Attention: New York City Residents!

I have a favor to ask. Rumor has it that one of those 42nd Street light screens (near the Times Square subway station) is currently featuring an ad that shows how easy it is to browse Amazon.com from your cell phone. The search on the phone is for the word "blonde," and my own novel, The Blonde, is one of the three book covers that pop up in the ad.

I heard about this being a possibility about a year ago, so this is not coming out of the blue. Still, I've love to see it. So here's the deal:

The first person who sends me a photo of that ad will receive (in addition to my undying gratitude) a signed copy of Level 26: Dark Origins, which isn't even in stores yet. You can send that photo to me at duane [dot] swier [at] verizon [dot] net, replacing the dots and ats with the usual symbols.

Thanks in advance, New Yorkers!

Update: Former New Yorker Mike Dawson has come through for me, big time. (See above post.)

Gimme A Shot, Next Round's On Me

Michel Lacombe and I worked on six blood-splattered issues of Punisher MAX together, and now they're all available in one affordable trade paperback, just out from Marvel this week. Punisher MAX: Six Hours to Kill includes not only the five issues of our arc, but also our one-shot story, "Force of Nature." It's available at comic shops everywhere; bookstores should have it in a few weeks.

Or, if you're anywhere near Philly, you can pick up one next Tuesday at McGillin's Ale House, where I'll be signing copies. Again, my offer stands: buy a copy of Six Hours to Kill, and I'll buy you a pint of McGillin's 1860 IPA. McGillin's was featured in Six Hours (under the name "Interesting Times"), which you can see in the above panel. This fictional bar takes quite a beating in the story. Windows are shattered. Tables and chairs are smashed into splinters. The entire building is shot to hell, blown up with rocket-launched grenades, then set ablaze. I'm kind of suprised the McGillin's folks want me anywhere near the place.

But hey, I guess it's no hard feelings. Hope to see you some of you there! (1310 Drury Street, 6 p.m.)

Molly Goes to Japan

The Japanese edition of Severance Package is out from Hayakawa, and they were kind enough to send me a box full of 'em via sea mail. Will you look at that bad ass cover? I love it even more than Hayakawa's edition of The Blonde (and I was pretty fond of that one, too). Even better, the novel's "death list" is faithfully reproduced in the text, cross-outs and everything, and they've included Dennis Calero's fantastic full-page illustrations. Best of all, there's no dude in a raccoon suit. (Just kidding, Newton and Compton!) What do you guys think?

Never Heard of Him

In an e-mail early this morning, Charles Ardai finally revealed the title and author of Hard Case Crime's top-secret extra December release:

And what is the book...? It's the very hard-boiled story of a man murdered by a blast from a sawed-off shotgun to the face at point-blank range; of a criminal on the run from Chicago who comes to a dirty Pennsylvania coal-mining town and winds up locking horns with the corrupt Masonic lodge that runs the town; of a Pinkerton detective who sets out to clean up the town; and of the doom that pursues a man across an ocean and leaves him at the mercy of the world's most ruthless criminal mastermind. It's a story narrated by a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, whose partner in investigating the twisted plot is a drug addicted private investigator with a brain like a steel trap. And wait till you see the cover -- Glen Orbik has really outdone himself here, with his portrait of a gorgeous, bosomy dame in a transparent negligee watching with horror as a man with a brand on his arm appears in her doorway. And the author -- it's one of the best-selling authors in the world. His books have been made into movies, computer games, comic books; they've sold tens of millions of copies. He's not someone you'd think of as a Hard Case Crime author in a million years!

Ardai's dug up some real obscure gems in the past, but I think he's outdone himself this time. Anybody know anything about this "Doyle" guy?

Sanity Claws

The trade paperback collection of my Werewolf By Night arc (with artist Mico Suayan) is finally available at comic shops everywhere. (You can probably find a copy at certain bookstores and Amazon.com, too, but go on, show your local nerd hangout some love.) Werewolf By Night: In the Blood is part of Marvel's MAX (read: adult) line, so you may not want to hand out copies at your next children's birthday party. I guess it depends on the kid.

What's cool about this edition is that includes a reprint of both Tomb of Dracula #18 (by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan) and Werewolf By Night #15 (Wolfman and Mike Ploog) from the early 1970s, both of which warped my mind as a young lad. I'll never forget the epic battle between Jack Russell and ol' Drac, and I tried to pay homage to their otherworldly fisticuffs in "In the Blood." You'll know it when you see it.

Anyway, I hope you'll check out a copy. This is my first full-on horror story in quite some time, and it makes me want to make good on my long-standing threat of writing a full-on horror novel one of these days...

Crawling Out of the Cave

With a few exceptions, I've spent the past year hunkered down in Secret Dead Blog HQ, writing my Polish ass off. I haven't done many signings, except for last fall's Bouchercon and the most recent NYC Comic-Con. Well, hunker down/Polish ass time is over. I'll be emerging from the basement for three very special, quite possibly beer-soaked events...

First up is a hang-out/signing at McGillin's Ale House in downtown Philly on Tuesday, August 25 at 6 p.m. McGillin's served as the model for a fictional bar called "Interesting Times" in my Punisher MAX arc (with Michel Lacombe), so I'll be there to sign copies of the trade paperback collection, sold by my pals at Brave New Worlds. Standing offer: buy a copy of Punisher MAX: Six Hours to Kill, and I'll buy you a pint of McGillin's 1860 IPA. (1310 Drury Street, 215-735-5562.)

Next up: I've been invited to be a guest on Comic Book Club, a live comic book talk show in NYC, on Tuesday, September 8 at 8 p.m. Past guests have included folks like Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Joe Quesada, Bill Hader, Brian Michael Bendis, Dan Slott, Seth Meyers, among other luminaries. If you're in NYC, I hope you'll stop by. I won't be able to buy you a beer at the show, but hell, afterwards anything's possible. (The Peoples Improv Theater, 154 West 29th Street, 2nd Floor, NYC. Tickets: $5.)

And finally, I'll be at the Bouchercon 2009 World Mystery Convention in Indianapolis. No word yet on panels or such, but it's good bet you'll find me in the bar with the rest of the crime-writing reprobates.

The Punisher's Been Busy

"Pulitzer-nominated Inquirer crime reporter George Anastasia puts the total number of currently active mobsters at just 20 guys. To put that in perspective, the Blind Bowlers Association of Delaware numbers 24."

--from "Whatever Happened to the South Philly Mob?" by Steve Volk in the current issue of Philadelphia Magazine.