Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Here's an early Christmas gift to my wonderful readers from the good folks at
G.P. Putnam's Sons. This is the jacket design for THE RANGER -- in fine bookstores across the nation on June 9, 2011.
Monday, December 20, 2010
For the last dozen years, readers have been asking me about putting together a soundtrack for each book. Since a ton of my inspiration and mood comes from music, I've long thought this to be a pretty good idea. The problem comes in wrangling all the legal rights to the songs and how and where to compile the music. I can make lists and you can search on your own, but there's nothing like finding a complete album that was the basis, inspiration for a novel. So, I've finally found an easy way to make this work. The only catch is that you have to have
iTunes version 10 to make this happen. If you don't, download
here. From there, it's pretty easy. I've decided to kick this off with the music that provided the background music as I wrote my latest. For
THE RANGER, it's been the sounds of the
North Mississippi Hill Country. This isn't the blues you know from the Delta, but a rougher, rawer sound that feels just about right in Tibbehah County, Mississippi.
DOWNLOAD THE RANGER SOUNDTRACK. Above photo from the great Bill Steber. For more of his work - including the cover of the 10th Anniversary Crossroad Blues -- check out
his website.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Next month,
Devil's Garden will be published in France. This will be my fourth novel for Le Masque and my longtime editor, Marie-Caroline Aubert -- they also published
Dark End of the Street (Blues Bar),
Dirty South (Dirty South),
White Shadow (Tampa Confidential).
Translations often keep an English title but often changed to something that resonates more with French readers. But for
Devil's Garden, we're getting a literal translation --
LE JARDIN DU DIABLE -- which sounds even better in French.
My readers in France have always been my most loyal fans (they know a little about Noir) and I can't wait for Roscoe Arbuckle's return to Paris. Only a year before his trial, he was greeted in the city by thousands of adoring fans.
Below is of note to my 10th and 11th grade French teacher, Peggy Todd. She wouldn't believe it!
Présentation de l'éditeur
1921, San Francisco. Samuel (plus tard Dashiell, quand il commencera à écrire) Hammett, enquêteur pour Pinkerton, est chargé d’interroger les témoins de ce qui va être le grand procès du monde du cinéma : Roscoe Arbuckle, dit Fatty, célèbre star du comique muet, est accusé d’avoir, lors d’une orgie dans son hôtel, « écrasé » une jeune actrice, Virginia Rappe, provoquant sa mort. L’affaire est un coup monté, dont le livre nous développe les étapes en alternance avec le cheminement de Hammett, marié à une infirmière, tuberculeux, adorant son métier, fumant et buvant beaucoup, et posant toujours les bonnes questions. Il rencontre en route une séduisante blonde, agent du FBI, qui cherche à découvrir qui a approvisionné en alcool la fameuse orgie qui a mal tourné.
Outre les deux personnages principaux, les rôles secondaires sont des « people » aussi célèbres que Marion Davies et Howard Hugues, grand instigateur du complot.
Le Jardin du diable est aussi une réflexion sur les mœurs dépravées de l’époque, l’obsession de la célébrité et de l’argent, la corruption des magistrats et l’impunité de Hearst : le côté Amérique pourrie qui a poussé Hammett à écrire par la suite
Moisson rouge et
La Clé de verre.
Traduit de l’américain par Christophe Mercier
Biographie de l'auteur
Natif de l’Alabama, Ace Atkins, 40 ans, vit dans le comté d’Oxford, Mississipi, au pays de Faulkner. Ace a pratiqué le football en championnat, été un temps libraire, puis journaliste. Ses enquêtes criminelles dans le
Tampa Tribune lui ont valu d’être nommé pour le Livingston Award et pour le prix Pulitzer en 2001. Il est l’auteur de
Blues Bar, Dirty South Rap et
Tampa Confidential (Le Masque).
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
It seems that most of my email these days focuses on one question:
Where is Nick Travers? Don't fret, folks. He's still around. If you read
Nine Below Zero in the Delta Blues short story collection, you'll know he's happily living in an Airstream trailer in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He also showed up in
Last Fair Deal Gone Down in last year's
rerelease of Crossroad Blues. But more is on the way. In 2011, Busted Flush Press is bringing back both
Dark End of the Street and
Leavin' Trunk Blues in special edition trade paperbacks. Each new edition, as with
Crossroad Blues, will feature a new Nick Travers' short story. All three editions were designed by the amazing graphic artist, Mark Francis. So who can say? It would be good to see him in a new adventure soon. -- Ace
Don't forget that
Square Books in Oxford, MS still has signed copies of
Infamous. I also will be glad to personalize copies at the store in the coming weeks -- until Christmas. Also take note the new noir collection
Damn Near Dead 2 has just been released. This was the last collection put together by my great friend David Thompson and includes new short stories by C.J. Box, Don Winslow, Carolyn Haines and many other terrific writers. I contributed a brand-new short story
-- The Long Last Ride of El Canejo -- just for the collection. The collection focuses strictly on "Geezer Noir." You got to love old folks and crime.
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