You've the Right to Six Words - Week 6

It's that time of the week, and we have another fun line-up of memoirs to share. But I had to go back and count. Six? Really? We've had six weeks already? Seems like we just started this back up again. Holy Moly. I typically try to include a newer member of the crime fiction community each week, but this week we have three old pros at this writing game.

I'm really not sure how our first memoirist found time in his life to write, but I'm sure glad he did. ROBERT FATE, born Robert Fate Bealmear, is a Marine Corps veteran who studied at the Sorbonne in France, rough necked in the oilfields of Oklahoma, fashion modeled in NYC, sold show scenery in Las Vegas, and cheffed (I know, I know it isn't a word, but work with me here) in Los Angeles. As a Hollywood F/X technician, he earned a coveted Academy Award for Technical Achievement. Yes, that's right, Oscar lives in Bob's home. Oscar and Bob both live in Los Angeles with Bob's wife, a ceramic artist, and his daughter, a senior at USC. He is the author of the highly acclaimed Baby Shark series: crime adventure in 1950’s Texas with a young, female protagonist. Last fall brought the fourth book in the Baby Shark series: BABY SHARK'S JUGGLERS AT THE BORDER. But Bob is veering a bit from his norm with the next book; he's working on a standalone with a male protagonist. He has a dog, two cats, and a turtle named Pharrell. There are folks who consider the Baby Shark series to be hard boiled crime fiction. But Bob says he writes

Cozies with a few brutal murders.

Whatever classification you tuck them inside, they're wonderful and enrich the whole genre.

Our next memoirist has an equally impressive resume. While I'm not sure what Duane Swierczynski's cookin' up in his kitchen, in the world of writing he's cookin' up just about everything. He's published fiction, non-fiction, AND comics. He's worked in the magazine world, the newspaper world, and the book world. Been in the editor's seat and the author's seat. His most recent professional announcement is his upcoming trilogy to be published by the newly announced Mulholland Books, Little, Brown's mystery/suspense imprint. In addition, Duane will be the new Black Widow writer beginning with issue #6 in September. So this is all the near future news on Duane, what the heck's going on in his present? Well that would be his stunning release, EXPIRATION DATE, from St. Martin's Minotaur. This Philadelphia dad knows who he is and what it takes to be a successful writer, no matter the format, but for everyone else he says,

My last name confused them all.

The name might confuse folks, but the work amazes them. Just give Duane a little bigger book so all the letters fit boldly on the cover!

Finally, wrapping up this week's memoirs is a man who's worked as a lawyer, a spy and an executive. Barry Eisler spent three years with the CIA before moving on to the role of technology lawyer and start-up executive in Silicon Valley and Japan. In 2002 he freed himself from the corporate binds and began writing full time. Best known for his John Rain series, Barry gave life to a new protagonist, Ben Treven, last year with FAULT LINE. Next week, the sequel, INSIDE OUT, will hit the bookstores. Appropriately, Barry has won the "Barry" Award as well as the Gumshoe Award for Best Thriller. His books have been translated into almost 20 languages and Sony Pictures Japan released a film version of his debut novel, RAIN FALL. Barry holds a black belt in Judo and lives in California. Obviously he has no regrets about his choices in life as the six words he's chosen as his memoir are:

Organizations, bullshit; rather work for myself.

Since he landed at number 18 on the New York Times Bestseller List with FAULT LINE last year, I think I can safely say that a lot of readers out there are glad he'd rather work for himself!

Once again, my heart felt thanks go out to our memoirists this week. None of these authors knew me from Adam...Eve?...whatever...but they enthusiastically jumped right in and agreed to participate. And they sure know how to make a gal feel appreciated. Thank you gentlemen! I know I do not speak only for myself when I say we so greatly appreciate your contributions to crime fiction. Write On!

And thanks to all the readers for stopping by. This would be no fun at all without you! Thanks for sharing it with me. Same time next week?

Happy Reading!




Technorati Tags: Duane Swierczynski, Robert Fate, Barry Eisler, You've the Right to Six Words

January Round-up

O.k., in January I managed to finish eight books (five of the authors were new to me), which is pretty good considering I was also reading a manuscript for a friend. I thought I was slow at just READING a book, but when I'm making comments as well - OH LORD! I felt so bad because it took me so long to return the manuscript, but alas I was consoled when he told me the comments were helpful. That's all I need to hear, and I'm happy as a lark. I simply want to be helpful. Anyway, back to the January roundup.

It feels kind of funny to do this post because you can see all eight books over under my 2009 reads. There's only January at this point, but here goes:

I started out with Linda Fairstein's Lethal Legacy this year. What a joy to be back with Alex, Mike and Mercer. Mike Chapman is one of my favorite supporting characters in crime fiction. He's funny, has a macho exterior and a soft cushy interior! This book was especially fun because I learned about the New York Public library, and I can't imagine a better crime setting for a bibliophile. And by the way, it will be released this Tuesday.

Next I read A Dangerous Affair. That was a historical crime fiction novel that I received through Harper's early reader program. It was fun to transport back to Victorian England for that caper.

Time and Again was my book club's read for January. Not especially impressed with that one, but overall, I'm not a fantasy fan, so it was really at a disadvantage to begin with. If you're in to the time travel-type books, you may enjoy this one.

The Redbreast was another Harper publication and it is the first book to go on the list for contention in my top reads of 2009. Nesbø does an amazing job creating a complex plot and breaking the loner, alcoholic stereotype.

Finally I read Barry Eisler's Fault Line. Not especially impressed with this one. I just couldn't make a connection with the characters, and I'm a character reader.

My audio books for January included Blood Trail and Free Fire by C.J. Box. I enjoyed them, especially their settings, and I'll read other books in the series. But there also wasn't anything that really distinguished either of these two books as outstanding for me.

And I also listened to Last Car to Elysian Fields in January. Amazing. It's just that simple. Mark Hammer was a phenomenal reader and James Lee Burke is a phenomenal writer. The combination is perfect. As I've said before, I would consider Burke to be one of the greatest living American writers, and I have yet to find a reader who more perfectly embodied the essence of a novel than Hammer embodied the Dave Robicheaux series. The person who made that connection happen is a sheer genius.

I didn't link any of my titles to their reviews because I'm lazy tonight. I just finished a review that will be posted tomorrow - make sure you check back - and I figured since I have them linked over in the sidebar, you can link from there if you want to see the review. Plus, I'm really antsy to get back to a book my friend loaned me to read; it's called ADAM by Ted Dekker. So, I'll toddle off to my reading and leave you to yours.

Happy Reading - hope your February discoveries are wonderful!

Fault Line - Barry Eisler

Just when attorney Alex Treven is about to close a big patent deal for an encryption program, the software designer is murdered and the individual in the patent office reviewing the patent dies mysteriously. Alex begins to think he may be the next target. Is he just being paranoid or is there a conspiracy? To be on the safe side, he contacts his estranged brother Ben, who unbeknownst to Alex is a trained assassin for the U.S. government. When Ben reluctantly comes to Alex's aid, old family wounds are re-opened and new ones emerge.

Fault Line is my first novel by Barry Eisler; I am not familiar with his John Rain series. Fault Line is an entertaining novel with a dark setting and themes, but there was nothing about it that "wow'ed" me. The plot was focused and tight, so the action moved fairly quickly but was predictable.

The characters struck me as being flat and stereotypical. There was no point that I felt any real connections with the characters. And at several points in the novel, I was waiting for Ben to beat on his chest and yell, "me Tarzan; you Jane." Both brothers also struck me as extremely egocentric.

The blurb on the back cover from the Chicago Sun-Times says that "Eisler is one of the most talented and literary writers in the thriller genre." So, I was waiting for the "literary" element to come into play, but I didn't ever experience anything in this novel that would make me classify it as a literary thriller.

I felt the strongest element of the novel was a look at the ethics of the government assassin, but in the whole scheme of the novel, that theme didn't seem to play as big of a role as maybe it could have.

I would probably place this book in the category of a good beach read.

Fault Line will be released by Ballantine Books in March of 2009.