Thank you, Kingdom Books!

I'd like to thank Kingdom Books for their extraordinarily nice writeup today on their blog. I'm going to be there next Thursday (June 25th, 7pm) to talk about Small Crimes, Bad Thoughts, and maybe even Pariah and Bad Karma, and I'm looking for to it.

Kingdom Books, June 25th

Last December at Kate's Mystery Bookstore's holiday party, I found a kindred spirit with Dave Kanell, and we ended up spending a good chunk of the evening discussing crime fiction. Dave's a fan of the genre, very well-read, and very passionate about crime novels. Dave, with his wife Beth, also runs Kingdom Books in Waterford, Vermont. Since Kate's holiday party, Dave and I have traded numerous emails, and he has read my books and has become a strong supporter, which I am very grateful for. I'll be at Kingdom Books on June 25th where I'll reading and talking about Small Crimes and Pariah. It should be fun evening, and it's one I'm looking forward to.

You can read more about it, as well as Beth's thoughts on Small Crimes, on Kingdom Books blog.

Pariah in South Africa

Pariah is still almost 4 months from its US release, but Roger Smith (Mixed Blood) has generously reviewed Pariah on Crime Beat Southern Africa:

"The plotting of Pariah is sharp and clean, the characters perfectly drawn, and the dialogue straight out of the South Boston streets. In contrast to much contemporary crime writing that titillates with comic-book violence, the brutality in Pariah is unflinching and realistic.

With this book Zeltserman entrenches his position as the ranking neo-noirist, putting a contemporary spin on a tradition that goes way back to Thompson and James M. Cain. If you like your fiction dark, lean and uncompromising, Pariah has to be at the top of your list."

You can read Roger's complete review here.

Where I talk about Pariah, Publishing, and the New England Patriots

Corey Wilde over at his Drowning Machine blog and Rafe McGregor at his author's blog, both interview me on a wide range of subjects ranging from my latest book, Pariah, to the state of publishing, and even about America's team (the New England Patriots). I'd like to thank both Corey and Rafe for taking the time to do this, and you can read Corey's interview here, and Rafe's here.

Pariah over at Drowning Machine

Pariah is 4 1/2 months away from it's US release, but Corey Wilde offers his review over at his excellent Drowning Machine blog:

This book just sucked the air right out of me. It's more than great noir. This book's got teeth that bite and claws that catch, and it's a masterpiece. If you're looking for a hero or even an anti-hero, you won't find one here. Kyle Nevin is pure, unwavering psychopath, and the most finely drawn such creature since Charles Willeford put Junior Frenger on paper. If Jim Thompson's Lou Ford and James Cagney's Cody Jarrett (White Heat, 1949) are watching somewhere from the halls of twisted fiction, they are pouring out their warped blessings on Kyle Nevin.


You can read the entire review here.

wow

This is clearly not a good time to be writing crime fiction. Or at least be trying to sell it. I'm looking at Publisher Marketplace's weekly summary, and here's how last week's sales broke down:

mystery/crime -- 1 sale announcement (Nevada Barr's next 3 books)

thriller -- 1 announcement (4 new books from the late Robert Ludlom's estate)

romance -- 16 announcements

If only Ben had been reading Small Crimes...

The power of Lost. In last night's season finale (and what a mindblower it was!), they had Jacob reading the great Flannery O'Connor's "Everything That Rises Must Converge", and now the book's #89 on Amazon.

Small Crimes would be a good book for Ben. The failed redemption, the narcissism and bad deeds of the central character. One can dream.

Small Crimes in Italy

I just got the good news from my publisher that the Italian rights to Small Crimes are being sold to Fanucci. They've got a great crime list, and I'm very excited to be joining them.

Pariah over at Independent Crime

Although Pariah won't be hitting the US for 5 months (other than through copies now being leaked by amazon), Nathan Cain offers a review over at his Independent Crime blog.

Zeltserman has succeeded in bringing a blithely psychopatic character to the page who will chill the blood.

Despite the utter moral bankruptcy of the main character, Pariah is gripping as opposed to repugnant. Zeltserman's writing and plotting are sharp and the plot is immaculately crafted. The only other author writing about such venal characters with such an incisive eye is Jason Starr, and some of Starr's characters are downright cuddly when compared to Zeltserman's. Pariah is a scathing rebuke of society's obsession with fame, and mythologizing of gangsters and the repugnant moral calculus that allows them to victimize innocent people with impunity

You can read the entire review here.

Bad Karma

Five Star just sent me this fantastic cover for Bad Karma (due this Oct.) The mountains in the background are the Flatirons (Boulder, Co.)