Hi folks,
It’s been kind of a bad and good week! Last Saturday, as my
wife Mary and I climbed into the car to drive down to Indianapolis where I was
one of the participants at the Noir @ The Bar, C.J. Edwards was hosting, Mary
got a call that her father was dying. We headed over to the hospice and he was
basically in a coma. Kind of déjà vu, as her mother had just passed away about
three weeks ago and the scene was much the same. She got to tell him she loved
him and we talked about staying and I could cancel the reading, but there was
no way to know how long he’d last so we decided to go on down. Just as we got
to Indy a couple of hours later, she got the phone call that informed her he’d
expired.
Mary didn’t want to tell anyone there as she didn’t want to
deal with folks coming up and giving her their sympathy—she appreciates it, but
just didn’t want to deal with it then. Plus, she’s just the best... and toughest person I've ever known.
Anyway, we had a blast at the reading. Saw some old friends
and met some new ones. If anyone’s interested, the folks from the famous Booked
Podcast were there—Livius Nedin and Robb Olson—and they recorded all of us reading.
You can access it at their site at: http://www.bookedpodcast.com/
They’re providing in four episodes and I’d listen to them all. A great lineup
of noir writers!
We got some great pub that morning. On the Indy TV news, they announced the top three events for the weekend. We were named #2 behind #1 the Tiny Tots event with Tom Petty, the Pixies, and the Grateful Dead, and ahead of the state finals for the high school marching bands. We should have been #1, but then it WAS the Grateful Dead, so...
Here’s photos of all of us except for the host, C.J.
(Chris) Edwards. I have a theory why he didn’t have a picture—he’s a cop and I
think he’s undercover and he knows a lot of my criminal friends visit here so
he didn’t want them to know what he looks like… Chris put together a wonderful event and I hope he makes
it an annual get-together. We read in the awesome club, the Fountain Square Brewery and were in the actual brewery behind the bar. Tried to find a tap but were forced to go out to the bar and buy our drinks...
Top to bottom: Clayton Lindemuth, David James Keaton, James Ward Kirk, Jed Ayres, moi, and Scott Phillips. (Missing is our host, C.J. Edwards)
Next Saturday, I’ll be driving back down to Indy. I’m
delivering my workshop on Thelma & Louise at Marion College for the Writer’s
Center of Indiana. Hope to see a few of my friends from here there.
When I got back home, I got a great email from my German
publisher, Frank Nowatzke of Pulpmaster, who’s submitting my black comedy crime
novel THE GENUINE, IMITATION, PLASTIC KIDNAPPING that he’s publishing, to the
Books at Berlinale, the Berlin-based filmfest. Here’s some info about them from
the letter they send out to selected participants:
Dear Friends and
Colleagues,
It is our pleasure to
send you the Call for Book Submissions for “Books at Berlinale”, a joint initiative of the Berlin International Film
Festival and the Frankfurt Book Fair. During the 64th Berlin
International Film Festival (February 6-16, 2014) within the framework of the Berlinale
Co-Production Market, the 9th edition of “Books at Berlinale”
will take place in order to further strengthen the network between the film and
the book industries. The submission deadline is November 25, 2013.
Out of all submissions, ten books will be selected. During the “Books at
Berlinale” breakfast networking event these pre-selected novels will be pitched
to an audience of around 80 - 100 internationally established producers.
The book presentation
will be moderated and the respective rights holders (publishers/literary
agents) will be introduced to the audience. The presentation is followed by a
casual breakfast during which contacts to interested producers can be
established. Each publisher/agent has their own table and can be approached
directly by the producers.
The 10 selected books
will also be published in the “Books at Berlinale” catalogue handed out to all
attending producers.
If you wish to have
your novel considered for “Books at Berlinale” at the Berlinale
Co-Production Market please send us the attached submission form by Monday,
November 25, 2013.
You should be the film rights holder of the novel. Your book proposal
should be either a best-selling or brandnew, yet to be published novel with
great potential for screen adaptation. Please bear in mind when deciding which book to submit that
the international producers attending the Berlinale Co-Production Market mainly
work in the independent arthouse sector. Their average budgets for realising a
film range from 1-8 million Euros. An English translation or a sample
translation of the novel should exist for the selection, and also in order to
be handed out by you to interested producers upon request.
If you are not sure which book to submit, please do not hesitate to
contact us anytime to discuss your suggestions! We’ll be glad to help (+49-30-25920-517 or books@berlinale.de) in order to find the right one.
The selection for “Books at Berlinale” will be made shortly before
Christmas. The “Books at Berlinale”
presentation will take place on Tuesday, February 11, 2014, in
the morning, during the Berlinale Co-Production Market.
If your book is
selected, you are very welcome to participate in the Berlinale Co-Production
Market already on February 9 and 10, 2014.
Some general
information about the Berlinale Co-Production Market:
The Berlinale
Co-Production Market takes place as part of the Berlin International
Film Festival from February 9-11, 2014 in the Berlin House of
Representatives. It is a 2 1/2-day event for producers, film financiers,
broadcasting representatives, distributors and sales agents who work in the
field of international co-productions. Film producers are given a platform here
to find co-production partners and financiers for their selected film projects.
In 2013, more than 450 industry professionals from around the world attended
the Berlinale Co-Production Market of which “Books at Berlinale” is a
special part.
I’m just
pleased and happy that Frank feels this book has a good chance of being
selected and then filmed! Cross your fingers for me, willya?! Last year, he
submitted a book he published by Rick DeMarinis and here’s what he said about
that: “Last year we had no luck with Rick DeMarinis on account of
the fixed setting in the southwest but they were at least impressed by the
quality of the story. You never know. Maybe somebody shows up who works with
the Coen brothers.”
That
echoes my own thoughts. I’ve always thought this book would be a good fit with
the Coen’s… hope they’re there! Hi Joel! Hi Ethan! I'll work for beer...
Frank’s purchased the
German publishing rights to this book for Pulpmaster along with THE RAPIST and
THE BITCH, both published by New Pulp Press in the U.S.. We’re looking for a
U.S. publisher for KIDNAPPED and am pretty sure we have one and will be
announcing it shortly.
All in all, this has been a
draining weekend! I’m ready for a dose of boring now!
Blue skies,
Les
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