Odds and Sods

Been tidying up the desk here at Secret Dead Blog HQ and found a few items of note that I wanted to pass along...

* In case you haven't seen it yet, the story I wrote for L.A. Noire is now available for as a free download. (Scroll up and down on the same page for links to the other stories.) If you've been playing the game, you'll see that my tale ties right into the "Marriage Made in Heaven" story line.

* Annnnnd on June 6th, you'll be able to buy the complete e-collection for just 99 cents. Cheaper than a beer in the diviest of dives! You can pre-order a copy now at Amazon, Apple's iBooks, or Barnes & Noble.

* Keir Graff at Booklist asked me to recommend a book for their "Mystery Month" series, and I was more than happy to sing the praises of Jim Nisbet's brilliant Dark Companion.

* Fun & Games will be out in less than a month, and I'm happy to report that good reviews keep on rollin' in. The Library Journal says the novel is for "readers who like their action fast, brutal and smart" (and even provides a handy pronunciation key for my absurd surname). Meanwhile, The Mystery Site says that F&G is "fast-paced, well and not overly written."

* If you've pre-ordered Fun & Games, or are considering such a thing, watch this space in a few days. I've got something special in mind for you...

* And last, but nowhere near least, I'm proud to report that my previous novel, Expiration Date, has been nominated for an Anthony Award in the category of Best Paperback Original. (Mr. Goddard, we meet again!) The Anthony winner will be determined by votes from this year's Bouchercon attendees. In completely unrelated news, if you see me at Bouchercon, remind me that I owe you a drink. Several in fact. Here, I'll even hold your ballot so you can pick up that mega-sized cocktail with two hands... there you go... bottoms up...

The Secret Dead Blog Q&A: Dave White

Award-winning crime novelist Dave White has been a friend of Secret Dead Blog for years now, though we're not sure why. The first time Secret Dead Blog met him, Dave made some crack expecting to see a fifty-five-year-old man. (At the time, Secret Dead Blog was 33.) But that was okay. Over the next two years, Secret Dead Blog left a series of increasingly absurd comments on Dave's blog under the pseudonym, "Abe Vigoda." At one point, "Abe Vigoda" even inspired a few copycat Abe Vigodas, which drove poor Dave out of his fool mind. Secret Dead Blog did not reveal the truth about Abe Vigoda until years (and we're talking years) later.

Anyway, Dave is out with an ass-kicking new novel called Witness to Death, so Secret Dead Blog thought it would be fun to ask him a few questions about it.

Secret Dead Blog: Witness to Death is your first stand-alone thriller. What inspired it? (Please tell me that it's totally autobiographical, because that will make my day.)

Dave White: Minus the explosions, vicious assassins, tasers, hand grenades, guns, knives, and running for your life, it was completely autobiographical. 

That's actually not a lie. The main character, John Brighton, is -- well was -- a lot like me. He was a teacher in his late 20s, getting over a break-up, wondering if he's good at his job, and just basically trying to figure out who he is. Sounds like someone in a Nick Hornby novel, in a way. Someone dealing with those guy insecurities we're never allowed to talk about. Then I wanted to take that guy and stick him in a James Bond novel. 

I grew up watching Bond, watching North By Northwest, and I loved those films. I wanted to write something like that, and it had to come from what I knew. And I knew me.  So between that and a trip to Washington, DC where I got to hear all about a spies role in the War on Terrorism at the Spy Museum, the plot for the novel started to grow.

But the heart of the novel is autobiographical. There ya go, Duane. Day made.

SDB: You're bravely venturing into the e-book jungle. What's the best thing about it... and what's the worst?

DW: The best part is the control I have. I got to pick the cover, I got to have it formatted the way I wanted it. I put it up myself so I could choose when it went on sale. I love that. If the book succeeds it's because of me. If it fails, it's still because of me. There's a lot of freedom with that.

And, not to sound like a canned answer in a job interview, but the worst part is also having total control. I can check sales anytime I want and I can see when the book is moving and/or not moving. If it's not moving, I feel like I want to do something about it... I'm trying to implement some rules on myself (number of times I can check sales, how much I can post about the book and where)... but it's hard and it's really iPhone-like addictive. 

SDB: Why did you ignore my sage advice and not kill Jackson Donne at the end of his first appearance in your acclaimed debut, When One Man Dies?

DW: He is dead. He died at the end of the first book. You just have to read between the lines to see it.  And what's cool about that is... the second book, The Evil That Men Do is actually a really wild ghost story.

I took your advice, I just didn't want to tell you. How much credit can I give my mentor?

SDB: What's up next for you, novel or story-wise?

DW: There are a few things on the boiler. I have to write a few short stories that I'm not sure I'm allowed to talk about yet. I'm revising a serial killer novel about a man who's not really a serial killer.  And I have an idea for a new PI and a new PI series that I want to work on. Lots of ideas, just gotta get 'em on paper.  Or computer screen...

SDB: How angry were you when I confessed to being your "Abe Vigoda" stalker after all those years?

DW: I'm not sure I was angry as much as stunned. When you told me, it felt like the end of The Usual Suspects... all the pieces began to fall into place. All the clues made sense... the little hints. Of course, "Abe" was a kind of martyr... the end of his era seemed to touch of a continuous stream of anonymous or half-hearted celebrities who wanted to comment on my blog and make fun of me. Once I got over the stunned feeling, I think I actually ended up a bit impressed. You know how to keep a secret. Well done, sir.

Witness to Death is available at Amazon (for the amazing low price of 99 cents!) and Barnes & Noble (also only 99 cents). Pick up a copy, keep the kid out of trouble.

Fun, Games and Fire

Behold... the cover for the German edition of my next novel, Fun & Games! You can click on the image for a larger view.

Let me point out a few things about this cover. For one thing, the title is not German for "fun and games"; that particular phrase does not translate. So instead, it's Der Bewacher, which according to my publisher means something like "the keeper" or "the minder," especially of property. Which makes perfect sense, because the series hero (Charlie Hardie) is a house sitter. The next two books in the series will follow a similar pattern: Hell & Gone will be called Der Wärter ("the warden"), and Point & Shoot will be called Der Retter ("the rescuer"). Not to spoil anything... but those titles are pretty spot-on.

Then there's a cover image itself, which is pretty damned Die Hard-ian, if you ask me. I love it. Yes, it points to a particular scene in the novel. Two scenes, in fact. It's also a nice change from my previous Heyne covers, which focused on a single element (a shovel, an hourglass, a champagne flute, etc.).

But the biggest change is the name. This is the debut of "Duane Swierczynski" in Germany. Previously, my novels appeared under the name of "Duane Louis" (my first and middle names). I've written about this before, so I won't bore you with the same old story one more time. I am curious to see if German readers will be as mystified by the pronunciation as American readers. (Remember kids, it's easy: sweer-ZIN-ski. Ask for it by name!)

Anyway, what do you guys think? Hot as hell, or a bit too 'splodey?

That's Noire With an "E," Pal

I swear, I have the receipt to prove it.

I pre-ordered my copy of L.A. Noire, the forthcoming detective thriller game from Rockstar, back in January, many weeks before I even caught wind of any anthology, let alone the idea that I might be part of it. Now, I'm not much of a gamer. The last video game I really went wild for was Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto III way back in December 2001, in those lazy, crazy months before I became a father. (Our son Parker, the hardcore gamer in the family, was born the following March.)

But the siren call of L.A. Noire was too great to resist. Like GTA III, the game offers the opportunity to wallow in crime and mayhem in a sprawling urban environment. In GTA III, it was the fictional "Liberty City." In L.A. Noire, however, you're racing around a breathtakingly-accurate postwar Los Angeles, solving crimes straight out of the darkest film noirs and crime thrillers of that era. The game's out May 17, at which point my son Parker will have to surrender his X-Box controller for a few weeks. (Sorry, son. But I am bigger than you.)

This is why I was insanely excited to contribute a story to L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories, an anthology of eight tales spinning out of (and around) the L.A. Noire universe. The lineup (present company excluded) is flat-out stellar: Megan Abbott. Lawrence Block. Joe Lansdale. Joyce Carol Oates. Francine Prose. Jonathan Santlofer. Andrew Vachss. Each story will roll out separately over the next few weeks, and then released as a Mulholland Books ebook on June 6, complete with an introduction by Charles "Hard Case" Ardai. You can find the complete rundown of stories, along with a teaser excerpt of Megan Abbott's "The Girl," right here at the Rockstar website.

My contribution is called "Hell of An Affair," and I'll let you guys know the minute it's online. The best part of the research process was traveling up to Rockstar Games for a top-secret preview of the game. I am bound by nondisclosure agreements, so I can't reveal a blessed thing, but let me just say this: I am very, very glad I pre-ordered my copy. The boy will just have to deal with it.