brewer for their now long-out-of-print anthology MEETING ACROSS THE RIVER, a collection of stories inspired by the Bruce Springsteen song that appeared on his 1975 album "Born to Run." My story took its title from an unreleased BTR outtake, and took place in 1974. It followed two guys from the Jersey Shore who find themselves in over their heads in gritty 1970s Manhattan. <a href="http://wallacestrobycom.blogspot.com/2012/12/lovers-in-cold-on-kindle-nook.html">It's currently available in an e-book version for most platforms. </a>Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-85949097822477839852019-12-29T18:42:00.000-05:002019-12-29T19:16:55.910-05:00John D. MacDonald: 1916-1986<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM4GR__Jlqzl92CppLntkpuUzou-6QKtYtXQ5QLlCNwRFpLZdttIcAIt2A0OCSCriv4Nl8lkrQfVWzvpI7TvTkGFDkUnh7eUdUDB1pAWGLlm8H1Z3kW400mFejwg0zUT9I6yDz/s1600/1006333680-FL_SAR_FLJDMJAKES24c-480x380.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM4GR__Jlqzl92CppLntkpuUzou-6QKtYtXQ5QLlCNwRFpLZdttIcAIt2A0OCSCriv4Nl8lkrQfVWzvpI7TvTkGFDkUnh7eUdUDB1pAWGLlm8H1Z3kW400mFejwg0zUT9I6yDz/s400/1006333680-FL_SAR_FLJDMJAKES24c-480x380.jpg" width="400" height="317" data-original-width="480" data-original-height="380" /></a></div>
<i><br> This obituary was written for the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press shortly after John D. MacDonald's death on Dec. 28. 1986. It's reprinted here for the first time. </i>
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<br>
By W.C. STROBY<br>
PRESS STAFF WRITER
<br><br>They’re putting up a plaque down at the Bahia Mar marina in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. It’s to mark slip F18, a famous place as far as boat slips go. To millions of mystery readers it is close to a literary landmark, and the plaque is there as a tribute both to the marina’s most famous resident and the man who created him.
<br><br>When John D. MacDonald died on Dec. 28 at age 70, he left a legacy that few writers can match. One of America’s best-selling writers for nearly 30 years, MacDonald was the author of 77 novels – 21 of which featured the inimitable Travis McGee, a lanky, slightly battered boat bum and private avenger who became one of fiction’s most popular creations. <br><br>
From his first appearance in “The Deep Blue Good-By” in 1964 to his final adventure in last year’s “The Lonely Silver Rain” (all the books had colors in their titles), McGee found his way into the hearts of millions, with each book entering the bestseller list as soon as it was published.
<br><br>With more than 30 million copies of his adventures sold, McGee was the type of fictional character other writers could only hope to create. Complex, multi-layered, tough yet tender, McGee was what every man wanted to be and every woman wanted to find. Operating out of his houseboat “The Busted Flush,” McGee’s specialty was conning the con men, fending off the human predators and avenging the helpless – as well as bedding the willing damsels in distress.<br><br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXMVMsP0DgGW1CYNuxzU9DFc3aQZ0TBa5Y6pNGlRH0Fgm-fbhxv26hGB58hIaYg6qfI3wBe7qPivGTry7WZn4guQhKP-e5saXnN_40X6Zi69ljEpskc6S4OCZ16IyKLCyn7ZUl/s1600/BLUE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXMVMsP0DgGW1CYNuxzU9DFc3aQZ0TBa5Y6pNGlRH0Fgm-fbhxv26hGB58hIaYg6qfI3wBe7qPivGTry7WZn4guQhKP-e5saXnN_40X6Zi69ljEpskc6S4OCZ16IyKLCyn7ZUl/s320/BLUE.jpg" width="189" height="320" data-original-width="343" data-original-height="582" /></a></div><br><br>Unlike his other compatriots in popular fiction, McGee avoided violence if possible and eschewed casual sex, while preferring to philosophize on the general state of the world. His adventures offered not only mystery and suspense, but words to live by as well, sometimes voiced through MCGee’s best friend and confidante Meyer, the economist and fellow boat bum who served as McGee’s conscience and alter ego. The McGee books came to be about the price of violence as much as its practice.
<br><br>According to Leona Nevlar, editor-in-chief at Fawcett Books, who worked closely with MacDonald since 1973, the secret to McGee’s success was the underlying sense of morality and humanism that MacDonald incorporated into him.
<br><br>“Travis changed and grew a great deal,” she said. “He began as the conventional macho detective and eventually became a full person. He got older, he got depressed at times. He grew just like the rest of us. I think that was the greatest attraction. The plots were good, but the plots were not what held people all those years.”
<br><br>Once referred to by science fiction author Harlan Ellison as “the last honest hack,” MacDonald was a writer who knew his limitations and lost no sleep over what some saw as his refusal to devote himself to “serious” works.
<br><br>“The fact of a writer taking himself seriously does not make of him a ‘serious’ writer,” MacDonald once wrote. “I know that I am involved in entertainment, but I also know that the more entertaining a book is the more readers it will reach, and if the entertainment is built upon some solid foundations of awareness of the world, then there will be a resonance about the work which can in certain ways alter the internal climate and the outward perceptions of the reader.”
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2s267KbUaRay-FLhnJ4v8x4QfqsNc8ykuJQLoj5XYEugFT0NWsSYh5Jj3s1T6tthWbvBl15b4ZDWV7YUtM1SnnNbSdaVbeNLYBifkX0v5jWkqc0_hVZRfLklrf750g6UZzHMw/s1600/ORANGE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2s267KbUaRay-FLhnJ4v8x4QfqsNc8ykuJQLoj5XYEugFT0NWsSYh5Jj3s1T6tthWbvBl15b4ZDWV7YUtM1SnnNbSdaVbeNLYBifkX0v5jWkqc0_hVZRfLklrf750g6UZzHMw/s320/ORANGE.jpg" width="196" height="320" data-original-width="356" data-original-height="581" /></a></div>Throughout the McGee novels, as well as his other books, MacDonald voiced his concern over many social issues, including conservation and the growing development and “uglification” of his beloved Florida. Concern for the environment was at the heart of many of his best-known non-McGee works, including 1963’s “A Flash of Green,” 1979’s “Condominium,” and his final published novel, last year’s “Barrier Island.”
<br><br><br>“John was interested in a great deal of things,” said Ms. Nevlar in a phone interview from her New York City office shortly after MacDonald’s death. “Politics, the environment, morality – there were a lot of things he was thinking about, a lot of things he cared about. John was one of those people who cared very much about the way things work. Anything that was in the books, he knew about, whether it was a gun or a martini or the way condominiums are financed.”
<br><br>Born in Sharon, Pa., in 1916, MacDonald attended the Wharton School of Finance and the Syracuse School of Business before earning a master’s degree from the Harvard School of Business in 1939. After serving in the Army during World War II with the Office of Strategic Services in the China-India-Burma theater, he returned to the States to find that his wife had successfully sold a story he had written for her while overseas.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijApK3hnYyMF8lyVCYrFC9_8czAfp3V2rzg3HSkRioj3qfqBibdOnY4WsVw4f_1_SCY51hpEsUt0TBP-EjebWUyfMCYRFpQD_PCvD0gEu2MHzXIm0UmeRJnaSbIL62d5GqMJNz/s1600/STARTLING.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijApK3hnYyMF8lyVCYrFC9_8czAfp3V2rzg3HSkRioj3qfqBibdOnY4WsVw4f_1_SCY51hpEsUt0TBP-EjebWUyfMCYRFpQD_PCvD0gEu2MHzXIm0UmeRJnaSbIL62d5GqMJNz/s320/STARTLING.png" width="234" height="320" data-original-width="479" data-original-height="655" /></a></div><br><br>In the following months, MacDonald wrote nearly 500 stories, both for the “pulp” magazines of the day as well as the more upscale markets of Esquire and Cosmopolitan. As he once wrote, "if you want to write, you write. The only way to learn to write is by writing ... because there is no other way to do it. Not one other way.”
<br><br>Eventually moving to Sarasota, Fla., where he spent the rest of his life, MacDonald continued to maintain a highly disciplined writing schedule. Even into his 60s, he wrote every day from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., producing anywhere from 900 to 9,000 words (about 28 typed pages) a day.
<br><br>“There is not a day that I cannot get a quick electric feeling when I roll the white empty paper into the machine,” he wrote.<br>
<br>In 1972, MacDonald was given the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America, and in 1980, the American Book Award mystery competition prize for “The Green Ripper,” his 18th Travis McGee novel. He was working on his 22nd McGee – title unknown – at the time of his death.
<br><br>Troubled with heart problems ever since suffering a minor heart attack in 1970, MacDonald’s last battle was fought not in his beloved Florida but in snow-frozen Milwaukee, Wisc., where he had gone to have a bypass operation – an operation from which he never recovered.
<br><br>Ironically, “The Lonely SIlver Rain” contained a closing revelation that gave McGee a new outlook on life. Increasingly cynical, world-weary and lonely, McGee himself was beginning to seem an anachronism. But the book’s closing pages gave him a new reason to live, and opened up a new chapter in his life. Suddenly there were new places to go, new dragons to slay. A life worth living to the fullest.
<br><br>Goodbye, Travis. And goodbye, John D. You will be missed.<br><br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHEBBcXmY_COw69c-MwjfhVwWg0EF4jjqr1S8FuKi8Rel8xS-Si3ppPlOeicOPlWdVxxxIGCIqqaSpmohu6yGhMtqJW6hYqqJnYHaJ1j7Byl4qaNx86ycogns6IJE9PU7xh9PN/s1600/PLAQUE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHEBBcXmY_COw69c-MwjfhVwWg0EF4jjqr1S8FuKi8Rel8xS-Si3ppPlOeicOPlWdVxxxIGCIqqaSpmohu6yGhMtqJW6hYqqJnYHaJ1j7Byl4qaNx86ycogns6IJE9PU7xh9PN/s400/PLAQUE.jpg" width="283" height="400" data-original-width="349" data-original-height="494" /></a></div>
<br><i>(Miami Herald photo)</i>
Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-64197759056397122732018-06-02T06:50:00.000-04:002018-06-02T06:53:54.530-04:00Where dreams are found and lost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi8_JzSM1_BbIFJKGOuw-tbgPX4I5n8y2eYibO-CTsnrgM8eGY4buboLnbY6h_2hGNjw4lEPDv-MTRs0Cq1Jmzzx3YFKNl62E1_vPJvRsiquKar6OLj1Vr0MNQyNHZbN66Lfvm/s1600/darkness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi8_JzSM1_BbIFJKGOuw-tbgPX4I5n8y2eYibO-CTsnrgM8eGY4buboLnbY6h_2hGNjw4lEPDv-MTRs0Cq1Jmzzx3YFKNl62E1_vPJvRsiquKar6OLj1Vr0MNQyNHZbN66Lfvm/s400/darkness.jpg" width="400" height="400" data-original-width="550" data-original-height="550" /></a></div>This album came out 40 years ago today. I bought it that day on the way to a high school graduation party in Lincroft, N.J. Immediately put it on the turntable in my friend’s finished basement, and played it all the way through twice. <br>When I left for college a few months later, it was the the record I brought with me to remind myself of home. My life was changing quickly, and these songs of loss and anger and triumph were the perfect companion. They still are. I don’t think I could articulate what they’ve meant to me over the years, personally, artistically and emotionally.
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Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-10693916848034251742018-05-22T11:42:00.001-04:002018-05-22T11:45:07.567-04:00More early praise for SOME DIE NAMELESS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNKYTmPehH-N7KFKIe_21sEI-NRrjUcYyFlaz01QEe0fD2ILbASCLlsVXSkNyYYHC0lcF7TCXbrRI8L0WCNfrY3DX5PWPh_eI0z0eSaWtGQ0yGoWe4I3KKXsNlVTxs68O_8Vq_/s1600/SOME+DIE+NAMELESSh+Hank.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNKYTmPehH-N7KFKIe_21sEI-NRrjUcYyFlaz01QEe0fD2ILbASCLlsVXSkNyYYHC0lcF7TCXbrRI8L0WCNfrY3DX5PWPh_eI0z0eSaWtGQ0yGoWe4I3KKXsNlVTxs68O_8Vq_/s400/SOME+DIE+NAMELESSh+Hank.png" width="400" height="166" data-original-width="864" data-original-height="358" /></a></div>
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In stores 7/10/18. <a href="http://www.wallacestroby.com/somedienameless.html">Available for pre-order now: http://www.wallacestroby.com/somedienameless.html</a>Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-88838609232057691822018-04-20T12:13:00.000-04:002018-04-20T13:44:14.529-04:00Noir @ the Bar in Asbury Park April 29<br>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUjO0qGgdbGB-IKAoyNRQD_vOK4KzLSWmBI-djMZrUuCryB4J8jK3_U4pjIrga15DlKKQuKrclbVJkT2t_1TkXOI8Yhyphenhyphenk55RNcsYob3OUaCfIeqKBcnFcI7WwUyQadi3L6Waz3/s1600/noir%2540thebar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="477" data-original-width="750" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUjO0qGgdbGB-IKAoyNRQD_vOK4KzLSWmBI-djMZrUuCryB4J8jK3_U4pjIrga15DlKKQuKrclbVJkT2t_1TkXOI8Yhyphenhyphenk55RNcsYob3OUaCfIeqKBcnFcI7WwUyQadi3L6Waz3/s400/noir%2540thebar.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br>
The Noir@theBar crime-fiction reading series returns to Asbury Park Sunday April 29, from 6 to 9 p.m., at the <a href="https://thecomplexap.com/capitoline/">Capitoline basement complex on Cookman Avenue</a>. <br><br> I'll be joining a stellar group of writers, including Jen Conley, Scott Adlerberg, Jay Butkowski, Angel Luis Colon, Alex Segura, Thomas Pluck, Lee Matthew Goldberg and Dave White. Music by members of the surf/noir band <a href="http://www.blackflamingosnj.com/">Black Flamingos</a>.
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I'll be reading from a brand new unpublished Crissa Stone short story that will be featured next year in the anthology AT HOME IN THE DARK, edited by the legendary Lawrence Block.
Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-85826347593793510762018-04-18T15:20:00.003-04:002018-04-18T15:25:02.638-04:00Booklist on SOME DIE NAMELESSThe always-nervous-making first review. BOOKLIST on <a href="http://www.wallacestroby.com/somedienameless.html">SOME DIE NAMELESS</a>, out in July from Mulholland Books & Mulholland UK. (click on image to zoom in).
<br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8sJF4VATLamA6OyK7Lz0l8CDB3X9B5rDqmovSUcAr_9kNynmxwWaW9-l40bYBBNk6okiHWsCAaJW4YoVnWUTBtRWkZ8Zhtondzp0W7eYlfe05xhjAQu8I1G9Ho9fbqXvesH0Q/s1600/SDN+review.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8sJF4VATLamA6OyK7Lz0l8CDB3X9B5rDqmovSUcAr_9kNynmxwWaW9-l40bYBBNk6okiHWsCAaJW4YoVnWUTBtRWkZ8Zhtondzp0W7eYlfe05xhjAQu8I1G9Ho9fbqXvesH0Q/s640/SDN+review.jpg" width="452" height="640" data-original-width="1131" data-original-height="1600" /></a></div>Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-16030676167398259312018-04-11T13:44:00.000-04:002018-04-11T14:47:26.794-04:00Early praise for SOME DIE NAMELESS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsLSLbtQ3S7DHJHykFQQ5lsLagNpOeavVg7PoZyWJm84kv5QVvV05VRE4-AycvXLgG-tADmRs44htPX8vb6zJN1k4idy_2As3W1xIPTNPM5y8SKqdB9ZRJLVtc3ByvnD4bMfME/s1600/SNDcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsLSLbtQ3S7DHJHykFQQ5lsLagNpOeavVg7PoZyWJm84kv5QVvV05VRE4-AycvXLgG-tADmRs44htPX8vb6zJN1k4idy_2As3W1xIPTNPM5y8SKqdB9ZRJLVtc3ByvnD4bMfME/s400/SNDcover.jpg" width="263" height="400" data-original-width="937" data-original-height="1425" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.meganabbott.com/">Megan Abbott</a>, <a href="http://www.aceatkins.com/">Ace Atkins</a>,<a href="http://reedcoleman.com/"> Reed Farrel Coleman</a> and others on the new novel, SOME DIE NAMELESS. It's out from Mulholland Books/Little, Brown in July but is <a href="http://www.wallacestroby.com/somedienameless.html">available for pre-order HERE.</a>
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"Wallace Stroby’s SOME DIE NAMELESS manages that rare feat: it thrusts the reader headlong into a story so muscular and breakneck we can barely catch our breath, while also offering rich, damaged characters and a haunted, mournful tone that deepens everything, that lingers with us long after we reach the final page.”
<br><br>– MEGAN ABBOTT, author of GIVE ME YOUR HAND
<br> <br> <br> "SOME DIE NAMELESS is a superbly entertaining thriller full of hard truths about what happens when the shadow world is exposed to the light. Stroby's subtle, straightforward style is pitch perfect."
<br><br>– REED FARREL COLEMAN, New York Times bestselling author of WHAT YOU BREAK
<br> <br> <br> "SOME DIE NAMELESS is noir for modern times. The heroes are classic, but the bad guys are completely a 21st Century product. Greedy and reckless, they have no fear of the truth or those seeking justice. A boat bum Army vet and a jaded newspaper reporter are the perfect duo to take them down. A lean, mean story and a hell of a ride.”
<br> <br>– ACE ATKINS, New York Times bestselling author of THE SINNERS and ROBERT B. PARKER’S OLD BLACK MAGIC
<br> <br> <br> "Wallace Stroby's writing is all muscle, with not an ounce of fat. SOME DIE NAMELESS is propulsive and intelligent, populated by the very best kind of characters: authentic, complicated human beings who are capable of surprising both the reader and themselves."
<br><br><b>- LOU BERNEY, author of the bestselling THE LONG AND FARAWAY GONE
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<br> <br> <br> "Wallace Stroby is the real thing, a writer who channels two of the best Raymonds – Chandler and Carver – with his tough, lean prose and 'dirty' realism," in a high-voltage story of murder and corruption."
<br><br><b>- JONATHAN SANTLOFER, author of the bestselling THE DEATH ARTIST</b>
<br> <br> <br> "Wallace Stroby is a master of propulsive narrative and stunning action sequences. If you love supercharged suspense, strap in for a ride with his newest creation, Ray Devlin, the haunted ex-mercenary who is the heart and soul of SOME DIE NAMELESS."
<br><br><b>- TED TALLY, Academy Award-winning screenwriter of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS</b>
<br> <br> <br> "With surgically precise prose, Wallace Stroby has created a story as fast, emotionally engaging, as richly detailed and riveting as any novel I've read in years. I would have consumed SOME DIE NAMELESS in a single sitting except I had to keep getting up and walking around the room to catch my breath. I've been a Stroby fan for a while, but this novel is by far his most ambitious and his most impressive. From the first scene to the last, this book never slows down or disappoints. A deeply satisfying read."
<br><br><b>– JAMES W. HALL, author of WHEN THEY COME FOR YOU
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<br> <br> <br> "With SOME DIE NAMELESS Wallace Stroby has achieved the rare feat of combining the complexity and tension of a whodunit mystery with the suspense and action of one of the most dynamic thrillers in years. Stroby’s taut prose and authentic characters keep the twists and turns coming, culminating in an explosive ending that kept me thinking about the book long after I finished it.”
<br><br><b>– PAUL GUYOT, executive producer NCIS: NEW ORLEANS
</b> <br> <br> <br> "Stroby, already a crime fiction luminary, is channeling his inner Elmore Leonard more and more these days, and this time he's headed to Leonard's old stomping grounds, a Florida populated by rogues, reporters, and mercenaries. Expect quality thrills and action."
<br><br><b>- LITHUB</b>
Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-52790282108710517182018-03-11T15:17:00.001-04:002018-03-11T19:21:53.371-04:00In praise of proofreadersFrom the final type corrections on my new novel <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/wallace-stroby/some-die-nameless/9780316440202/">SOME DIE NAMELESS</a>, out in July from <a href="http://www.mulhollandbooks.com/">Mulholland Books</a> and <a href="https://www.hodder.co.uk/mulholland/index.page">Mulholland U.K.</a> This, folks, is why copy editors don't get paid enough.<br>
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Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-7050170367816583662017-12-06T15:06:00.000-05:002017-12-06T15:08:00.459-05:00SHOOT THE WOMAN FIRST in Germany<br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5JGbD0DOrgIoed0K36A0WTXr9JhEFlfhNQWkVhU6njDdNwMnq6OFWSqyzIAqnLcLLhAJDXKoFlVkenq819Hiyp8OMa3Cn2vwr8kD50ScLzqk0-GpT7Ng5xw13vZFs3V8wuBnZ/s1600/FAST++cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5JGbD0DOrgIoed0K36A0WTXr9JhEFlfhNQWkVhU6njDdNwMnq6OFWSqyzIAqnLcLLhAJDXKoFlVkenq819Hiyp8OMa3Cn2vwr8kD50ScLzqk0-GpT7Ng5xw13vZFs3V8wuBnZ/s400/FAST++cover.jpg" width="256" height="400" data-original-width="408" data-original-height="638" /></a></div><br>
<br> In February, my excellent German publisher <a href="http://www.pendragon.de/">Pendragon Verlag</a> will issue the third Crissa Stone novel, <a href="http://www.wallacestroby.com/shootthewomanfirst.html">SHOOT THE WOMAN FIRST</a>, in a German edition, retitled FAST EIN GUTER PLAN ("Almost a Good Plan"), again expertly translated by Alf Mayer.
<br> I love the final cover image above (which also graces the cover of their 2018 catalogue). It had gone through some variations, all of which I liked. The three earlier versions are below.
<br> <br>Pendragon will also publish a German edition of the fourth Crissa, <a href="http://www.wallacestroby.com/devilsshare.html">THE DEVIL'S SHARE</a>, in 2019.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDXuTBOOzzmN_qC2TLQADp0Mmi9A7l2mgE1UyVLzBMaBTQgQaP9fGhu9RB_Z4C9D3f2RrtfiVfa2_nbmbR6uKKkRLhsRmLkZeD8YjRgxXs2jSaXOqbi7NMVQ3xwVuiivqB2EV2/s1600/fast2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDXuTBOOzzmN_qC2TLQADp0Mmi9A7l2mgE1UyVLzBMaBTQgQaP9fGhu9RB_Z4C9D3f2RrtfiVfa2_nbmbR6uKKkRLhsRmLkZeD8YjRgxXs2jSaXOqbi7NMVQ3xwVuiivqB2EV2/s400/fast2.png" width="264" height="400" data-original-width="311" data-original-height="471" /></a></div> <br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio9GpMgfYpRbDslv4tI5LdCCvCCWmuWLhsYlXH7pjnBDplZEhdvANZDCjrva8q2IN3o2e5J_SphFc0rNM_uInkCNEOX5yZeK8z-vFgGIre2TUEILrfyc_0OElyWP3nzzRpRfee/s1600/21731138_1158726080927105_7395825929152946369_n.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio9GpMgfYpRbDslv4tI5LdCCvCCWmuWLhsYlXH7pjnBDplZEhdvANZDCjrva8q2IN3o2e5J_SphFc0rNM_uInkCNEOX5yZeK8z-vFgGIre2TUEILrfyc_0OElyWP3nzzRpRfee/s400/21731138_1158726080927105_7395825929152946369_n.png" width="264" height="400" data-original-width="314" data-original-height="475" /></a></div><br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-95Wt0kXoWNs4A2QNk_Wz1AjIQlnmPo27r2QdMKhvImfmOBwSQSjXXzUpT_bZXnNPGjFY4_9bW6m727WEVrR9ZSoan2lua7Q3LK_j3-VwhDJY5hmpKx-iBcrpiMk1cL3Rh-L9/s1600/21761608_1158726084260438_8282388684682999020_n.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-95Wt0kXoWNs4A2QNk_Wz1AjIQlnmPo27r2QdMKhvImfmOBwSQSjXXzUpT_bZXnNPGjFY4_9bW6m727WEVrR9ZSoan2lua7Q3LK_j3-VwhDJY5hmpKx-iBcrpiMk1cL3Rh-L9/s400/21761608_1158726084260438_8282388684682999020_n.png" width="264" height="400" data-original-width="314" data-original-height="476" /></a></div>Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-61427029938509314492017-11-15T17:58:00.000-05:002017-11-15T17:58:12.037-05:00SOME DIE NAMELESS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIARldJOCVbFLDpbEILi8uCVzBClvjQ0VvfR09xSy5Bx7JfS-p1BiEiH6qT1FyAPbLhtFb-dZUPu5-nNFCJBJEyLsGT1Aq80oWsGbNFU-MZk39YkeTWQuICiv9_R8QaElQyjod/s1600/SNDcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIARldJOCVbFLDpbEILi8uCVzBClvjQ0VvfR09xSy5Bx7JfS-p1BiEiH6qT1FyAPbLhtFb-dZUPu5-nNFCJBJEyLsGT1Aq80oWsGbNFU-MZk39YkeTWQuICiv9_R8QaElQyjod/s400/SNDcover.jpg" width="263" height="400" data-original-width="937" data-original-height="1425" /></a></div>
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My new novel, SOME DIE NAMELESS, will be published by <a href="http://www.mulhollandbooks.com/">Mulholland Books</a>/<a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/imprint/little-brown-and-company/">Little, Brown</a> in July, with a simultaneous publication in the United Kingdom via <a href="https://www.hodder.co.uk/mulholland/index.page">Mulholland U.K.</a>
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From the jacket copy:
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<i>Ray Devlin is retired, living a simple life off the grid in Florida, when a visit from om an old colleague stirs some bad memories – and ends with a gunshot. Soon Devlin is forced to again face a past he'd hoped to leave behind, as a member of a mercenary force that helped put a brutal South American dictator into power.<br><br>
Tracy Quinn is an investigative reporter at a struggling Philadelphia newspaper decimated by layoffs and cutbacks. Then one day what appears to be a straightforward homicide--a body left in an abandoned rowhouse – draws her and Devlin together, and ultimately enmeshes both in a conspiracy that stretches over twenty years and reaches to the highest levels of the U.S. government.<br><br>
Before long, they're both the targets of a ruthless assassin haunted by his own wartime experiences. For Devlin, it could all mean a last shot at redemption. For Tracy, the biggest story of her career might just cost her life.<br></i>
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<a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/wallace-stroby/some-die-nameless/9780316440202/">Pre-order links are already available here </a>(pre-orders are increasingly important these days, especially with online retailers, as they help decide placement, promotion, press run and more.)Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-43086888279463723452017-11-08T02:29:00.000-05:002017-11-08T02:29:31.115-05:00BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES 2017
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The new edition of THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES, containing my short story "Night Run," is out now. Edited by <a href="http://www.johnsandford.org/">John Sandford</a> and the legendary <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Penzler">Otto Penzler</a>, the collection includes 20 stories published in 2016, chosen from a field of more than two thousand. "Night Run," my tribute of sorts to the great <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Matheson">Richard Matheson</a>, was originally published in the anthology <a href="http://www.mulhollandbooks.com/books/fallwinter-20162017/the-highway-kind/">THE HIGHWAY KIND</a>, expertly edited by Patrick Millikin, a long-time bookseller at <a href="https://poisonedpen.com/">Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, Ariz.</a>, and published by <a href="http://www.mulhollandbooks.com/">Mulholland Books</a>. That collection, which also features stories by Diana Gabaldon, George Pelecanos, Michael Connelly, Joe Lansdale, Ace Atkins, James Sallis and many others, is still available. It also includes <a href="http://willyvlautin.com/">Willy Vlautin's</a> sublime "The Kill Switch," one of the best short stories I've read in a long time.
<br> A limited number of copies of BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES signed by Otto and myself are available through <a href="https://www.mysteriousbookshop.com/">The Mysterious Bookshop in NYC</a>, either at the store or through their site. You can order copies <a href="https://www.mysteriousbookshop.com/products/john-sandford-with-otto-penzler-eds-best-american-mystery-stories-2017">here, while they last</a>.Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-90219510445417163322017-09-23T18:23:00.000-04:002017-09-23T19:10:03.091-04:00Philly flashback: Springsteen at 50<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOc4g93KeXrW1Mn7DsjSJem1hWv5Oh5ohTW2otNFFhoglVnBcD_t2zOqR3It6IaIGL6j5it-jSQXGDkW2aIgsDZRtlrQ44YAf3ZHtl5gqIXanQvBenk3_KjtSDyebWYtlNRGW5/s1600/Springsteen_4_3086173k.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOc4g93KeXrW1Mn7DsjSJem1hWv5Oh5ohTW2otNFFhoglVnBcD_t2zOqR3It6IaIGL6j5it-jSQXGDkW2aIgsDZRtlrQ44YAf3ZHtl5gqIXanQvBenk3_KjtSDyebWYtlNRGW5/s400/Springsteen_4_3086173k.jpg" width="400" height="250" data-original-width="858" data-original-height="536" /></a></div> <i><br>
From left, Nils Lofgren, Bruce Springsteen and Steve Van Zandt on stage in 1999 during the E Street Band's reunion tour.<br><br>
(Bruce Springsteen celebrates his 68th birthday today. This piece originally appeared in the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger Sept. 29, 1999)</i><br>
<br>One thing about Bruce Springsteen – you always knew he would go the distance.<br>
<br> Taking the stage at the Spectrum in Philadelphia Friday night, one day after turning 50, Springsteen let it be known in no uncertain terms how he felt about that particular milestone. He opened the show with "Growin' Up," a tune from his very first album, written and recorded when he was 22.<br>
<br> But almost before the final notes of the song had faded, he was counting off another - standing center stage, Fender guitar in hand, his reunited E Street Band behind him. It was "No Surrender," his 1984 anthem of friendship and the redemptive power of rock 'n' roll.<br>
<br> By the time the band kicked into the third song, a fierce "Prove It All Night," it was clear that the song order was far from haphazard. Springsteen was making a statement. And when he sang the lines "<i>We swore blood brothers against the wind/Now I'm ready to grow young again</i>" from "No Surrender," you knew he meant them.<br> <br>
<i>(Below, Springsteen's handwritten setlist from the 9/24/99 show)</i><br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUugHGZlbdORvgr5EsD1Iq2BwOHQKwTDXOoDi0TVY2zC_4JLGnjV2lC8rfvuEpbUZuqjfcJayecUFqd0IoROKMyXeluP2J7CyHzghsNJ-sX0n9xzbJLG776_aCDGEmz23ZA8_B/s1600/1999-09-24-Philly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUugHGZlbdORvgr5EsD1Iq2BwOHQKwTDXOoDi0TVY2zC_4JLGnjV2lC8rfvuEpbUZuqjfcJayecUFqd0IoROKMyXeluP2J7CyHzghsNJ-sX0n9xzbJLG776_aCDGEmz23ZA8_B/s320/1999-09-24-Philly.jpg" width="246" height="320" data-original-width="400" data-original-height="521" /></a></div> <br> Touring with the E Streeters for the first time in 11 years, Springsteen has a lot to celebrate. He's outlived his idol, Elvis Presley, and avoided most of the pitfalls that await middle-aged rock 'n' rollers. At 50, he has a stable marriage, children, a band composed of old friends and a loyal fan following that allows him to sell out arenas across the country without a new album or any significant radio airplay.<br>
<br>After kicking off the U.S. leg of his tour this summer with 15 shows at the Continental Airlines Arena, he and the band are now slowly making their way around the rest of the country, most recently with a six-night stand in Philadelphia, one of the first hotbeds of Springsteen-mania (he has dates in Chicago today and tomorrow, then moves on to Phoenix and points west).<br>
<br> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPcDe52LoKrlU6bikpPXzR7chQtKuma_d0DNUC-PK6qzMZsnnJXszgAF8jFGapDc-2j88_cPrrNQ25VMu7y-I_hxxqaxpcfo6IaIy8C2pBuoW1e6bqKBaDSOctUqNXHRus70rt/s1600/75jump.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPcDe52LoKrlU6bikpPXzR7chQtKuma_d0DNUC-PK6qzMZsnnJXszgAF8jFGapDc-2j88_cPrrNQ25VMu7y-I_hxxqaxpcfo6IaIy8C2pBuoW1e6bqKBaDSOctUqNXHRus70rt/s320/75jump.jpg" width="279" height="320" data-original-width="282" data-original-height="323" /></a></div> <br> Much of Springsteen's status as a rock icon stems from his reputation as a live performer. In the 1970s and '80s, Springsteen's marathon shows took on almost legendary proportions (a New Year's Eve performance at the Nassau Coliseum in 1980 clocked in at almost four hours). He would literally have to be dragged from the stage, as if reluctant to leave until every last drop of sweat had been wrung from his body. Watching video footage of Springsteen during that period, one is struck by the look of fierce joy on his face as he raced across the stage, tore into a guitar solo or clambered up a wobbly column of speakers to get closer to the audience.<br> <br>
<br> Springsteen at 50 isn't quite the maniacal stage presence he once was. His knee-slide into the arms of saxophonist Clarence Clemons during the final triumphant notes of "Thunder Road" is now a slow walk. But in Philadelphia last week, he was doing a fairly convincing imitation of someone half his age, climbing atop Roy Bittan's piano, grinding out faux Ricky Martin dance moves, playing guitar as if possessed and general tearing through a non-stop, three-hour show with more energy and stamina than seemed humanly possible.<br>
<br> Saturday night at Philadelphia's First Union Center, the last show of the stand, he tossed his microphone to Bittan and did an impromptu somersault across the floor during the final number, "Raise Your Hand."<br>
<br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUOp7cG-jCLB2B8t4QY-6mu5lWis9W5Wvi8GIHskCPPnrPR6t1ovnGpjooXJZg_RlunSuKKzKTukTeltVaj7VCiI1Ekf7_DQVLhMeBkIOHHnL9veTfLQ69wqmpcsEyUrZUSVMj/s1600/920x920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUOp7cG-jCLB2B8t4QY-6mu5lWis9W5Wvi8GIHskCPPnrPR6t1ovnGpjooXJZg_RlunSuKKzKTukTeltVaj7VCiI1Ekf7_DQVLhMeBkIOHHnL9veTfLQ69wqmpcsEyUrZUSVMj/s320/920x920.jpg" width="227" height="320" data-original-width="652" data-original-height="920" /></a></div> <br> While the Springsteen who celebrated his 30th birthday on stage at Madison Square Garden in 1979 seemed edgy and unpredictable (at one point he tossed a birthday cake that had been placed on stage into the audience), the one at the Spectrum Friday night was joyous. During the band introductions in the middle of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," he took the opportunity to sing "Happy Birthday to Me," and fearlessly leaped into the crowd during the next song, "Working on the Highway."<br>
<br> For the final number, he went all the way back to the beginning: "Blinded by the Light," song one, side one from his first album, 1973's "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J."<br>
<br> That Springsteen is still capable of living his rock n' roll dreams without becoming a parody of himself is heartening. For his long-time fans, especially those who grew up in New Jersey, he was always more than just another rocker. He was one of us. Though the Garden State has since gained a certain cache in popular culture, it was far from the Promised Land when Springsteen burst onto the national scene in the early '70s with his tales of seaside romance and backstreet drama. Back then, New Jersey was the butt of 1,000 jokes, portrayed as either mind-numbing suburbia or a post-industrial wasteland of turnpikes and toxic waste sites.<br>
<br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWR1xxGizrYmEfB1281OEytTYdD2Z-2bamXxK-MZF88jkMos31W-6e_mi2WCy7Nh3MAdXXEGym1SRCSvT-AHFOvTTFvfVjeWEKtvF3FO47dUtGSGbZJL27Xlvx09ouzLYRW4Cd/s1600/madammarie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWR1xxGizrYmEfB1281OEytTYdD2Z-2bamXxK-MZF88jkMos31W-6e_mi2WCy7Nh3MAdXXEGym1SRCSvT-AHFOvTTFvfVjeWEKtvF3FO47dUtGSGbZJL27Xlvx09ouzLYRW4Cd/s320/madammarie.jpg" width="320" height="275" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="429" /></a></div> <br> But Springsteen invested New Jersey's boardwalks and highways with a romantic, almost mythic, presence - though he never shied away from depicting the economic and social realities he grew up with either. Most of all, he made it clear that life in New Jersey - and particularly at the Jersey Shore was something wholly different from life in New York or Philadelphia, the geographic neighbors with which it was most closely associated.
<br> <br> He hasn't strayed far from those roots either. For generations of Jersey-born performers and artists before him, the emphasis was always on getting out and finding another, perhaps more conducive, place to flourish. Frank Sinatra, at the height of his fame, didn't make a habit of returning to Hoboken to make surprise appearances at local clubs. Neptune native Jack Nicholson didn't often sing the praises of Monmouth County once he embraced Hollywood.
<br> <br> Springsteen was different. Not only did his songs evoke familiar places, but he often returned physically to those places himself. Except for a brief period of living in Los Angeles in the early '90s, he has always called New Jersey home. These days he spends most of his time at a farm in rural Colts Neck, only a few minutes drive from Freehold, the town where he grew up.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeruh0HigZXX_tSIsV8uQzdlXhYdqoZDQBB9wk5nHGHqlkVSVV7fr2IWQGeyOrRQnz9Ks2veFJwjKc0t7DR86Rq_G0EtzATDxSwvi8mtsZE8Qh5MF01WxnvH-4Uzx3HxOaZ2jd/s1600/bwalkbruce.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeruh0HigZXX_tSIsV8uQzdlXhYdqoZDQBB9wk5nHGHqlkVSVV7fr2IWQGeyOrRQnz9Ks2veFJwjKc0t7DR86Rq_G0EtzATDxSwvi8mtsZE8Qh5MF01WxnvH-4Uzx3HxOaZ2jd/s320/bwalkbruce.jpg" width="241" height="320" data-original-width="257" data-original-height="341" /></a></div> <br> <br> Likewise, of all Springsteen's tours, this is perhaps the one most rooted in a sense of history, of place. It opened in March with two warm-up performances at Convention Hall, the crumbling 3,000-seat venue on the boardwalk in Asbury Park, the town where Springsteen got his start. During his stand at Philadelphia's First Union Center, he found room for a single gig at the neighboring Spectrum, the venue where he had played his first full arena show back in 1976 (a booking at Madison Square Garden didn't come for another two years).
<br> <br> But while this tour could have been just a nostalgic reprise of greatest hits (and threatened to be at first), it's turned into something else along the way. It celebrates the past but is still rooted firmly in the moment. Rather than just a victory lap, it feels like a culmination. And not having a new album to promote has given Springsteen the freedom to throw open the songbook and unearth tunes he hasn't played in 20 years or more. The difference is that the band is playing them better than ever, with a skill and intensity honed by their years apart.
<br> <br> As a result, these shows also have the sweet tang of last days, the final run. Springsteen is 50, Clemons is nearly 60. The band members now have families and lives that don't necessarily revolve around rock n' roll 24-7.
<br> <br> Drummer Max Weinberg has a regular gig as bandleader on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." Guitarist Steve Van Zandt exercises his acting chops on HBO's "The Sopranos." Singer Patti Scialfa is Springsteen's wife and the mother of his three children. Though the tour will probably continue well into next year, it's unlikely it will ever be repeated.
<br> <br> In the meantime, of course, Springsteen is still offering one last chance to make it real, for both his fans, his bandmates, and most importantly, himself. It's a challenge made manifest in the one newly written song he's been performing, the as-yet-unrecorded anthem "Land of Hope and Dreams." Played with an almost gospel fervor, the song is both a challenge and a reassurance, a call to arms and a cry of faith:<br>
<br> <i> "Well, I will provide for you<br>
And I'll stand by your side <br>
You'll need a good companion <br>
For this part of the ride <br>
Leave behind your sorrows <br>
Let this day be the last <br>
Tomorrow there'll be sunny skies <br>
And all this darkness past. <br>
Big wheels rolling through fields where sunlight streams <br>
Meet me in a land of hope and dreams"</i> <br><br>
<i>(Below, audio of the entire 9/24/99 Spectrum show.)</i> <br><br>
<iframe width="560" height="415" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zYOia7539Fo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-19231387372923818102017-03-28T17:56:00.001-04:002017-03-28T23:02:04.687-04:00Crissa Stone on film (sort of)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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From the vaults: <a href="http://www.pendragon.de/genre/neu/">Pendragon Verlag's</a> amazing full-cast book trailer for the German edition of the first Crissa Stone novel, KALTER SCHUSS INS HERZ (aka <a href="http://www.wallacestroby.com/coldshot.html">COLD SHOT TO THE HEART</a>) from 2015. They've just published the second book in the series, <a href="http://www.wallacestroby.com/kingsofmidnight.html">KINGS OF MIDNIGHT</a>, as GELD IST NICHT GENUG ("Money is Not Enough").Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-22442100300548199482017-02-16T04:19:00.001-05:002017-02-16T04:19:03.703-05:00New key art<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJNeevtpSklNI3HlYgMQOBHbrsFntbOdsu6Hsuv4g-VPuL5u7RQHK8Ntv2-QUxKFlXCf50yuO4uDB92KnAf57Q9zB-SzktpDt1tRJuZ4I8Dn89tNgSGNDt54VYpUalr7hH8PUC/s1600/STROBY+FINAL-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJNeevtpSklNI3HlYgMQOBHbrsFntbOdsu6Hsuv4g-VPuL5u7RQHK8Ntv2-QUxKFlXCf50yuO4uDB92KnAf57Q9zB-SzktpDt1tRJuZ4I8Dn89tNgSGNDt54VYpUalr7hH8PUC/s400/STROBY+FINAL-1.png" width="268" height="400" /></a></div>
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In preparation for an upcoming local television appearance (more on that soon), the host/producers asked that I provide some sort of backdrop image for use on the bare-bones set while I was on camera. I turned to my friend and colleague (and graphic design genius) <a href="http://markvoger.com">Mark Voger</a> for advice. He knocked it out of the park, conceiving, designing and executing the image above.Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-42686344790137583212017-02-06T19:56:00.000-05:002017-02-07T03:20:16.246-05:00WHYY interview<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eCnPtDSL7J8?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I was recently a guest on the arts show THE SPARK, for the Philadelphia PBS affiliate WHYY, talking about crime fiction, influential books (including <a href="http://www.mysteryscenemag.com/blog-article/3259-wallace-stroby-on-dashiell-hammetts-the-glass-key">Dashiell Hammett's THE GLASS KEY</a>) and more. My thanks to the producers, and to interviewer Marie DeNoia Aronsohn, who did a terrific job.
Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26065897.post-13801839411458298062016-12-26T17:34:00.001-05:002016-12-26T19:27:01.103-05:00A tribute from the Boss<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizbmPGATELNg6kdYfcP_0H8jKrajxWRMu3Ue1ROd4dxydrQGhkMWSTpF_lVdAew9zVcvBwJC3b9PMkXhxNxBlyV6CWTCDboP08Fc5RBAjWM9dM2oh6DYqBVihriNZCXxEFpoh-/s1600/lb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizbmPGATELNg6kdYfcP_0H8jKrajxWRMu3Ue1ROd4dxydrQGhkMWSTpF_lVdAew9zVcvBwJC3b9PMkXhxNxBlyV6CWTCDboP08Fc5RBAjWM9dM2oh6DYqBVihriNZCXxEFpoh-/s400/lb.jpg" width="400" height="201" /></a></div>
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Bruce Springsteen celebrates my hometown of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Branch,_New_Jersey">Long Branch, N.J.</a>, in his new autobiography <a href="http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Born-to-Run/Bruce-Springsteen/9781501141515">BORN TO RUN </a>(click above to enlarge). Harsh, but not inaccurate.
<br> (I loved the book.)
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<a href="http://www.mulhollandbooks.com/2011/02/24/809/"><b>See also:</b> "My Dinner with the Boys"</a>Wallace Strobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18106537140783513253noreply@blogger.com0