Had a nice chat last week with Rob Caldwell, “207″ TV host, about DAMAGED GOODS, Jack McMorrow, and why I do this. Talking with Rob is always fun and interesting. Check it out
.
Jack McMorrow
May 5th, 2010
207 and DAMAGED GOODS
April 26th, 2010
Powers of Perception
There are good reviews and bad reviews, cursory ones and some that offer something that the writer hadn’t considered. The latter is the case with a review of DAMAGED GOODS by Beth Kannell, co-owner of (with her husband Dave) Kingdom Books, a specialty mystery bookshop in northeastern Vermont. Kingdom Book is one of those small stores that pack a powerful punch in terms of the love the proprietors have for writing and books.
But back to perception. Beth had some interesting thoughts on Jack and Roxanne in DAMAGED GOODS. But it was her take on their ex-Marine friend Clair that gave me pause.
“Clair’s background as a soldier in Vietnam becomes significant, not just for his ability to take up arms and his willingness to be at Jack’s back or front or whatever it takes, but also for his experience with the personal effects of violence, whether done to you or done by you. Sane and strong, Clair helps Jack maneuver and respond to the chaos around him, showing the best of what war can do to a person’s thought processes.”
What does war do to a person’s thought processes? We hear, justifiably so, about the emotional and physical trauma of combat. But what of the strengths that come from the experience? In Clair’s case, he has become wiser, more philosophical, but also more analytical. When things get tough, as they inevitably do when Jack and Clair get together, Clair becomes calmer, cooler, more collected. It’s a trait honed in the jungles and highlands of Vietnam, when, as a Force Recon Marine, those were essential survival skills. Now the same skills are brought to bear for Jack and Roxanne, their daughter Sophie. The best of what war can do …. Interesting.
April 5th, 2010
Turn off that video!
A blogger from Australia named Bill Harper who is a big Jack McMorrow fan had an interesting reaction to the DAMAGED GOODS video. He turned it off like it was about to bite him.
You can read his reasoning on his post but it’s pretty simple. He already has a picture of the characters in his head, or he will when he reads it. He doesn’t want somebody else’s idea of them mucking things up. It’s the reason that most people think movies can only ruin a good book. “What? That’s not what she looks like!”
I don’t disagree. Ever see the first Spenser series in the U.S. I rest my case. In fact, close readers will find that my physical descriptions of most characters, including Jack, Roxanne, Clair, are vague. I can picture them in my head, but even that is a blurry image. Is McMorrow 5-11 or 6-1? Are his eyes blue or hazel? Is his hair sandy brown or jet black? Depends on who you ask.
I have great faith in the power of imagination. I try to construct characters who are real to me, with dialogue that is real and revealing, who act in a way I think is believable for who they are. But what do these people actually look like? If you want to know, ask a reader.
It’s an interesting phenomenon. In the DAMAGED GOODS video, there is only one character from the book actually shown. Mandi, the escort, is seen in a quick shot from a distance. The stalker Dad is shown from the knees down. The doll? Well, the doll did a full star turn. I did, too, though starring role would be an exaggeration.
I admit I had the same reaction as Bill when I saw the cover concept for DAMAGED GOODS. There was Mandi, or at least a photograph of a young woman thought by the designer to look like Mandi looks. In my imagination and yours. I thought: whoah. Is that really her? Well, maybe so. Or maybe not.
The only other photo-based covers I’ve had have been in other countries. They’re big in Japan. I had one in the UK. U.S. publishers usually go with something more conceptual. But I think the cover works, in the sense that it’s quite arresting. The woman has an expression that is somewhere between seductive and threatening. She’s mysterious and that is Mandi’s most important quality. Who is she? Where did she come from? Why does she work as an escort in a small town where she knows no one?
The answers come, as McMorrow, racing the local cops, peels away the layers of her facade. Eventually Mandi is unmasked and the young woman who is revealed is something very different from the seductress on the cover. I hope you enjoy the journey.
So if the video bothers you, skip to the end. That’s where It’s just me talking. If I don’t meet your expectations, well, nothing I can do about that.
March 24th, 2010
DAMAGED GOODS, a preview
DAMAGED GOODS, McMorrow No. 9, is live. Want to read the first chapter? Go to the link on the right, under new releases. Hope you enjoy.
February 25th, 2010
A Current Q&A
I was in Biddeford, Maine March 4 to give a talk at McArthur Public Library, Good times!
A pleasant reporter at the paper there asked me a few questions and I answered the best I could, about DAMAGED GOODS, Jack McMorrow’s longevity (we’re both still kicking), an erroneous fact posted about me on Wikipedia. Does anybody check that stuff? Anyway, the resulting Current Publishing Q&A probably has more than you want to know. But I’ll let you be the judge of that.
If you’re in the area, stop in. The library is pretty cool, with a great history. It’s website says, “Robert McArthur (the founder), was an Irish immigrant who had started working in a Rhode Island mill as a bobbin boy at the age of eight.”
Irish. Rhode Island. A mill town. It doesn’t get any better than that. Hope to see you there.
February 16th, 2010
Talking Maine trailers with Amy Canfield
No, not those trailers. Book trailers. Amy writes a good book blog about Maine authors and their doings. We talked about the video for DAMAGED GOODS, and the general state of the book biz. I like Amy’s stuff. You can tell she came from newspapers. Check it out. And do come back real soon.
February 13th, 2010
Jack McMorrow, on the Download?
Hey all. Greetings from snowless central Maine, where there is bare ground showing and snow is decaying as we speak, leaving dirty crystalized stuff that we usually see in late March. We’d love some new snow, and I’m sure there are many of you to the south who would gladly ship us some. Strange weather.
Anyway, won’t keep you too long today but I spoke last week with someone in the audio book biz. I’m wondering how many of you out there in readerland would like to have McMorrow and Blake available in downloadable form. Something for the commute, the walk, mowing the lawn. Me, I like to hold a book and flip the pages. But I’m recognizing that I’m becoming a bit of an anachronism. (I remember the plastic folders full of tape cassettes, numbered 1-8)
Let me know. Your response will help us decide how quickly to move on this.
Enjoy the weekend.
January 31st, 2010
What J.D. Salinger was missing
Most writers have moments when they would have like to be J.D. Salinger, holed up in the New Hampshire woods. For me, this usually comes halfway through a lackluster book signing at a chain store, where somebody has just come up to you and asked, “Can you tell me where to find the gardening books?”
But by holing up and refusing to publish, J.D. Salinger missed a lot. Now, I know, he was stalked by fans fixated on Holden Caulfield, making the trek to Cornish and having to be sent packing by J.D.’s protective locals. But still, just in the past couple of days I’ve had delightful exchanges with readers. This is one of the rewards of the writing trade that you don’t anticipate when you start out.
Kerma wrote to give me her reaction to PORT CITY SHAKEDOWN, and she apologized for taking so long to report in. She’s a feisty woman who has lived lived on a boat in Portland Harbor, had a very tough home life, knows the streets of Portland where Brandon Blake meets his friends and enemies.
“All in all I would look forward to another Brandon/Mia book, but, my heart is still with Jack, who by his nature barrels headlong into life without much regard to personal consequences in order to rescue the less fortunates of this world; guess I have always been like that in my life too, sometimes to a fault.”
I wrote back. Kerma replied. We’ll meet up again at a book signing next time around.
Mike, a reader and longtime correspondent from D.C. ,wrote with a plot suggestion, complete with research and writing schedule. It’s a good idea so I’m not going to give it away here. Mike and I think in the same ways about these books. He’s a perceptive and careful reader. He’s an attorney, which cost the book business a good editor. We were discussing Roxanne and her future (I’m working on toughening her up) and Mike wrote: Roxanne becoming “harder” is a good move. A “soft social worker” does not last. They physically harm themselves (ulcers at the least, psycological problems at the most) when unable to save everybody from everything. A close friend fell victim in this way.”
I could go on with more from Kerma and Mike, and other readers who weigh in on the books, the characters. These readers, most of whom I’ve never met, are insightful, surprising, good company. Writing can be a lonely craft and your notes are a good reminder that it doesn’t take place in a vacuum. So keep the comments coming. Sometimes they make my day. I may be having a J.D. Salinger moment but it soon will pass.
January 3rd, 2010
Hello, 2010!
A new year, new books (both headed for stores and taking shape on the page). Check out my New Year’s thoughts and those of other mystery authors, courtesy of my friends at Murder*by*4. And I wish you good health, good reads, good times. All the best.
December 31st, 2009
Out with the Old
Thoughts as 2009 comes to a close:
Brandon Blake in 09, Jack McMorrow and friends in 2010. About to start writing a new Blake, some good outside projects underway. It never gets old as long as there still are surprises, moments to go into the notebook.
The big guy in front of me in the bank today, 6-5, 280, built like a slow-moving tractor, knock-kneed, giant work boots and a hand that looked like it had been whittled out of a chunk of oak. Looked like something you’d tie a horse to if you didn’t want it to wander off.
But his voice, soft and polite: “I’d like it all in twenties, if you can.”
More for the notebook: a guy down the road intercepted en route to what was reported as a mission to kill. Twelve-gauge behind the drivers seat. Loaded. Two buddies in the car, said they didn’t want to have any part of “this.” Beyond that, nobody talking.
A night in December, snowing hard by the lake. A loon’s call cuts through the storm. Two days later, the lake froze over and the loon was gone.
Full moon driving up the coast this week. Tidal marshes piled with mosaics of ice, shining blue as sapphires.
A woman on a deserted stretch of the interstate. Car abandoned in a snowstorm. Footprints cross the median strip. Stop. She hasn’t been seen in three weeks. I can’t get her out of my head. Where is she? Why has she disappeared? Who is she? The article in the paper said she used “an alias.” Marla Moon. With Marla on my mind, into the new year I go.
Port City Black and White
Brandon Blake No. 2!
After his harrowing adventures in PORT CITY SHAKEDOWN, in PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE Brandon has achieved his dream of becoming a rookie cop with the Portland P.D. But it’s a tough job for any cop and Brandon is a rookie—with a beautiful girlfriend waiting on his aging cabin cruiser and some serious baggage. With his mentor Kat at his side, Brandon plunges into a world of drug addicts and homeless, scheming grifters and East End hipsters, trust-funders and immigrants, ambitious entrepreneurs and killers from away. When a baby vanishes from the apartment of his crack-addled mother, Brandon and Kat join the all-out search. As they search for the missing baby they begin to unravel of web of duplicity and deceit.
Want a taste? Read Chapter 1.
What the reviewers are saying:
“Gripping … Boyle’s assured writing and non-cookie-cutter lead are big pluses and portend well for future entries.”—Publishers Weekly
“Boyle’s first Brandon Blake novel (Port City Shakedown, 2009) was well received, and this second installment is compelling and nuanced.”—Booklist
“… a dialogue-driven book sprinkled with diamond-sharp description. Calling it fast-paced is an understatement. This mystery gallops.”—Maine Sunday Telegram
“The Brandon Blake Port City series will be a classic, showing the reality of New England coast life — a mix of myth and painful reality.”—Beth Kanell, Kingdom Books
“Genuine dialogue is the most notable strength in Boyle’s writing.”—Aislinn Sarnacki, Bangor Daily News
“Boyle sure can write and he has earned his praise from the late Robert Parker as ‘the genuine article.’” The Free Press
Purchase PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE
I always ask readers to purchase my books from their local independent bookseller, whenever possible. Purchase through Indiebound.org
Purchase from Down East Books.
Purchase from Amazon.com.
Damaged Goods
“Robert Parker fans who have yet to discover Boyle will be pleasantly surprised by his suspenseful ninth crime novel set in Maine featuring former New York Times reporter Jack McMorrow. … Boyle has succeeded in creating a likable lead whose sense of responsibility is reminiscent of Spenser as well as supporting characters with depth.” –Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“DAMAGED GOODS is so compelling, it’s like literary crack–I simply couldn’t stop reading.”
–Tess Gerritsen, author of THE KEEPSAKE.
“A terrific thriller with terrifically original characters.”
- C.J. Box, Edgar-winning author of NOWHERE TO RUN
I always ask readers to purchase my books from their local independent bookseller. Purchase through indiebound.org
Purchase DAMAGED GOODS from Down East Books
Purchase DAMAGED GOODS from Amazon
Port City Shakedown
In PORT CITY SHAKEDOWN, the first Brandon Blake novel, Brandon gets a full dose of bad guys. A brawl in a funeral home introduces him to Joel Fuller, a sociopathic hustler. Fuller is fresh out of jail and determined to take Brandon out—after Fuller and his sidekick Kelvin shake him down.
And if Brandon’s present isn’t enough to contend with, his tragic past comes alive. If his mother died when a yacht went down with all hands, why is one of the presumed-dead crew suddenly walking the streets of Portland? Soon Brandon, and his writer friend Mia, realize that the only thing they know is that nothing is as it seems.
Critics have said good things about my books. For those who like to know such things, here is a random sampling:
“Port City Shakedown is one of the best mysteries to come out of the state in recent years.”—Maine Sunday Telegram
“Brandon Blake is a solid series lead … and we get the impression that Boyle has barely scratched his surface here. … Keep your eyes on this one.”—Booklist
“Boyle keeps the legends of this cold and menacing landscape (Borderline) very much alive.”—The New York Times
“Boyle’s snappy prose stops just short of hard-boiled, letting some poignancy slip into his characters’ plights.”—Publishers Weekly
“The dialogue hums and crackles.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Wonderful supporting characters … superb writing. His feel for small-town new England is almost eerily photographic.”—The Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Gerry Boyle is the genuine article.”—Robert B. Parker
“Stunning. … The writing is sharp and evocative.”—The Washington Post Book World
“Features as much sound and fury as a summer movie blockbuster.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Fans of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novels will love Jack McMorrow.”—Booklist
“Well-realized, believable characters … unusual and suspenseful.”—The Cleveland Plain Dealer
“The author … uses his insider’s knowledge of the newspaper business to give his plot plenty of texture; he also delivers realistic characterizations, diverting subplots and evocative descriptions of rural Maine.”—Publishers Weekly
Home Body
Rocky isn’t a tough guy. He’s a skinny little kid with crooked glasses, and he shouldn’t be homeless in Portland, Maine. When McMorrow and Roxanne pluck him from under the stomping feet of a gang of street kids, Rocky latches onto McMorrow–and drags him into a world of murder, both old and new. Why is McMorrow protecting Rocky? The cops want to know. Why is Rocky on the run? McMorrow wants to know. Why does death follow in Rocky’s wake? Jack and Roxanne need to find out before they’re added to the list. More »
Keep track of what Gerry Boyle is doing!
Email Gerry to be added to his news list
Facebook
Facebook Fan Page
Twitter
RSS
Email Gerry to be added to his news list
Facebook Facebook Fan Page Twitter RSS