Who’s Who of The Big Read
“Hammett to Meltzer”
featuring bestselling author Brad Meltzer
Big Read Kick-off, Irving Arts Center, October 6 at 7 p.m.
Brad Meltzer is the author of the
New York Times bestsellers
The Tenth Justice,
Dead Even,
The First Counsel,
The Millionaires, and
The Zero Game. He is currently working on his newest comic book,
DC Universe, and his next novel,
The Book of Lies.
The Tenth Justice was his first published work and became an instant bestseller. Dead Even followed a year later and also hit The New York Times bestseller list. The First Counsel came next, which was about a White House lawyer dating the President's daughter, then The Millionaires, which was about two brothers who steal money and go on the run. His newest novel, The Zero Game, is about two Congressional staffers who are, literally, gambling on Congress.
Meltzer is also one of the co-creators of the TV show, Jack & Bobby—about two young brothers, one of whom will one day grow up to be President—and is the #1 best-selling author of the critically acclaimed comic book, Identity Crisis, a murder mystery with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.
His books have a total of almost six million copies in print, have spent over nine months on the bestseller lists, and have been translated into over 25 languages, from Hebrew to Bulgarian. His newest book, The Book of Lies, is about the missing murder weapon that Cain used to kill Abel, as well as the unsolved murder of Superman creator Jerry Siegel's father. Meltzer is one of the only people to interview Jerry Siegel's family about the murder.
Meltzer has played himself as an extra in Woody Allen's Celebrity and earned credit from Columbia Law School for writing his first book, which became The Tenth Justice. He's been featured on The Today Show, and in major publications including Time, USA Today, Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly, and dozens of newspapers across the country.
Watch the video below to see the work Brad Meltzer is doing with the Siegel and Shuster Society to save the house where Superman was created.
Kids and the elderly sling harsh words at Brad Meltzer's
The Book of Lies in this engaging spoof of critics' negative reviews of the author's newest thriller.
“Discovering the Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade”
featuring Richard Layman
Book Discussion and Reception, National Scouting Museum, 1329 W. Walnut Hill Lane, October 20 at 7 p.m.
Richard Layman, the editor of Discovering the Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade, has written six books on Dashiell Hammett, including Literary Masterpieces: The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett: A Descriptive Bibliography, and Shadow Man: The Life of Dashiell Hammett. He was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award by the Mystery Writers of America for editing Selected Letters of Dashiell Hammett, 1921-1960 and Discoving the Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade, as the Best Critical/Biographical Book of the year.
He is vice president of Bruccoli Clark Layman Inc., which produces reference works in literary and social history, including the Dictionary of Literary Biography.
Mr. Layman was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, where he co-owns the popular seafood restaurant Leander's on Oak. He earned his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Louisville, and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina. Layman currently lives in Columbia, South Carolina.
Discovering The Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade is packed with fascinating facts, and provides hundreds of never-before-seen photos, illustrations, documents, and original source materials, including production notes for the three movie versions. Contributors include Dashiell Hammett himself, plus Jo Hammett, Richard Layman, Joseph Shaw, Mary Astor, Dorothy Parker, Hal Wallis, John Huston, Joe Gores, William F. Nolan, and more than fifty additional writers.
“Speakeasy and Carry a Big Gun”
featuring author Harry Hunsicker
Mystery Dinner Theater, Heritage Senior Center, October 17 at 6:30 p.m.
A fourth-generation Dallasite and sixth-generation Texan, novelist Harry Hunsicker writes a thriller series about a Dallas private investigator named Lee Henry Oswald published by St. Martin’s Press. (Still River (2005); The Next Time You Die (2006); and Crosshairs (2007)).
Bestselling author Robert Crais said of his third book: "Harry Hunsicker fuses a white-knuckled thriller with a post-modern detective novel, and Crosshairs delivers the goods: Layered, intense, and rich with deadly characters. Let there be no doubt—Hunsicker is an emerging star."
In addition, Still River was nominated for a Shamus Award for Best First Novel published in 2005 by The Private Eye Writers of America. Compared to the works of Dennis Lehane and Michael Connelly, the Washington Post called his first novel "a compelling debut" while D Magazine dubbed it "A smart, adventurous read, crafted in the Raymond Chandler vein."
Hunsicker is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, International Association of Crime Writers, the Private Eye Writers of America, and an original member of the International Thriller Writers. He currently serves as president of the southwest chapter of the Mystery Writers of America.
Hunsicker lives in Dallas with his wife, Alison. When he’s not penning the next Lee Oswald mystery, Hunsicker, a graduate of the Episcopal School of Dallas and Baylor University, works as a commercial real estate appraiser and speaks on creative writing. In his free time, he enjoys reading, traveling, cooking, and shooting the occasional round of sporting clays or skeet. Learn more about Hunsicker and his work at http://www.harryhunsicker.com/.
“Solve the Mystery”
featuring author David Morrell
Mystery Writer's Workshop, Central Library, October 25 at 2 p.m.
David Morrell is the author of First Blood, the award-winning novel in which Rambo was created. He holds a Ph. D. in American literature from the Pennsylvania State University and taught in the English department at the University of Iowa until he gave up his tenure to devote himself to a full-time writing career.
"The mild-mannered professor with the bloody-minded visions," as one reviewer described him, Morrell is the co-founder of the International Thriller Writers organization. His numerous best-selling novels include The Brotherhood of the Rose (the basis for a top-rated NBC miniseries broadcast after the Super Bowl), The Fraternity of the Stone, The Fifth Profession, and Extreme Denial (set in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lives). He is also the author of The Successful Novelist: A Lifetime of Lessons about Writing and Publishing.
Morrell has been called "the father of the modern action novel." He is a three-time recipient of the distinguished Bram Stoker Award, the latest for his novel Creepers. Comic-con International honored him with its prestigious Inkpot Award for his lifetime contributions to popular culture.
Visit him at http://www.davidmorrell.net
Local Authors Meet and Greet
featuring Mark Gimenez
Meet and Greet/Edible Falcon Contest, Central Library, October 26, 2 p.m.
Mark Gimenez grew up in Galveston County, Texas. He attended Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, and earned a B.A. in Political Science with honors. Then attended Notre Dame Law School in Indiana and earned a J.D. degree magna cum laude.
Mr. Gimenez practiced law with a large Dallas law firm and became a partner. After ten years, he left to practice solo and to write. He now lives outside Fort Worth with his wife and two sons.
Author of the New York Times best-seller The Color of Law, Gimenez was nominated for “Thriller” Award for Best First Novel by International Thriller Writers, Inc. His other books are of The Abduction and The Perk.
Book Discussions Featuring Local Authors
Midweek Mysteries
featuring author William Manchee
Central Library, October 1, noon
William Manchee is an attorney by trade and practices law in Dallas, Texas, with his son Jim. Originally from southern California, he now lives in Plano, Texas with his wife Janet.
Manchee first discovered his passion for writing in 1995 when he wrote Twice Tempted. He vowed then to write a novel every year for the rest of his life. He is on schedule as Tarizon: The Liberator is set for release in September 2008. Act Normal is Volume 8 of his Stan Turner Mystery Series, which are inspired by many actual cases in which Manchee has been involved over the years. His other works include Death Pact, Plastic Gods, and a nonfiction book called Yes, We're Open: Defending the Small Business Under Siege which has been published in eight foreign countries as well as the United States.
The Maltese Falcon Book Discussion @ Mustangs of Las Colinas Museum
featuring author Carole Nelson Douglas
Mustangs of Las Colinas Museum, 5205 N. O'Connor Drive, Suite 155
October 18, 10 a.m.
Carole Nelson Douglas, author of 55 novels ranging from mystery to contemporary and historical women’s fiction to mainstream and fantasy and science fiction, describes herself as a literary chameleon.
When Carole graduated from the College of St. Catherine with English Lit and Theater degrees to become a reporter for the St. Paul, Minnesota, daily newspaper, she won numerous writing awards for humorous features, in-depth series on cutting-edge social problems, the arts, columns on senior citizens and at-large essays. By 1984 she was kissing the Snowball and daily journalism goodbye to be a full-time fiction writer in sunny Fort Worth, Texas.
In 1992, Carole debuted the Midnight Louie series, which stars a hard-boiled, hairy-chested feline sleuth in glitzy, ditsy Las Vegas who writes his own account of events in a Damon Runyonesque voice. Carole contrasts Midnight Louie’s baroque back-alley first-furpurrson twang with the third-person adventures of a quartet of human mystery-solvers: Temple Barr, a petite public relations woman and amateur sleuth; C.R. Molina, a tough-as-Naugahyde female police lieutenant; Matt Devine, an ex-priest and crisis-hotline counselor; and Temple’s boyfriend, the Mystifying Max, a stage magician who had simply vanished not long before Midnight Louie came into Temple’s life.
In 1990, Carole became the first writer to use a female character to revisit the Sherlock Holmes world: American opera singer Irene Adler, the only woman to outwit the master sleuth. The series debuted with the New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Good Night, Mr. Holmes, which also won Romantic Times magazine and American Mystery Awards. In making Adler also an astute private inquiry agent, Carole could link the classic cases of Sherlock Holmes to daring new escapades of his rival and diva turned detective. The eight titles in the critically acclaimed series include Femme Fatale and Spider Dance.
The 2007 the debut of her Delilah Street seriers, Dancing with Werewolves, rated a starred review in Publishers Weekly. Carole’s mystery short stories have appeared in eight "Year’s Best" anthologies. Midnight Louie’s inauguration adventure with Socks Clinton, Sax and the Single Cat, was a 1993 Agatha Award nominee.
Last spring she received a "Pioneer of the Publishing Industry" award from Romantic Times BOOKreviews magazine at its annual convention for her genre-blending and bending work. She has been nominated for or has won more than fifty fiction and nonfiction writing awards, is a frequent speaker on writing. Like a good chameleon, she has even dressed as Marilyn Monroe to perform her dramatic monologue from the anthology she edited, Marilyn: Shades of Blonde.
To subscribe to Midnight Louie’s Scratching Post-Intelligencer/Irene Adler’s Postmodern Victorian Gazette newsletter contact Carole at PO Box 331555, Fort Worth TX 76163 or mailto:cdouglas@catwriter.comThe twice- yearly newsletter is free. Carole’s web page is at http://www.carolenelsondouglas.com/.
African-American Authors Book Circle
featuring author Frankie Y. Bailey
Northwest Branch Library, October 18, 10:30 a.m.
By day, Frankie Y. Bailey is an associate professor in the School of Criminal Justice, University at Albany. By night she is a writer.
Bailey is the author of several non-fiction books, including Out of the Woodpile: Black Characters in Crime and Detective Fiction, nominated for an Edgar Allen Poe Award for Criticism/Biography, which examines the history of the portrayal of black characters in crime fiction from Edgar Allan Poe to the writers of the hard-boiled fiction genre.
Her works of fiction include three mystery novels that explore the topics of criminal history and justice through the perspective of her protagonist, Lizzie Stuart, an African American crime historian. The unique sleuth searches for not only the truth behind a murder but also her own family history, in Death’s Favorite Child, A Dead Man’s Honor, and Old Murders.
Valley Ranch Reads!
featuring author Laura Starks
Valley Ranch Library, October 23, 7 p.m.
Starks was born in Boston, Massachusetts, grew up in northern Oklahoma, and now lives in Texas. She earned a chemical engineering bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from New Orleans' Tulane University. This was followed by a finance MBA from the University of Chicago in five quarters rather than the usual six, though she did make time to play for a celebrated GSB women's intramural basketball team, the Efficient Mockettes.
Working more than a decade for well-known oil companies in engineering, marketing, and finance from refineries to corporate offices prepared her to write 13 Days: the Pythagoras Conspiracy about a plot to sabotage oil refineries and the woman who must discover and stop it. Her additional published works include technical articles, expert opinion editorials, and short stories. She has prepared policy analyses of solar energy, oil shale, and superconductor applications. She currently consults on energy economics for a limited number of clients.
