A Hardluck Edgar Congrats

I'd like to congratulate the following authors nominated for Edgars who've been connected to Hardluck--either from allowing us to publish their excellent stories, acting as guest editor, or being profiled on our pages:

Ken Bruen--Priest (Best Novel)
Craig McDonald--Head Games (Best First Novel)
Vicki Hendricks--Cruel Poetry (Best PBO)
Reed Farrel Coleman--Soul Patch (Best Novel)

I'd also like to congratulate both MWA for recognizing such an excellent noir novel as Russell Hill's "Robbie's Wife" for a PBO nomination, and Russell Hill for this well-deserved recognition. This is one of the best pure noir novels I've read in years, and it was great to see something this unrelentingly dark nominated.

Small Crimes--first review

Small Crimes will be released in the UK March 20th, later in the year in the US. In the UK, ARCs were recently sent out, and the book has already received its first review. Barry Forshaw at Crime Time Magazine liked it, saying among other things, "This loamy smorgasboard of salvation and revenge has both a violent and comic edge, marking Zeltserman as a name to watch."

Bad Thoughts one of the best books of 2007...

At least according to the Dover NH Library (and no, I'm not from Dover, NH, or NH for that matter). Here's their eclectic list, which I am honored to be included in:

Librarians’ Choice 2007
The Best Books of the Year

A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Last Wife of Henry VIII by Carolly Erickson
Life & Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
False Impression by Jeffrey Archer
Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory
The Uses of Enchantment by Heidi Julavits
When Darkness Falls by James Grippando
Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn
Thirteenth Tale by Diana Setterfield
The Water Devil by Judith Merkle Riley
The Family That Couldn’t Sleep by D.T. Max
World War Z: an oral history of the zombie war by Max Brooks
Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier
Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir
Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Wayward Muse by Elizabeth Hickey
The Dogs of Windcutter Down by David Kennard
Withering Heights by Dorothy Cannell
Red Dahlia by Lynda LaPlante
Savage Garden by Mark Mills
Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood
Dog Days by John Katz
Austenland by Shannon Hale
The Innocence by David Hosp
The Glass Devil by Helene Tursten
Keeping Mum DVD
18 Seconds by George Shuman
Bad Thoughts by Dave Zeltserman
Agnes & The Hit Man by Jennifer Crusie,
Night Birds by Thomas Maltman
Brilliance by Rosalind Laker
Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
Down River by John Hart
The Abduction by Mark Gimenez
Death Before Wicket by Kerry Greenwood
Cormac: the tale of a dog gone missing by Sonny Brewer
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell
The Guynd: a Scottish Journal by Belinda Rathbone
Mademoiselle Boleyn by Robin Maxwell
In the Woods by Tara French

A Dark Party Going On!

Dark Party Review is a very cool web-site (even though they don't have Blade Runner listed as one of their 8 coolest sci-fi flicks), and for some reason they wanted to ask me five questions about writing crime fiction.

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.