Frederick:-
Sounds like a fantastic book. A shame and really quite
terrifying that I hadn't heard of it before. Oh, and your
self-promo efforts are eminently entertaining, therefore
excused and even encouraged.
Congratulations!
Charlie.
--------- charliewilliams.net
--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Frederick Zackel"
<fzackel@...> wrote:
>
> Today I hold it in my hands; it came by UPS. Yes, on
1 November
2006 the
> hardboiled imprint Point Blank Press is bringing
back out my first
book,
> 1978's "Cocaine & Blue Eyes." I know most of you
never heard of
it, most
> mystery fans never did, but I might be able to give
you four good
reasons
> why you might want to stock a few copies to give as
Christmas
presents..
>
> The reasons ...
>
> Here is Ross Macdonald's old (1978) blurb for that
same book:
>
> "Fred Zackel's first novel reminds me of the young
Dashiell
Hammett's work,
> not because it is an imitation, but because it is
not. It is a
powerful and
> original book made from the lives and languages of
the people who
live in
> San Francisco today."
>
> Here is Loren Estleman's new (2006) blurb for that
same book:
>
> "The American private eye story was in the Dumpster
when Fred
Zackel fished
> it out at the point of a gun. He revived the form,
electrified
readers and
> critics, and started the juggernaut that shoved
aside the
paperback romance
> to establish the mystery as the most popular
category in the
world. Finally,
> the generation that grew up since COCAINE AND BLUE
EYES has the
chance to
> meet Michael Brennan. An event like this ought to
have a national
holiday
> connected with it."
> --Loren D. Estleman,
> author of NICOTINE KISS
>
> (Loren's such a fuckin' sweetheart! Full of shit,
but such a
sweetheart.)
>
> Here is Tom Nolan's new (2006) blurb for that same
book:
>
> "The American private-eye novel enjoyed a resurgence
in the 1970s,
and Fred
> Zackel's "Cocaine and Blue Eyes" was a unique part
of that literary
> blossoming. Set in the Bay Area of Northern
California, this fast-
moving
> 1978 novel speeds through an eventful Christmas and
New Year's
season with
> all the energy of a classic genre bursting with new
life. From
page one,
> it's clear the book's author is a born story-teller,
one who
brings a
> personal vision to the templates of the
past.
> "Cocaine and Blue Eyes" - the tough tale of a
semi-pro
detective
> hunting high and low in San Francisco society for a
missing person
who maybe
> isn't missing, on behalf of a client who is without
a doubt dead -
evokes
> some of the tone and terrain of Dashiell Hammett,
some of the
seductive
> cadences of Raymond Chandler, and some of the poetic
flashes of
Ross
> Macdonald (who enthusiastically supported its
publication). What
seems most
> Zackel's own is the sensibility of
investigator-protagonist
Michael Brennen:
> a man coming up through the underside, to find his
own moral
center.
> "Fred Zackel's novel reads today with the same
raw
vigor as when
> it was written. If some of its slang, social-sexual
attitudes, and
> pharmacological lore now ring out of date, such
jarring notes only
validate
> the book's integrity as an honest time-machine: a
beat-up-cab-ride
back some
> 30 years to when parking-meters took pennies,
cigarettes were
smoked in
> restaurants, cocaine was thought to be neither
addictive nor
fatal; and
> when - then as now - "Only the lucky solve
cases."
>
> -- Tom Nolan, author of "Ross Macdonald: A
Biography"
>
> (Tom, I'm still trying to find that moral center. I
know it
wasn't in that
> bar we just got home from. Nice bar,
though.)
>
> The Time magazine review from November 28, 1978,
said:
>
> "Drugs and thugs, a missing person and a
backchatting investigator
also
> dominate Cocaine and Blue Eyes. Fred Zackel's
sprightly first
novel, set
> mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area, combines the
story of a
Pacific
> Heights dynasty, corporate shenanigans, Chinatown
gangs, a
spectrum of sex,
> aging flower children, Mafia money and the houseboat
life in
Sausalito. The
> result is as nerve-rattling as a full-throttle auto
chase from
Grant Avenue
> to Fisherman's Wharf."
>
> Oh, and there is even a fifth reason. The murderer
who found it
in an
> airport paperback rack and decided to make a movie
of it.
>
> "Cocaine and Blues Eyes" was made into a so-so 1983
NBC made-for-
TV movie
> co-produced by and starring O. J. Simpson. Say what
you want, but
his
> check cleared; in 1983 that's all anybody cared
about. Which
explains why
> you also never see it on television.
>
> Want a sixth reason? The editor at Coward, McCann in
1978 who fell
in love
> with it, bought it and published it was Joseph
Kanon, who retired
to write
> thrillers.
>
> What follows is the info from the catalog. It will
be available in
the US
> and UK.
>
> Wildside Press LLC
> Imprint: Point Blank
> ISBN/SKU: 0809562138
> ISBN Complete: 0-8095-6213-8
> Title: Cocaine and Blue Eyes
> Publication Date: 11/1/2006
> Language: English
> Book Description (formally called
"Annotation"):
> Contributors:
> Last Name First Middle Role
> 1:
> Zackel Fred Author
> Order Types:
> Galley
> Proof
> Short Run
> Other Title Information:
> Large Text Edition: N
> ISBN/SKU: 0809562138
> ISBN Complete: 0-8095-6213-8
> Book Type: 5.5 x 8.5 in or 216 x 140 mm (Demy 8vo)
Perfect Bound
> Page Count: 264
>
> I am new to all this promotion biz. But, thank you,
Lord, for
this glass of
> wine. Best wishes to you and yours.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Fred Zackel
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 11 Oct 2006 EDT