Sharing the Sweetness

First blurb has come in on my next novel, due out in late '10.

"A modern noir master, Tom Piccirilli's usual propulsive prose and relentless storytelling are on display in THE LAST KIND WORDS, but it's his sense of relationships and the haunting power of family that lifts his writing beyond others in the genre. A swift-moving and hard-hitting novel, THE LAST KIND WORDS reads as if it's being whispered to you in a dimly lit bar where violent men, tough women, and powerful ghosts flicker in the mirrors."

Michael Koryta
Edgar-nominated author of SO COLD THE RIVER

A big shout-out of thanks to Mike for taking the time to read the galleys. If you haven't read Mike, do so asap, there's a well-deserved growing buzz about this masterful author.

The Last Deep Breath

Published by Tasmaniac Publications

Introduced by Patrick Lussier

Artwork by Daniele Serra

The story follows Grey, a drifter on the search for his foster sister, who showed up for the first time in ten years with a knife in her side, then vanished without a trace. Grey winds up in Los Angeles dealing with manipulative actresses and scummy agents, hoping to find some clue as to what happened to her after she dropped out of a porn career he didn't know about.

"By now I'm convinced that Tom Piccirilli is genetically incapable of delivering a tale that's anything less than immaculately conceived and beautifully rendered. The Last Deep Breath is the latest evidence, a tough yet tender noir that cuts to the heart of what sibling bonds are all about. It ricochets around like a bullet in a cinderblock room - you can never be sure where it's going to go, but you know it's probably going to hurt before it's done."--Brian Hodge, author of Wild Horses, Mad Dogs.

"The Last Deep Breath is an absolute gem of a crime novel, with prose so dead-on and moving, you'll be laughing and gasping, often in the same sentence. Tom Piccirilli is already one of the big guns in crime fiction, and proves here that he may be the heir to Elmore Leonard."--Jason Starr, author of Panic Attack, The Chill.

180 signed soft covers - $14
26 lettered hardbacks - $80

Reserve your copy now! Order direct from Tasmaniac (bugme@tasmaniacpublications.com) and you'll receive free shipping within the US and AUS. Also available from Horror Mall (US) and Jeff'N'Joys (UK).

Sometimes Santa Shows Up a Couple of Days Late

Santa showed up a couple of days late and left these kind words beneath my tree.

You know Brian Keene. You read Brian Keene. You love Brian Keene. You hinge on his every word. So go, fly, Keene-minions, and buy multiple copies of his favorite books of '09, including SHADOW SEASON. Your master bids you.

Also, purveyor of literary taste in all things thriller, mystery, and suspense, David J. Montgomery gave his year-end roundup, and had these wonderful words for SHADOW SEASON as well: "Tom Piccirilli, the ITW Thriller Award-winning author of The Midnight Road, has produced one of the most chilling thrillers of the year. Shadow Season is an intriguing story of isolation and violence with a haunted man at its center." For the full review, check HERE.

Straub's the Man

My interview with Peter Straub, focusing on his latest novel A DARK MATTER, is now up over at The Big Adios.

Some Updates

Me and my BFF James Ellroy, who I met at the Tattered Cover down in Denver a month or so ago.

I'm the featured author over on New Mystery Reader. Interview/review of SHADOW SEASON can be found at: http://newmysteryreader.com/Tom_Piccirilli.htm

Nerd of Noir did a sweet review of SHADOW SEASON over at the popular BSC site: http://www.bscreview.com/2009/12/shadow-season-by-tom-piccirilli-review/

DEADLY PLEASURES MYSTERY MAGAZINE has voted THE COLDEST MILE one of their favorite novels of 2009: http://www.deadlypleasures.com/yearsbest.html

Here's an interview with the one and only Ed Gorman, focusing on his latest, and he says last, Sam McCain novel TICKET TO RIDE: http://thebigadios.yuku.com/topic/995?page=-1

As for what's upcoming: Finished up a novella recently entitled COLD COMFORTS that will be available through Delirium Books' digital releases next month. Currently working on an X-Mas crime-themed novella for Tasmanic's FESTIVE FEAR 2 anthology, due out next Christmas. Also turned in the latest draft of my novel THE UNDERNEATH to my editor at Bantam. Look for it hopefully late in '10.

How's the end of '09 shaping up for you kids?

Plenty o' Pulp Goodness

Over at PULP SERENADE, hardboiled/noir/crime fiction critic Cullen Gallagher has a lengthy write-up of SHADOW SEASON where he says, in part: "Shadow Season was one of those books that I connected with from the very first line, and went on to read in a single afternoon. It’s an uncompromisingly dark story masterfully told that speaks well beyond its gripping scenario. Piccarilli allows us to connect with the characters on a level that feels very private, perhaps all the more so because of the main protagonist’s blindness: together, we share in his darkness. Piccirilli’s refined artistry as a writer, particularly his expressive phrasing and impeccable pacing, are on display throughout Shadow Season."

While you're there, definitely take a gander at Cullen's previous interviews, reviews, and critiques of some great fiction & film noir.

Jedidiah Ayres of HARDBOILED WONDERLAND took some time out of his busy schedule blogging about all things hardboiled and hip to do a lengthy interview with yours truly. Find it right here: Hardboiled Wonderland: TP Your Bookshelf

Uber-hep author Seth Harwood, author of JACK WAKES UP, chats with me about my writing process on Bantam's blog Blood on the Page.

Shroud Magazine also has a terrific review of my upcoming Cemetery Dance collection FUTILE EFFORTS, due out, hopefully sometime early next year.

"To say the fiction of Tom Piccirilli often defies convention or genre labeling would be a grand understatement. Better to say Piccirilli creates his own literary space, in which inhabits beings of a dark but strangely beautiful grotesqueness, characters that offer readers twisted, warped reflections of themselves. The work contained in his upcoming Cemetery Dance collection “Futile Efforts” certainly does that and more. They run the gamut, proving what most already know: that Tom Piccirilli is a skilled and versatile wordsmith: a dark fantasist with the heart of a crime/Noir writer, a sculptor of oddities, and a gifted poet, also. However, for all Piccirilli's strange, melancholic grace, the sharp edge of steel isn't far behind."

SHADOW SEASON out today!

My new novel SHADOW SEASON hits bookstores today. Race across the face of the earth, people, and get your copy of SHADOW SEASON today. Hope you love the fuckall out of the book. If you do, and you blog about it, write a review on Amazon.com or B&N.com,buy extra copies for your mama & daddy... & the kiddies, spread the word, then you will be blessed by heaven and all the riches you so rightly deserve will be yours for the plucking.

You can find a new piece by Jeff VanderMeer on the Amazon blogs here: http://bit.ly/2UcuXg

Here's an interview with me up at The Big Adios focused on the writing of the book: http://thebigadios.yuku.com/topic/959

And a few really nice reviews:

"In Piccirilli's brooding, character-driven chiller, former New York City cop Finn, recently blinded, wallows in his new role as an English teacher at a posh girls' boarding school. A storm looms as Finn and a skeleton staff remain to supervise a handful of girls staying at the school during winter break. Piccirilli (The Fever Kill) harps on his theme of isolation with palpable glee as Finn, surrounded by self-absorbed adolescents and mysterious, brutally violent attackers roaming the campus, grapples with blindness amid a sonar-dulling snowstorm in a remote area with no cellphone service. Terrified of solitude and driven by his cop instincts, Finn embarks on a wrenching journey that exposes the raw emotion of a man nearly destroyed by disability and circumstance."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"The Christmas recess has just begun at St. Valarian's, a private secondary school for girls in upstate New York. A handful of students and staff are still on campus as a nasty blizzard gathers strength. Finn, a blind and deeply conflicted former NYPD detective, teaches literature at the school and longs to murder Ray, his former police partner. Making his way across campus through the storm, Finn encounters a teenage girl, a townie, who warns him that an "ill will" is coming for him. Soon, students and staff are dying, and Finn must defend himself and the survivors. Shadow Season has enough mystery, suspense, dread, and mayhem to satisfy nearly every crime fan. Characters are well developed, but most maintain a hint of mystery. Finn's students, variously precocious, willful, mocking, and provocative, are totally believable. The blizzard ratchets up tension, as does our eagerness to learn why Finn wants to kill Ray. The portentous "ill will" may be a bit over the top, but the novel is terrific entertainment."- Thomas Gaughan, Booklist

Also, northern Colorado's biggest newspaper, The Coloradoan, had this to say: "This is an intense thriller not for sissies. The complex main character tears into savage situations described with authenticity as he grinds through each crisis while dealing with his blindness.You will appreciate the portrayal of the main character Finn's so-called disability, which really isn't one given the way he knows how to utilize it. The entire plot never lets the reader take a breath and never lets up on the gut-wrenching emotional safari into Finn's world of blackness.The dialogue, plot and the multi-layered character reveals itself to you with hammer blows page after page. Highly recommended for thriller fans who appreciate a quality read."