Coming February 4, 2025

Posted 8:00 AM by Gerald So

Following Mike Lupica's 2020–'22 run, Christopher Farnsworth becomes the fourth Jesse Stone continuation author with ROBERT B. PARKER'S BURIED SECRETS. I've rounded up more details and a link to the synopsis at So Much to Talk About.

Want to chat further? Join Fans of Robert B. Parker, my public Matrix room.

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2024 Robert B. Parker Continuations

Posted 12:30 PM by Gerald So

This year's Robert B. Parker continuation titles were recently posted to the Penguin Random House website. Due September 10 is Alison Gaylin's second Sunny Randall, ROBERT B. PARKER'S BUZZ KILL, and due November 26 is Mike Lupica's second Spenser, R0BERT B. PARKER'S HOT PROPERTY. Only the Spenser book's synopsis has been released so far. I break it down on my book review blog So Much to Talk About.

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The Road Less Traveled By

© by Gerald So | 4:30 AM

Star Wars Day 2017 at The Mysterious Bookshop, NYC

On Saturday, my Twitter friend bestselling author Alison Gaylin spread word of her deal to write a continuation of Robert B. Parker's Sunny Randall, succeeding Mike Lupica, whose new two-book deal extends his run on Jesse Stone and picks up Spenser from Ace Atkins.

My professional reaction is at So Much to Talk About. I quote Publishers Weekly's deal announcement and Ace Atkins's response tweet affirming next month's Spenser, ROBERT B. PARKER'S BYE BYE BABY, his tenth, is his last. A more personal take here: Known as a Parker fan since listservs' heyday, I got to interview Ace twice for Crimespree Magazine: two days after he was announced as Spenser continuation author and about his fourth Spenser, ROBERT B. PARKER'S KICKBACK. I asked the incisive questions I knew discerning fans would, and Ace proved himself the most discerning.

Getting to advance-review all of Ace's Spensers and most Parker continuation titles since then, I'm no longer as objective. Though inspired by Raymond Chandler's 1940s–50s Los Angeles P.I. Philip Marlowe and his courtly sense of morality, Parker also made Spenser a man of his time and place, thirty-seven years old in 1973 Boston. That many P.I. characters followed, marking their territory all over the world, shows Parker's influence. His first twelve Spensers had the best sense of an arc. His later entries' lack of arc was to show the perpetuity of Spenser's relationship with Susan Silverman (based on Parker's marriage), but also to keep Spenser a steady moneymaker.

With his first Spenser continuation, ROBERT B. PARKER'S LULLABY, Ace aimed to write a seamless sequel to SIXKILL, Parker's 2011 final Spenser, but he also reengaged Spenser in the now. Carrying over a hallmark of his own style, he based later Spensers on recent true crime like Smallville actress Allison Mack's involvement with the NXVIM cult (ROBERT B. PARKER'S ANGEL EYES) and Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislane Maxwell's egregrious sex offenses (ROBERT B. PARKER'S SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME). His leaving now ensures fans will remember he never simply parroted Parker or rested on his own success.

Cheers, my friend.

Stop the World: Snapshots from a Pandemic

© by Gerald So | 7:00 AM

My first blog post referencing COVID-19 was titled Stop the World. The title above is a Thalia Press anthology to be published August 4, to which I contributed a poem.

On the whole, the book will include seven poems, eleven short stories, and twenty-two personal essays by George Arion, Meredith Blevins, Jacqui Brown, Robin Burcell, Tim Cahill, Taffy Cannon, Richard Cass, Sarah M. Chen, John Clark, Matt Coyle, Z.J. Czupor, J. Madison Davis, Eoghan Egan, Dan Fesperman, Kate Flora, Tami Haaland, Naomi Hirahara, Wendy Hornsby, Jody Jaffe, Paul Jeffcutt, Allen Morris Jones, Tatjana Kruse, Craig Lancaster, Adriana Licio, Lise McClendon, Mike Monson, Donna Moore, Sharan Newman, Jim Nisbet, Gary Phillips, John Rember, Travis Richardson, Merrilee Robson, Caitlin Rother, Wendy Salinger, John Shepphird, Keith Snyder, Gerald So, Marian Stanley, and Piet Tiegler.

The print paperback is available to bookstores through Ingram. If your local bookstores would be interested in selling it at $12.99, give me their contact info, and I'll have Thalia send a press release and electronic advance copy.

Individuals can pre-order online from Amazon ($7.99 Kindle | $12.99 Paperback), Barnes & Noble ($7.99 Nook | $12.99 Paperback), Apple, and Kobo.

All 2020 profits ($5 per ebook, $3 per paperback) will be donated to charity at the end of the year.


JULY 1, 2020 UPDATE: Below is a copy of Thalia's press release.

STOP THE WORLD: Snapshots from a Pandemic
ISBN: 9780578717753
Thalia Press pub date: August 4, 2020
Contact: Lise McClendon
Email: StopTheWorldAnthology@gmail.com

Thalia Press is pleased to announce the release of a topical, up-to-the-minute anthology of personal essays, short fiction, and poetry based on experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic in this unique year. Forty writers from around the world took time during this spring of lockdown, contagion, and uncertainty to explore and share their emotions and creative impulses for the record.

STOP THE WORLD: Snapshots from a Pandemic, a brainchild of editor Lise McClendon, was shepherded by her with her co-editors— Taffy Cannon, Kate Flora, and Gary Phillips—to bear witness to the events taking place all around us, and especially within us, as we grapple with disease, isolation, death, and, yes, a healthy dose of chaos.

Some writers chose to mine their own psyches and experiences, whether the challenges of life in lockdown or their struggles with productivity and focus. Others felt called to dystopian and wry, dark fiction. Across the globe the reactions portray a similar anger, pain, and struggle from writers from the US, Canada, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Northern Ireland, Spain, Italy, and Romania.

As mystery writers the editors found many of their fellow crime writers willing to contribute, as was the well-known Romanian journalist and writer George Arion, true crime writer Caitlin Rother, German mystery writer Tatjana Kruse, thriller writer Robin Burcell, travel writer Tim Cahill, and more. The full list of 40 contributors appears at the end of this release.

Poetry by 92nd St. Y Literature Director Wendy Salinger, Irish poet Paul Jeffcutt, haiku poet Z.J. Czupor, and crime writers Jim Nisbet, Gerald So, and Keith Snyder adds its own special punch between essays and stories. Illustrations are included, especially from the United Nations Covid-19 Response Team Creative Content artists worldwide.

All profits will be donated to charity at the end of year. Global health and authorship charities are being considered as beneficiaries but readers are encouraged to nominate their favorite charity.

Thalia Press, an independent publisher, will bring out the book as both a paperback and an e-book. It is available now through all major online retailers and physical bookshops as a pre-order.

Authors, editors, and excerpts are available to booksellers, bloggers, reviewers, and other outlets to discuss and share their thoughts. Virtual events are encouraged in this unusual year.

Please contact Thalia Press at StopTheWorldAnthology@gmail.com.

Flash and Bang Launched

© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 1:00 P.M.

Published October 8 by Untreed Reads, Flash and Bang is the Society's first member anthology. Available in paperback (ISBN 9781611878295) and ebook, it features nineteen new short (1,500–3,000 words) and flash stories (300–1,000 words) containing either a flash or a bang:

• "The Conflagration at the Nameless Cotton Gin" by Bobbi A. Chukran
• "The Perfect Crime" by Herschel Cozine
• "Don't Let the Cop into the House" by O'Neil De Noux
• "Fireworks" by P.A. De Voe
• "Rosie's Choice" by John M. Floyd
• "The Wrong Girl" by Barb Goffman
• "Murder on Elm Street" by Su Kopil
• "Silent Measures" by B.V. Lawson
• "Don't Be Cruel" by JoAnne Lucas
• "A Simple Job" by Andrew MacRae
• "Arthur" by Sandra Murphy
• "Thor's Breath" by Suzanne Berube Rorhus
• "Beautiful Killer" by Judy Penz Sheluk
• "A Day Like No Other" by Walter A.P. Soethoudt (translated by Willem Verhulst)
• "The Raymond Chandler Con" by Earl Staggs
• "The Bag Lady" by Laurie Stevens
• "Fractured Memories" by Julie Tollefson
• "The Fruit of Thy Loins" by Albert Tucher
• "Sierra Noir" by Tim Wohlforth

Individuals: If you purchase the paperback ($16.00) and ebook ($4.99) at the same time from the Untreed Reads store, the ebook cost will be subtracted from your total. Also, in October, Flash and Bang is part of Untreed Reads' 30% off sale on horror and mystery titles.

Retailers and Libraries: Email Jay Hartman (JHARTMAN at UNTREEDREADS dot COM) about carrying copies. Standard retailer/library discount is 40% on returnable copies, 50% on nonreturnable copies. On orders of ten or more, the discount on returnable copies goes to 43%.

Reviewers: Email Jay Hartman (JHARTMAN at UNTREEDREADS dot COM) for ebook review copies.

Independent bookstores carrying copies:

• The Mysterious Bookshop, 58 Warren St., New York, NY 10007

The Society had long considered anthology ideas, but it wasn't until March 2014 that one finally got off the ground. As vice president at the time, I received approval from President Tom Sweeney to create the SMFS Anthology Plans Yahoo! Group, where interested members could explore anthologies without disrupting the main Shortmystery Yahoo! Group.

I didn't steer Antho group discussion, but as facilitator, I wrote the pitch to Jay Hartman to publish the first Society-themed anthology. Jay came up with the flash-or-bang guidelines and opened submissions to all Shortmystery members. I couldn't be prouder to see this plan come together.

Now having read the finished product, I most enjoyed the stories by Bobbi Chukran, O'Neil De Noux, and Barb Goffman, but as the Society represents all of mystery & crime short fiction, Flash and Bang has something for every taste: from cozy to hardboiled, historical to contempory, amateur and animal sleuths to police and private detectives.

E-Born

© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 4:00 A.M.

James O. Born is a career law enforcement officer with a talent for bringing his experience to the page. He has written series about FDLE agent Bill Tasker (Walking Money, Shock Wave, Escape Clause) and ATF agent Alex Duarte (Field of Fire, Burn Zone), and earlier this year co-wrote a novel with Lou Dobbs (Border War).

Within the past few days, Jim has made all of his books available for Kindle. I recommend them.

Chris Leek talks GOSPEL OF THE BULLET

© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 6:00 A.M.

Posted Saturday at Chatterrific, I interviewed Chris Leek about his Western novella Gospel of the Bullet, available September 30 from One Eye Press.

Lee Goldberg and Joel Goldman Launching Brash Books

© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com

My friends Lee Goldberg and Joel Goldman, veteran writers and successful self-publishers, now turn their talents to publishing "the best crime novels in existence" under the bold banner Brash Books.

Getting to know Lee and Joel over the years, I've found we have much the same taste in books. Lee sent me some Brash review copies, and it's great to see so many gems brought back to print and ebook with a passion that could only come from two readers who loved them.

Brash Books launches in September with twenty-eight reprints and two original novels. Some of my favorite authors in the launch are Bill Crider, Gar Anthony Haywood, Tom Kakonis, Dick Lochte, and Michael Stone. I also look forward to reading some titles that, up to now, I could only wish to find.

Bracken MacLeod talks WHITE KNIGHT

© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com

This week at Chatterrific, I interviewed Bracken MacLeod, author of the just-released novella White Knight from One Eye Press.

Reed Farrel Coleman to continue Robert B. Parker's Jesse Stone

Logo by Gerald So

Today on his website, Reed Farrel Coleman announced he had accepted the offer last May to continue Robert B. Parker's Jesse Stone, following Michael Brandman's Killing The Blues, Fool Me Twice, and Damned If You Do. Coleman's first Stone novel, Blind Spot, goes on sale September 9.

When Parker created Stone in 1997's Night Passage, I liked the challenges he was presenting himself. Younger, flawed, and written from third-person, Stone would be everything Spenser was not. My favorite Stone novel is the fourth, Stone Cold, adapted by Brandman and John Fasano to launch the TV movie series starring Tom Selleck.

After Stone Cold the character went on a three-year hiatus, the Sunny Randall novel Melancholy Baby, period baseball mystery Double Play, and Western Appaloosa filling his usual fall slot. Putnam eventually published five more Stone novels by Parker, but higher paperback prices and weaker-sounding plots kept me from reading them.

Selleck's older Stone became the more compelling portrayal for me. Brandman was chosen on the strength of that portrayal, but a sample of Killing The Blues shows his inexperience as a novelist. I'm glad Putnam and Parker's estate have moved on. I believe, having written the flawed, wounded Moe Prager, Coleman has the right sensibilities to write Jesse Stone.

In the simplest terms, I wasn't interested in the Stone novels, and now I am again.

UPDATE: A further post on Coleman's site reveals he's signed with Putnam for four novels in the Stone series and two in a new series of his own featuring Suffolk County, Long Island cop Gus Murphy.

At The 5-2: "Stealing Band-Aids from Hospitals" by Paul Hostovsky

Hostovsky returns this week with something of a holiday poem. St. Nicholas is the patron saint of thieves and pharmacists after all:



While I was on vacation, Silver Birch Press's Noir Erasure Poetry Anthology went on sale. Thanks again to editor Melanie Villines.

Updates from Silver Birch Press

• 
  Back in July, 5-2 alum Catfish McDaris alerted me to a submissions call for poems made by redacting passages from existing noir and hardboiled novels. For our help bringing contributors to the anthology, publisher Melanie Villines is listing Catfish and me as contributing editors. The 120-page, digest-sized book will sell at Amazon.com for $12 starting December 1.
  
  My poem, "Victorian Whorehouse", was created from the opening of Robert B. Parker's first Spenser novel, The Godwulf Manuscript.


• Also of interest to noir aficionados, Melanie tipped me to L.A. historian Kim Cooper's upcoming first noir novel, The Kept Girl:
  
  

  

  Kim Cooper's The Kept Girl is inspired by a sensational real-life Los Angeles cult murder spree which exploded into the public consciousness when fraud charges were filed against the cult's leaders in 1929.
  
  The victim was the nephew of oil company president Joseph Dabney, Raymond Chandler's boss. In the novel, Chandler, still several years away from publishing his first short story, is one of three amateur detectives who uncover the ghastly truth about the Great Eleven cult over one frenetic week.
  
  Informed by the author's extensive research into the literary, spiritual, criminal and architectural history of Southern California, The Kept Girl is a terrifying noir love story, set against the backdrop of a glittering pre-crash metropolis.

  
  Through December 25, you can help publish The Kept Girl by subscribing to a special edition for $65 (which includes additional perks).


• Looking ahead to Valentine's Day, Silver Birch Press is calling for Valentine's Day erasure poems made by redacting page 214 of the book of your choice. If enough submissions are accepted by December 31, they will be published in an anthology.

Coming in October: The 5-2 Volume One Ebook

Fifty-two poems by fourty-four poets, $3.99 for Kindle and Nook.

Featuring poems by Nyla Alisia, R.A. Allen, Margaret Anderson, Michael A. Arnzen, Randall Avilez, Jack Bates, Alec Cizak, Robert Cooperman, Ray Daniel, Michael Chacko Daniels, Cassandra de Alba, C.J. Edwards, John M. Floyd, Kent Gowran, Bruce Harris, Clarinda Harriss, Chad Haskins, Kathleen Hellen, Kyle Hemmings, Paul Hostovsky, Peter Ivey, Dorothy James, Tonia Kalouria, Susan Kelley, Ian Khadan, Rauan Klassnik, Lola Koundakjian, Dennis Mahagin, Catfish McDaris, Trevor Nelson, Brett Peruzzi, Thomas Pluck, David S. Pointer, Kimberly Poitevin, William Dylan Powell, Charles Rammelkamp, Keith Rawson, Stephen D. Rogers, Nancy Scott, Jackie Sheeler, Hal Sirowitz, Duane Spurlock, Jay Stringer, Ray Succre.

Robert B. Parker's Cole and Hitch To Be Continued

Shortly before Ace Atkins's Spenser continuation novel, Lullaby, was released, I asked Mel Farman of the Parker estate if there were plans to continue Parker's Western series starring Marshal Virgil Cole and his friend Everett Hitch. Mel said yes, and they were exploring continuing Sunny Randall as well.

I saw a post on the Robert B. Parker Facebook page from last Thursday that news of the Cole and Hitch continuation novel, Ironhorse, was coming soon. I went on to find Ironhorse's information page at Penguin Putnam. Written by Robert Knott, who co-wrote and produced the Ed Harris movie adaptation of Parker's Appaloosa, Iron Horse will be published January 8, 2013.

Welcome Back, Cuddy.

Robert B. Parker's Spenser hooked me on P.I. fiction, but as my knowledge and taste within the genre developed, Spenser began to seem larger than life. He didn't age or feel the effects of a case for more than one book. By this time, I preferred characters who showed more humanity, who did more investigative work than rattling cages and seeing what developed. In a name, I preferred Jeremiah Healy's John Francis Cuddy.

Cuddy and Spenser have similar backgrounds, Cuddy serving in Vietnam as a military policeman, but Cuddy has a less intimidating presence and questioning style, gaining as much if not more cooperation. Like Spenser, Cuddy is monogamous, but the love of his life, Beth, died young from cancer before the series' first book. Though he tries to maintain a new relationship, he remains mindful of Beth, often visiting her grave for insight into cases.

For my money, the Cuddy series is one of the most cohesive and satisfying in all of P.I. fiction, so I'm pleased to share the news that the first nine Cuddy books are now available in Kindle, Nook, Apple, and Google formats from Mysterious Press/Open Road Media:

Blunt Darts (1984)
The Staked Goat (1986)
So Like Sleep (1987)
Swan Dive (1988)
Yesterday's News (1989)
Right to Die (1991)
Shallow Graves (1992)
Foursome (1993)
Act of God (1994)

In celebration of the ebook release, Healy will also publish a new Cuddy novel soon, his first in thirteen years.

Boyd to Write Bond

British novelist and screenwriter William Boyd has been announced as the next James Bond author. His novel, not yet titled, will be published next year, and will return Bond to the late 1960s, as Kingsley Amis did in COLONEL SUN and Sebastian Faulks did in DEVIL MAY CARE.

I miss the continuity of Gardner's and Benson's Bond series, but the standalone approach probably generates more interest in James Bond year to year.

Who is C.J. Stone?

Stones, my ebook of three C.J. Stone stories, goes on sale today, so I thought I'd tell you a bit about how I came up with the character. For one season in 1982, ABC aired a series called Tales of the Gold Monkey. Created by Don Bellisario, it was set in 1938, and concerned the exploits of former Flying Tiger Jake Cutter (Stephen Collins). We didn't own a VCR at the time, but Tales stuck with me on a subliminal level until I drafted my first C.J. Stone story in 1994.

Tales finally came to DVD last year, thanks to Fabulous Films and Shout! Factory, and watching it again, I realized many of my early characters resembled Jake's friends. By the time the first Stone story was published in 2002, C.J. had begun to distinguish himself. For one thing, he's not as noble as Jake, who aspired to be a knight saving damsels in distress. C.J. is more likely to pick your pocket than pick a fight, to talk his way out of trouble, and he's fine smuggling contraband.

My first two Stone stories have been reprinted twice. Each time, I've added to them as C.J. might add to them. I've learned he's not the most reliable narrator, but, boy, can he tell a story. And, as seen in "Gypped", he's just as prone to fall for one.

Again, Stones includes the previously out-of-print "Faith", the almost-all-new "Señora", and "Gypped"—for 99 cents.

An Excerpt from STONES

Straight Up

I've just published a poetry e-book, and my only marketing strategy is to say if you enjoy this blog, if you know me, want to know me, or you enjoy my poetry, We Might Have is for you.

While poetry craves an audience, it cannot stray from its more intimate goal, reaching one reader. I created a poetry e-book to reach one reader with an e-reader. If you're interested, buy it. If you like it and want to tell others, review it. If you like it and just want to tell me, do that.

Bleed Me a River: A Domestic Violence Anthology

I'm proud to have two poems in a print anthology benefiting domestic violence shelters.

Edited by friend and Lineup contributor David S. Pointer, Bleed Me a River is a 128-page trade paperback featuring work by Antler, Gary Beck, Kimberly L. Becker, John D. Berry, Jolee Blackbear, Jennifer Hollie Bowles, Shirley Brazzo, Patricia Carragon, Alan Catlin, Dave Church, Cassandra Dallet, Sarah Daugherty, Doug Draime, Charles Firmage, Molly Gaudry, Cynthia M. Gregg, S.A. Griffin, Kenneth P. Gurney, Jessica Harman, Pamela Hirst, Stephanie Hiteshew, Karla Huston, Evie Ivy, Justin Jackley, Sharmagne Leland-St. John, Elleraine Lockie, Linda Parsons Marion, Catfish McDaris, Mike Meraz, Todd Moore, Wilda Morris, David Pointer, Rhonda C. Poynter, Charles Ries, Kimberly Roppollo, Cindy Rosmus, Kristen Rueden, Jennifer Rybolt, Georgia Santa-Maria, Rebecca Schumeda, Gerald So, Joe Speer, Lela Norcross Wakely, Klyd Watkins, Kelly Jean White, J.T. Whitehead, Elaine Whitman, and Neal Whitman. It sells for $10 + s & h.