THE DERRINGER AWARD

Hi folks,

James R. Tuck, put together a collection of crime and noir stories centered around country music songs and invited me to send him a story which he accepted. Down & Out Books published the book in August. He just told me that the story, SNAKE FARM, has been nominated for a prestigious Derringer Award.

I'm stoked! It's my second Derringer nomination and maybe this time I'll cop one of these things.

You might want to glom onto this. Just click on the cover above. Lots and lots of terrific stories here.

Blue skies,

Les

THE RAPIST reviewed on Austrian television show!

Hi folks,

Just heard from my German publisher, Frank Nowatzki of Pulp Master, that a leading Austrian TV station reviewed The Rapist on the program, Kulturzeit (Culture Time). The review comes on at the 20:45 spot on the program. Here’s a written version of the review. There is also a Google button you can hit to translate it from the German:

http://www.3sat.de/page/?source=%2Fkulturzeit%2Flesezeit%2F190843%2Findex.html

 And, here's the broadcast itself. The Rapist review plays at the 20:45 mark of the show.

http://www.3sat.de/mediathek/?mode=play&obj=64257

Blue skies,

Les

Katja Bohnet review of The Rapist in CulturMag

HI folks,

Just received another wonderful review of The Rapist from German reviewer, Katja Bohnet, in CulturMag. It's in German, but there's a translate button that quickly translates it into English.

At: CulturMag

Me, sleeping with my copy of the German edition and my "buddy"...

Click on the photo for some other reviews from Germany.

Blue skies,

Les

*WRITERS' POLICE ACADEMY APPEARANCE*

Hi folks,

One of the events I’ll be participating in this coming year is Lee Lofland’s annual one-of-a-kind Writers’ Police Academy in Green Bay, Wisconsin from August 10-13, 2017. There’s nothing like it in the world. It gives crime and suspense writers an up close and personal look at how law enforcement works. Lee has asked me to appear and talk about my experiences on the other side of the law—as a former burglar, armed robber, prison experience and other activities I participated in during my outlaw days.

This is an amazing opportunity for writers who use crime in their writing to “get it right.” This is an unprecedented gathering of both the top crime/thriller/mystery writers in the world along with the top law enforcement authorities.

At least two of my own students have attended this remarkable event—Maegan Beaumont and Mary Edelson—and both rave about the experience.

Go here for all the info you’ll need: http://www.writerspoliceacademy.com/

CONFERENCE

---

MAIN MENU

·         INFORMATION

·         REGISTRATION

·         PRESENTERS

·         SCHEDULE

Exciting NEWS!

The 2017 Writers’ Police Academy is a One-of-a-Kind Thrilling Experience for Writers!

When:

August 10-13, 2017

Where:

Northeast Wisconsin Technical College
International Public Safety Training Academy
Green Bay, Wisconsin

As always, there’s far too much to see and do in a single weekend, so get plenty of rest, wear comfortable shoes, and prepare to be blown away by THE event of a lifetime!

Hotel:

Radisson Hotel and Conference Center Green Bay
2040 Airport Drive, Green Bay, WI 54313
920-494-7300

*The hotel is conveniently situated near Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers, and features several restaurants, AND, the famous Oneida Casino!
Airport:

Austin Straubel International Airport
Airport Code – GRB

Shuttles are provided between the airport and the Radisson, our event hotel.

ONEIDA CASINO – Plan to stay an extra day or so to take advantage of this unique opportunity – slots, table games, poker, roulette, craps, great food, and live entertainment!
Even more exciting details for the even bigger and better 2017 Writers’ Police Academy are on the way.

That’s right, we’re pushing our own limits to take 2017 to a level of unbelievable excitement and heart-pounding action. You will not believe your eyes.

This is THE experience of a lifetime!

Registration details TBA.

*This is a one of a kind event, featuring real police, fire, and EMS training at a renowned international law enforcement training academy. Top instructors and experts! It is THE event of the year. An experience of a lifetime!

*Space for the 2017 Writers’ Police Academy is limited. So please register early. Available slots will go quickly.

Registration – TBA

Registration includes transportation from the Radisson to the academy and back (to the academy in the morning and back to the hotel at the end of the day), and to all off-site activities and sessions, lunches at the academy, all workshops, Friday night reception and all sessions at the hotel.

The Saturday night banquet, of course, is extra, and optional. But you will not want to miss the festivities and the fantastic food, as well as the company of your fellow WPA recruits and faculty.

*Sisters in Crime offers a whopping $150 discount for SinC members attending for the 1st time. Join SinC now to receive your discount!

Registration opens – TBA.

Breakfasts and WiFi are free for WPA registrants staying at the Green Bay Radisson. Hotel provides shuttle service to and from the airport.

Our negotiated hotel room rate is TBA.

We will post the hotel reservation link sometime during the second week of February. When calling the hotel to make your reservation please be sure to ask for the Writers’ Police Academy special rate!

Please, please, please reserve your rooms ASAP. Once our reserved block is filled we will not be able to extend it. This is a very popular hotel that’s used by the Green Bay Packers as well as vacationers who like to take advantage of the fabulous casino.

*Again, space for the 2017 Writers’ Police Academy is limited.  So please register early. These slots will go quickly.

Registration opens SOON!

If you’re not yet a subscriber, consider going to Lee’s blog, The Graveyard Shift, the premier site for writers to learn substantive and accurate information about police procedures and all things relating to law enforcement. If you want your book to be accurate, this is the best resource out there.

http://www.leelofland.com/wordpress/

Hope to see many of my writer friends there! Look for me in the bar or in the casino when I’m not doing a presentation…

Blue skies,

Les

*New Poem from William Joyce*

Hi folks,

I've been in constant communication with my friend, the writer William Joyce (who also writes under the name Guillermo O'Joyce). He had to leave the U.S. as he couldn't survive on his S.S. and went to Guatemala, but between the civil war going on and the outlaws and a still-high cost of living, he recently left to go live in Mexico where he is currently. He tells me the cost of living is half what it was in Guatemala and infinitely safer!

Yesterday was his birthday (75) and he sent me this poem which I'd like to share with you. He'd just colored his beard and was bummed out the ladies weren't complimenting him on it. Like me, he knows the veracity of that saying, "Just because there's snow on the roof doesn't mean there's not a fire down below..."

Hope you enjoy his poem!

He wrote me: 

Tomorrow I turn 75 but none of the ladies have congratulated on my beard dye.  Wrote a poem about it.

 Wrote this poem for my birthday:

                                                   Fuck People

                                        If they're going

                                        to go on

                                        making a nuisance

                                        of themselves

                                        with cell phones,

                                        poking

                                        head down

                                        running into you

                                        on the street,

                                        fuck people.

                                        Bomb them,

                                        hang them

                                        from lamposts,

                                        if they keep up

                                        that insane poking

                                        with their heads down

                                        and can't see

                                        the brilliance

                                        of my beard dye,

                                        fuck them, 

                                        start the bombs 

                                        falling.

                                        As their heads

                                        come off

                                        they'll still be

                                        poking. 

Thanks, William. Happy birthday, old warrior!

Blue skies,

Les

RICHARD BRAUTIGAN

Hi folks,

Posted some stuff from Richard Brautigan yesterday on FB and found a lot of other folks loved his work as much as I do. So, I’m posting some more than many won’t have seen as it’s from a book of his uncollected work, titled, THE EDNA WEBSTER COLLECTION OF UNDISCOVERED WRITINGS.

Here ya go:

a young man

Surely goodness

and mercy

shall follow me

all the days

of my life,

and I will dwell

in the house

of the Lord

forever, if the

rent isn’t too high.

awakening

            The dog had fallen from a high cliff down onto the road, and then trucks and cars had run over it, I guess, because the dog was only an inch thick.

The dog was white, and its guts were white.

When I saw the dog, I couldn’t believe it for a moment.

Then I had to believe it.

Then I started crying.

I was five years old.

The dog was the first dead animal I had ever seen.

I had always thought that everything lived forever.

When My Soul Didn’t Love Me

Once upon a sad weird

there lived a girl

who was my beautiful soul given form.

So,

of course,

I loved her a cash-registerful.

But she didn’t love me a penny.

It was very sad and weird having my soul

not love me.

Untitled

I

am waiting anxiously

for Hollywood to buy this book

and pay umpity-ump cash for it

and turn it into a super-colossal

spectacle with ten thousand extras,

2,000 horses, 52 lions, 60 king cobras,

And every Hollywood actress who has been

divorced over five times.

Hollywood will,

of course,

change the title

to something like

“The Outcasts of Devil’s Island.”

And, finally, the poem I wish I had written for my wife…

i would walk back

across hell

to get Your hat

i would

carry You across hell,

and

if You had forgotten

Your hat,

            i would walk

            back across hell

            and get it for You.

And… just… damn! What a Writer…

Blue skies,

Les

THE DEATH OF TARPONS offered free for a short time...

Hi folks,

My British ebook publisher, Endeavour Books, has just offered my novel, THE DEATH OF TARPONS for free for a short period. Hope you glom onto a copy and if you like it, I'd really appreciate a review on Amazon. It does everything for future sales and exposure.

Click onto: https://www.amazon.com/Death-Tarpons-Edgerton-ebook/dp/B01N8PNDS9/ref=sr_1_2?tag=geolinker-20&ie=UTF8

Thank you.

Blue skies,
Les