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July 29th, 2021

One of my morning mantra’s is always to the hardest thing first and don’t try to be perfect. If I write 2 pages each day, even if they are crappy, it gets me closer to a manuscript that I can refine.

With that in mind, let’s get this done.

Here are 3 crime fiction links, 2 quotes, and 1 question for this week:

3 LINKS

• CrimeReads breaks down why SNEAKERS works despite the odds (and story elements) set against it. Casting certainly didn’t hurt it.
  
  
• The NYT has a short excerpt of Erik Larson’s upcoming audio-only historical ghost story novella. At this point, fiction or non-fiction, I’ll give Larson a shot.
  
  
• Genre award season is wrapping up but plenty of heavyweights hit the Ned Kelly short list. Wouldn’t want to be a judge on that panel.

2 QUOTES

Two quotes from 1992’s SNEAKERS this week:

• “I couldn’t have you talking to the Russians. Five years ago, yes, we could trust them not to go running to the F.B.I. or if they did we could trust the F.B.I. not to believe them, but today we can’t trust anybody.”
  
  
• “There’s a war out there, old friend. A world war. And it’s not about who’s got the most bullets. It’s about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think… it’s all about the information!”

1 QUESTION

• What is your favorite 90’s heist movie?

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Until next Thursday, happy reading,

Mike

Author the Max Strong thriller series

July 22nd, 2021

Back from a much needed break and trying to follow the advice of Atomic Habits author James Clear: “”Finishing projects is part of what it means to deliver high quality work. It’s not high quality if your perfectionism prevents you from finishing.”

Okay let’s get to it.

Here are 3 crime fiction links, 2 quotes, and 1 question for this week:

3 LINKS

• At the NYT Book Review pod (from last week) S.A. Cosby talks about the environment and men that he grew up with that imbued Ike and Buddy Lee in Razorblade Tears.
  
  
• At CrimeReads, Alma Katsu and Owen Matthews talk spy fiction, writing about a field that’s largely known by the audience through television and movies, Russia, and historical settings.
  
  
• Novel Suspects hopscotches over the heroes and looks at the villains that defined certain thriller novels.

2 QUOTES

Two quotes from spy writing master John le Carre this week:

• ““A desk is a dangerous place from which to watch the world.”
  
  
• “Do you know what love is? I’ll tell you: it is whatever you can still betray.”

1 QUESTION

• What is your favorite Cold War spy thriller novel?

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Until next Thursday, happy reading,

Mike

Author the Max Strong thriller series

July 1st, 2021

The year is officially half over. A good time to take stock, re-motivate, and bang out those goals for the second half the year.

Personally, finish and publish the next Max, figure out a plan for audio, and write a new short story. I think it’s doable.

Okay let’s get to it.

Here are 3 crime fiction links, 2 quotes, and 1 question for this week:

3 LINKS

• PW talks to Louise Penny about the upcoming 17th Gamache, why she writes about murder, alcohol abuse, immortality, and a Three Pines series to stream on Amazon.
  
  
• The Guardian finds Tarantino’s mash-up style works pretty well for pulp noir as his own paperback adaptation for ONCE UPON A TIME, with a different ending, hits shelves.
  
  
• Titus Welliver chats with Vulture about playing Bosch, the next TV show, doing a police show now, humor, and The Wire.

2 QUOTES

Two quotes from Tarantino movies this week:

• “Gentlemen, you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention.”
  
  
• “You shoot me in a dream, you better wake up and apologize.”

1 QUESTION

• What is your favorite streaming mystery or thriller series on Amazon Prime?

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Until next Thursday, happy reading,

Mike

Author the Max Strong thriller series

June 24th, 2021

It’s officially summer, as my kids are fond of telling me, I hope you have a beach bag packed and a book (or two, or three) ready to go. No books packed? I’ve got some ideas then. Keep reading.

Let’s get right to it this week.

Here are 3 crime fiction links, 2 quotes, and 1 question for this week:

3 LINKS

• DREAM GIRL is high on my summer beach TBR list, so I was happy to read this USAT review that finds Lippman nailed this psychological standalone.
  
  
• The NYTs highlights 14 news books to look forward to next month, including some genre picks like a techno-thriller, a Victorian-age true crime tale, and Cosby’s follow-up to WASTELAND (my top pick for July!)
  
  
• BuzzFeed calls out new paperbacks dropping this month including a whole bunch of genre books I’d love to stuff into my beach bag or vacation suitcase.

2 QUOTES

Two quotes from Laura Lippman this week:

• “Anyone can love a perfect place. Loving Baltimore takes some resilience.”
  
  
• “I like books steeped in the quotidian – details about work and place. You can learn how to run a chicken-and-waffle restaurant by reading ‘Mildred Pierce.’ And I like fiction about money.”

1 QUESTION

• I think Lippman’s crime fiction is underrated. Her career seemed poised to take off in the early 2000s but didn’t quite catch. Who is your favorite under the radar crime writer?

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Until next Thursday, happy reading,

Mike

Author the Max Strong thriller series

June 17th, 2021

Show up. Do the job. Get out. Repeat.

Donald Westlake writing as Richard Stark has Parker say that at one point. Struck me that it could also apply to just about any job that you want to (eventually) do well.

So let’s get to it.

Here are 3 crime fiction links, 2 quotes, and 1 question for this week:

3 LINKS

• Pop Sugar picks the worst Netflix book adaptations including a few thrillers. Not sure you can say BEHIND HER EYES was adapted poorly. It was pretty faithful to book.
  
  
• Vulture’s summer reading preview includes Abbott’s THE TURNOUT and Hawkin’s SLOW FIRE.
  
  
• CrimeReads looks at how THE LIMEY continues to stand out from other neo-noirs. Need to go back and rewatch.

2 QUOTES

Two quotes from Soderbergh’s THE LIMEY:

• “I’m looking for a different kind of satisfaction.”
  
  
• “What are we standing on?” “Trust.”

1 QUESTION

• Soderbergh’s other caper and crime pics get a lot more attention. Have you seen The Limey? What do you think?

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Until next Thursday, happy reading,

Mike

Author the Max Strong thriller series

June 10th, 2021

In both writing a novel and an author’s career, or any career really, patience is an often overlooked asset. Big bestsellers or get rich quick schemes make the news but in a lot of fields, if you just keep plugging away at the reasonable expectations longer than anyone else you will find your own success.

That’s been my mantra marching through the new book or anytime I feel like my sales have stalled out. Just keep going.

Okay, let’s get to it.

Here are 3 crime fiction links, 2 quotes, and 1 question for this week:

3 LINKS

• PW has a mini-profile of 84 year old James Lee Burke ahead of the publications of his 41st novel (with at least another in the can already) ANOTHER KIND OF EDEN, the 11th in his time hopping Holland series.
  
  
• The WaPo with… a bemused review of THE PRESIDENT’S DAUGHTER finding the second Patterson/Clinton thriller “as startling as the shift from tan to beige.”
  
  
• Stephen King talks to the Irish Times about LISEY, stalkers, near death experiences, and pizza cutters.

2 QUOTES

Two quotes from Burke’s Robicheeaux:

• “Coincidence is your Higher Power acting with anonymity.”
  
  
• “Mortality is not kind, and do not let anyone tell you it is.”

1 QUESTION

• Do you have a favorite Robicheaux or other James Lee Burke book? My favorite is probably NEON RAIN or ELECTRIC MIST.

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Until next Thursday, happy reading,

Mike

Author the Max Strong thriller series

June 3rd, 2021

I’m 25k words into the new book and feel like I’m flailing around in a pool of Jell-O. Part of me knows this is completely normal. Part of me is terrified I forgot how to write. Deep breath. Write the next sentence.

Okay, let’s get to it.

Here are 3 crime fiction links, 2 quotes, and 1 question for this week:

3 LINKS

• We all want to go somewhere, even just in our own heads. CrimeReads looks at the exploding sub-genre of destination thrillers “Part-Christie, part Conde Nast Traveller.”
  
  
• NPR’s Fresh Air looks at two recent thrillers that use plagiarism as the primary plot device.
  
  
• New month, new books. Looking forward to reading Lippman’s return to fiction, BATH HAUS caught my interest and I always spend at least one beach day with the annual Riley Sager.

2 QUOTES

Two about mystery novels this week:

• “When I am thickening my plots, I like to think ‘What if … What if … ‘ Thus my imagination can move from the likely, which everyone can think of, to the unlikely-but-possible, my preferred plot.” – Patricia Highsmith
  
  
• “The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.” – Arthur Conan Doyle

1 QUESTION

• Do you read the same author each month of the year? I do tend to read favorite authors as soon as I can. The last few years, I’ve found July and Riley Sager go together pretty well. Perhaps with a beach chair and a boat drink.

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Until next Thursday, happy reading,

Mike

Author the Max Strong thriller series

May 27th, 2021

Sometimes, mostly as a way of procrastinating, I sit at my desk or prolong the cup of coffee and try to think of the perfect line to start a scene and start my day of writing. I often sit there for a long time, avoiding the work. Avoiding getting started. The mind is amazing and can play amazing tricks on you with false resistance. Just get started. Just put down some words. They don’t have to be perfect.

Okay, let’s get to it.

Here are 3 crime fiction links, 2 quotes, and 1 question for this week:

3 LINKS

• CrimeReads has an interesting excerpt from UNDEREXPOSED!: THE 50 GREATEST MOVIES NEVER MADE that looks at the what-if behind Fincher and the graphic novel TORSO.
  
  
• A Steinbeck murder-werewolf potboiler might be an easier high school summer reading sell than GRAPES. Not saying skip the classics but could be a good gateway drug.
  
  
• If you are in the US, you can finally check out the Eric Bana-led adaptation fof Jane Harper’s debut THE DRY. It was a hit down under. In select theaters or IFC on demand.

2 QUOTES

Two from Steinbeck this week:

• “I wonder how many people I’ve looked at all my life and never seen.”
• “There ain’t no sin and there ain’t no virtue. There’s just stuff people do.”

1 QUESTION

• Do you have a favorite thriller or mystery written by a ‘serious’ writer? Graham Green or Patricia Highsmith comes to mind for me.

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Until next Thursday, happy reading,

Mike

Author the Max Strong thriller series

May 20th, 2021

I’ve found myself quitting more books recently or getting frustrated. I’ve been re-reading more and more books. And you know what? That’s okay. I’ve been reading thrillers because I want to improve my own writing and storytelling and I think quitting books that aren’t helping me with that is a better recipe for success. Read a lot. Quit a lot. Read the best ones twice.

Okay, let’s get to it.

Here are 3 crime fiction links, 2 quotes, and 1 question for this week:

3 LINKS

• THE PLOT is building to be the first big “It” book of the summer. Most of the reviews have been gushing positive. If you want one that offers a different perspective then NPR finds that the many grace notes of THE PLOT can’t overcome the accompanying pedestrian passages.
  
  
• Not an angle I’ve come across before: the lust for property as primary plot driver in Tana French mystery novels.
  
  
• If you haven’t been following along to the long and twisting tale of both novel and film, EW has a timeline on the history of THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW.

2 QUOTES

Two from Tana French this week:

• “I am not good at noticing when I’m happy, except in retrospect.”
• “What I am telling you, before you begin my story, is this — two things: I crave truth. And I lie.”

1 QUESTION

• Do you have a favorite thriller or mystery adaptation that made you actually love the book or series more? No Country for Old Men comes to mind for me.

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Until next Thursday, happy reading,

Mike

Author the Max Strong thriller series

May 13th, 2021

I’ll pass the 10,000 word mark on the new novel today and this is where it starts to get harder. The first part of a story is all fresh, and new, and comes out quickly. Then it gets harder to make it look easy. This is when I remember a favorite quote from Maya Angelou:

“I try to pull the language into such a sharpness that it jumps off the page. It must look easy, but it takes me forever to get it to look so easy. Of course, there are those critics — New York critics as a rule — who say, Well, Maya Angelou has a new book out and of course it’s good but then she’s a natural writer. Those are the ones I want to grab by the throat and wrestle to the floor because it takes me forever to get it to sing. I work at the language.”

So it’s not just me. It’s work for even one of the very best. Better get to it.

Here are 3 crime fiction links, 2 quotes, and 1 question for this week:

3 LINKS

• Unfortunately, the WaPo finds that a lot of solid pieces don’t quite add up to a solid movie in the Sheridan/Jolie adaptation of Koryta’s THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD. Of all the Koryta books this would not have been in my top 5 to adapt into a film.
  
  
• The upcoming Apple adaptation of King’s LISEY’S STORY with Julianne Moore has a trailer. I remember really enjoying this book but I think I forgot how much was going on in LISEY’S STORY.
  
  
• Forget song of the summer, Crime Reads looks at the upcoming slate of summer crime fiction including new thrillers by Lippman, Cosby’s BLACKTOP follow-up, Meg Abbott’s take on ballet (yikes) and plenty more.

2 QUOTES

Two from LISEY’S STORY this week:

• “There was a lot they didn’t tell you about death, she had discovered, and one of the biggies was how long it took the ones you loved most to die in your heart.”
• “There were no ghosts. Only memory.”

1 QUESTION

• Do you have a favorite memory of reading one of the buzzy books of summer past? I can still remember reading Gone Girl in a frenzied beach weekend.

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Until next Thursday, happy reading,

Mike

Author the Max Strong thriller series