JAFO

By special request from Jerry House

2012-01-16T18:15:00.000-08:00

Below is an earlier cover we created for Earthquake Weather. For fear that it would not get the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval we toned it down in later versions, but Jerry somehow sensed it was lurking somewhere and wanted to see it. So here it is.

So far the "contest" has generated very little buzz, so for those who did write in, know that you are all winners! Unfortunately the polling has come down 50/50 on which cover is best (including one off-line write in on FB). Maybe this one could inspire a new round of discussion. (Call this Cover #3 when voting.)

Hell, I may have to end up making this decision myself.

I hate that.

Let the games begin!

2012-01-04T01:13:00.000-08:00

Okay. We're back. It's 2012. One last run at beating the Mayan calendar. Let's pull it together, people!

For the first post of the new year I'm running a little contest. My talented book jacket designer, JT Lindroos, and I have developed two possible covers for the e-book of my novel, EARTHQUAKE WEATHER, which will hit the e-stores in the next month or two. I'm torn as to which is better. I like 'em both, for different reasons. But I'm biased of course. So I'm putting it to a vote. Which cover do YOU like best and why? Or do you not like either one of them and think we should head back to the drawing board? Click on the images if you want to see them in more detail.

Here's cover #1:

Here's cover #2:

Which do you like best? Or do neither of them inspire you to give the book a look? In this brave new world of E-Bookery it pays to ask these kinds of questions.

I have another reason for doing this other than my inability to choose between these covers. I'm wondering how many of you are out there. And who is listening. The counter at the bottom of this page keeps going up, but very few of you stop in for a chat. So I'd like to take this opportunity to invite you in to be heard.

When the smoke clears and the decision has been made, I will put the names of all who responded into a hat and pull ten names out. Those ten will receive a free copy of EARTHQUAKE WEATHER sent to their book shaped device on opening day. Think about it. You could be saving enough money to buy a Quarter Pounder with Cheese (not including the tax). I look forward to your comments.

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T16:03:00.000-08:00

Around 11:59 tonight click on the video below and let the JAFO house band play you into 2012.

Then you can finish off the champagne with an encore by the boys.

Don't forget to hit the tip jar on the way out. That's how they stay in guitar picks.

Have a safe and prosperous New Year!

Did you get a book shaped device for Christmas?

2011-12-29T17:13:00.000-08:00

If so, and you are trying to jam it to the gills with affordable books, here's a simple reminder that you can buy this baby and get change back from your three dollar bill:

If Santa brought you a Kindle you can find it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Shooters-ebook/dp/B004ZULGKY/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1304896440&sr=8-6

If he brought you a Nook, this is the place to go:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shooters-terrill-lee-lankford/1100458730?ean=2940012406798&itm=1&usri=lankford+shooter

You can tell by the cover that it's the perfect holiday read. Enjoy.

UFO Sighting!

2011-12-24T20:59:00.000-08:00

Researching THE DROP

2011-12-13T19:21:00.000-08:00

Here's a cool new e-book collection - give it a look

2011-11-08T17:34:00.000-08:00

I don't write a lot of short stories (but that's something I'd like to change) so it's very flattering when someone asks me for one. My pal, Brian Thornton, did just that for the new e-book collection he edited for Michael Wolf's brand new company, BSTSLLR.com. I was glad to comply. They reprinted my story DETOUR DRIVE, along with many other fine stories that put my scribbling to shame. It's only $3.99, so you get change back from your four dollar bill. What are you waiting for? As Lev Raphael used to say, "Let's get criminal!"

http://www.amazon.com/West-Coast-Crime-Anthologies-ebook/dp/B005WJWXMM/ref=sr_1_1?m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&ie=UTF8&qid=1320801471&sr=1-1

A week from tonight....

2011-11-05T21:57:00.000-07:00

Dropping soon!

2011-11-04T19:50:00.001-07:00

Our new neighbor

2011-10-12T17:16:00.000-07:00

We recently moved about forty miles north of our old house. We're now about a block from the beach. We left the kids in the city to fend for themselves but took the dog and cat. Now that we are empty nesters it is a bit ironic that this character has taken to hanging out at our place in the afternoons.

Heidi and our new friend have spotted a mouse. Who will get to it first?

I'm going to have to start wearing hats when I go up on the roof.

This bird is part ham. It posed for hours before finally going back to work.

The good old days....

2011-09-27T20:25:00.001-07:00

Crumb talking about the state of things in 1994:

THE DROP is on the horizon

2011-09-20T23:40:00.001-07:00

Very sad news....

2011-08-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

Scott Wannberg, poet of Dutton's was 58 - LA Observed

Attention all Kooks with Nooks!

2011-07-29T08:08:00.000-07:00

Did I mention that SHOOTERS is also available for download to your Nook at Barnes & Noble.com? Well, it is. What are you waiting for?

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shooters-terrill-lee-lankford/1031106285?ean=2940012406798&itm=9&usri=shooters

After another rough week for Earthlings...

2011-07-24T15:43:00.000-07:00

A message from one of the founders of Club 27:

Sunday's song of the day: SOUL

2011-07-17T16:41:00.000-07:00

If you don't know who Rocco is, you should. Here's his TV debut from a few years ago. If there hadn't been a roof on the building, I think he would have gone into orbit. Check out his CDs. They're great.

People of Nacogdoches, I salute you!

2011-07-15T00:36:00.000-07:00

CHRISTMAS WITH THE DEAD was a tough shoot. (Aren't they all?) I think the only reason we managed to pull it off at all was because we received amazing contributions from the townspeople of Nacogdoches, Texas. They were unbelievably helpful and supportive of the production.

Everywhere we went people let us shoot on their property for free. People came out to be "zombies" (we call them "snappers" and they are a bit different than your average zombie) and cult members by the dozens, often staying on set until 5 or 6 in the morning. People donated food and services to help us get our picture made. It was all a bit unbelievable.

But the most amazing thing about it all was that after they would perform these good deeds to help us they would come up to us afterwards and thank us for letting them be a part of the show. Can you believe that? Anyone who shoots in L.A. or New York won't buy it, I'm sure. But it's true. So I want to take this moment to say something to all those good people who helped us so selflessly and for some reason thought we had done them a favor:

THANK YOU!

Miller knows the score

2011-07-14T20:52:00.000-07:00

The Healing

2011-07-10T10:09:00.000-07:00

I made it home on the 4th of July, then collapsed for the better part of the week. This flick was a hard one to recover from, but I know I'm almost there now because last night, for the first time in two weeks, I managed to sleep without dreaming I was still on the set. Filmmakers out there know what I'm talking about. You work 14-18 hours, go home, finally get to sleep and you dream you are still working. It's exhausting because you never stop working, even in your sleep. But hopefully that part of rehab is now over and my dreams will be replaced by images from BLUE VELVET, like in this classic clip from the past. Go get 'em, Roy!

I feel your pain, Fitz

2011-07-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

This is the palm tree in my backyard....

2011-06-27T23:40:00.000-07:00

And this time next week I hope to be sitting near it, drinking rum, surrounded by my family.

I can not wait.

Jumping into (and hopefully out of) the fire....

2011-06-25T15:52:00.000-07:00

This guy looks like I feel...

Things are getting intense on the set as we close in on the last week of work on CHRISTMAS WITH THE DEAD. We've had some crazy times on this flick. And shot some wild stuff. The pressure is on as I try to bring this baby in by next Friday so the cast and crew can enjoy the July 4 holiday without fear of having to return to the set afterward and I can point my car west and achieve escape velocity in time to hold my dog's paw during the fireworks. He hates loud noises and likes to sit on my lap when he hears any. Which would be okay if he didn't weigh 90 pounds.

If you want a sonic glimpse into my current emotional state, this song comes pretty close:

I've been listening to this track a lot lately

2011-06-23T12:59:00.000-07:00

Not sure why.....

Texas with the Dead (and near dead)

2011-06-19T16:53:00.000-07:00

We've just barely crept past the halfway mark on Joe R. Lansdale's CHRISTMAS WITH THE DEAD. Two more weeks and we should be finished. I haven't had the time to look at all the footage yet, but what I have seen has been terrific. The Texas weather is even more brutal than I thought it would be. We shot a big scene out in the woods a few days ago and it was near triple digits in the middle of the night - and that was before we got the lights going. That's what's left of me in the picture above, sitting around with a zombie. I'm the one on the right.

Below is a shot of the crew after a long day.

If I have time I'm going to post some individual shots of the crew and introduce them to you over the next couple weeks. We have quite a few interesting characters working with us.

The Graduate Part 2

2011-06-12T11:34:00.000-07:00

I posted the last set of photos from Brandon's high school graduation while waiting for the plane back to Texas. I didn't have a lot of time then and no time since, but I have a spare few minutes now and wanted to drop in a couple more shots of the big day.

Brandon with one of his favorite teachers, Ms. Zwick.

Another favorite teacher, Ms. Gregorio.

Brandon and his friend Brittni.

After the Graduation we went to Monty's Steakhouse for filet mignons.

Our waiter, vying for an extra tip, took this shot. Left to right: Our best friend, Sandra Petersen, Sterling, Brandon, Heidi, me.

You'll notice Sandra has a bandage around her hand. She has a tendency to reach for other people's food at the table. She tried to poach from the boys and she took a few forks in the arm. Luckily Monty's is always prepared for this kind of thing and they managed to wrap her arm in about 30 seconds while she continued to eat. Pure professionalism from all parties involved.

That'll teach her. (Probably not.)

It was a great day.

The Graduate!

2011-06-08T16:04:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe, but my youngest son, Brandon Alexander Barkley Lankford, graduated High School yesterday.

Here he is with his brother, Sterling, after the event.

Brandon with what's left of his father.

I couldn't be more proud. Congratulations, buddy!

Texas

2011-06-05T13:35:00.000-07:00

We're four days into shooting on CHRISTMAS WITH THE DEAD in super hot Texas. So far it's been a crazy, intense, brutal and often funny experience, which I think perfectly mirrors the film we are making. The footage is looking great. I hope we can keep it up for the duration. It's hard to put what's going on down here into words but this video of The Wasp (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)/Love Me Two Times manages to do it very well. At very young ages, Jim Morrison and Robby Krieger knew how things worked in this wild world. I leave for L.A. tomorrow to see my son, Brandon, graduate from High School, but I'm back here on Thursday to keep sweating it out with the zombies.

Sunday Sing Along

2011-05-29T02:31:00.000-07:00

I'm in Texas, prepping the movie and drinking plenty of gin and Quinine to fight off potential malaria attacks (I've been bitten by every creature imaginable since I arrived) and my family knows I've been a little homesick, so Kiley sent me this video tour of the city next to ours to cheer me up. This is my hood!

I'm just about cured now. Thanks, Kiley!

Al Guthrie grills me for a second time

2011-05-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

http://criminal-e.blogspot.com/

It seems some people are taking this Rapture thing more seriously than I was

2011-05-21T22:31:00.000-07:00

Just got these pics sent to me from home. Our dog put on his favorite cap at 5:59 pm and looked skyward (to no avail). He's still waiting.

In the meantime, the cat just cut to the chase and started drinking again.

I guess there is a reason why some people refer to these two knuckleheads as "dumb animals."

The Case of the Ruptured Rapture

2011-05-21T22:07:00.000-07:00

The chosen were taken around six pm today, but I didn't notice a sizable decrease in traffic on the road. My guess is that real estate prices will remain flat next week as well. They say the end of the world is in October and those not taken today will have to sweat it out until then. I bet there are a lot more of us left down here than expected. The standards must be higher than most people thought. (Although I knew I was not going anywhere, no matter what happened.)

Aloha (and SHOOTERS of course)

2011-05-16T15:09:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving for part 2 of my Texas adventure today, but I wanted to flog the eBook of SHOOTERS one last time in the hopes of raising some gas money. For those of you who have the print version of SHOOTERS and think you can save $2.99 by rereading it instead of getting the shiny new Kindle version you should know that the text has been revised for the eBook. It's stronger, sleeker, sexier. Well, not sexier. But I do think it's stronger. For more info about the differences between the two versions, here is the note I added at the end of the eBook:

A NOTE ABOUT THE TEXT

General wisdom suggests that writers - like parlor magicians - should not discuss their work for fear of destroying what small illusion they may have been able to create for the audience. I've always been an advocate of that philosophy, despite the fact that we now live in an era that demands wheels squeak loudly or die quickly of rust. So I will try to keep this brief and leave out any details of the literary prestidigitation I may have been attempting to achieve with this book.

Reading SHOOTERS fourteen years after it was first published was a daunting task. I rarely look back at any of my work. What's done is done and revisiting these projects can only lead to painful realizations of mistakes made and opportunities lost. So it was with great trepidation that I looked at SHOOTERS again after all these years. It was a necessary step towards bringing it to e-publication. I had long ago lost the original files somewhere in the horde of dead computers that rest in my garage, so the novel had to be scanned. When this happens you have to read through the pages to correct all the scanning errors. So much time had elapsed since I put this project behind me that it appeared to be the work of a different person altogether as I read through the pages. I'm mystified at what the hell I was thinking back then. Mystified, and occasionally horrified. Being a notorious tinkerer, I was warned by my longtime partner, Heidi Sobel, that I should just do the corrections and not start rewriting the book, because that would be a process that might never end.

I tried my best, but....

Anyone who wants to waste time comparing the text of the 1997 edition of SHOOTERS with this e-volume will find that there are many minor changes made to the text. I've cut some lines and simplified others. Typos have been corrected (and possibly new ones introduced!). But my main contribution to this version of the story is an attempt to correct what I now consider an error of judgment made just prior to the publication of the book. My editor at the publishing house suggested that I should strip out any specific references to the time in which the story took place so that the novel would not date poorly (which is ironic, because I used to date poorly myself all the time). I went along with this plan and I think the book suffered for it. Clearly the story is meant to occur in October of 1993, during a period when some of the worst wildfires in the last hundred years ravaged Southern California. To remove it from that specific date causes all kinds of story problems that I won't detail here, because that would violate the “general wisdom” mentioned above and possibly bore the pants off of you (if you are still wearing any).

SHOOTERS began life as a screenplay way back in 1985 (the many journeys that project took could fill a book of its own). I began writing it as a novel in 1993 (I think). At least that's when the wildfires became part of the text. I had the hope that my publisher would put the book out quickly. My dream at that stage in my life was to write books fast, chronicling the times in which they were being written, and have them hit the streets a few months later. I soon found out that neither my publisher nor I were up to that task. It took two and a half years for them to publish SHOOTERS and a lot had changed by then. My editor felt we now had a period piece on our hands and he asked me to take the edge off that element of the novel. It seemed somewhat logical back in 1996 when he made the request, but I performed the changes reluctantly. I was trying to be a team player. It was a mistake. Many topical touchstones laced throughout the book were obfuscated and others were added that could not have taken place until after 1993. By altering these events to make the book more generic I think we weakened the reading experience. I've done my best to recreate the draft as it was when I first sold it to the publisher. Other than that I tried to leave the book alone, per my sweetheart's request.

So if you don't like it, please blame Heidi!

http://www.amazon.com/Shooters-ebook/dp/B004ZULGKY/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1304896440&sr=8-6

Sunday Brunch with some L.A. Women

2011-05-15T13:08:00.000-07:00

Enjoy this video while noshing on your Sunday treats or reading your brand new eBook of SHOOTERS. This song plays a big part in the novel. It opens the piece and even makes a return appearance or two. If that book had a soundtrack, this would be the theme song.

Before...and after

2011-05-11T03:30:00.000-07:00

19 years ago today I watched my son, Sterling, get yanked out of his mother's womb via Caesarean section and I haven't been the same since. The picture above was taken a few minutes later, after he had a hot shower and got into some warm clothes. As you can see, he adapted to life on the outside very quickly and immediately took a liking to the TV remote. He's been pushing my buttons ever since.

(You can also see our coyote dog, Jill, keeping watch from the outside, and the hole that she chewed in the screen to make travel easier for her. )

Here Sterling is rolling around on the couch while I go out to get some diapers and formula. I always kept the fake ghost head from my first movie in the room with him so he wouldn't feel lonely when I went out on errands.

It must have been tough having me for a dad, but he stuck around - mainly for the grub. With a lot of food and water he turned into THIS a mere 18 years later:

That's him dressed for the prom a little less than a year ago. Looks a bit surly, doesn't he? The handcuffs he's wearing behind his back will do that to a young man. His girlfriend's father insisted - and I agreed it was for the best.

A few months later I introduced him to Adrienne Barbeau at a book signing and he managed to slip out of the cuffs long enough for this to happen:

So I guess life hasn't been ALL bad for the boy. (I sure wish I could have put my arms around Adrienne when I was 18!)

But today he turns 19. So Happy Birthday, buddy! Just two more years until the big blow-out in Vegas!

(It's David Pecchia's birthday today as well, but he's still hiding out in Detroit, so he can't come to the party. Happy Birthday to you too, Dave. Clear!)

Lev Raphael

2011-05-10T13:28:00.000-07:00

Lev Raphael was one of the first critics to really jump on the SHOOTERS bandwagon back in 1997. Not only did he write a glowing review of it for the DETROIT FREE PRESS, he made it one of his TOP TEN NOVELS OF THE YEAR (a list that only included nine titles, by the way). He has mentioned the book in interviews and blog posts over the years, so when it came time to reprint SHOOTERS for the e-world, I felt he would be the perfect person to write an afterword for the piece. Thankfully, he agreed with me.

I started writing a pithy list of Lev's accomplishments and then realized I was leaving half of it out, so I'm just going to reprint his bio from the Huffington Post:

Lev Raphael is the author of the memoir-travelogue My Germany and nineteen other books in genres from mystery to memoir. Notoriously cranky Kirkus Reviews called it "cleansing and passionate." Raphael is best known as a pioneer in writing fiction and creative non-fiction about the children of Holocaust survivors, which he's been publishing since 1978. His books have been translated into a dozen languages and he's done hundreds of invited talks and readings on three continents. His work has appeared in dozens of anthologies in the U.S. and England and will appear soon inPromised Lands: New Jewish American Fiction on Longing and Belonging.

Raphael's academic mystery series has earned raves from the NYTBR and many other newspapers and magazines and he has been the keynoter at international conferences. Raphael is also the winner of the Lambda Literary Award among other prizes and has written hundreds of reviews and essays for The Detroit Free Press,Jerusalem Report, Forward, The Washington Post, The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram,Boston Review and Lambda Book Report. He escaped academia in 1988 to write and review full-time. A former radio talk show host and DJ, he currently reviews for WKAR 90.5 FM in East Lansing, MI and writes the Book Brunch column forBibliobuffet.com. His latest novel is Rosedale in Love: A Gilded Age Novel. Raphael's web site is http://www.levraphael.com. Follow him on Twitter @LevRaphael.

And here is the AFTERWORD Lev wrote for SHOOTERS:

In the decade or so that I reviewed mysteries and thrillers for the Detroit Fee Press, I may have enjoyed lots of them, but there are only a few that I've ever bothered to re-read, and the only one I've read three times is Shooters.

My editor used to send me boxes of books from various publishers and because I got so many at a time, and was only reviewing 4-5 for my monthly column, I had to make quick decisions based on only a few pages. Shooters won me over immediately. It brilliantly captures the gleaming, seductive menace of that city built for noir in a voice that's so crisp and haunting that I've used the opening pages in creative writing workshops more than once. I can still remember scenes and lines--that's how dazzled I was.

It is in my mind one of the best LA thrillers ever written, a book that more people should know about, a book I continue to recommend wherever and whenever I can. Sexy, dark, fiercely intelligent, it's a novel of deep and lasting power.

Lev Raphael, author of Rosedale in Love: A Gilded Age Novel
newly available on Kindle & Nook

Thanks again, Lev!

T. Jefferson Parker

2011-05-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

T. Jefferson Parker is one of my favorite writers and a really great longtime friend. If you're not reading his Charlie Hood series right now you're missing out on something great. (The picture above was taken while he was doing research for the books in Veracruz.) Jeff graciously wrote an introduction for the new e-book of SHOOTERS and I'm posting it here just in case you're still not sure about parting with that $2.99 on Amazon.

INTRODUCTION

T. Jefferson Parker

Shooters is a noir tour of L.A. that only Terrill Lee Lankford can guide. He's got one finger on the pulse of high fashion and another on the world of hardcore and when they meet – well, it's hard not to look. Although this book was first published in 1997, its roots stretch back to the roaring 80s, as narrator Nick Gardner says in the prologue to Shooters:

“This story is a by-product of the eighties, the Reagan years, when the wrong people made a lot of money the wrong way. I was one of those people. The seventies had been rough. The late-seventies recession made work in my chosen profession – photography – difficult. When the economy opened up a few years later, I didn’t stop to ask stupid questions, I started panning up the ore like every other jerk. I never thought about the mine playing out or someone showing up with a huge bill. I felt charmed.”

Of course, Shooters is all about paying the huge bill, and the waiter who presents the bill is history itself. Perhaps not oddly, our current republic feels sunk in the same kind of morass that Lankford invokes from decades past -- our freewheeling days resoundingly defeated by moral and economic turpitude. We sense parallel hangovers. There is a sense in Shooters that the goodwill of the fates has run thin and all hell is about to break loose. Sound familiar?

It's wonderful to read a crime novel that embraces and reflects a specific time and place. As a longtime L.A. filmmaker, Terrill Lee Lankford knows the city and its decades well. Through Nick, who is part American Gigolo and part American Psycho, Lankford has created a perfect voice of America's Los Angeles in the 1980s. I think it's a tale with legs, one that will continue to resound.

But doubt not that Shooters is built for speed and handling, not for soccer transport or sensible gas mileage. It's thrill a minute sexy and bad to the bone. It's an authentic part of the L.A. canon.

-- T. Jefferson Parker

author of Iron River and The Border Lords

It's up! (So to speak.)

2011-05-08T16:31:00.000-07:00

We didn't think the link would be active until Monday or Tuesday, but Amazon got the job done in record time. SHOOTERS is now available for your Kindle or your Kindle for Mac if you don't have the device itself.

Now that the book has been unleashed on e-society I should post a warning: SHOOTERS has a lot of sex in it. A lot. If you don't like that sort of reading wait to pick up one of my later books. They just have a little sex in them. And if you don't like THAT sort of reading, I guess I'm out of luck.

http://www.amazon.com/Shooters-ebook/dp/B004ZULGKY/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1304896440&sr=8-6

E-Book Update

2011-05-07T23:23:00.000-07:00

Okay. I'm finally getting my act together on the e-book front. Work on the movie put a lot of sand in my e-gears, but we're making some progress now. With the help of my e-guru, Lee Goldberg, I uploaded the files for the new version of SHOOTERS onto Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords today. It takes a few days for these accounts to activate, but we should be rocking the e-world by Monday or Tuesday. That's only a few months later than I promised at the beginning of March.

As you can see by the revised cover (courtesy of JT Lindroos), T. Jefferson Parker provided a new introduction for the book and novelist, scholar, and critic Lev Raphael wrote an afterward. I can't thank them enough for their generosity, not only now but throughout the years since SHOOTERS was first published. They have been two of that novel's most vocal supporters.

Hopefully in the next week we will also be bringing ANGRY MOON online. It's in the works. NORTH OF SUNSET, however, will be delayed for quite some time. I've had second thoughts about publishing two of the four stories and I think I'm going to have to write some new stories to replace them.

I'm very excited to announce that the rights to EARTHQUAKE WEATHER and BLONDE LIGHTING have reverted to me. I hope to have them online by the end of the month. (But I've been wrong about these things before!)

I'll drop a note on the blog when SHOOTERS is done cooking on the various sites.

Over and out!

The latest poster for our little Christmas flick

2011-05-05T15:53:00.000-07:00

We haven't shot a foot of this movie yet, but it's already spawned dozens of posters. None of them are official, but most of them are pretty cool. Below is the most recent one. (Click on it to make it larger - if you dare.)

For more info on the movie go to: http://www.christmaswiththedead.com/

We were warned long ago

2011-05-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

I've been telling my sons this for years.... But they just don't believe me.

2011-04-27T14:52:00.000-07:00

CIA's 'Facebook' Program Dramatically Cut Agency's Costs

Big Sunday

2011-04-24T04:38:00.000-07:00

The Smothers Brothers bring you something to watch and listen to with your bacon and Easter eggs this morning. Hope the big bunny brought you lots of treats.

Man down!

2011-04-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/2011/04/20/restrepo_documentarian_tim_hetherington_reportedly_killed_in_libya/

In honor of road trips

2011-04-17T10:45:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday. I'm back in L.A. after two weeks on the road. Here's something to watch and listen to with your beer and breakfast this morning.

That looks like it was a hell of a concert.

Elvis sighting!

2011-04-16T18:34:00.000-07:00

On the way back from Texas I stopped by The Palms in Vegas and spotted this sign out the window of my room.

Mystery solved.

Let's all go to the Drive-In!

2011-04-12T14:30:00.001-07:00

I wonder how many of the Texans I met last week wouldn't even be here if not for this great old place?

Much love was found in the ghost light of an AIP double feature.

(Click on the pix to see them full size.)

It's hot in Texas!

2011-04-10T01:18:00.000-07:00

Here are three versions of RING OF FIRE to go with your Sunday morning tea and strumpets. Take your pick or enjoy them all.

Now, more than ever

2011-04-09T22:53:00.000-07:00

"Are they yelling in Atlanta, Ted?"

They should be, but we are even more asleep now than we were in the 70s.

Farewell, Mr. Lumet. You always knew how to get the most out of a great screenplay.

Vote early, vote often!

2011-04-07T01:29:00.000-07:00

I'm in Texas prepping CHRISTMAS WITH THE DEAD, but my buddy Duane Swierczynski sent me an e-mail today about a neat book poll that the L.A. Times is running where you can pick your favorite novel set in Los Angeles and somehow my book, EARTHQUAKE WEATHER, has been nominated. It's a big field and I'll need all 41 of my "followers" to cast their votes for me if we hope to knock off the likes of Nat West and Tommy Pynchon. But I know we can do it!

Please click on the link below and start stuffing the ballots now!

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/04/your-favorite-la-book-round-3-ross-macdonald-octavia-butler-thomas-pynchon-nathanael-west.html

THE FIFTH WITNESS

2011-04-05T14:52:00.000-07:00

Mickey Haller's latest adventure hits the stores today. Start reading! (And don't forget to get your free Eric Clapton download.)

A tune for Sunday afternoon

2011-04-03T14:15:00.000-07:00

I missed breakfast this morning, but maybe you can play this with your afternoon Tequila and beer.

Clapton/Connelly

2011-03-30T13:06:00.000-07:00

Here's the interesting tie-in that I was talking about last week. (You can't see me in this shot because I'm behind the camera - where I should always stay.)

Read all about it from Michael Connelly himself, then listen to the cool interview linked below:

Clapton & Me

     I first heard the sound of Eric Clapton's guitar in a friend's garage in 1969. It was the only place we were allowed to turn it up loud. Needless to say, I've been a fan ever since. I've tracked his career, read his autobiography, watched him play live and listened to his recordings it seems for all of my life.
     As a writer, music is important to me. It is routine for me to place the music I am listening to and care about in my books. Harry Bosch's taste in jazz comes from me. Cassie Black's love of Lucinda Williams was inspired by my love of Lucinda Williams. And Mickey Haller's musical interests that wander from Tupac Shakur to Ry Cooder and everywhere in between once again come from me.
     It doesn't matter to me that a musical reference on a written page cannot impart the audible journey to the reader. I was on the journey when I wrote that page and that is what matters most. I had to listen to that music to write that page. And if the reader gets something from the reference, if it helps the reading experience or plants a musical suggestion, then that is just icing on the cake.
     So with all of that in background, it was one of best moments of my writing life when three years ago I received a message purportedly from Eric Clapton and delivered through this website. It simply said, "Tell Mr. Connelly I appreciate the mention in the new book."
     I have to admit I was tantalized. Could it be him? Could it be the real Eric Clapton? The Eric Clapton of Cream, Blind Faith, and Derek and the Dominoes? The man who sang "Bell Bottom Blues" and "Layla" and "Wonderful Tonight"?
     I wrote back, cautiously. On guard in case I was being victimized by an imposter or a prankster. It led to a tentative email relationship and then a friendship. And now it leads to this unusual cross promotion of music and written word. In The Fifth Witness, Mickey Haller listens to Clapton. Not just Eric Clapton but Clapton, the new album. In particular he's listening to "Judgement Day" when in effect it is a judgment day in the story. And now you can too, thanks to the free download of the song offered on this page.
     I hope you enjoy the song and my interview with Eric that took place recently at a Los Angeles recording studio. I hope it all helps you enjoy riding with Mickey Haller through the book. I've been riding with Eric Clapton's music for forty-two years. Maybe your journey has just begun.
— Michael Connelly

Sunday Morning Listening

2011-03-27T03:25:00.000-07:00

If you can overlook the title, this blast from the past should go well with your coffee and doughnuts this morning.

A different kind of Christmas Story....

2011-03-25T01:07:00.000-07:00

http://www.christmaswiththedead.com/

About two weeks ago my buddy Joe Lansdale gave me a call and asked if I wanted to come to Texas this summer and direct a movie he was producing based on his short story, CHRISTMAS WITH THE DEAD. I said, "Of course," took a sip of coffee and we immediately began pre-production work. Hollywood deal makers could learn a lot from Texans.

Joe's son, Keith, wrote the script and it's a humdinger. Check out the website listed above to get a hint of things to come. I'm looking forward to this Texas adventure, but this means my plans of world domination via the e-book will once again face delays. I've been so busy with video projects, photo shoots and prep work this month that I haven't even finished the copy editing on the e-book reprint of my first novel, SHOOTERS. Hopefully I will be able to get it to the formatter soon. But ANGRY MOON and NORTH OF SUNSET probably won't happen until late next month. As for new works? I gotta go shoot this movie first.

The Lincoln Lawyer interview part 2

2011-03-24T13:40:00.000-07:00

After we finished the main interview, Matthew wanted to talk a little more. We kept the camera rolling and this is what happened.

The end of an era....

2011-03-23T17:21:00.001-07:00

2 auctions for a good cause

2011-03-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

(Even if you don't need a cool chair, try to give something to the American Red Cross. They're doing a lot of good out there in these tough times.)

Michael Connelly is auctioning off two director chairs with "The Lincoln Lawyer" movie logo. Both chairs have been autographed by Michael Connelly and Matthew McConaughey. All proceeds will go to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Efforts. Michael Connelly will cover all auction fees and the cost of shipping to any country. Both auctions are on eBay through the Giving Works program. They expire on Sunday, March 27.

Auction #1 on eBay:http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320675017443&ssPageName=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT

Auction #2 on eBay:http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320675019403&ssPageName=STRK%3AMESELX%3AI T

signed director chair

American Red Cross

eBay Giving Works program

I think this guy might be on to something....

2011-03-21T01:09:00.001-07:00

Sunday Morning Listening

2011-03-20T02:57:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to see Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood play this song (and dozens of other classics) last year at the Hollywood Bowl and I think it makes for perfect Sunday Morning "wake-me-up" music, so I hope you enjoy it.

The family and I got to see Eric in concert again about ten days ago at Universal and he played an almost completely different set than he had the year before, but it was spine tingling entertainment both times out.

Then last week I was honored to be able to do a photo shoot with Mr. Clapton and Mike Connelly as they recorded an interview for a pretty exciting tie-in that will be coming up in a few weeks, which I will link to as soon as it hits the street.

Because of Mike I've met Eric Clapton twice now and I'm always fine while we're all hanging out and talking, but the moment it is time to leave I begin to babble like an idiot. I'm two for two so far and can't figure out what comes over me when I'm heading for the door. It's ridiculous. I've met famous actors, directors, writers, politicians, and musicians over the years and none of them ever phased me like that. I even stayed cool each time I ran into Robert Mitchum at our local grocery store when I lived in Santa Barbara back in the 80s. But Clapton is different. His music has been a big influence in my life, ever since I was a kid. The enormity of this guy's work and the depth of his talent is just so friggin' impressive that I get flustered when it's time to say adios. It's embarrassing. Connelly took a shot of me with Eric after the interview and shoot was over and I look like I just got hit with a cattle prod.

You won't be seeing that picture any time soon.

Mike and Matt

2011-03-19T11:08:00.000-07:00

Check out this cool interview I shot on the set of THE LINCOLN LAWYER.

Speaking of which, how did you like the movie last night?

The Lincoln Lawyer is in theaters today!

2011-03-18T00:08:00.000-07:00

You probably won't believe anything I have to say about this flick because of what you can safely assume will be my natural bias, but the reviews are in and lots of the big time critics agree with me. This is a really terrific movie, jam packed with fantastic supporting performances, a tight script based on a great book, gritty L.A. photography, lively direction and a big time return to superstar form for Matthey McConaughey. I've seen the movie three times already and it is surprisingly rewatchable. I'm still not tired of it. Oh, I forgot about the music. The music selection is tremendous as well, mixing perfectly chosen current tunes with pieces from the 70s that sound contemporary and classic at the same time. And that kind of sums up the whole movie in a nutshell: It riffs on the classic crime films of the past while managing to feel fresh and completely contemporary. Watching it, I feel a little of the excitement I felt when watching a new film in the 1970s. There's not much of a higher compliment I could pay to a movie. Don't wait for the dvd, go see it this weekend!

Good morning!

2011-03-13T11:04:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday and it's been too long since we visited with this sexy dancer, so enjoy this clip with your coffee and biscuits.

The Book in Question

2011-03-10T12:20:00.000-08:00

My feeble attempts to condense as much info into the fewest amount of words have led to some misunderstandings during my "running for the hills" posts. A number of people have contacted me asking when the book that I had been discussing with the Publishing House would see the light of day. My short answer: I don't know.

The long answer is more complicated, so you may not want to read any further. I'm about to ramble.

When "The Editor-in-Chief" contacted me about bringing a book to his Publishing House last August I was quite excited by the prospect. But we had to find a project that suited not just my interests as a writer, but the specific interests of the House as well. In other words, we had to find a good blend of what they want to publish and what I want to write. This is not always as easy as it sounds. The Editor was a fan of my previous books, but those are in my past and I, like all of you out there, change a lot from year to year. My current interests are not the same as they were seven, fourteen, or twenty years ago. We had to sift through about a dozen works-in-progress before we decided on a project that looked like it could suit not just each of our individual interests, but the needs of the Publishing House, the marketing department, the Big Box chain stores, and - wait for it - the readers at large. (Yes, they do eventually factor into these equations.) Since the publication of my last book in 2006 I have been wrestling with many story ideas with the hopes of shooting an arrow through all these moving rings at once. It's a daunting task.

Now, anyone familiar with my past work knows it can be difficult on some readers. My last four books have been peopled by unsavory characters doing unsavory things. These are not Airport Bestsellers. I seem to have a small, loyal cult following, but many of them won't be out on parole for quite a few years. I have about fifteen projects in various forms of development and abandonment. The one I felt was the closest to completion - and which would have more mass market appeal than my previous works - was a piece about Beverly Hills bodyguards. The Editor liked this piece, but he liked another one even better. For our purposes here I'll refer to it as Project X, or X for short. And I'm going to call the Editor "Ed" from here on in to keep this post from eating all your bandwidth.

Now X was only a few thousand words long when Ed read it. But it had the scope and scale that he was looking for. It is a book that takes place over a forty-five year time span and deals with the development of the Special Investigations Section of the L.A.P.D. as a backdrop. The book is a private eye story, a cop story, a political intrigue, a family saga and a historical novel all rolled into one. It's ambitious. And it will take a long time to write. Thus we were discussing the "Big Advance."

I've never liked the idea of taking advances on incomplete works. You are always in a stronger position to make a deal when you have a finished book to shop. And it's good to know that you have the ability to actually finish the work before you make a deal you can't honor. But if I was to abandon my current project to work on this one it was understood that a deal would have to be in place. So we talked money and came up with a floor that we were both comfortable with, a minimum that Ed thought he could get from the Publisher and that I could live with to help bring the project to fruition. It would be up to my agent to try to improve on that number when we all entered the squared circle part of the negotiations.

So, we had the book and we had the concept of the deal. (This was after a few months of back and forth on the various possible projects.) Now I had to generate sample pages that could be taken to the Publisher so that the deal could be approved. I had already written the beginning and end of the book and a number of sections in the middle, but now I needed to generate at least fifty pages that began at the beginning. It took me a few months to kick out the first 68 pages of the book. Ed read them, liked them, and was about to work on his editorial notes so that I could tweak the pages before he presented them to the Publisher. It was at this point that we had the unfortunate discussion that led to the e-split reveal that made me walk away from the deal.

Now I know some of you hard-asses out there will say I wasted a lot of this editor's time. It could be said he wasted mine as well. But these are the risks that both sides take when they try to go into business on a project that is not at least 90% there when negotiations start. I think we were both disappointed that it ended up this way, but I bear him no ill will for the "wasted time." I hope he feels the same way, but only he would know that for sure. We still exchange friendly e-mails. But that's not always the truth of things. I know I still like the guy and hope he and his imprint does well.

The bottom line is, I now have about 30,000 words of a book written that I had no intention of tackling at this time in the first place. I like what's there. But the idea of completing it in the immediate future doesn't seem reasonable now that I am embracing the self-publishing e-world. Now that I can write exactly what I want and know it will see print - and then find its own level of success, no matter how minor a success that is - I no longer feel the need to fire that arrow though all those hoops. The only people I need to satisfy now are myself and whatever reading public I can attract with a cover and a synopsis and a daringly low e-price. No more reading boards, marketing boards, big box chain store purchasers who buy your new book based on the sales of your last book (an idiotic law-of-diminishing-returns policy that helped kill the mid-list). No more rules about story length or lowest-common-denominator thinking or marketing. This is incredibly liberating. I dig it.

But now what do I do? I have to go back to the files. Figure out what story I want to write most. And then write it. I can tell you two things: It won't be the book I was working on for Ed. That book is going back into the pot to simmer for a few years. And whatever I do write, it won't be ready any time soon. It takes me a long time to write a book and then, once I do, I rewrite forever. I'm going to try to break those two habits, but I can't promise anything. And I won't be talking in detail about any of the projects until they are ready to see e-ink. I don't like doing that. (I've already said more about the above two works-in-progress than I usually feel comfortable doing.)

In the meantime, I'll be bringing out my first two published books and a short story collection. It's not much to offer, but I want to dip my toe into the e-pond and see if I get any nibbles.

But for now, X, The Book in Question? "Mistah Kurtz - He dead."

Detective Lankford speaks

2011-03-08T16:06:00.000-08:00

Triple Emmy winner Bryan Cranston discusses THE LINCOLN LAWYER, in which he plays the suspiciously named Detective Lankford. I've seen the flick, which is great, but there is definitely some Lankford abuse going on throughout the picture. More on the movie in a few days.

More from Jerry

2011-03-07T06:26:00.000-08:00

The late, great Jerry Fielding

2011-03-06T19:18:00.000-08:00

David Speed sent me the link to this cool montage he created for this early piece by one of my favorite composers, the great Jerry Fielding. I really dig it. Here's how he describes it:

Hi Terrill,

I posted this on Nick Redman's wall yesterday; in addition, I mailed it out to Elizabeth & Hillary Fielding, Mark Hendrik and another handful or so of potentially interested FB friends.

Since your bona fides as a JFAS member are easily discernible, I thought you might also be interested in this artifact of Jerry's early career, which I believe was not only the first recording under his name but also the LAST recording he would make before his arranging and bandleading career, both in and out of the studio, received a big-time - if not exactly welcome - boost by virtue of being blacklisted by his erstwhile Hollywood employers.

A sobering note: recorded in 1953, this album has now reached the ripe old age of 58, one year older than Jerry ever got to be.

Anyhoo, aside from the exemplary arrangement, featuring solos from Fielding friends, Buddy Collette on alto and Joe Howard on trombone (preceded by tenor saxophonist Don Lodice, about whom I can find little in the way of info, much less ANY images), my modest vid features a couple of short but sweet JF-related LA Times articles w/ pics, circa '47 and '52. I do hope you enjoy it.

Sincerely,
David Speed

It happens....

2011-03-05T13:16:00.001-08:00

Another day, another cover

2011-03-04T04:18:00.000-08:00

JT designs covers a lot faster than I can edit old manuscripts.

JT Lindoos strikes again!

2011-03-03T02:30:00.000-08:00

Here's the proposed cover for the new edition of SHOOTERS, courtesy of JT Lindroos. This one is proving a bit more controversial than NORTH OF SUNSET, so I thought I'd give my "followers" a sneak peak and see what you all thought. There will be some tweaks and changes along the way, so all comments and suggestions are welcome.

Me? I love it. But don't let that sway you....

It begins

2011-03-01T06:47:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to do a follow up post to my "line in the sand" rant but let's face it, I'm not much of a blogger. I'm going to try to get better. A lot has happened since that blog. A slightly different version of it ran in the back pages of Publisher's Weekly yesterday, thanks to Wendy Werris and Lynn Andriani. A number of Blogs also reposted the original post, sometimes only reprinting parts of it, which led to some confusion, but it also made me aware that I had left quite a bit out of the story in the first place. I'll try to fill in the gaps in the weeks to come, but right now I am working on bringing some work to the Kindle and its cousins. I'm putting together a team to help guide me through this new land. So far the most important member of this team has been Lee Goldberg, who knows just about everything there is to know about this stuff. He has been my e-Guru and has been an invaluable resource. His blog can be found here: http://leegoldberg.typepad.com/ and at the right side of this page under the title "A Writer's Life."

The second member of the Seven Samurai is JT Lindroos, who kindly dropped me a note after the blog post and said he'd like to help me with the cover designs. I sent him a photo that I wanted to use for a short story collection I'm preparing and he quickly sent me back a number of different designs. I think we've settled on the one up above. Click on it if you want to see it larger. I think he did a great job.

I'll try to post updates as I go along and introduce you to all the people it takes to do this "on your own." Right now I am editing the scanned versions of my first two novels, SHOOTERS and ANGRY MOON. The plan is to get them on Kindle, along with the short story collection, by the end of the month.

So let me know what you think of the new cover. There is still time to make changes. That's what's turning out to be the most fun about this. The quickness and flexibility of not going through committees has a lot going for it.

JT Lindroos can be found here: http://jtlindroos.carbonmade.com/

Michael Connelly discusses the movie version of The Lincoln Lawyer

2011-02-28T04:53:00.001-08:00

The super talented Lansdales

2011-02-27T05:11:00.000-08:00

The French are at it again

2011-02-25T17:49:00.001-08:00

Bravo!

2011-02-22T20:00:00.001-08:00

For my buddy Jeff Falls, who is having neck surgery in the morning:

The Fifth Witness

2011-02-21T16:53:00.001-08:00

Suggested Valentine's Day weekend viewing

2011-02-11T15:38:00.000-08:00

ONCE is a terrific movie about the nature of love, friendship, and (most of all) music. Shot on a shoestring budget in Ireland utilizing a cast of (mostly) non-actors, this movie has a freshness and verve that you won't find in any ten slick Hollywood productions. It's just wonderful. And it's a lot less corny then these clips may lead you to believe. Watch it with your loved ones this weekend if you can.

(But you may want to run the subtitles on the bottom of the screen if you want to understand every single word that comes out of the speakers. There are some heavy accents involved.)

The "embedding" feature has been disabled on the clips listed below, but you can cut and paste them if you want to sample some scenes and music from the movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k_Pe_iNYO4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoSL_qayMCc

Maybe the Mayans were right...but they were talking about the publishing industry

2011-02-04T02:03:00.000-08:00

I have to be careful here. For all kinds of reasons. But here goes...

For the last six months I have been in negotiations for a book deal with the editor-in-chief of a publishing house. It doesn't matter who. It doesn't matter where. What matters is that, after much work by both of us, I had to abruptly cut off all further discussions about the project just as it appeared we were nearing a deal. Why? Because, last Friday, after a long and fruitful conversation on the phone about the new project, and his continued interest in the e-book rights to one of my previously published books, I sent the editor an e-mail in which I asked this question: "What is the split for e-books?"

His response: "The split for e-books is 75% company, 25% author."

Me: "Is this correct or do you have that backwards?"

Radio silence. I figure he thinks I'm kidding. I send up another flare:

Me: "I never heard back from you about this. I was serious in asking if this was a typo. Does the publisher actually take 75% of the e-book dough?"

Him: "Yes. The publisher takes 75%."

Me: "How do you justify that."

Him: "The number has been handed to me."

After about 20 seconds of hard thinking, I do what I usually do when faced with these situations. I set fire to the bridge ahead of me.

Me: "I'm just amazed at this. No amount of "platforming" can justify this rate. If this is the way publishers are going to try to hold onto the business, then I think they are doomed. If that's the rate they expect me to sign up for if I do a deal over there, I'm going to have to pass and save us the time working on the pages. If there is the chance of doing a book deal where I retain the e-book rights, I would be interested, but I think that's what they are really looking for anymore anyway. So guess this is it.

Good luck over there."

Rash? Yes. Stupid? Possibly.

I've spent the last week checking around with some of the agents, editors and writers I know and have found that this is, indeed, the standard rate that publishers are expecting on e-book sales. When I asked my agent how they can justify this, he told me that they would give me a large enough advance that it wouldn't matter for a long time. And yes, the advance we were discussing was very good money for someone who hasn't had a book published in five years and has had what could only be considered "minor" success in the writing field, if that. I was probably a fool to walk away from even the possibility of such a deal. But I had two good reasons for doing so.

My two children.

While this deal may have given my family a quick infusion of cash, the fact is that by the time I finished the book in question the cash would be gone. And by the time that book "earned out" at a rate of 3-1 in the publisher's favor in e-book sales, the publisher would have seen a small fortune without noticeable expense. And we would be saddled with a deal that would probably haunt my family long after I was dead and gone.

(I'm going to bypass all the variable calculations about hardcover sales, paperback sales, editing, marketing, artwork and distribution expenses for right now - let's, for the sake of this discussion, call those elements of the book deal a break-even situation for both sides, so we can just discuss e-books here as if we were starting at zero expense for all involved.)

What this "sizable advance" now looks like to me is a very expensive loan. I have been watching the e-book revolution carefully for the last two years and it is clear to me that by 2012 everything we have thought about traditional publishing will be history. The bookstores know this. The publishers know this. And some of the writers know this. But I have a feeling not everyone has gotten the memo yet.

I'll do some quick math here. Let's say Amazon sold the Kindle edition of a writer's book at $10 per copy. Amazon takes $3, leaving the publisher with $7. Their take would be $5.25, leaving the writer with $1.75. (In my case I then have to cut in my agent and attorneys for an additional 20%, so my take would be $1.40.) So the "publisher" makes $5.25 per copy and the writer makes between $1.40-$1.75 per copy. And this is all with very little tangible expenses, other than the accountants to keep the money all straight. I think the publisher will be doing pretty good while the writer is "earning out" that advance. Does this seem right to anyone out there? Other than publishers?

Another way to look at it would be this: Let's say the publisher picks up one of your old books and turns it into an e-book: text transfers, new editorial, a new cover, placement with the vendors, etc. Right now you yourself can do this for far less than $2,000, so we'll assume the publisher's cost will be that or less. By the time your book has earned you $10,000 in royalties, the publisher would have collected $30,000 for themselves. And what would their contributions have been? A "platform"? Publicity? We've all seen how well publishers promote "mid-list" books. What would make us think that things will change in this new e-world?

Obviously this model can't hold. There will be a revolt. The big time writers out there are already negotiating better terms, but I bet they are still getting the short end of the stick. In the meantime a lot of the little folks who just want to see print again are probably going to be seduced by new interest from publishers. I have a feeling there is going to be a tidal wave of cheap purchases by the publishers hoping to tie up as much material as possible at these usury rates. And then how much will your "platform" be worth? If you are just another name in a list of hundreds fighting for attention on a giant slate of titles you will have handed in your work cheap, with no way of getting it returned to you. Yes, that's right. E-books don't go out of print, so if you don't fight for time limits, your work will be lost to you. Permanently.

This is not for me. So I have no choice but to go full indie here. You heard me. I am walking away from a potential traditional publishing deal and joining the ranks of the self-published. I plan on putting my first two books and a short story collection up as e-books in the next month or so, possibly followed by a few works that I keep hidden in the bottom drawer of my desk to prevent them from harming the public at large. Hopefully this will help finance the completion of the big book that I started those six months ago.

This is a huge gamble for someone in my position. I am not prolific. My habit has been to publish two books every seven years or so. That time was approaching and I was hoping that I had found a new home with this editor and publishing house. But I can't sign away my financial legacy to my children in this fashion, however small it may be. I am far from a big name in the writing biz. Barely a blip on the radar. The fact that this editor had sought me out in the first place was extremely flattering to me. And now I am sure he will feel betrayed by this post, but this is not my intention. He's a good guy. Smart, talented, well read. This is not his fault. This is a global problem in publishing right now. It has nothing to do with individual publishers and is certainly no reflection on editors. (It's just going to make their jobs that much more difficult.)

This is a big topic and I have taken up a lot of your time here. I have so much more to say, about many different aspects of this post, but I think it should be broken up into digestible chunks, so I will continue posting about this over the next few weeks. I am going to have to use this blog (and anything else I can utilize) to reach out and build a community if I am to have any success at "self-publishing" so please sign up here if you can so I know who is reading these messages. Right now it's just me and a jury of 11.

I know an announcement like this by a minor figure in the business will not make much of a difference in the big scheme of things, but maybe my voice will be heard by a few others who are facing similar deals and they will ask themselves if it will really be worth it in the long run before they sign on the dotted line for the short score. This is how a revolution begins. Sometimes. One disgruntled citizen at a time.

As I said last week, for me, I have drawn the line.

Drawing the Line

2011-01-28T22:01:00.000-08:00

Let it be known in the Big Book, or the Fire in the Sky, or wherever else it can be written (I guess right here on Jafo will have to do), that this is the day that I drew the line.

More about that tomorrow. I'm exhausted.

(It was a big line.)

A Blast from the Past

2011-01-11T12:23:00.001-08:00

Thank you, Peter Yates - and farewell

2011-01-10T18:54:00.001-08:00

Sheriff Dupnick needs his own TV show

2011-01-09T10:56:00.000-08:00

This guy knows exactly what's wrong with this country and has no problem saying it.

OUTRAGEOUS!

2011-01-08T11:38:00.000-08:00

Pundit Press: House Representative Gabrielle Giffords Killed by ...: "Breaking: House Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head while holding a public event in Tucson. Anothe..."

HICKEY AND BOGGS

2011-01-08T06:51:00.000-08:00

is now Instant Streaming on Netflix!

What the hell are you waiting for?

Marlon Brando explains why I'll never get married again

2011-01-06T10:40:00.000-08:00

"It's not significant..."

2011-01-06T06:08:00.001-08:00

You gotta love Herzog.

Tonight please remember the immortal words of Grace Jones: "If everyone stopped moving, no one would get hurt!"

2010-12-31T08:45:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! But...

2010-12-30T21:17:00.001-08:00

Merry Merry, Happy Happy

2010-12-24T17:54:00.001-08:00

A new trailer for THE LINCOLN LAWYER

2010-12-23T07:34:00.000-08:00

Nice to see Bryan Cranston finally making the cut. He plays my favorite character in the film. Detective Lankford.... Watch out!

Lest we forget....

2010-12-12T03:22:00.001-08:00

"We've got to keep our heads until this Peace craze blows over."

Here's a guy who believed in the "Trickle Up" theory.

2010-12-11T03:15:00.000-08:00

Whatever happened to the good old days when guys like Robin Hood stole from the rich to give to the poor?

Now it's just the other way around - and the poor seem to like it that way! WTH?

Hey people! Quit letting these guys snow you. There will be no "Trickle Down" bonanza. It's never happened and it never will. It's a hoax. Quit buying it. You look silly. Let's draw the line this year. Now. I'm talking to you, Dems, lame ducks or not.

Hey Billionaires! How about kicking back some of that hard earned dough you got (partially through bribery and manipulation of the laws of our land) and let the villagers eat and get warm this winter? They'll give it all back to you quickly enough. And maybe with a quick jolt of optimism they will breed a new generation of customer, er, villager, so that you can continue to expand your businesses and live in a country that doesn't resemble the Third World.

After all, you want the streets safe when you cruise them in your Bentleys and Jag-U-ars, don't you?

He doesn't look like Jimmy Stewart, but he kicks more ass than Mr. Smith

2010-12-11T01:13:00.000-08:00

While President Obama was breaking out his Bill Clinton machine for a little damage control, Bernie Sanders was opening up an eight and a half hour can of whoop-ass.

I know he's not the only one in Washington who understands what's really going on in this country, but he's one of the few who seems troubled enough to talk about it openly. And at great length.

Go Bernie, go! I'll vote for you next time if you want to run for President - and if they let you live.

Someone left the liquor cabinet unlocked again....

2010-12-10T12:57:00.001-08:00

Don't you hate it when the relatives get smashed and start telling the ugly truth in public?

Lion + White Tiger = Cameron & Zabu!

2010-12-09T18:41:00.000-08:00

Big Cat Halloween - TIGERS LIONS VS PUMPKINS!

2010-12-09T18:36:00.000-08:00

Funny Crazy BIG CAT SOUNDS!

2010-12-09T18:34:00.000-08:00

2010-12-08T14:18:00.000-08:00

2010-12-06T14:28:00.001-08:00

He stands alone

2010-12-03T16:32:00.001-08:00

Another troubling dispatch from St. Louis

2010-12-03T14:56:00.001-08:00