Go Ahead, Shoot The Baby

I’ve been watching a lot of film noir from the forties and fifties over at Noir City, the noir film festival going on this month at The Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, and I’ve noticed something that’s been bothering me: There are a lot of happy endings. Seriously, what the fuck?

Your Penmonkey DNA

So, the question I’m putting forth to you is, who’s in your storytelling DNA? It can be writers, too — hell, I know I’m the turbid broth of Robert McCammon, Douglas Adams, Joe Lansdale, Christopher Moore, and others. But go beyond just those you’ve read and look too to those in your life. Who flipped on that storyteller switch inside your head?

Books Are The Tits

And here I am, asking you: what are you reading right now? Are you digging it? Or, what did you just finish reading? Give recommendations if you care to. Let’s talk the books that currently exist in your ecosystem. Fiction, non-fiction, whatever. Hell, if you’re reading something self-published or “indie,” share that, too.

“Sequelitis” (A Visit From The Mighty Russel D. McLean)

My name is Russel D McLean. If you have any trouble understanding me, don’t worry. That’s because I’m Scottish. I’m also a writer – author of two noir novels, the second of which, THE LOST SISTER, has just been released upon your United States. In celebration I’m doing a series of invasions of other author’s blogs.

If My Mockingjay Don’t Sing

Finished Mockingjay. Loved Mockingjay.

But wondering: why all the middling reactions toward Mockingjay? I wouldn’t call it “hate,” exactly — but I was warned repeatedly that the third book was essentially a big disappointment from the high of the previous two.