The Publishers Weekly review of Fifty Grand came out this week. It's a very nice review but I have to warn anyone who reads it below that it is rich in SPOILAGE. You have been told. If you want to get 50G you can preorder it on Amazon.com for an April delivery and it should be in most chains and mystery bookstores in May. The picture to the right is from the UK paperback original edition which will be out in July. If you're a tightwad (er, financially strapped) and you're feeling lucky I'll be giving away some first edition hardbacks in May in exchange for an Amazon review.Fifty Grand Adrian McKinty. Holt, $25 (320p) ISBN 978-0-8050-8900-4
Irish crime writer McKinty (The Bloomsday Dead) delivers an intelligent novel of suspense about cultural identity. After a hit-and-run driver kills Alberto Suarez, a Cuban defector who’s been working as a rodent exterminator in Fairview, Colo., his daughter, Mercado, a talented young Havana cop, feels duty bound to avenge his death. She obtains a visa to Mexico City under a false pretext and later slips across the U.S. border to get to Fairview, which has become the happening place for the Hollywood cognoscenti. Since someone has to clean up after the wild parties, drugs and general debauchery that keep the town’s underground economy bustling, Mercado joins the silent community of illegal workers living on “Wetback Mountain.” As she investigates her father’s death, she discovers that his secrets, like those of Fairview itself, were far more extensive than she could have realized. In trademark fashion, McKinty winds up his provocative tale with a violent and memorable final act. (May)
Irish crime writer McKinty (The Bloomsday Dead) delivers an intelligent novel of suspense about cultural identity. After a hit-and-run driver kills Alberto Suarez, a Cuban defector who’s been working as a rodent exterminator in Fairview, Colo., his daughter, Mercado, a talented young Havana cop, feels duty bound to avenge his death. She obtains a visa to Mexico City under a false pretext and later slips across the U.S. border to get to Fairview, which has become the happening place for the Hollywood cognoscenti. Since someone has to clean up after the wild parties, drugs and general debauchery that keep the town’s underground economy bustling, Mercado joins the silent community of illegal workers living on “Wetback Mountain.” As she investigates her father’s death, she discovers that his secrets, like those of Fairview itself, were far more extensive than she could have realized. In trademark fashion, McKinty winds up his provocative tale with a violent and memorable final act. (May)
65 comments:
That is a very different cover from the American version. The Brits seem to have much more of a fascination with putting the gun at the center of the picture for your books than the U.S. publishers do. At least on this and Bloomsday Dead. Which is kind of odd considering that America is actually the gun culture.
I'd like to think that we now find guns passe, but somehow I suspect that's not it.
You know I already saw the review. But I'll say here that it's nice that someone finally uses the adjective 'intelligent' to describe it--although I guess that might scare a few people off. And, though the reviewer does give a lot away, at least you can tell they've actually read it.
Adrian:
Pretty cool to have Mr. McBain on your cover saying nice things about your rich talent, but this may be carrying the "dead" thing too far...
You are aware, of course that Mr. Hunter died four years ago. I don't think I've ever seen a more curious front cover endorsement.
No doubt he read and loved your work, and I don't mean to detract from that.
But it's pretty obvious he never read 50G, unless you've got a great connection to the other side.
If so, maybe you can get Jim Thompson to fill this role next time around.
In any case, I'm all pre-ordered and don't really care about the covers as much as the delights within 'em.
PKL
Seana
Although the new British covers of the Bloomsday trilogy have removed all the guns.
I dont mind it because the issue of the gun does become a major plot point does it not?
Patrick
Ha. Yes I channelled Raymond Chandler the other night and he said that I was "a boy genius." Dashiell Hammett said some nice things too in my seance but he was too sloshed to be fully comprehensible. (Thats right you can get quality bourbon on the other side.)
Actually I think they're just using Evan's quote to talk about me rather than the book. You know its very possible that The Dead Yard was the last thing that he ever read and its certainly the last thing he blurbed because he died just days later. A great gentleman, a brilliant writer and all round good egg was Mr McBain.
Dammit. Are you really going to force me to change the name of my blog from 'A Lapse of Memory' to 'No Memory at All?'
As I recall there were a lot of guns in Bloomsday Dead. Maybe you could just post the right Ulysses headed chapter and I could take it from there.
PKL, I doubt very much that the Brits even know that Ed is dead. So it's not a problem.
(And it's still a very nice cover blurb. You sure do seem to rack 'em up, Adrian.)
Sorry to double post here, but I wonder what this guy is supposed to be doing with the gun airbrushed out.
Also, what exactly does Frank McCourt mean by "Beware of McKinty"? Did you run some sort of Madoff like scam on your poor old Irish compatriot?
Sorry, that link didn't work. Here's the Bloomday Dead cover I was talking about.
Seana
Oh man I loved that cover but I got some email saying that bookstores didnt want to display it because it wasnt family friendly. I hope thats not the reason Serpents Tail changed it. I'm reasonably sure it wasnt.
Its funny though not only have I gotten endorsements from beyond the grave but I've also gotten ones from newspapers who are sadly no longer with us: The Rocky Mountain News, The Seattle Post and The New York Sun. Unlike the gleeful tone of some of my fellow bloggers I'm pretty depressed about the decline of newspapers.
Well, it isn't actually family friendly, unless we're talking your family and you make a lot of money on it. But what of that? I mean what does that really mean anyway?
I haven't heard anyone being particularly gleeful about the decline of newspapers. I think it's actually a huge problem. Contrary to one demographic, the Daily Show is not really all the news we need.
Seana
I take it you dont read Drudge then. He can barely contain his joy at the demise of the whole industry. Andrew Sullivan has been casting voodoo vibes on publishing hoping that Kindle will kill it too.
Great cover, Adrian!
I've said "wicked dope" a couple of times, so yeah, rest assured. The kids say that.
Love the Serpent's Tail cover. Will post it at CSNI at some point. Do you have the new Dead covers as jpgs, though? I saw them in a catalogue, but haven't been able to internet swipe them to post. I think they're stunning too. I'd like to include them in the same post since they'll be released quite close to each other.
Cheers
gb
Ger
No I dont have them as JPEGs (this one I ripped from Amazon). I did finally get the catalogue though - very cool the way they're all the same font and the covers are mood covers rather than directly relating to the book whch I've always liked. I was also kinda surprised that I'm up there on the front cover. Thats a first for me for a Serpents Tail catalogue.
Hardly undeserved, though. I love the Serpent's Tail line and have read many a great book from their stable, but yours, in my humble opinion, stand out as the best they have to offer. I include Peace's books in that.
I'll keep an eye on the website for those Dead covers.
gb
Ah but you havent read their erotica.
"100 strokes of the brush before bed" is I think translated from the steamy Italian (Marco if he's reading this far will I'm sure correct me)and is a consistent best seller.
Erotica's pretty good if you're trying to learn a language. I remember reading Bonjour Tristesse and flying through it (although I think its pretty tame by today's standards).
Rafe
Thanks man. Though I had nothing to do with it. I like the fact that she's not a glamourpuss. That would have been totally wrong.
Adrian,
Well it finally happened. The book is for sale on Amazon and seems to be doing well. It's only been up a week. I was just yesterday able to send a copy to you in OZ. The post office said you should have it by Friday, but we'll see. I hope you like it, if for nothing else, the chapter about reading DIWMB on the block. Thanks so much for your offer to help my little book. I can't tell you what it means to have an author I admire read my book. Thanks again.
Good point. I'll probably read it some day. I'll try anything three times. But I have to take a good chunk out of the current reading pile first.
gb
That's a wicked awesome cover. Sorry, I can't get on to urban dictionary at work, otherwise I'd have something more "fresh" to say.
Ah but you havent read their erotica.
"100 strokes of the brush before bed"
Serpent's Tail translated that book?
It was a great success, but nearly everyone thinks it's a pile of shit- not even good erotica- its success a mostly from the scandal/voyeuristic angle, being supposedly based on the real life experiences of the teenaged author.
I haven't read it, though.
Serpent's Tail also publish Derek Raymond, Gerard, if you want a light reading after you've finished with the Red Riding Quartet :)
Nice review, congrats. "Provocative tale... memorable final act." Exactly what you want to hear, right, leaves 'em wanting more.
And I love the cover. And not just because it reminds me of this.
Greg
Thats pretty damn cool, I'm looking forward to it.
Brian
I dont think the kids say fresh anymore.
One time when I was substitute teaching one of the smarter meaner kids asked me if I thought something was "groovey" hoping to trap me into uncool sixties speak. "How old did you little bastards think I am?" I didnt reply.
Marco
Why would you deprive yourself like that? Dont listen to those snooty intellectuals. It could be an undiscovered classic. And there's a sequel too isnt there?
John
Ah but can you judge a book by its cover?
Well yes you can Dirty Sweet is a terrific book.
First off, I'd like to say congratulations to Greg, for getting your book all the way to publication! That's a feat.
Adrian,
No, I don't read Drudge or Sullivan or Huffington or any of them unless someone steers me to them for some particular reason, but it doesn't surprise me that the blogosphre might be gleeful about the demise of newsprint.
Frankly, the press hasn't done such a great job at news coverage of late that I am as shocked and appalled as maybe I should be. But working in a bookstore with a newstand, I do see the trend, and I hear a lot of sadness about the vitiation of a once vital trade. Magazines are going down rapidly as well. I think there is even a magazine death watch site.
I do have to say that, non-economist that I am, I never really understood the internet business model. How was making your paper free on line going help your subscriptions, for example? I mean, sure, maybe web ads. But wouldn't you want to see how these actually paid before you bought the idea hook line and sinker? And yet the whole industry embraced it uncritically. Maybe they felt forced into the position--I don't know.
We have a local paper that is still hanging on. It has been more despised than loved for the entire time I've known it. We've got a couple of free weeklies that often top it for investigative journalism, for example. Things weren't helped when it was bought by some big conglomerate and actually moved from it's downtown premises, where you could still watch the paper being printed through the windows, and moved to Scott's Valley up in the mountains, which whatever the pros and cons is no longer in the heart of Santa Cruz, which is the heart of the county. I don't know how you effectively cover local news from an outskirt city.
Yet even so. As one local news buff pointed out, and this is someone who has actually been hired and fired by said paper, it is the paper of record. And when a local legend died, he asked, where would I have found out about this if the Sentinel didn't exist.
I suppose the answer is, in a lot of places. But without a local daily paper, the answer is also, in no one reliable place. Without that you learn things by happenstance, or as with Drudge and Sullivan, from someone with their own ax to grind. I don't say that newspapers are free from bias. But I do think it's better if the news is at least somewhat distributed between a mass of reporters, as distinct from one highly opinionated personality.
Seana
I think its also got something to do with incompetence. How can The Rocky Mountain News a 150 year old newspaper with over 100,000 subscribers and double that in readership fail so disastrously? I dont really understand it. Couldnt they find half a dozen people who could work hard and publish it as a kind of mission? Skew it way to the right or left, have film reviewers who're willing to admit that most films are complete rubbish...try something.
You know its very possible that The Dead Yard was the last thing that he ever read and its certainly the last thing he blurbed because he died just days later ...I've also gotten ones from newspapers who are sadly no longer with us: The Rocky Mountain News, The Seattle Post and The New York Sun.
So you not only killed McBain, also newspaper publishing?
Why would you deprive yourself like that?
Not my cup of tea.
Dont listen to those snooty intellectuals.
As if you didn't call me snooty European intellectual behind my back. At least since the Nobel discussion.
It could be an undiscovered classic. And there's a sequel too isnt there?
Undiscovered classic as Stephanie Meyer's Twilight, yes.
One time when I was substitute teaching one of the smarter meaner kids asked me if I thought something was "groovey" hoping to trap me into uncool sixties speak.
Reading Black Swan Green and Brian's The Unearthed reminded me how evil little bastards are kids in the 10-14 age range. Not that I needed much reminding, my latest summer camp with kids was two years ago.
Reading Black Swan Green and Brian's The Unearthed reminded me how evil little bastards are kids in the 10-14 age range. Not that I needed much reminding, my latest summer camp with kids was two years ago.
Kids can be evil little bastards, but parents are often just as much to blame aren't they?
I'm thinking that internet dominance will become so total that eventually a few brave souls will start printing the news on handbills, and posting them in the public square. Of course, the public square may be on Second Life, but still.
Did everyone catch the news that Brian's book is going to get a print and audio edition in England?
Seana,
Thanks for the plug. I think I need to start paying you for all this PR stuff you do for me.
I have to refrain from commenting further though. I've been plugging my stuff way too much recently.
Brian, in today's publishing climate, there probably isn't such a thing as too much plugging. In any case, you haven't reached the threshhold yet.
Seana,
Thanks for that, but a user in one of the yahoo groups I participate in begs to differ with you. You and Adrian have discussed this before I think, and I agree wholeheartedly that there's more to life than constantly selling yourself. I just want to make sure I don't ever cross that line, if you know what I mean.
No, of course I'm being a bit cynical about all of this, and it's completely obnoxious to post on your friends' blogs just to promote yourself. But on the other hand, I'd say that there are more writers who are shy about even minimally mentioning what they're up to, publishingwise, than there are those who are over-bearing and pushy about it.
But maybe this is just a rehash of an old discussion.
Seana,
You're probably right in your assessment of there being more writers who are shy versus writers who are pushy. I think 99% of the writers that comment on Adrian's blog are very good about not crossing any lines, though I have seen a couple of drive-bys.
Kids can be evil little bastards, but parents are often just as much to blame aren't they?
And sometimes, parents are noticeably absent.
Of course, as both your book and Black Swan Green, the real problem is not so much the stress they cause to teachers or other adults- rather, the bullying and piling up on those among their peers who are perceived to be weaker.
Brian
You're always welcome to leave info and links about your books here if you think it will help.
The publishing world is very Darwinian however what gets selected isnt necessarily the most fit - to a large extent it seems to be 1) luck 2) catching the eye of an influential person in marketing.
The actual writing is not as important as the marketing package. Fortunately your book is really really book and if the right guru plucks you out you could fly.
Seana
No one who works in PR has the time (or inclination) to actually read the books that they write about in puff pieces or interviews. Its all about the angle. Is the writer young, do they have an interesting background, is there controversy of some kind? Answering those questions correctly is the key to getting into the NYC magazines, the NYT, NPR etc. Otherwise your book is going to die a horrible death.
Marco
Yes I have seen many degrees of cruelty in an 8th grade class. Thats why I found Lord of the Flies such an optimistic book. Very, very few of them get murdered. I guess thats the public school stiff upper lip for you.
Adrian and Everyone:
I'm apparently destined to be in Dublin and London for business from the 16th to the end of the month, and would appreciate any tips on anything really unusual you might recommend in my off hours.
I am looking for tips not on restaurants, bars, etc., but more unusual and different. Good art or music venues, or interesting little museums run by somewhat strange docents. I already know a few of those in both cities, but who wants to return, over and over, to the same addled docents?
Or cool outdoor places in parks or at the tops of tall buildings that would enhance meditation or supply pleasurable vertigo. I did climb up to the Hellfire Club once on a moonlight night, and that filled the bill.
I know both cities fairly well, but not like a native. So if you have an interesting suggestion, even something beyond the parameters I've set forth above, I'd really appreciate it!
PKL
Patrick
I dont know Dublin that well, but Belfast is only 2 hours away on the train nowadays. Its definitely worth a walk around.
If your committed to Dub you could go out to Samuel Beckett's boyhood home which is well off the tourist trail.
Newgrange is a must and only a short jump away buts its better to go early before the coaches come.
In London, hmmm, have you been to the new British Library in St Pancras? How about HMS Belfast on the Thames?
Oh here's something: At University College London they have the preserved body of philosopher Jeremy Bentham in a glass case 'the auto-icon'. Jeremy's worth a visit if you're interested in the history of philosophy. The Jeremy Bentham pub is just round the corner too.
Adrian:
Thanks so much! I have been to New Grange, which is wonderful, but all your other suggestions sound spot-on perfect. I really appreciate the tips.
And I wish I had time for Belfast on this trip, but I think they'll not let me slip the bonds long enough to run up there. I don't know that city well, but in 1969, as an innocent hitcher on my way to the central city, I got caught up in one of Ms. Devlin's parades quite by accident and found myself thrown in a big black van and treated to a night in the little big house. My US passport and obvious obliviousness (and, no doubt, a call to the US Embassy) got me released the next morning, much quicker, I'm sure, than the rest of the rowdies similarly jailed. My only other memory of Belfast was that in a bar downtown whose name I do not recall I witnessed the worst country and western band in the history of mankind. Old Bushmills was made for just such moments. And I was off for Donegal.
Thanks again!
PKL
PKL,
It sounds like you became a part of Irish history for a night.
I can only speak from the tourist point of view, but in Dublin, I loved the small but jam-packed Chester Beatty library, which is actually a museum; the Dublin Writer's Museum, which also has a very nice bookshop and cafeteria, and, though this is almost certainly redundant, the Trinity College Library tour. Not so much for the vaunted Book of Kells, as for just walking into the library, which is surely one image of heaven.
I had a strange but gratifying experience at the Hugh Lane, which is about modern and contemporary art. I walked in and there was nothing there! Room after room of blank white walls. They were renovating, I think. But as compensation they let people view the Francis Bacon room for free. They had been at some pains to transport his entire London studio and reassemble it, and it was quite fascinating.
I also loved going to see the horse trading right there in the city. It was on a certain weekend of the month, I can't remember which day, and may have been disbanded, though it was only a few years ago.
You'd think I would have more to say about London, but I expect you know the things I know there. I do recommend taking one of the walking tours, though--whatever takes your fancy. And a small museum that I loved on my last visit is the Wallace Collection, which is another small but incredible collection in a beautiful space.
Adrian, you are too jaded. I know this guy here who does local radio that does get picked up on NPR fairly often. And what impresses me is his absolute enthusiasm for books and their authors, and how it becomes apparent that he has read the book and has questions to ask of the author. I know that he's not the publicist, but he is an interviewer, and I'm impressed with the way he can treat every sort of level of writing with respect. And I think part of that is that he realizes that if there is a story, and a writer to interview, there is always an angle. You just have to find it. I was going to say 'unearth it' but that would just be another plug for Brian's book and that would really, really be wrong of me.
Seana
Its the voice of experience. Brian's written a great book but if I was giving him advice I'd say move to Brooklyn and go to a lot of parties and try and do something outrageous at one of them. Its the only way a new writer if ever going to break through into the cliquey NY media world.
Its true that there is some hope in the local markets though.
Pat
You know BD is one of those totally opposed to the Peace Process and has called Sinn Fein "traitors" etc and voiced support for the Real IRA. A bit of a nut in other words, however she does champion the rights of Polish migrant workers in Ireland and no one really speaks up for them.
Of course in the recent attack the Real IRA tried to kill the Polish migrant workers delivering pizzas to the army base. I wonder where she came down on that front?
One other thing I like about her is her refusal to cooperate with a Hollywood version of her life. She says she's gonna sue them and you gotta give her props for that.
Seana,
I hope I don't count as a 'Brit'? I know Ed is dead, but I hope it wasn't Adrian's writing that finished him off.
Frank McCourt generally says strange things. When I met him it was all about crispy chicken. Mrs McCourt and I had a useful conversation about ticks.
Miss Witch
I dont know about the chicken but I have had my run ins with ticks. Deer ticks especially. Nasty creatures. I dont approve of them at all.
I know. I have deer in my 'garden' in the old country of Sweden. Trouble is that an English GP doesn't recognise the importance of antibiotics. Was 'prescribed' hot drinks and paracetamol for the last bite.
I found out more than I need to know about the McCourts in bed with the dog...
The chicken was to remind Frank of the good old days of starvation.
The publishing world is very Darwinian however what gets selected isnt necessarily the most fit - to a large extent it seems to be 1) luck 2) catching the eye of an influential person in marketing.
Adrian, couldn't agree more. DIWMB is nothing short of a f---ing masterpiece if you ask me and yet it's out of print here in the US, which is a damned travesty. I really hope 50G takes off, not just because it's a great read, but also so more and more people get a chance to check out all your books.
Adrian and Seana -
Thanks for the kind words about the book, too.
Marco -
You're absolutely right. I think the psychology of youth is a tricky thing, and it's a difficult process to correctly apportion the blame when things go horribly wrong. Like with all these school shootings. It's easy to blame the parents, it's easy to blame the schools, it's easy to blame the media, it's easy to blame the other kids and bullies, it's easy to blame the violence on TV and movies...but at some point, it does come down to the shooters making a choice.
Sorry to have opened that can of worms everybody.
Adrian: What I know about B. Devlin would barely fill a thimble, but when I tried to find out why I was rounded up for walking down the street, the stock answer from the police that day was "You can thank Bernadette Devlin."
The conversations with the demonstrators that night in confinement reminded me of the things people said in America in the Civil Rights action days, still very much on the burner in the USA those days. I didn't really hear any radical Republican talk, even behind those short-term (for me, at least) bars.
But I've been back to Ireland many, many times since, and have lots of Irish friends in business and otherwise, and the constant theme (concerning separation and unification politics) is simply a yearning for everyone to calm down, please, and let normal people lead their normal lives. Nearly everyone I know lost all their "true believer" fervor years ago, if they ever did have it. They are just weary of blood and wanting an end to it, and wary of anyone who isn't.
Seana, Adrian: Thank you so much for the Dublin and London tips. Vicki and I will be using these for sure. Love libraries and rare spaces. Can't wait to see the waxen headed Mr. Bentham in his auto-icon. My kinda tourism.
PKL
Book Witch,
Well, whether you are a Brit or not, I really meant British cover art choices as distinct from American ones. It's always interesting to me what one or the other chooses to emphasize.
Patrick, I suppose you really ought to seek Ms. Devlin out and give her that long overdue thank you.
The new cover is sweet man. Really does look like J-Lo dropping Thor into the drink at gunpoint. Nice, real nice.
By the way brother, I will be more than happy to write a review of 50 Grand for a copy of the book. I refused to read your post about it because of the spoiler warning, but I can't wait to get my hangs on it!
Miss Witch
Lime disease too is no joke at all.
Brian
Don't despair, you're still young enough to make it. And the British and audio versions do bode very well for your future.
Patrick
I was reading something more about the movie adaptation of BD's life this weekend. Apparently it is going to happen. So we're all going to learn a lot more at least of the Hollywood version.
Greg
What I think I'll do is have another little competition or something. If I was still in the States I could give away a whole bunch, but the postage from Oz is a tad pricey. Last time it was 25 bucks a book and the hardbacks will be even more expensive. I reckon my budget can cope with about 3 or possibly 4 as giveaways. BTW no sign of your book yet.
Liam
J Lo for the movie! Nice idea.
Alas though there has been zero interest from Hollywood. Maybe its all a bit too close to the bone, I dont know.
Just got my hardcover copy in the mail today. Can't wait to start it on the train ride home!
Any chance of traveling to NYC for a book signing?
Goddamit I hope you like it.
He will.
Forgot to mention here that I did a (very) small review for our upcoming summer newsletter. Actually, it's been so chaotic lately that I actually forgot that I did it.
I should warn you, though, that no one ever listens to a word I say.
Thank you Seana, I appreciate that. I'm already getting that sinking feeling that the book is going to sink without trace so every little helps.
No, I don't think that it will sink without a trace. But the economy and the state of the book industry are not helping anything. So I do think the people who like, love, or are ga-ga over your books are going to have to step up a little.
I suppose I ought to say that somewhere other than the bottom of an old thread. In slightly more pointed fashion.
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