Huey Dusk's Lounge And Clown Room

Dead End, by Ed Lacy

2012-06-01T07:55:00.000-07:00

Right now, I am reading a great story by this author I discovered named Ed Lacy. It is called Dead End.
I don't want to say it is a strange little book... but to me it is a hodge podge of different author's styles. Although, it is noir all the way though. Hopefully, I will continue to like it and give a glowing full review.

Western Story

2012-05-31T18:58:00.000-07:00

Today I worked on a new Western story. Right now, I am still in the thinking it through stage. My philosophy for story ideas is that they should percolate like a tea kettle until the are ready to burst at the seams. So, I am still running it through a story creation program.

I am quite pleased so far. I think the story will have well thought out characters, plenty of action, and a good theme.

Prologue Books

2012-05-31T06:54:00.000-07:00

While other book geeks may have beat me to it, I just discovered a gold mine on Kindle: Prologue Books. I am in hardboiled heaven. What pleases me the most, is that they have almost all of the Peter Rabe novels... and many more. So, I could not help myself and I scooped up a few. I am looking forward to reading these and you will see reviews in the future.

A New Western Story

2012-05-30T13:40:00.002-07:00

Since I have a little lag time between Huey stories, I think I will start writing a western that has been ruminating for a while. It won't be a Cain story.

Huey Dusk now on Twitter

2012-05-30T07:42:00.001-07:00

I guess it is about time he gets with the program. So, Huey Dusk is now on Twitter. Twitter is something I will need to familiarize myself with... I set up another account years ago, but never followed up on it. My family set this one up and I thank them dearly for it. They will be tweeting all my blog posts from Huey Dusk's Lounge and Clown Room. Progress I say.

The Third Huey Story

2012-05-29T08:38:00.001-07:00

I am happy to say that I finished the first draft of the third Huey Dusk story and my wife and I are making the first editing pass at it.

As with The Case Of Sad Luck Dame, it will be different to show the different circumstances he is in.

To me this story will have the most circus flavor to it and it will be the most absurd. I will also showcase new characters and usher in some ones that will be perminent fixtures. In regard to the clowns and the circus element, I want it to have a last hurrah feeling. In future stories involving this universe, we are moving into a much different social climate.

The Case Of The Sad Luck Dame LIve!!

2012-05-28T08:44:00.000-07:00

I am so pleased to see Huey Dusk: The Case Of The Sad Luck Dame live and for sale. Thank you Jay Hartman for making that happen and thanks to friends for promoting it.

Rain(a poem)

2012-04-11T12:15:00.003-07:00

Hard

driving

dirty

it channels down streets
it sluices off roof tops
it forms black puddles
in back alleys

Rain

before it is done
it'll make this town

a soggy

moldy

sponge

Commercial Appeal

2012-04-09T06:23:00.000-07:00

Last week, on my writer's group email board, there was a discussion about why an author's book was ranked number one in libary sales.

We found this very perplexing because when we looked at the sample, the prose seemed very sloppy-- full of all the no no's that we rail against every Monday night at the St. Louis Writer's Guild. So, we asked ourselves, what is it that made this book so appealing.

Well for starters it is topical. I mean the plot most likely is ripped from today's headlines. Also, judging from the sample, there are plenty of thrilling action sequences filled with sexual sadism and other kinds of torture. So, based on just that, it is easy to see why this might be a best seller. But, is that all it takes?

I guess I am very curious, because deep down I want to be a very commercial writer; an underground quasi interesting one only carries you so far. So, I am very big on formulas and I have put together a list of qualities one must have to be commercially minded.

Conscious effort: I don't believe this author wrote his book on accident. The little I have read had a deliberate feel to it.
Meticulous planning: This writer is definately not an organic one. He is a heavy outliner right down to the last tee. Again, they plan their work and work their plan. They are in full control of their story and they don't deviate from it. They also are in control of their characters and their actions. The characters are clearly drawn and the reader is not in the dark as to what their goals and needs are.
They are very cinematic(I like that word) Every scene could be a screenplay page. They have movies on the mind.
They are very topical. Their stories come from today's headlines. So their plots are very sensational and familiar.

These are just a few things I could think of. Personally, with myself, if I want to be commercially successful, I will have forgo writing about clowns and broaden my audience.

Care Package from Papa

2012-04-06T14:04:00.000-07:00

Two days ago I received a package in the mail from my dad. In it was part of his collection of old paperbacks. The bulk of which were Parker novels. He included my favorites: The Rare Coin Score, The Sour Lemon Score etc. He also added The Damsel which is a Grofield novel. Then, for good measure, he threw in some Mickey Spillane: Kiss Me Deadly, The Day of the Guns and the Death Dealers. The last two novels are part of Spillane's Tiger Mann series.

Although these are meant o be collectibles, I can't resist reading the few that I haven't read before. Let's just say I am in crime fiction geek heaven right now. Thanks Papa!

The Pandora Case

2012-04-05T08:31:00.001-07:00

While I sit and wait for the release of Huey Dusk: The Case Of The Sad Luck Dame, I can't help but wonder who has read another favorite story of mine. This one is affectionately titled The Pandora Case.

I wrote it at a time when I was really getting into Richard Stark and as a result modeled the protagonist Joey Pantera, after Parker in how he is able to ruthlessly and efficiently dispatch bad guys.

I also gave an appropriate nod to Mickey Spillane's Kiss Me Deadly, in that the plot line deals with Joey seeking out a valuable mystery case that other sinister people are willing to kill for as well.

The story takes place in the Huey Dusk universe and deals with what is happening to the world. There are mysterous forces out there that want to alter it, and the case is the key.

Also, in this story, Huey Dusk makes an appearance as a young clown who is trying to make his bones with the syndicate and he makes a really twisted bad guy. He essentially is the psycho clown that everyone thought he was going to be in the original story.

You will also be introduced to some of the villians that appear in the Sad Luck Dame as well.

The Pandora Case tops out at 95 pages and is a fast read. It can be purchased for your Kindle or your Nook. www.amazon.com

Sad Luck Dame Very Close To Being Published

2012-04-04T13:22:00.003-07:00

Today I received news that the manuscript for Huey Dusk: The Case Of The Sad Luck Dame has been sent to proofreading. That means I am that much closer to having the story go live. Very exciting!

It is always so much fun to see your stories go live. It is like Christmas morning. But it is also like eating cotton candy... it leaves you wanting more. After I publish something, I usually have a hankering to get something else published.

Right now, I am working on a spin off story from the Huey Dusk franchise. It deals with Lou Blatz the corrupt clown detective who is always harassing Huey. It is my hope it will be an even darker story than the Huey stories. That is because Lou is such a brutal and wretched clown. I guess my other challenge is differentiating it from the format of Huey which is the Mickey Spillane model. As I said yesterday, I am shooting for more of a David Goodis vibe. As a result, Lou will be much more of a sad sack clown than Huey Dusk. However, he will still be tough and ruthless.

Reflections On The Upcoming Huey Story

2012-04-03T14:19:00.003-07:00

I am thinking alot about the upcoming Huey story that I intend to write, which is good. As always the big question that comes to mind when I write these stories is what type of story I should model it after.

Well since it is not directly a Huey story and it is about one of the side characters, who is also a clown, but an even more brooding miserable one than Huey Dusk, I will channel the likes of David Goodis and maybe George Simenon and his Roman Durs(Hard Novels). Make this a hard clown novel. I should also revisit James Ellroy's White Jazz and Brown's Requiem.

The Bastard Hand by Heath Lowrance

2012-04-01T15:56:00.000-07:00

One of the pleasures of my meager success in the publishing world is having the opportunity to rub shoulders with other up and coming talented authors. Heath Lowrance is one of those authors.

His book The Bastard Hand should be on every crime fiction and noir lover's summer and vacation reading list. The pages turn themselves and it is a potpourri of elements from fire and brimstone preachers, supernatural drifters, gun toting gangsters, corrupt small town officials and much more.

Charlie, the main character is reminiscent of the losers who populate the hard-boiled novels of the past. What makes him different from past noir characters is that there is the opportunity and a tangled willingness for redemption.

Heath also really nailed the southern atmosphere and did not insult our intelligence with all the usual cliches. Along with that, he did an excellent job of using a topic such as incest to skillfully advance the story.

I also appreciated the fact that he gave us limited back story on the Reverend Phineas. He trusted and let the reader fill in the details of this vile creature's past.

The Bastard Hand is has some very grisly scenes. However, Lowrance never went over the top and some of those scenes were very metaphoric and brutally poetic. My favorite of those would be the two dogs fighting over the road kill on the country road. To me that summed up the power struggle and the turmoil of the story.

I would love to see a publishing house like Stark House Noir pick this one up and do a paperback release of it. It belongs right up there on the shelf with the likes of Dave Goodis, Jim Thompson, James M. Cain... and we all know the rest of list. Purchase The Bastard Hand on Amazon Kindle. www.amazon.com

Harold Robbins

2012-03-31T10:14:00.003-07:00

He was one of the most commercially successful authors of the 20th century. You either loved him or hated him.

If you hated him it was because you thought he was lurid and trashy and his plots were formulaic. You probably didn't like his prose because it was too simple and heavy on adjectives.

If you liked him, you probably thought he was one of the most gifted story tellers of our time. This is the camp I fall into.

I am very willing to look past his trashy and campy plots. I can also ignore the uninteresting prose. What I can't ignore was his ability to generate excitement and buzz about his characters and the lives they lead.

I have a fun time living vicariously through the protagonists who work themselves up from rags to riches, only to fall, and then redeem themselves. Kind of like VH1's Behind The Music.

He also was another who could be a very cinematic writer and had his characters jetting around to exotic locales.

I recommend reading some of his earlier novels such as Never Love A Stranger, A Stone For Danny Fisher, The Dream Merchants and most of all, The Carpet Baggers. These novels really shine amongst all his others and show off his literary prowess. Also, they are less sexually explicit than his later novels and really have strong sense of story.

Harold Robbins has always been a very guilty pleasure of mine. His books are still in print and can be purchased for your Kindle at www.amazon.com

Peter Brandvold Part 2

2012-03-25T09:20:00.001-07:00

OK, so there was only supposed to be a part one. But I all out fracken love this guy. Right now I am reading 45 Caliber Deathtrap and it is kicking some serious hay.

Like I said before, nobody writes a better western bad guy than he does. He has a way of making them rough in a demonic sort of way. What I also like about them is that they are flashy. He dresses them in all kinds of mismatched outfits from Sombreros with steeple crowns to beaded moccasins. The bad guys pretty much do what they want and that includes wearing what they want as well. His 45 Caliber series never disappoints. I don't expect this one to either.

Peter Brandvold

2012-03-20T08:26:00.002-07:00

Like Ralph Cotton and a slew of many others Peter Brandvold is a mighty prolific author. He writes westerns--and damn good ones too! What I love about him most is his prose style. Some call it leathery. I think that is a good description. He is very evocative of place and knows how to write a bang up action scene. He also creates some down right dag nasty hombres. IE Rueben Pacheca the bounty hunter in his 45 Caliber series.

I would say he has about at least five western series going and they are all very good, albeit not for the faint of heart. If you like sex scenes in your westerns, he has those too.

Reach him on Facebook or google Writing For The Brand(his website) Also, look for titles of his under the pen name Frank Leslie. And he also writes for Ralph Compton.

Chris Craft( a dream)

2012-03-18T10:19:00.001-07:00

Last night I dreamt I was at a party on a Chris Craft. If some one wants to explain that one and analyze me then have at it.

I have always liked Cris Crafts for their retro quality(not sure if they still make them) They also have a hard boiled noir feel to them as well. I would like to incorporate a scene on a Chris Craft in a Huey Dusk Story.

Nom De Plum

2012-03-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

Right now I am having alot of fun writing under a different name. I think I will do that from now on when I want to add different elements to my prose style.

discontinuing Police Call

2012-03-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

Just a quick announcement. A frwriter friend began work on a storyand when she started writing it, decided that it did not live up to her all around standards. Well after deliberating about my own story Police Call, I've come to that decision too. I have too many other story ideas that need to see the light of day.

Genre Hopping

2012-03-09T13:55:00.001-08:00

The pulp writers of the thirties and forties on up to the fifties did this. They jumped from one genre to another. The main three that they would focus on would be crime fiction, horror, sci fi. Today's writer's do the same thing-- and alot of them mix genres, such as western horror, sci fi horror etc.

It is easy to understand why as writers we do this. I for one, get this surge that I affectionately call "the writing bug" where all sorts of story ideas come to me in just about every genre. As a result, I just want to write it all. But, with all this in mind I am left with a question, should you write an all sorts of story categories, or should you stick to just one or two? Of course there are many opinions about this.

Right now, I am happy to continue writing clown flavored crime fiction and to keep honing my western chops.

Outlines

2012-02-17T13:22:00.000-08:00

Call me weird and obsessive. Today in my journal, I outlined what my prose style could and should look like. I intend to have a lot of fun seeing if I can follow this outline.

I make no bones about being a true believer in the outline. I especially recommend them for beginning and novice writers(which I am one of those two). It is a way of holding your own hand through out the writing process.

The other reason I like them is because I am not big on suprises in my story. Other writers thrive on them. I don't. I like to go where I want to go and end up where I want to be. If I achieve that, then I know I have told the story I have wanted to tell and I am thoroughly satisfied.

The Consummata Part Two

2012-02-14T08:08:00.000-08:00

I wanted so much to like this book. But, again, I just was not feeling it. I don't fault the author. I think Max Allan Collins does justice to Mickey Spillane's prose style. However, deep down inside, I knew it wasn't Spillane and that ruined it for me. Also, this proves that I am a Mike Hammer fan. The other characters just don't have the panache of Mike. Well, disappointed I am.

The Consummata by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins

2012-02-08T14:17:00.000-08:00

I am feeling much better after off loading Stilletto in the library book return bin. I replaced it with the The Consummata, by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins.

This is a sequel to The Delta Factor which showcases another one of Spillane's spy characters called Morgan the Raider. Tiger Mann was his other. I haven't jumped into this one, but I have yet to be burned by a Spillane novel. I will have more to say when I am done.

Bummed

2012-02-07T15:10:00.000-08:00

I checked out Stilletto, by Harold Robbins from the library. 27 pages in and I am not feeling it. Too bad, because I usually like Harold Robbins and wanted to like this one. It was one of his older ones such as A Stone For Danny Fisher and Never Love A Stranger. But, it just does not resonate with me.