Two faint blips have recently have showed up on the BSC Radar Screen that look very promising.
First, word has been spreading that Megan Abbott sold her first graphic novel to Vertigo/DC for inclusion in the Vertigo Crime line-up. It’s called Normandy Gold and is co-written by Alison Gaylin. What we know of the plot synopsis is that it is:
a Tarantino-esque graphic novel about a small-town sheriff who comes to 1970s Washington DC to avenge the murder of her call girl sister
Admittedly I’ve had some nits to pick with Megan Abbott’s past novels but I think that this could be a really successful union for her. Looking forward to it.
(I do have to wonder what a poor reviewer has to do get a look at some Vertigo Crime titles.)
This will probably be a mid/late 2010 release.
Second is the news that one of crime fictions best kept secrets, Charlie Stella, has a new novel coming out called Johnny Porno which will be published by Stark House Press. Stark House is known for their reprints of “some of the best in fantasy, supernatural fiction, mystery and suspense in attractive trade paperback editions” and Johnny Porno was apparently so good that it will be their first original novel
After reading Johnny Porno Greg Shepard from Stark House said:
“Up until now I’ve resisted publishing anything that wasn’t a reprint of what I considered a classic or long-neglected mystery. But when Ed Gorman introduced me to Charlie Stella’s new book, I simply couldn’t resist. Johnny Porno is set in 1970′s New York when Deep Throat is being hustled around town by the mob and a guy named John Albano is just trying to get by. This book’s got it all: gangsters and wannabes, cops both crooked and not, hustlers and informers, crazy ex-wives and resourceful girlfriends; and crackling dialog that’s so real you can hear it. I couldn’t put it down. Because nobody writes mob fiction like Charlie Stella. He’s the real deal. And it’s a real pleasure knowing I’ll be working with him on Johnny Porno. Stark House Press steps out.”
Charlie Stella offers up the following plot synopsis
“It’s the summer of 1973 and John Albano is a former construction worker with child support and rent payments he can’t keep up with by driving for a Brooklyn car service, but then it’s his quick hands and honorable nature that ultimately place him squarely in the middle of a perfect storm of danger.
Albano is just trying to make ends meet when he takes a weekend stint counting heads and collecting the take at illegal screenings of the recently banned porno film Deep Throat for Mafioso Eddie Vento. But a devious ex-wife, her more devious ex-husband, the wiseguys behind the film (including one obnoxious wannabe with a frenzied beef for Albano), the Fleetwood Eldorado used in the opening scene of the porno film and a host of cops (both good and bad-including the deranged one Albano punched out) snowball into an often humorous, sometimes violent, action-packed page turner loaded with the masterful dialogue that earned Charlie Stella six *starred* reviews and countless comparisons to such masters of the genre as Elmore Leonard, George V. Higgins, Donald Westlake and Mario Puzo over the course of his six contemporary crime novels.”
Anything Charlie Stella related is going to be good, that much is guaranteed but this sounds like it’s his best one yet.
