Jerry Ahern, 1946-2012

I found out this evening that Jerry Ahern passed away earlier this morning.

Cancer.

I found out because we were "friends" on Facebook and his family was kind enough to post the announcement. Jerry was one of my favorite writers growing up. I read everything I could get my hands on and I never did complete the Ahern Library, but I tried. His novels were full of exciting adventure and it was everything a growing boy needed. He was gracious enough to grant me an interview for this blog shortly after I started it and I had hoped we could maintain a correspondence, but that didn't work out. Maybe he was already sick.

I am including a link to the interview here because I can think of no better tribute, from me, anyway, as meaningless as it may be, than to once again highlight the dedication to the craft of writing that Jerry had. It's a dedication that all writers should have. He wrote in the men's adventure genre, but he wrote far above the limitations of that genre, and his point of view should not be missed.

I entitled my interview "Jerry Ahern: King of Adventure".

He never told me if he thought it was silly or not.

So long, Jerry.
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Howard Browne's Paul Pine Novels

"I hear he's improving."

So said Raymond Chandler himself in a BBC interview with Ian Fleming back in the day when the two were on top of the world with James Bond and Philip Marlowe. Chandler had just released Playback, Fleming's Goldfinger was in proofs, and Ray also talked about what would later become Poodle Springs where he has Marlowe married and wasn't really sure what to do next. Of course, Chandler died before finishing that book and Robert B. Parker completed it. But Chandler uttered the quote above after Fleming talked about his enjoyment of Howard Browne's Paul Pine novels. Everybody who reads PI stories knows the Pine books were Chandler clones--and good ones, too.

One can almost see Chandler's tongue planted in cheek when he says that line, and you know that he knew what Browne was up to. How could he not?

If you have never had the opportunity to read Howard Browne's Paul Pine books, very soon you'll get your chance. Haffner Press is releasing the books and we are very excited to hear of this development.

I have, so far, only read Halo for Satan, which I picked up at a used bookshop one day many years ago. In the introduction, Browne states that he wanted to write a story where the identity of the murderer hinges on a clue that no reader would be able to guess or predict. And he was right! It's been used time and again since but you'd never know it while reading the book and you'll marvel at how poorly such a twist has been handled by others and how smoothly Browne pulled it off. Granted the clue is based on the prejudices of the time it was written, even Browne admitted so, and it will surely cause much weeping and gnashing of teeth from the PC crowd, but it's a heck of a thriller and anything that offends the PC crowd is OK in my book.

Paul Pine is a Chicago private investigator; in Halo for Satan, he's hired by worried parents to track down their missing daughter. He gets conked on the head a few times, engages in the usual hokum, and solves the mystery. But it's so well-written and so engaging that such a bland premise takes on new life and you cannot help but stay glued to the page.

I am very excited to be able to get my hands on all of the books in one collection. Hurry, Santa, hurry!

E-Book Experimentation, or: Back to the Drawing Board

For the last few months I've been releasing as a serial The Rogue Gentleman, featuring the adventures of globe-trotting thrill-seeker Steve Dane. I designed the stories to be read in one or two sittings and wanted to see if readers would support this new format.

Well, bluntly, the entire experiment has gone over like the proverbial lead zeppelin Tommy Page once joked about.

This has been discouraging, to say the least, and has caused some delay in the fourth and final episode in this first set, but it's almost done and should be out shortly. Nobody is complaining that it's late, so I'm not in any rush.

Unfortunately my other ebooks, steady sellers throughout 2011, seem to have suffered but I have no way of knowing if they've been affected by the serial or not. I can't imagine why, but you never know. The folks who have bought the older books have not come back for the newer ones.

So here's what I know: full-length novels sell.

Serialized books, at least my books in this case, do not. Perhaps you will have better luck should you go that route. Perhaps the idea of paying, overall, $4.00 for a story isn't appealing. I have no trouble selling some titles for the usual $2.99, so maybe that is truly the sweet spot price point.

It's been a fun experiment, and happily one that the new world of ebooks allows an author to attempt. It could have gone like gangbusters as we'd hoped, but that isn't the case. I also have the freedom, when the results are not what we'd like, to go back to what we know works.

Proposed cover for the collected set.

So once The Rogue Gentleman #4: The Hard Way is done, and released, I will wait a few months, withdraw the serialized versions, and re-release it as a full novel along with a sequel that is already in the can. Steve Dane will continue with single-title, fully-contained stories.

I think we will all be much happier that way.

After The Rogue Gentleman II it will be time to turn my attention to the next book, where I plan on going back to my hard-boiled crime roots with a murder mystery called Kill Fever. I also have plans to bring back Mr. Pierce from Justified Sins, which I know some of you will be excited to hear, but that won't get done until 2013, more than likely after I finished Kill Fever.

Ian Fleming's The Spy Who Loved Me, Or: When Ian Almost Killed Off 007

The Spy Who Loved Me is a good James Bond book. I know he thought that it was terrible and felt that the experiment in writing about Bond from a woman's point of view failed miserably but that simply isn't the case (he hated it so much, he asked that it not be reprinted--ever). You can make the case that Fleming stank at writing from a female point of view, because I don't think Vivienne Michal sounds much like a real woman at all, but that's a minor point and we must admit that most male writer do not write female characters very well. Female writers, on the flip side, also do not write male characters very well. It's a Mars / Venus thing. You can't write about what you don't understand.

The story of how Vivienne Michal, the heroine we spend time with throughout the story, encounters James Bond doesn't give us much insight to Bond as a character, but it's a fun ride, and I think we've had all the insight required from the other books. There isn't much more to reveal about him at that point in the series.

While working alone at a roadside motel, Michal is harassed by the mafia thugs who arrive to carry out a scheme for their boss, who owns the motel, and Michal will be the unfortunate victim of that scheme. Fleming's dialogue for his bad guys sounds like he copied it from a bad 1930s Bogart movie; however, the two thugs themselves are very well drawn and one of them even has metal teeth which must have inspired the Jaws character who appeared in the film version. The hostage situation he describes is also nail-biting. When James Bond, after getting a flat tire, shows up at the motel, we let out the breath we've been holding because the brave knight has arrived to rescue the damsel in distress. Bond is quickly recruited to save Vivienne (not that it takes much!) and he does so in typical fashion.

I think it was with this book that Fleming toyed with killing off 007, having tired of the character and the hassles of dreaming up new adventures. It would have been the perfect vehicle. Instead of a third person report on the death of Bond (like he tried, almost, in From Russia, With Love), we have an eye witness report. The tell-tale sign occurs just before the final battle. Fleming practically foreshadows Bond's death when he tells her to "remember who I was". He gives her his 007 recognition number and runs off to fight. She wonders why he would use the past tense, and in the suspenseful fight that follows we hold our breath as Bond and the baddies shoot it out.

Of course, Fleming did not kill off 007 and he followed up this novel with the terrific On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

My only complaint about the story is how many times Bond apologies to Michal for this, that, and the other, usually after he fails to accomplish a goal, or a trick fails, or for some other reason, and while he may be trying to reassure her that he can finish the job, it made him seem weak.

Other than that, if you've avoided The Spy Who Loved Me because of its reputation as one of the lesser Bond books, give it a read. I dare you to put it down--you won't be able to. I think you'll find it earns its place in the Bond Canon quite nicely.

REVIEW: How to Survive Anything by David & Yetta Kane

How to Survive Anything has been a hard book to review. It makes you take stock of your life and evaluate how you see yourself and your current situation. But I'm getting ahead of myself....

The book is about a couple who lived separate lives prior to World War II and weren’t bothering anybody, but then a poor excuse for a carbon unit decided he wanted to start a war. This couple fought their own battles through that war, on the run, in the camps, and neither survived unscathed.  Mothers, fathers, siblings, entire life histories were lost.

What they did with their lives after emerging from the battlefield is where their story really begins.

What did I learn reading How to Survive Anything by David and Yetta Kane? First, I learned that no matter how tough things have been for me the last few years, I was never in a Nazi concentration camp. The Nazis did not kill members of my family or force me from my home. Second, I learned that no matter how hard things have been for me the last few years (unemployment, moving constantly, scraping by, busted relationships and personal tragedies), they are but a drop in the bucket compared to the overall length of my life, and to wallow on the pain and difficulty of those years is counterproductive to what else life has in store for me. There’s something wonderful beyond where I am; it’s my job to go and find it.

The Kanes tell a story of Rising Above. Fill in your own blank after that.  In their case, the horrors of World War II. In your case…what? Abuse? Sickness? Fear?

After the war the Kanes came to the United States for a new start, and they have certainly made the most of that start. There was no time for a pity party. There were only new opportunities! As a rabbi, David has used his position to change the story of his life from despair, fear, and death, to faith, hope, and love. Who else does that? Why is it so easy to stay negative and define ourselves by our troubles?  And don’t give me any “I don’t like religion” garbage—you don’t have to be religious to “get” their story. This is a story about people of faith, yes, but if you dismiss it because of that you're wrong to do so. What the Kanes made me realize is that the rough patches in life are indeed patches and our attitudes shape how we recover. David Kane tells a great joke about a fellow who broke a leg in an accident, and started laughing.  When asked why he was laughing, the fellow said, “I could have broken them both!”  

The real survivors.

Attitude is everything, they say. You can remain down in the dumps, pulling a woe is me act, but if you do you will always be in that place.

Or you can be determined to survive and stay positive and know that there’s Something More for you Somewhere Out There and go and find it.  It took many years for the Kanes to see the fruits of their efforts; now, with a family that has multiplied beyond their dreams, a ministry, if you will, that reaches thousands every year, they can look the past in the eye and say not only did they survive, but we thrived, and we took what somebody meant for evil and turned it into good. They speak at a lot of high schools, and the letters section of the book, which displays the feedback from students, makes one believe that perhaps the U.S. is more than a population of mush-headed bon-bon sucking half-wits who vote for a hand out.

I don’t mean to write such a charged review, but the constant weeping and gnashing of teeth that Americans have demonstrated since a certain someone was elected in 2008 leaves me sick to my stomach. Students are protesting high tuition costs? Can’t find a job? Gas prices are too high? Can't retire? Cry me a river! Would you prefer to be marched naked into an oven or forced to play a violin while others around you burn stacks of bodies that contain the remains of your relatives? Americans need a wake-up call louder than any trumpet Gabriel can blow.

The Kanes paint a picture of two individuals who said NO to the pity party and carried on with strength and courage.

Remember, Hitler blew his brains out.

But the Kanes are still alive.

You lose, Adolf.

How to Survive Anything by David and Yetta Kane is available at Amazon.Com.  Here is a link to their personal website and I encourage you to check it out.

Your education as a human being is incomplete until you read this book.  It’s going to be one of those books you keep around for when you need a reminder that nothing can defeat you except yourself.

Inspiration is Where You Find It

Does any writer like the "where do you get your ideas?" question? I don't. Luckily, I don't get asked that very often but lately I have discovered a terrific source of inspiration and I thought it would be of interest to you, my fellow writers, and maybe it will provide a compact answer when some knucklehead brings up your ideas over cocktails.

When you write thrillers (as I do), it is important to have either experienced thrilling things, know of thrilling things, or to be able to make things that are not thrilling into things that are. A scan of the daily news can, usually, produce material for at least one decent thriller depending on your imagination (Michael Newton made the same point in How to Write Action Adventure Novels). One thing that helps one's skill in using the day's events for story fodder is learning how other writers do it, and the best source of this sort--for me--is a coffee table book called JAMES BOND: THE LEGACY by John Cork and Bruce Scivally. This huge tome covers the entire history of the first 20 James Bond movies and even gives a few pages worth of mention to a chap named Ian Fleming who wrote the original novels (which are better than the movies, but that's another article for another forum).

Throughout the book, you read not only how the movies were made and the behind-the-scenes machinations that took place, but you get an insight into what was happening in the world at the time, politically, socially, etc., and how some of those events made it into the writer's room and eventually into the Bond movie scripts and how those events were molded and shaped to fit the final version of the films. It has made me reconsider how I look at current and historical events and how I might use those to my own advantage.

Some examples: Dr. No, about a madman's plan to alter the course of U.S. rocket launches, used the Cuban Missile Crisis as a springboard. You Only Live Twice used the space race as a backdrop. Goldfinger took advantage of developing technology (the infamous laser cutter being a prime example and Bond's DB5 another). The energy crisis of the 1970s played a heavy role in The Man with the Golden Gun. Diplomatic efforts to maintain the balance of world power between the U.S. and Soviet Union in the '80s influenced For Your Eyes Only. Nuclear expansion, disarmament, and fears of Soviet aggression in Europe fueled the story behind Octopussy.  Of course, nothing overtly political ever made it into the movies which is a skill in and of itself. All we saw was an exciting story taking place in exotic locations, fantastic and silly in some cases, but anchored somewhere north of reality.

I am currently writing a series called The Rogue Gentleman, about a globe-trotting adventurer named Steve Dane who rights wrongs wherever he finds them, and to say he wasn't partially inspired by Bond would be a lie. Steve Dane is very much inspired by our British friend, and by other literary heroes such as Simon Templar. I have quite a career planned for Mr. Dane and seeing how the Bond writers worked has opened the door to ideas I had not previously thought would work, and highlighted events that I either did not know of at the time or was too young (or not alive!) to remember. With a few changes here and there I can not only mine the past but the present as well and turn out stories that will be worth reading for years to come. Perhaps a melding of the two will give me a glimpse into the future and I can use those ideas to produce some real surprises.

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