Who needs book recommendations when you have drinking buddies?

Me, Chris Kuzneski, Elle Lothlorien, Boyd Morrison, & Lissa Price

See this photo? It was taken in New York, four or five years ago. I’m looking bedraggled on the far left, and next to me is Chris Kuzneski, then Elle Lothlorien, Boyd Morrison, and Lissa Price. The four of us met about six years ago at the very first Thrillerfest conference in Phoenix, AZ. The only T-fest to be held in Arizona, actually. Anyway, I met these four and many others during what turned out to be a magical conference. At the time, Chris was self-published (on paper—this was before the Kindle was even invented), and the rest were completely unpublished.

Somehow Chris turned his initial self-pubbed thriller into a very successful mainstream publishing career. He’s published seven Payne & Jones novels at this point, and he's a bestselling author here in America.  In fact, his novels have been translated into 20 languages.  Intriguingly, I have it on good authority that he's at the very top of the bestseller lists in Britain.  The man’s a rock star over there!

Elle, who guest blogged here last week, had opportunities in traditional publishing, but is one of the new breed of novelists who has found great success self-publishing both electronically and in print. Like, quit-your-day-job success. She was recently named one of the 25 Self-Published Authors to Watch. (Boyd and several other friends made that list, too.) Elle’s readership is growing exponentially with each novel released, and fans are clamoring for her next, Rapunzel.

Lissa you may not have heard of yet, but I think that will all change in the next few weeks. Her debut YA novel, Starters, is being published by Random House on March 13, 2012. Less than a month away now! I read it a few weeks ago. It’s as close to Hunger Games-level awesomeness as any YA title I’ve read since falling in love with Collins’ series. We all think Lissa is poised for greatness.

And then there’s Boyd, who is the first member of this group that I really clicked with. I’ve been a huge fan and supporter of Boyd’s work since before anyone else discovered him. I’ve been reading (and criticizing the hell out of) his novels since we first met all those years ago. After failing to sell three novels to a “big 6” publisher, Boyd decided, What the hell? He posted his novels for free on the internet, and for sale in the Kindle store. Seven thousand sales later, Boyd was the first writer to turn self-publishing via Kindle into a major publishing contract. I’m still his biggest fan, (and FYI his next Tyler Locke novel may be the best yet).

This group of friends and I have looked at this photograph many times over the years. What amazing success they’ve each realized! What are the odds? All of them? Heck, they might as well crop me right off the end of that photograph, LOL.

I’ve discovered that one friendship leads to others. The gang above befriended Graham Brown before I did, but I met him through them several years ago, and now he’s my friend too. Boyd introduced me to Sophie Littlefield over a casual dinner in San Francisco while he was visiting a few years ago. As Sophie and I both live here, I get to see her more often, now, than he does. Not only is she just a lovely, lovely lady, but I started reading her novels out of curiosity after we met and now I’m totally hooked. Graham, too, for that matter!

In fact, in the past few weeks, I’ve read published or forthcoming works by Elle, Lissa, Boyd, Sophie, and Graham. I’ve got an audiobook of Chris’s on deck that I’ve been meaning to get to. And earlier this week I acquired a galley of Clawback by Mike Cooper, Sophie’s brother, who I had the pleasure of meeting at T-fest last summer. And just today I recieved a galley of the lovely Allison Leotta’s  sophomore novel, Discretion. I can’t wait to dive right in! I really loved her debut, Law of Attraction—another novel I read out of curiosity after meeting her a couple of years ago. Ali is also part of the gang of friends above. Membership just keeps growing and growing! And like so many of these people, Ali and I keep in touch and get together whenever we’re in the same city.

Elle Lothlorien, Paul McEuen, me, Lissa Price, Ali Leotta - All we do is eat.

Even I bring folks into the fold occasionally. Last summer, at the T-fest opening reception, I sought out novelist/physicist Paul McEuen to tell him how completely awesome his debut novel, Spiral, was. I walked up to him and said, “Dr. McEuen, I’m a big fan!” He wound up kibitzing with me and my girlfriends, until Lissa said, “Let’s all go grab dinner.” And abve is a photo from that dinner. I’m looking even more bedraggled than usual, but what a fantastic night that turned out to be! Now Elle, Lissa, Ali, and I are all fans of Paul’s, and I look forward to the day that I can add his next novel to my reading list.

Basically, I could read more books than the vast majority of Americans without ever stepping outside my social circle. Some months, it seems like all I’m reading are books written by friends, and believe me, this isn’t social obligation. It’s pure pleasure! I don’t read every writer I socialize with—even I don’t have enough time to do that. And perhaps it makes sense that I enjoy these writers’ work so much, since I enjoy the people creating the work so much.

Come to think of it, I have a few more books by friends on tap for the immediate future. Jeremy Bates's forthcoming debut novel, White Lies, is waiting on my Kindle to be read. As is Raymond Benson’s second Black Stiletto novel, Black & White. I really enjoyed the first Black Stiletto novel, so I'm looking forward to the new installment.  Heck, I even have a galley of Owen Laukkanen's The Professionals on hand.  I've never met the guy, but any friend of Elle's...

Many of us will be converging on Sacramento late next month for the Left Coast Crime conference. I’ll be in the bar, nursing a Coca-Cola and hanging with my friends. Who knows who I’ll meet at that conference? But I wouldn’t be surprised if I pick up a new favorite author, because who needs book recommendations when you’ve got drinking buddies?

The night we ditched Kuzneski for Boyd's far more beautiful and charming wife, Randi.

A Conversation with Raymond Benson

Yes, it's the last of the New York chats (when I had the annoying, destroyed voice).  Nonetheless, this brief discussion is well worth watching, because Raymond Benson is a lovely, animated conversationalist.  It's really a lot of fun, and under seven minutes long.

We are, of course, discussing his latest novel, The Black Stiletto, which I had not read at the time.  He throws me a little bit when he quotes his Library Journal review.  They described the novel as "a mashup of the work of Gloria Steinem, Ian Flemming, and Mario Puzo, under the editorship of Stan Lee."  I was all, "That's, like, a lot of influences."  Ah, such brilliant repartee--which is why these are just fun conversations between old friends and not interviews. 

Having since read the novel, I have to say that Library Journal pegged it!  The Black Stiletto is a lot of fun, and my review may be seen here.  Enjoy!

Origins of the Black Stiletto

The Black Stiletto
by Raymond Benson

“My mother was the masked vigilante known as the Black Stiletto. I just found this out today, and I’ve been her son for forty-eight years. All my life I knew she had some secrets, but needless to say, this is a bit of a shock.” And with those opening sentences, I was absolutely hooked on Raymond Benson’s latest novel, The Black Stiletto.

In Benson’s world, everyone knows the name of “the Black Stiletto,” but her identity has been a mystery for decades. From the late 50’s through the early 60’s, this woman donned a mask and leather costume and took to the streets to fight crime. After a few years of activity, she dropped out of site, never to be heard from again—except for the comic book series, the feature film, and other pop culture references—until the day that suburban Chicago accountant, Martin Talbot, got a call from his mother’s attorney. She’d left a letter and a locked box in his care, to be given to Martin “in the event she died or became incapacitated.” At the age of 72, Judy Talbot is in pretty good shape physically, but Alzheimer’s has hit her hard. Most days she doesn’t even recognize her son.

A free teaser story

So that’s the set-up. The story unfolds in three narrative voices, two in the present day and one in the past. The first is Martin’s account and reaction as he unravels his mother’s true history. His mother has left behind a number of items, safely stashed away, including several diaries. Martin begins reading the first, for the year 1958. The second voice is his mother’s own account, writing in her diary as a young woman. It’s the Black Stiletto’s origin story. Every hero has one. Within her diary she summarizes her life story and what led her to becoming a masked vigilante, until she reaches the present day in 1958, and then carries her story forward. The third voice is that of Roberto Ranelli, who appears in both timelines. Back in the 50’s, he was a mob enforcer. In the present day, he’s a 78-year-old man, just paroled from Sing-Sing after 52 years. And he has revenge on his mind.

There is much that is delightful about this story. As I mentioned, the premise grabbed me right away. All I could think of was how it would feel to learn something that stunning about your mom! And while there have been variations on this story, with movies like Kick-Ass and other pop culture treatments, this one’s a little different. The period setting is exceptionally well-handled. It was an interesting time historically and socially, and Benson uses the period to great effect. He’s also having a lot fun with his audience. There are occasional nods and winks such as:

“As I drank another glass of whiskey, my eyes fell on a stack of Fiorello’s comic books. The latest Batman was on top. I picked it up and thumbed through it. In my foggy state of mind, I read a bit and couldn’t help but laugh a little. The premise was silly—some millionaire dressed up in a costume, had a secret identity, and went out to fight crime. Who would really do such a thing? I suppose that was the germ of the idea that would change my life.”

Judy is awesome! She’s a feminist (“I’ve learned a lot in my short life about how the world treats women.”) and a lady with an interesting system of ethics. Still, I have to admit that I loved Martin’s briefer appearances in the novel. I am captivated by his journey. There isn’t much to Ranelli. He has a role to fill, and he does his job. The book moves fast, and can be read in a matter of hours. It truly is pure entertainment.

The novel’s greatest weakness is the actual writing. I don’t think most readers attracted to this title are looking for gorgeous prose and exciting use of language. I wasn’t. The prose is very casual and idiomatic, with a lot of direct address to the reader, but it was clunky and awkward at times. It got weird with tenses occasionally, and the dropped g’s and all the “gonna”s and “gotta”s and other written dialect got on my nerves a bit. Possibly this is just my peeve.

Nonetheless, Raymond Benson has done a terrific job of setting the hook. This is just the first of a proposed five-book series. The Black Stiletto comes to a very satisfying conclusion with a full story arc in both time periods. Still, there are many unanswered questions that are a part of the larger Black Stiletto mythology. Martin says, “I’m just going to have to read more of Mom’s diaries to learn more. There’s also the mystery of the other items I found. What’s with the JFK campaign button? The heart-shaped locket? The roll of film?” And so forth. These are questions I want the answer to! I want the whole story, and I want to know how it all turns out for Martin and his family. Yes, I am hooked.

P.S.:  This is one of the cleverest book trailers I've ever seen.  Check it out!  Also, I'll be posting a fun video interview I did with author Raymond Benson next week.