Update - More Kind Words for the Last Kind Words

So what the hell have I been up to, you ask? Fair question. Like most of you I've been working my ass off but still winding up falling farther and farther behind. This economic crisis coupled with my mid-life crisis are dovetailing nicely to inspire me to writing darker and nastier noir.

Finished off three more novellas that will be out over the next year or so. More on those when the info becomes available. Started a new novel, began revising an old screenplay, and knocked out a couple of short projects here and there, but I still feel like I'm clawing my way up the side of an icy cliff. I could go on about the pain of ripping your guts out and smearing them on the page day after day, but rather than bitch about my usual neuroses and travails, let's jump to the good stuff.

Two major blurbs have come in for my next novel, still tentatively titled THE LAST KIND WORDS, and now tentatively set for release in May of '11. (Everything is so damn tentative, eh?)

First up is the extremely generous comments of one of your favorites and mine:

"Perfect crime fiction...a convincing world, a cast of compelling characters, and above all a great story."--LEE CHILD

Yes, Lee f'in Child, baby!

The first Child novel I read was ECHO BURNING, followed soon after by THE ENEMY, which made me a staunch lifelong fan. Some people bitch about THE ENEMY because it's a throwback to Child's erstwhile iconic hero Jack Reacher's past as an MP. Reacher's still in the Army and we finally find out exactly why he left. I picked up the novel in an airport bookstore and read it cover to cover during a flight from New York to Colorado. Despite bad weather and lots of turbulence my concentration, flimsy during the best of times, couldn't be broken from the story. Since then, I line up on the day of release for each and every new Reacher book. If you haven't already picked up his latest GONE TOMORROW, do so asap. It might very well be Lee Child's best.

Now, onto another literary hero of mine, and I ain't kidding. This man has set the bar so high that the rest of us mooks can only gaze up at it aghast the same way I used to stare up at the rings in high school gym.

"Tom Piccirilli is clearly a writer to embrace now before he becomes huge. In THE LAST KIND WORDS he takes us inside a mutated family of crooks and unleashes a stunning story that ranges far afield at times but never truly leaves home, a place where shadows grow in every corner. It’s superbly told, with prose that doesn’t mess about or flinch from evil and characters who are best known from a distance."–DANIEL WOODRELL

Daniel Woodrell is one of the very best writers we've got, period. Not just of crime fiction, but of fiction. I said it, you heard me say it, so let me say it again. Daniel Woodrell is one of the very best writers we've got. If you've never read him, then shame on you. Right now God is pointing his fiery sword at your heart and judging you fiercely.

This is the man who wrote WINTER'S BONE, THE DEATH OF SWEET MISTER, TOMATO RED, GIVE US A KISS, WOE TO LIVE ON. What's been noted as Appalachian noir but is in reality so much more. He takes us into the backwoods and presents us with tales of strife, struggle, family, and crime that absolutely everyone can relate to. The film version of WINTER'S BONE recently premiered at Sundance and won acclaim and prizes and, most importantly, distribution. Cannot wait to catch this adaptation of one of my favorite novels of all time. Busted Flush Press will be reprinting some of his rarer novels over the next year or so, but do not wait. Order whatever you can as soon as you can. Seriously, you will thank me and I will bask in your thanks and we shall all rally and be thankful together for the abiding genius that is Daniel Woodrell.

Also from the feather in the cap department: My man KEN BRUEN states here that his favorite character in crime fiction is my protagonist Crease from THE FEVER KILL. Read and enjoy. Ken's next Jack Taylor novel THE DEVIL won't be out in the US for quite a while, so do what I did and order it from THE BOOK DEPOSITORY so you can nab the UK version due out in April.

So gather round, my friends, and let us praise the work of Lee Child, Daniel Woodrell, and Ken Bruen together. It is right to give thanks, or don't you already know that?

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."