My Favorite Writing Advice (Third in a Series)

Ken Bruen, to interviewer (and novelist) Ray Banks:

"I like to strip everything to the bone, see if it stands up by itself. The doorstop books -- 500 pages and up -- Jesus wept, who has that amount of time to piss away. Ninety percent of what I read is padding and I roar, "Get the fuck on with it!"

You can read the full Bruen/Banks interview at Allan Guthrie's Noir Originals.

My Favorite Sentences (First in a Series)

The crime teletype machine was quiet at police headquarters... so I decided to sneak away and go to the opening of the opera.

From Naked City by Weegee (Essential Books, 1945)

Your First Look at Hope...

... all grown up.

CABLE #21
Written by DUANE SWIERCZYNSKI
Penciled by HUMBERTO RAMOS,
LAN MEDINA & PAUL GULACY
Cover by MARKO DJURDEVIC
“HOMECOMING,” PART 1
PRELUDE TO “X-MEN: SECOND COMING” EVENT!

From the moment Cable jumped into the time stream with the infant “mutant messiah,” he's had only one goal: keep Hope alive until she can choose her own destiny. But now, stranded on a planet in its death throes, eating fried rat on a stick for the millionth time, Hope turns to Cable and tells him she's ready to go home. Thus begins “Homecoming,” the penultimate chapter in the X-Men saga that began with “Messiah CompleX.” It's not only zero hour for Cable and Hope, but also for the mutant hunting them, Lucas Bishop, who is rapidly running out of chances to save mutantkind and the world. Because if Hope does make it back to the present, everything changes for the X-Men.

40 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Another Reason I Love Dashiell Hammett

In this single Hammett novel the detective shot and stabbed one man to death, helped shoot another dead, was himself attacked with dagger, gun, chloroform and bomb, fought off a ghostly manifestation barehanded, wrestled with five women, cured a girl of narcotic addiction — and … was obliged to deal with one seduction, eight murders, a jewel burglary, and a family curse.

--John Barlow Martin, writing in Harper's Magazine (via Mystery*File.com)

Forthcoming Comicbookery

It's been a while since I've updated you guys on forthcoming comic book stuff.

First, there's Cable, which has just kicked off a new story arc: "Brood." Cable #18 is in shops now; Marvel.com has posted five preview pages of Gabriel Guzman's art from #19.

Speaking of Cable: In November, I'll be writing a series of Cable and Hope backup stories that will appear in four different X-books as a lead-up to the big fat Cable arc, "Homecoming" (which starts in Cable #21). These four stories are collectively called "Long Way Home," and will detail previously unseen moments throughout Cable and Hope's adventures. I've literally just learned the name of the artist who will be doing these stories, and I'm still giddy with fanboy glee. I wish I could tell. God, I really wish I could tell you. But you'll have to wait for the formal announcement.

I've also written a short story for Punisher: Frank Castle #75, an anthology due out this October. My story's called "Ghoul," and the artist is the one and only Tomm Coker, the mad genius who illustrated the cover of my novel, Severance Package. I've been dying to work with Tomm for a long time, and I'm thrilled we were paired up for this. The anthology also features the comics debut of Tom Piccirilli, and stories by Charlie Huston, Peter Milligan and Gregg Hurwitz, with art by Coker, Ken Lashley, Das Pastoras and Laurence Campbell.

Annnd I've written a short Deadpool story called "What Happens in Vegas," which will appear in October's Deadpool #900, with illustrations by the amazing Shawn Crystal. Other writers and artists jumping into the 'Pool: Jason Aaron, Victor Gischler, Mike Benson, Fred Van Lente, Joe Kelly, Charlie Huston, Kyle Baker, Sanford Greene, Damion Scott, Chris Staggs, Dalibor Talajic and the one and only Rob Liefeld.

But wait! that's not all! There are still two installments of my Immortal Iron Fist backup story ("Caretakers,"), which will appear in Immortal Weapons #4 and 5, due out in October and November. IW #4 is my own contribution to this mini-series, a one-shot tale starring the enigmatic Tiger's Beautiful Daughter, with art by Khari Evans.

So yeah. A lot of short stories. A lot of Cable. And there's another mini-series I'm working on that I can't talk about quite yet. (And no, it's not Jiminy Cricket MAX #1.)

Downtown Philly 1959

The corner of 15th and Walnut.

(Photo from the Philadelphia Dept. of Record/PhillyHistory.org.)

An Anniversary Gift So Cool, You'll Wish You Were Married to My Wife

The Bride just handed me the best anniversary present ever: a Limited Edition Cable statue by sculptor Junnosuke Abe, inspired by his appearance in Cable #5 (and the artwork of the amazing Ariel Olivetti). But man, the photo just doesn't do it justice. This Cable is 13 4/5 inches of cold-cast porcelain bad ass-ery, complete with the armored baby carrier and oversized Liefeld-style gun. Plus: Flip a switch on the base and Cable's techno-organic eye lights up.

But wait! That's not all! Remove the top of the baby carrier, and look who's there!

Awwww, it's baby Hope, long before she even had a name!

So now Cable (and the baby) are guarding my comics collection. If you're nice to me, I'll let you look at it next time you visit. It's scary how well The Bride knows me, after all of these years. I feel like a kid at Christmas.

(Special thanks to fellas at Brave New Worlds in Philly, who helped The Bride acquire this glittering, techno-organic prize.)

My Favorite Writing Advice (Second in a Series)

Howard Browne, pulp magazine editor and novelist (mostly under the name John Evans), once looked back on his writing process:

"I always started a novel with one thing in mind: present the interesting characters facing an interesting situation, and then take the next logical step. At the end of the process you'll have a novel. I never made a false start on a novel, and I never had writer's block... that I can remember!"

From Howard Browne's "A Brief Memoir," included in Incredible Ink, a collection of his pulp stories (Dennis McMillan, 1997).

Sqweegel's on the Loose...

... but there's no need to keep it secret. Tell everybody: Level 26: Dark Origins, the horror-thriller I co-wrote with CSI creator Anthony E. Zuiker, is finally available in finer bookshops and online book emporiums everywhere. There's also a nifty Kindle version you can download in about a minute flat, and an audiobook version read by John Glover. (I've always had a warm spot in my heart for Glover after his cameo in a faux RoboCop 2 commercial.)

Level 26 can be read straight through in book form. You won't have any trouble following the story. However, I do recommend watching the "cyberbridges" (short film clips available free online) along the way; it's a cool and unique way to experience the story. Sure, maybe the characters look different in your mind's eye. But you really owe it to yourself to see the sick, twisted shit going on in Zuiker's mind's eye...

If you are picking up a copy, I'd love to hear what you think. You can leave comments here, or better yet, join the party over at Level26.com.

My Favorite Writing Advice (First in a Series)

Marcel Duhamel, editor of Gallimard's famous La Serie Noire, to novelist Chester Himes:

"Get an idea. Start with action, somebody does something--a man reaches out a hand and opens a door, light shines in his eyes, a body lies on the floor, he turns, looks up and down the hall... Always action in detail. Make pictures. Like motion pictures. Always the scenes are visible. No stream of consciousness at all. We don't give a damn who's thinking what--only what they're doing. Always doing something. From one scene to another. Don't worry about it making sense. That's for the end. Give me 220 typed pages."

From James Sallis' Chester Himes: A Life (Walker & Company, 2001).

Look, Ma! My Name Up in Lights on Times Square! (Kind Of!)

Big thanks to Mike Dawson, who snapped the above photo for me at the corner of 7th and 42nd. If you squint, you can see the cover of my novel, The Blonde, on that big cell phone. (Click on it for a larger version.) It's an ad, of course, showing how you can search Amazon.com for "blondes" right there on your Sprint-powered phone. Mike reports: "The image appears towards the end of a three to five minute loop illustration the joys of Sprint cellular service."

Mike, for his trouble, will be receiving a signed copy of Level 26: Dark Origins, which will be out exactly a week from today. (Have you pre-ordered your copy yet? What, do I have to take out an ad on Times Square? Sheesh.)