WEST COAST CRIME WAVE
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 3:01AM in David Corbett 
So far in my stint here at Murderati, I’ve largely refrained from what my cohorts refer to — with a merry wink and a mischievous grin — as BSP: Blatant Self-Promotion. Well, today's the day I lose my cherry — on that front, anyway.
I want to share with you news of a short story collection — with a notable Murderati pedigree — to which I humbly, which is to say proudly, contributed, and which came out just last week.
It’s titled West Coast Crime Wave, and is the brainchild of publisher Michael Wolf and editor Brian Thornton, who put together an amazing collection of stories, with four Murderati connections — stories by me and previous Murderateros Simon Wood and Naomi Hirahara, plus an introduction from the one and only Ken Bruen, who graciously remarked:
Story collections are a lot like rock albums. Two classics trailed by a mediocre bunch of the dithering and the damned. Welcome to the editing savvy of Brian Thornton. When you see BT is the editor, you know it’s the gold guarantee and is it ever.
Some backstory: Michael Wolf has launched an eBook publishing house: Bstsllr.com, and West Coast Crime Wave is his maiden effort.
Michael cut his teeth as founding Vice President of Research for GigaOM Pro, the research division for GigaOM, a market technology research firm that sought to rethink the whole world of market analysis, and in his work he realized that technology-driven markets were changing things far faster and more completely that the old school could comprehend—and this was nowhere more true than in book publishing. (Check out this interview with Michael—or this one, if not this one —for his vision for the industry and his company.)
Michael tapped Brian Thornton to edit his first anthology, and Ken had it absolutely right. Brian did a masterful job, not merely due to his grace and intelligence but his sheer tenacity. He managed to herd a uniquely rabid crew of cats — including a scientist who clones and patents ”human immune system hormone genes” and “produced the first commercially successful nanotechnology device,” and an academic renegade with a Ph.D from Yale (call us the not-so-dithering and quasi-damned) — and we set our tales in an intriguing array of west coast locales, from Alaska to Los Angeles:
Authors whose names are highlighted, including me, have interviews or story excerpts posted on the anthology website, with more to come.
THE LAST SHIP, by Bill Cameron — Oregon Coast
BLIND DATE, by Scotti Andrews — Seattle, Washington
RETURNING TO THE KNIFE, by David Corbett — Marin County, California
THE TOWN AT THE END OF THE ROAD, by Ted Hertel — Talkeetna, Alaska
MRS. LIN’S ART OF TEA, by Naomi Hirahara — Los Angeles, California
THE RIDE HOME, by Jim Thomsen — Kitsap County, Washington
SURF CITY, by Steve Brewer — Santa Cruz, California
THE LAW OF INVERSE CONSEQUENCES, by Karla Stover — Tacoma, Washington
SYDNEY DUCKS, by R.T. Lawton — San Francisco, California
RED MENACE, COMMIE FOR HIRE, by Steve Hockensmith — Los Angeles, California
OFFICER DOWN, by Simon Wood — San Francisco, California
THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF EVERYWHERE AND EVERYTHING, by Nick Mamatas —
Berkeley, California
JACKIE BOY, by Sam Roseme — San Francisco, California
THE GHOST TREES, by Thomas P. Hopp — West Seattle, Washington
BAD HISTORY, by Jim Winter — San Francisco, California
BRIDGET’S CONCEPTION, by Doug Levin — Portland, Oregon
DETOUR DRIVE, by Terrill Lee Lankford — Los Angeles, California
PAPER SON, by Brian Thornton — Seattle, Washington
* * * * *
If you want to give West Coast Crime Wave a spin (and I truly madly deeply hope you do), it can be had for a proverbial song — said song now being valued at the insanely reasonable price of $3.99 — can you believe it, people! — from both Amazon (Kindle) and Barnes and Noble (Nook).
* * * * *
Jukebox Heroes of the Week: A bit of hip-hop promo for my real hood, Vallejo, CA, from a succession of homegrown rappers. I acquired the link in doing research for my next novel, from a detective on the Vallejo PD Major Crimes Unit, who was more than grateful for the unwitting gang intelligence it provided.
There will be some no doubt who think I should say Jukebox Zeroes, but I wish the suits at the local Chamber of Commerce or even the Progressive Posse felt half this much passion and love for this town.
Reader Comments (42)
Congrats on the anthology - looks like you're in great company. Hope it sells by the bucketload for you :)
Like the cover too!
Phillipa
Best on this, okay?
God I love new stuff to read.
Reine: Sorry to hear your experience with stories soured you. I have to admit, I find they often have the same quality range as novels, with this caveat -- stories are just harder to pull off. Like Stephen said, it's hard to write less.
Zoe: Thanks for the attaboy. Yeah, I feel pretty grateful to be among this crew.
Phillipa: I think that's a great idea, actually. A Murderati anthology. Hmmm...
Boy, you're talking to the wrong guy. I'm not sure. Let me look into it.
Apparently there's an app you download from amazon to make kindle-ready content readable on an iPad. here's a link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_ipad_mkt_lnd?docId=1000490441
Re, the thread and Portland: my hometown now (and place where my WCCW story is set). Indeed, lots of arts opportunities, though the schools have the usual budget trouble.
Re, Vallejo: in the early 1980s, back when my stomping grounds were in Northern California, I used to occasionally make the trek there to see shows at the Empress Theater.
Thanks for checking in. Great story, btw.
Thanks!
David - I'm going to stalk your website until I see an online class, OK? One of my other lawyer commenter pals here (Allison, was that you?) recommended a course with you to keep my soul from being permanently shrunk and mounted on a firm partner's wall and I will keep my Rust Belt Tax Lawyer fingers crossed until it comes to pass.
I'm flattered, and Allison is a great cheerleader. I did an online class through UCLA Extension and it was so much more work than a standard classroom experience I haven't done it since. But maybe I should reconsider, and just do one on my own.
Thanks for the encouragement.
And yes, I hear your wails of weariness on the lawyer front.
Louise, the kindle app is fantastic on iPad. You'll love how well it works and how easy to read.
I knew you were being positive, no worries there. The clumsiness was in my response, not your comment.
Oh, and believe me, if you ever stop commenting we will form a posse and come to your door. I can't imagine this blog without your comments.
I'm so sorry to hear about your daughter. I hope she's doing all right.
I've heard a bit about the Vallejo municipal bankruptcy -- bad for a community, good for crime fiction, maybe. I think I've read that in several cities, police are not responding to residential B&E because of budget/manpower constraints. Maybe that's just a rumor.
Allison - I hope that one of the Washington places on your list is Sequim, where we live. It's a great place, with super people, and I know you'd love it here. Not usually much crime to inspire a mystery writer, but you probably get your ideas from all over the place, so that shouldn't be a problem.
A rumor? If only. Unless it's in progress, you won't get a unit responding. Not just that, but detectives often wait until a shooting victim is dead before reporting to the hospital. A mere assault, even by gunshot, has to take a lower priority to crimes in progress.
We went from 158 cops to 90. We have a good, professional force. Yes, they're paid well, perhaps too well. I have friends who scream about this. But the force has changed from one the feds wanted nothing to do with to one they consider a model of cooperation and professionalism. The local PD really fears that a two-tier pay-and-benefit structure, with new hires getting significantly less, will attract only mediocre applicants or worse.
So the citizens are stepping up, volunteering, and we're trying to make a go of it with a smaller force and greater resident involvement. We went from 10 to 300 neighborhood watch groups in the past two years, for example.
But the bankruptcy became an object lesson in what NOT to do. Only Harrisburg PA and a town in Rhode Island are now seriously considering Chapter 9. Everybody else got religion.
And yes, the new book is all about this (can you tell?).
For me and my fellow contributors: Thanks a bundle. Or a kindle.
Is Sequim anywhere near Woodinville? My nephew is the new fire chief there.
Oh boy, now the pressure's on. I'll have to think about it seriously. And I shall.
And thanks to you and JT and everyone else who's picked up the book or intends to.
Our daughter is end-stage renal failure. Yesterday was admitted to Loma Linda and had yet another emergency repair of pseudoaneurism when other treatment failed. She is my hero, huge fighter, reader, blog writer. She's been on hemodialysis for unbelievable years. Still she sets the best example of living in the moment for everyone else in the family. Amazing human being.
Awesome! You answered my mental call.
And the song cracked me up.
I'm guessing it's not a completely proportionate representation of Vallejo's population.
If it is, I have the honor of knowing one of Vallejo's very few white citizens.
I don't know what to say about your daughter.
I'd pray for her if I was someone who could do that.
Her amazingness, I think, is something she gets from you.
Shizuka
Shizuka: Well, actually, about 40% of the city's population is white, but it is a very multicultural city, as they say. I just learned of a Guamian festival here in town, there's a large Filipino community, plus Portuguese, Pacific Islander (in addition to the Guamians), Asian of all stripes, Latino of all stripes, et cetera. It's an interesting burg. People often remark on the city's potential, and have been doing so for at least 40 years.
All of you are much too kind to me. Really. I mean it.
I just did all the clicky "buy this now" things and added this book to my ever growing collection of e-bits to be read. Thanks for indulging in BSP, David. I would have missed this otherwise. Best wishes to Michael Wolf in the new publishing endeavour!
Also, Reine? I think you may be the strongest woman I've ever known. And I know some incredibly strong women. You and you daughter will be in my thoughts.
You're right, I'm clueless about the local topography up there. Been up in that area a few times but always too briefly to really learn the terrain. My nephew landed there because a job opening beckoned. He'd have happily stayed put in Portland, especially with the girls loving their arts school, but a job is a job, and now he's been elevated to station chief, so my guess is he's staying put for a while.
Enjoy!