When I'm looking for new stuff to check out, I love to check recommendations from those whose work I already love. So, I'm getting a lot of great suggestions this summer. I asked a bunch of my favorite writers to tell me what they're looking forward to and here's what they said.
Derek Nikitas first came up on my radar when his debut, Pyres, was nominated alongside two of my favorite recent debuts Head Games and Snitch Jacket. He had a lot of nerve to be included in that company, but he backed it up with some devastating crime fiction. When I asked him what he was looking forward to, he said:
Most immediately, I'm looking forward to the new season of Mad Men. I love the subtle buildup of tension and character change the show has achieved over the last few seasons, and I'm eager to see where the story goes after some radical reconstruction in the last finale. Frank Darabont's The Walking Dead, also on AMC, premieres in October. I'm a sucker for good zombie survival stories, but reservedly excited, since the good ones are so rare. I'm eager to see if the producers can succeed in maintaining narrative tension and development across a whole season. I was wildly impressed with Ben Affleck's adaptation of Dennis Lehane's Gone Baby Gone a couple years ago, so I'm eager to see his directorial follow-up, The Town (though the title is kind of lame, it's based on Chuck Hogan's novel Prince Of Thieves). The cat-and-mouse scenario between John Hamm and Affleck seems promising, but Ben's not as good a lead actor as his brother. Speaking of Lehane, Moonlight Mile is an obvious choice, but I'm also counting the days 'till Tom Franklin's new one, Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter. His first two were genius, and Smonk was so off the wall I still don't know what to think, but this latest looks like a serious return to country noir. And, of course, James Ellroy's The Hilliker Curse because it's Ellroy's soul laid bare, and there's nothing more fascinating.
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Theresa Schwegel is the author of four hardboiled novels set against her hometown of Chicago. In an earlier post, I called for Hollywood to get on the ball and snatch up her Edgar Award winning debut, Officer Down. She's looking forward to: Last night's Mad Men (I already saw it, but have to watch each episode at least twice), the film The Killer inside Me (because the book gave me nightmares but I still won't feel bad for Kate Hudson or Jessica Alba) Megan Abbott's forthcoming book The End of Everything, the film Inception (it was sold out when I tried to see it; the backup was Dinner For Schmucks. Sadly, I think they should have served that dinner to the audience) and for readers: Autumn in Chicago: cooler temps, longer nights, and football.
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Dennis Tafoya is the author of Dope Thief and The Wolves of Fairmount Park—my favorite book so far this summer. His answer: My TBR pile is now ridiculously large and every NY Times brings more interesting suggestions. I just picked up Tana French's Faithful Place, and I'd really like to take a look at John Brandon's Citrus County and Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross. My daughter Ray has me reading a lot of great graphic novels, so I have a list of those to get to, including Blankets by Craig Thompson, Epileptic by David B. I'd also really like to re-read Black Hole by Charles Burns. Always on the lookout for a good movie, and really looking forward to seeing David Michôd's The Animal Kingdom and Casey Affleck in The Killer inside Me.
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I can't say enough in appreciation of Craig McDonald's fictional history of the twentieth century through the eyes of his creation Hector Lassiter. Craig's also a journalist and walking encyclopedia of history, art and literature. He's looking forward to: TV: the return of Supernatural this fall, which along with the currently underway new season of Mad Men, is about all of episodic TV that draws me, lately.
BOOKS:
James Ellroy's The Hilliker Curse, E.L. Doctorow's All the Time in the World, Philip Jose Farmer's Up the Bright River, James Sallis's The Killer is Dying.
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Again, I ask the reader, what are you looking forward to?
Jedidiah Ayres writes fiction and keeps the blog Hardboiled Wonderland.
