Since the Rara-Avis list now has a new home, I thought it
might be an appropriate time to introduce myself. I have been
lurking for a few months using the digest format. I know some
of you from the Short Mystery list and from mystery
conventions.
I am a writer of noir/hardboiled short stories and novels.
Therefore, of course, also an avid reader of same. I have
sold 49 short stories, almost all of them on the dark side.
They have been published in hardboiled sites like Plots With
Guns, Thrilling Detective, Hardluck Stories as well as in
several of Michael Bracken's anthologies. I have hardboiled
stories presently up at www.orchardpressmysteries.com and
www.thrillingdetective.com.
My noir novel NO TIME TO MOURN had just been published by
Quiet Storm. Lee Child says, "Like a twelve-bar blues - the
comfort of a familiar form jazzed by a fresh key and an
exciting new voice." Jerry Healy calls it "a dark gem of a
crime novel."
So much for the background and BSPs. I promise not to burden
the list incessantly with such material. But this is an
intro.
I did want to pass on an interesting conversation I had
recently with a top (perhaps THE top) NYC literary agent who
handles mysteries. I had spoken with him several years back
and he had stated that PI hardboiled novels were almost
impossible to sell to publishers. I recently wrote him that
currently writers like Connelly, Child, Lehane, Rankin,
Crais, and Pelacanos were hitting the best seller lists. He
called me on the phbone (they never do that!) to explain that
while some established writers in this sub-genre were selling
well, publishers still were extremely resistant to publishing
new hardboiled writers.
My sense is that he's right. I think it is easier for a new
writer to break in with a cozy that St. Martin's might pick
up and publish in hardcover for libraries where a
predominantly middle-aged female readership hangs out.
What do you all think? If true, it's a problem not only for
writers but for fans of the genre who like to read fresh
material. Of course small publishers like Quiet Storm help
greatly. But their reach into bookstores and even libraries
is minuscule.
Tim Wohlforth
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