Mulholland Books

I don't talk too much about publishers or their imprints here, but there is a new imprint from Little Brown and Company that is catching my attention. Okay, more than catching my attention... I am going whaaaaa?!

Mulholland Books out out a mission statement that made me lean in, take a sip of bourbon, and go - wow.

"Mulholland Drive is a winding stretch of road that follows the ridgeline of the Hollywood Hills. Its hairpin turns, sharp cliff-faces and breathtaking views of Los Angeles are shrouded in secrecy and imbued with drama, making them synonymous with suspense. The mysteries of Mulholland have inspired countless novels, films and works of art, from the classic mysteries of Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain to the voices of James Ellroy, Michael Connelly, Michael Mann, David Lynch and David Hockney."

Their first book comes out in April of this year - and looking at the list of authors on this list, I know a bunch of these are going to be sitting on my bookshelf.

Notably one writer, who in my own defense, I haven't mentioned for a while (though, truthfully, I am slightly obsessed with): Joe R. Lansdale.

Lansdale's book Edge of Dark Water comes out on Mulholland in 2012.

Mulholland also has a fantastic site that I have been following regularly - with guest posts by their writers, including Jolting Joe. Today, they have an interview up with the screenwriter Brian Helgelhand (LA Confidential, Mystic River).

Here is link to the interview.

I hope these guys sell a bazillion books - and as a designer, look at those covers!

Night Birds

I am in the midst of writing my new novel (and loving working on it) - but it occurred to me that I don't write short things anymore, or I haven't for some time. Short fiction taught me a lot about the craft, and I still admire it a lot. Reminder to self: pick up latest BASS.

Working on what Henry James called the "big baggy monster" you can get lost in the wonderful maze of storytelling, but maybe forget a bit about language; not entirely though, as some gems always seem to emerge. But it is focusing on the beauty of words that makes fiction sing. I don't write poetry, or I haven't for years - the closest I get is what is known as flash fiction. I am a prose guy - love the story, love the form.

But there was a online magazine, a well respected one that I really wanted to be in. So I submitted many stories, all of them rejected. I have had rejections before (and I continue to gather them), but I thought hard as to what was missing from these short short stories (the magazine is known for flash fiction).

Telling a story in a very few words is a deep challenge. Hemingway's famous six worder (For sale: baby shoes, never worn.) is full of story within stories, or the possibility of story. Incidentally, Papa H. called it his best work - but he talked like that. For me, I knew a story, or perhaps the capturing of a moment that I wanted to tell. It is like taking a photograph, or maybe making a film, where you capture all the senses.

I worked my language ass off (!) on a short little piece called "Night Birds." I felt it caught something I really wanted to evoke. I sent it off to Smokelong Quarterly (the mag I have been trying to get into) and it was accepted.

Later that year, Night Birds was named one of the top 50 short fictions of 2008.

Lesson learned. Language matters a lot.

Please visit Smokelong to read the story and the interview. Or just think about words and create your own.

Night Birds at Smokelong

Interview with me about the story

Sticking through

Well, not that this is supposed to become a readers journal on Chabon's book (his smiling mug above), but... a good friend suggest that I keep with it, that the book does get a lot better, and it does begin to "move".

Well, darn it, if he wasn't right. I am becoming increasingly intrigued. It does make me wonder about all those editors that turn down a book after reading a chapter.

There are rewards for sticking through with it.

okay then...

Okay Mr. Chabon, I want you to know I avoided your book all weekend - and I was supposed to be reading it! Sigh.

Too many other good ones on the go - and I keep dipping into Kitchen Confidential. You might say, hey, aren't you done that yet (no), and are you that slow of a reader (yes). But I have also been reading McLaren's New Kind of Christianity and a book on Darwin. And some other stuff. And writing a new novel. So get off my back.

Um, me.

Can you argue with yourself on a blog? I think I just did.

Yawn

Okay Chabon, you are boring me. Why is a book with such a cool premise - film noir detective in an alternative reality (Jews going to Alaska rather than Palestine) - such a drag to read?

I mean, the writing is all there - a little full of it sometimes. But I am reading it, my eyes glazing over, trying to concentrate and then I see Kitchen Confidential on my bedside table. Yes, I am still reading that too. So I put down the Yiddish book and pick up the Kitchen book, and boom, he's got me. I love his storytelling, it's direct, funny, edgy, it moves and not just on the surface - damn, who taught Bourdain to write? Because he is damn good at it.

The competition continues. I just hope I can finish the Chabon before my bookclub. Maybe I shouldn't read it at night.