Where Stories Come From: "Publish or Perish" - MARTY QUADE

(Revised 03/04/2024)

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I've always believed that most young men (or, more specifically, most young white men) tend to gravitate and get their philosophies from one of two authors: Ayn Rand or Raymond Chandler.

I'm grateful I chose the latter since I spent my college and graduate school years poring over hardboiled detective novels. It started with Robert B. Parker's Spenser, with his unconventional morality (see Early Autumn, Ceremony, A Savage Place, and Taming a Sea Horse for details). That led to Raymond Chandler, Mickey Spillane, Jim Thompson, and Sara Paretsky...yes, I was a moody young man, wasn't I?

But all of them wrote about men with their own codes of honor, who could aim wisecracks as well as their guns...and I was hooked.

So when Ron Fortier of Airship 27 asked me to contribute to this anthology shortly after the publication of "The Magnificent Anderson" in Black Bat Mystery - Volume 3,  I jumped at the opportunity.  Thanks to a recent reading of The Pulp Jungle by Frank Gruber (motivated by one of my mother's coworkers who claimed to be the writer's daughter-in-law) that helped me develop my writing/work ethic...both spurred me to write a tale set in the pulp-writing industry.

(No, I didn't know about William Bogart's Hell on Friday, which is now in my to-read pile).

Shortly after being commissioned, I served on a panel for the DePaul Pop Culture Conference Celebration of Joss Whedon. Much of the "fuel" for the story came from a conversation with a fellow Chicago Nerd Social Club board member (who I thought was full of themselves at the time; we've since reconciled) and meeting a fellow CNSC member (who subconsciously served as the model for one of the lead characters).

As I explain in the essay that accompanies "Publish or Perish" in Marty Quade, Volume One, writing the story was not easy...but once I got the hang of it, prose came out almost lightning fast. It also helped that I could download and read various Quade stories (which  I've linked to in this sponsor-only Patreon update).

But it's one of the first stories where I "hit my stride" in terms of writing; there was a comfort level there (I had invented my own "hardboiled" character - a social worker who was a cop's son - in college), and I felt like I was "in my territory."

Honestly, I want to return to the world of Marty Quade...and I have a corker of an idea. The title alone tells the story...but one step at a time.

So please buy Marty Quade, Volume One...if only to justify Airship 27 commissioning Volume Two. You can find that and other things I've written via my Amazon author page. 

Where Stories Come From: HOLLYWOOD MYSTERY - In The Frame

(Revised 03/09/2024) 

I know, it's been a while since I've blogged...at least, on this blog. (And I'll have my usual online appearance roundabout post out this weekend), but I thought it would be a great idea to launch into an explanation of how my latest published tale, "In the Frame" for ProSe Productions' Hollywood Mystery anthology, came to pass.

TL; DR - It's all Tommy Hancock's fault.

(OK, let me get one thing off my chest - people who use TL; DR should be shot. It's pretentious, pandering, and disrespectful because instead of getting to the point, they're choosing to lecture you....then summarize why they're lecturing you. But I digress...)

After "Cowboy of the Dakotas" was published in Pulpternative (still available for your reading pleasure), I had a great idea for a story. What if, after a disfiguring accident in 1918, Harold Lloyd decided to quit movies....and become a private eye? With the nascent idea for "Harold Lloyd: Private Investigator" ready for Pulpternative, Vol 2, I had encountered Tommy (head of Pro Se Productions, and the best editor I've ever worked with) at Windy City Pulp Con, and he had indicated a desire for stories for Hollywood Mystery So I gave him the best pitch I ever gave in my life...

…and he said "No".

As Tommy explained, Hollywood Mystery was focused on film stars who stumbled upon mysteries....but had to be realistic. So unless Harold Lloyd was a private detective...I needed to focus elsewhere.

So that weekend, I embarked on my quest to build out the idea....and ended up watching Buster Keaton's The General with The Rocketeer movie soundtrack playing in the background. And then, inspiration hit: Keaton, Lloyd, and Chaplin were always seen as the big three of silent comedy. Chaplin was a well-known superstar...so why wouldn't Keaton & Lloyd have some friendship? Or partnership?

It also helped that I was reading a book called Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood about the murder of William Desmond Taylor. It was one of the great mysteries of the silent movie age...and Hollywood during that particular period (1910s - 1920s) had a particularly sordid reputation. As I plotted the piece, I had ideas for two set pieces: Harold Lloyd scaling a building (shades of Safety Last!!) and Buster Keaton in a fistfight.

So hence, the research - checking out the three-part Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius on YouTube and several Buster Keaton documentaries....both of which proved fascinating. Keaton's childhood spent in vaudeville as a knockabout comedian (and yes, that means precisely what you think it means) meant that I had enough for a slightly comic - yet accurate - fight. (His home life and relationship with controversial figures also made him the ideal POV character). Harold Lloyd was a tougher character to get my head around...but I ended up thinking of him as the "straight man." So the planned climbing sequence....had to go. It wasn't a darling (as in "kill your darlings", and I won't open that can of worms again), but it created a more streamlined story...that had a slightly wicked sense of humor.

All I needed to do was find an appropriate year for Keaton & Lloyd to not be making movies (via each man's filmography), find an appropriate moment for them to work together (1925, when MGM was formed), and....start with their project being scrapped.

From there, it was a simple tale of a director being poisoned (thanks to a recent reading of The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York), and the resultant investigation. Of course, dealing with early 20th-century Hollywood, I had to deal with issues around race and sexual orientation...

...and here's where this gets a bit problematic.

I knew there were two six-letter words that I could have the investigating police officer say in the context of a certain scene. (Big hint: using one of them on-air got Bill Maher in trouble). However, as a white heterosexual male, I don't believe that I have the right to use those words, even in fiction. Other authors will disagree, citing Faulkner's quote about the only responsibility an artist has is to his work...but I didn't feel comfortable using either one. But I did not want to have him use slurs...

So that meant researching obscure racial and sexual slurs for one particular character to use. Was it right? I don't know. But I also wanted to use slurs that sounded (to a 20th-century ear, at least) awkward and idiotic. This way, the character in question would automatically be seen as not just problematic....but also lacking intelligence. Did I do it perfectly? Probably not, but at some point, I needed to address an obvious elephant in the room....and it also helped me grow a wee bit as a writer.
But all in all, "In the Frame" (which started as "The Badger Game") is a story that I'm proud to have written. Mixing humor and pulp action with one key sequence that has (at least, in my head) an exceptional punch line, I'm proud of how this story turned out. 

Think of it as the natural successor to "Cowboy of the Dakotas", except with more jokes. And you can purchase via my Amazon author page.

Coming Soon To the Blog: MONDAYS WITH COLUMBO

(Revised 11/28/2025)

You know, it's been a while since I've live blogged a show without the words "Doctor" and "Who" in the title. Although I fully intend to do that for Series Nine, I thought I would take advantage of a currently up-and-coming trend.

With two podcasts and a blog focusing on the show, the Columbo series is making a bit of a comeback. Perhaps a slow, deliberate style of storytelling seems antiquated in this multi-arc, rapid-fire media climate....but there's something genuinely unique about Columbo

It's one of the few franchises that I remember (barely) as a child but reconnected with during the 1980s revival. (The release of The Columbo Phile: A Casebook  helped immensely, and it's also available for free streaming via Tubi). It was also one of the early spurs of my then-college-era writing career, leading me to develop a spec treatment for a possible episode.

(You can see the results here. and no, I can't find the treatment. Nor my high-school-era story proposal for Doctor Who).

So here's how this will (more than likely) work:

• My focus will be on the 1970s "NBC" era - I don't have copies of the ABC movies, and if memory serves, they weren't necessarily that good.
• Posts would happen every other Monday, giving me time to enjoy the episodes and providing a cushion for writing delays. 
• I'll review the episodes in random order, simply because going chronologically would get boring. Plus, there's a greater sense of discovery (in addition to the fact that, with each episode being 70 - 90 minutes, it can get boring).

So please hop onto Tubi if you want to watch along! 

Oh, and just one more thing: I'm open to debate. I'll just be posting my reactions and insights, rather than plain information. You're more than welcome to debate me at any time.

Looking forward to this - if anything, it should help me reflex my blogging muscles. 

Where Stories Come From - DREAMERS SYNDROME:NEW WORLD NAVIGATION

(Revised 03/04/2024)

When you've experienced a prolonged period of unemployment like I have, you gain a thick skin...because most people aren't as sensitive as you are.

(And when I say "you are", I mean "I am.").

Comments about how people don't "work hard enough" to get work, or even well-meaning comments that seem to cut to the bone...it's hard to deal with a tough, hard-boiled world when my character is anything but.

That inspired my story When Angels Fall in Space Buggy Press' anthology Dreamer's Syndrome: New World Navigation. Having met Mark Bousquet (my editor) via the Better in the Dark Facebook group and his blog, I loved the premise of Dreamer's Syndrome: what happens if you wake up dressed like your childhood dream job? So my idea was simple: what if someone who read Sherlock Holmes as a ten-year-old found himself dressed up as a Victorian consulting detective?

One snag - the guidelines made no mention of England, but suggested a psychic geography for the United States. (The East Coast featured superheroes, the Pacific Northwest was a fantasy forest, etc). Noticing that Los Angeles (a city I had visited twice in my youth) was a 1940s-style landscape, and reading Robert Leslie Bellem's Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective stories at the time, it became much easier to flip the premise to a hard-boiled detective.

It was also a great opportunity to flesh out the Los Angeles of the Dreamer's Syndrome universe. Angels became the cops - inscrutable, hidden, and mistrusted by the general populace. (With a bonus of misunderstanding humans: angels consider themselves "divine constructs" whose enforcement arm is called the "Celestial Brigade"). An early draft featured a faded child beauty pageant queen as a librarian; remembering past consulting work with local quinceanera stores, she became a former actress who gained personal satisfaction working as a librarian.

Aspects of my personal life influenced the book....including my lead character's name. A friend served as a model for Shawn, the former junkie turned cartoon bear who serves as an informant. (And yes, you read that last sentence correctly). My Jesuit education allowed me to permeate the story with some subtle (and not-so-subtle) nods....but in naming my lead character, I wanted something that sounded appropriately hard-boiled in tone.  

Thus was born John Brant, aka Ianek Bronotok, a private detective. And yes, I'm more than happy to write more stories - I love hardboiled mysteries. I would love to reenter that world....because there are always more stories to tell.

As of 03/04/2024,  Dreamer's Syndrome: New World Navigation is out of print in both softcover and Kindle. If you can hunt this down, find it. There are some great stories in it, and I'm proud to have been part of this collection. 

You can find this and other works I've written via my Amazon Author Page. Enjoy! 

Linux-Flavored Noir: DARK DIGITAL SKY

His name is Chaucer, but he prefers to be called Chalk - he's a private investigator who is literate, familiar with the world of coders and hackers, and who has a bit of a problem playing nicely. He also finds himself caught in a very elaborate scheme which begins with a man attempting to track down his heirs...ones conceived via a special kind of bank.....

That's the premise of Carac Allison's Dark Digital Sky, a novel due to be released in mid-September. (I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy for review). This is a very sharp, extremely intelligent hard-boiled mystery that mixes great high-end concepts with traditional pulp-flavor. Imagine Mickey Spillane and Daniel Suarez as co-writers, and you'll get a sense of Dark Digital Sky's tone.

It's a very nice, well-paced plot, with Chalk making some nice, well-written soliloquies in between moments of detection. But these aren't literary indulgences - they help make the plot move along at a steady clip. In fact, the plot moves like a well-coordinated game of three-card monte, manging shifts in plot that never seem artificial or forced. Dark Digital Sky also integrates aspects of 21st century life, coming up with very clever takes on military matters, law enforcement, and even literature and movies that never seem self-indulgent.

Dark Digital Sky is a book that's too good to spoil, with a plot that runs like clockwork, characters that feel fully formed, and an atmosphere that simply envelops the reader. It also does what other favorite authors like Spillane, Robert B. Parker, and Jim Thompson do best - make me wish the next installment were out already.

Dark Digital Sky is probably the closest we'll ever get to a model of "geek noir." It's a must-read for anyone looking for a distinctive, unique literary voice....as well as an entertaining read.

Ace Atkin's WONDERLAND - Spenser Done Right

When Robert B. Parker died in 2010, I mourned the likelihood that there would be no more Spenser novels....and when Ace Atkins (a writer that I had never heard of previously) would be taking over the character, I mourned the likelihood that Spenser would enter the realm of literary "mockbuster".

Having just finished Wonderland, Atkins' second book with Parker's Spenser, I should not have worried - not only is it good work in its own right, but it effortlessly picks up where Parker left off.

Atkins performs the same literary skill that Max Allan Collins does with Mickey Spillane - Wonderland's prose not only captures Spenser's voice, but shares Parker's sparse, colloquial style. Although a bit longer than typical Spenser novels, that is not a drawback - in fact, given the slight intricacies of the plot, it makes total sense, and the book never feels overstuffed.

Wonderland finds Spenser approached by Henry Cimolli - owner of the boxing gym where Spenser and Hawk work out - being reminded that Cimolli "has never asked you for a favor." Launching into the investigation of a possible casino development, Spenser finds himself drawn into the usual web of intrigue. (It's hard to describe without spoiling....but to summarize, Spenser gets to do what he usually does: cook, crack wise, and investigate, not necessarily in that order).

One interesting facet of this book is that Spenser's main accomplice in this endeavor is Zebulon Sixkill, featured in Parker's final Spenser novel of the same name. (Hawk is away from the action, and Susan comes in mid-novel). It's an interesting take - although he's no Paul Giacomin from Early Autumn, Spenser's efforts to train Sixkill as an investigator are a great effort by Atkins to illuminate both characters. (In all honesty, I have no idea if Atkins is working off Parker's notes). I have to admit that although I liked the idea of Spenser creating another protege (part of his "extended family on his own terms"), there are parts where it seems to be unnecessarily comic, as if Atkins was unsure how humorous to make the work. (In addition, Sixkill's status towards the end of the book seems almost like an afterthought, as if Atkins was unsure where to go).

In all fairness, I expected to dislike Wonderland, but not only did I enjoy it, I did the next best thing: reserved Atkin's Spenser debut, Lullaby, at my local public library.

Good to know that Spenser's in good literary hands.