More Bad Thoughts

From Bookgasm.com's review of Bad Thoughts:

...Zeltserman builds upon the events to a bloody climax that will make readers cheer. BAD THOUGHTS is one of those books that has been under the radar all year, yet deserves to be discovered by a wider audience.

Five Years Later...

Five years ago I started studying Hung Gar Tiger/Crane Kung Fu. I had no martial arts background, and my goals were modest--stick with it for 6 months, and maybe earn my yellow belt. Watching the black belt students in the school, the idea of progressing anywhere near that level seemed impossible. Well, I stuck with it those first six months and continued with my training. A funny thing happened, I started getting better and at some point the idea of earning my black belt didn't seem quite so out of reach. Five years after starting my training, which works out to roughly 1000 classes, 3000 hours of studying on my own, and countless bruises and sore muscles, I tested for my black belt yesterday and earned my degree.

In my school, when you first start you hold your hands to your side to signify that there's no body/mind connection yet. After you earn you brown belt, you bow with your right hand as a fist and your left hand pressed against it with your fingers held straight to signify that the mind/body connection has started. As a black belt you bow with your right hand as a fist and your left hand wrapping around it to signify that there is now a mind/body connection. There's a lot to that. My black belt test was by far the most physically demanding of any of the belt tests--over 2 and a half hours of demonstating punches, kicks, the five animal forms, self defense techniques against attacks, and holding postures--but in some ways it was the easiest of the tests because for the first time taking a belt test the mind and body worked in syncrony and there was none of the feeling of being "scattered and confused" (as my head instructor likes to call it).

Kate's Holiday Party this Friday Night

I'll be at Kate's holiday party this Friday night signing Bad Thoughts from 6:15-7. This will be my third consecutive year invited to this party, and it's a lot of fun--kind of like a mini-Bouchercon with many of the best mystery writers in the area showing up. The address for Kate's Mystery Bookstore is 211 Mass Ave., Cambridge, MA, and here's the all-star lineup that she has graciously slipped me into:

FRIDAY, DEC. 7TH, from 5:30-7:30

(* means author has a new book, the title of which follows in parenthesis)

5:30-6:15

Linda Barnes
Jim Barlett* (Death in a Green Jacket, $14.99)
James Benn
Don Davidoff
Jeremiah Healy
Lynne Heitman
Richard Marinick* (In for a Pound, $24.95)
Chris Mooney
Charles O'Brien* (Cruel Choices, $27.95)
Robert Parker* (Now and Then, $24.95)
Clea Simon* (Cries and Whiskers, $24.95)
David Stern* (Hot Tea...Cold Case, $14.95)

6:15-7

Johnny Barnes
Susan Conant* (All Shots, $22.95)
Jessica Conant-Park (Simmer Down, $22.95 with Susan Conant)
Debra Feldman
Joe Finder* (Power Play, $24.95)
Chuck Hogan
Bill Landay
Katherine Hall Page
Vicki Steifel* (The Bone Man, $7.99)
William Tapply* (One-Way Ticket, $23.95)
Leslie Wheeler
Dave Zeltserman* (Bad Thoughts,$25.95)

6:45-7:30

Dana Cameron
Judy Copek
Hallie Ephron
Leslie Meier* (The Candy Cane Murders, $16)
Hank Phillipi Ryan* (Face Time, $5.50)
Sarah Smith
Toni Kelner
Steve Kelner
Mike Wiecek

I'd be amiss...

I'm still working my way through Out of the Gutter #3, and I want to mention "Playing Dead" by Jordan Harper. This is as good a piece of dark urban pulp as I've across in years. The story involves a vicious Jamaican gang raiding a Brooklyn drug den intent on a massacre, and the lengths one guy is willing to go through to try to survive. The writing is pitch perfect, and the story so far takes the award for the most violent in the journal. Damn good stuff, and I'll be looking for more from Mr. Harper in the future.

Out of the Gutter #3

I received my contributer's copy to Out of the Gutter #3 the other day, and I'm pretty damn impressed with what Matt Louis & company have come up with. This is an attractive and professional looking magazine/book, very clean design, terrific artwork. So far I've only read a few of the stories & articles, but have already come across dark pulpish gems from Pearce Hansen and J.D. Rhoades and a fascinating article by Alan Emmins on one of the most bizarre underground LA sex clubs imaginable--something you wouldn't believe if you came across it in a story or novel.

Nov. 6th 7pm at Barnes & Noble at BU

I'll be having a talk/reading/signing tomorrow night (Tuesday, Nov. 6th) from 7 pm - 8:30 at the Barnes & Noble at Boston University (Kenmore Square) for Bad Thoughts. If you're in the area I hope you drop by.

another goofy picture of me playing pool

The Needham Times has a feature story about me in today's edition. I owe the reporter, Steve Ryan, a huge debt of gratitude for taking my rambling answers and making something coherent out of it.

Small Crimes

Last week I received the new titles catalog from Serpent's Tail and there on page 12 was Small Crimes with the following description:

A new voice from the US, Zeltserman's Small Crimes is The Sopranos meets Copland, turbo-charged with a line of cocaine.

Bent copper Joe Denton gets out of prison suspiciously early after disfiguring a fellow cop. Nobody wants Joe to hang around, not his ex-wife, his parents or his former colleagues - if he had any decency he’d get out of town and start over. Unfortunately, Joe has precious little decency - and a whole lot of unfinished business to attend to.

A tale of redemption as dark and violent as it's bitterly comic.

‘If the road to hell is paved to paved with good intentions, it may also be lined with small crimes. Classic noir, dark, funny, shocking and absolutely no compromise. Pure magic of the blackest kind’ Ken Bruen

‘Zeltserman delves deeply into his specialty, an unorthodox look at the criminal mind. It kept me turning pages and glancing over my shoulder’ Vicki Hendricks

‘Small Crimes is a superbly crafted tale. Immensely subtle, and written with a rare maturity and confidence... This deserves to be massive’ Allan Guthrie

Small Crimes will be out March 20th with Pariah fast on its heels (1/09). To say that I'm well chuffed (have to start using British slang now that I'm being published by a UK publisher!!) to have my books published by Serpent's Tail, one of the most eclectic and prestigious publishers of crime fiction, is a massive understatement. It's been a long road but fuck if it didn't work out in the end.

A couple of Boston-area author events

October 4, 2007, 7:30-9:00 pm, Needham Public Library, 1139 Highland Ave., Needham, MA. I'll be discussing Bad Thoughts, among other things, and copies will be available for purchase.

November 6, 2007, 7:00-8:30 pm, Barnes & Noble Bookstore at Boston University, 660 Beacon Street, Boston, MA (Kenmore Square). I'll be signing books and talking about both Bad Thoughts and strategies for newer writers to crack into the publishing industry.

If you're in the area I hope you drop in and say hello!

From RARA AVIS

Since Fast Lane was published in 2004 it has been praised by a number of folks, including Craig McDonald (whose Head Games is next on my TBR pile), Ed Gorman, Bill Crider, Ken Bruen, Vicki Hendricks, Gary Lovisi, Seymour Shubin, Charlie Stella, Poisoned Pen Bookstore (listing it as one of the top hardboiled books of the year) and Kate's Mystery Bookstore. I've gotten emails from readers who somehow discovered this book, and some nice reviews and mentions on different web-sites, including Finnish writer and pulp enthusiast, Juri Nummelin, trying to decide whether this neo-noir book from a tiny publisher should make his top 10 PI novel list. The other day, Michael Robinson, a RARA AVIS stalwart, posted his thoughts on Fast Lane:

"Like Goodis, Zeltserman can bring a minor character to life in a few precise sentences. Like James Ellroy, he can smoothly crank up the tension as the story progresses. You can feel them sweat. Probably the most striking parallel is with the works of Jim Thompson. Like Thompson, Zeltserman excels at invoking an almost hypnotic fascination with a character's hand basket ride into his own private hell.

One thing worth mentioning is the juxtaposition of humor and horror. Without some sort of relief, a noir work risks losing the reader by drowning in its own morbid ooze. Woolrich's I Married a Dead Man is a good example. Dark humor is the writer's preferred choice of relief. Willeford understood this. Same with Al Guthrie and Vicki Hendricks. But the technique is not risk-free. Humor can negate the desperation of the noir condition and turn reader empathy to apathy. What it takes is a graveyard, irony-dripping humor that complements the text rather than contradicting it. In this arena, Zeltserman is a master. He has not only read Jim Thompson. He has improved on him. Thompson's Pop. 1280 is almost always in danger of devolving into a farcical joke. Fast Lane avoids this with a wicked humor integrated perfectly into the increasingly dark world of Johnny Lane."

Mike is one of a half dozen members of RARA AVIS whose postings and critical examinations I look forward to reading--both because of his knowledge and passion for crime fiction, and to get that type of reaction from him for Fast Lane is something that made my day--fuck that, my week!