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Being Thankful

November 26th, 2024 by Max Allan Collins

With a contentious election behind us, and an even more uncertain American future ahead, the arrival of the holiday season and those family-oriented juggernauts Thanksgiving and Christmas threaten to make not all of the noises joyful. But speaking from a strictly personal perspective, I have plenty to be thankful for, starting with my family – a smart supportive bride who was beautiful when we married in 1968 and still is, astonishingly so; and a great, talented son and a terrific daughter-in-law and two bright, funny grandkids (Sam 9, Lucy 6).

There’s more. Two Christmas movies, Blue Christmas and Death by Fruitcake, have been added to my list of indie productions I’ve mounted when I didn’t think it likely I’d ever do another project of that kind again. Barb worked on both and co-produced the second; our son Nate toiled on both as well, and grandson son made it into Blue Christmas (both Sam and Lucy are in Death by Fruitcake). As is always the case on a film, I worked with cast and crew both old and new, and my creative circle grew.

Despite health issues, I have managed to stay not just active but prolific, if not as much so as in the past. Barb is writing her draft of our next Antiques novel, a series we began twenty years ago. Our son Nate’s career as a Japanese-to-English translator continues to flourish, though it’s hard, hard work. I’ve written a ten-part audio drama, in post-production now, True Noir (directed by new friend Robert Meyer Burnett) based on the first Nathan Heller novel, True Detective, with an all-star cast, and have another Heller to write for Hard Case Crime in the coming year – the 19th I believe. I have just completed a dream project, The Return of the Maltese Falcon, for publication by HCC/Titan in January 2026, and the final Mike Hammer novel, Baby, It’s Murder, comes out from Titan the day after my March third birthday, March 4 of 2025.

Regardless of how I might feel about the macro state of America, the micro world of the Collins family reminds me of Cary Grant being sent a telegram from a news service asking him, “How old Cary Grant?” And Cary Grant responded with, “Old Cary Grant fine. How you?”

At the age of 76, I face a future that remains uncertain in that inevitable certainty. But being alive (thank you, Sondheim) remains a trip I’m pleased to still be taking, and the specific life I’ve been living has largely been sweet. The bittersweet is in there, too, of course. Many of my best friends and valued collaborators are gone. But how wonderful it’s been to have them in my life. I’ve finally hung up my rock ‘n’ roll shoes, but the talented and funny people I’ve known, the gigs I’ve been able to enjoy (and sometimes endure), are something I’m delighted to have experienced.

It’s not all good, of course. Both the far right and the far left want to control my speech, in varying ways. As I have long said, where the far right and the far left meet is at a book-burning – they’re just bringing different books. I’ve been cancelled by both of ‘em at various times in my career, which starts to feel like a badge of honor.

But, hell – I’ve been able to make a living in the storytelling business. Telling lies for fun and profit, as Lawrence Block said. Doesn’t get better than that.

So you bet I’m thankful.

And a lot of that is due to those of you who drop by here regularly who have supported my life-long journey to avoid actual work.

So on this contentious year at this wonderful, difficult time of year, let me say this: let’s put the “Thanks” into Thanksgiving. Corny, I know. But as my late friend, filmmaker Steve Henke, once said of me, “Max will write something nasty but then ruin it with something sentimental at the end, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

So thank you.

* * *

Quarry’s Return from Hard Case Crime is out right now, and a few reviews have rolled in. This is a particularly nice, smart one.

And this one’s nice, too.

Looks like the old boy has some life left in him. I started the series in the mid-1970s and against all odds it is still kicking.

Same could be said of its author.

* * *

Speaking of reviews, scroll down and read a nice one of Blue Christmas.

And this one.

And some nice Blue Christmas coverage is here.

And how about this terrific Blue Christmas review?

We’ve received a few negative ones, anyway two that I know of – one flat-out mean, another basically dinging us for being so low-budget, a hurdle the reviewer can’t get over. He’s been served a hamburger and, damnit, he insists on steak.

I get it. Doing a micro-budget indie film is a challenge, and the result is so different from the Hollywood variety – where millions of dollars can be spent on a movie called “low-budget” – that a little production like Blue Christmas requires understanding that a budget under $10,000 isn’t going to produce Gladiator 2.

I’m a big believer in meeting art (if I may be so bold as describe what I do as “art”) on its own level. What is it trying to do, and what were the obstacles that may have had to be overcome? That said, some of you may find Blue Christmas a bridge too far, and that frustrates me but I do understand. It’s very low-budget, and the reviewers (including the positive ones) often compare us to a community theater production (not always in an unflattering way). If you can’t meet a book or movie on its own terms – or if you feel those terms are at odds with your point of view, your tastes – I understand.

To put it in perspective, we couldn’t afford licensing a version of the song “Blue Christmas” for a movie called Blue Christmas. That would have taken ten times the budget we had for the whole flick.

But I will say this. As some of you know, Blue Christmas was written to be a bigger budget movie (by “bigger” I mean half a million dollars) back in the days when we did the two Mommy movies. But we weren’t able to make that happen. Periodically over the years, I tried to mount it, including as a stage play with Iowa PBS in mind, but never could get the job done. When I had the opportunity to do a rewrite for a micro-budget version and actually produce it…actually have it exist…I couldn’t resist. And I like this version just fine, and the way it works on (basically) a single set, emphasizing the Christmas Carol-like visions of private eye Richard Stone.

I’ll remind you Blue Christmas is available on Amazon Prime for under three bucks, on Blu-ray and DVD from VCI and MVD (available at Amazon and Diabolik and elsewhere), and on a few streaming channels for free but with commercials.

Now I’ll wind up this commercial and get back to the main attraction: me wishing you and yours a happy Thanksgiving.

M.A.C.

Tags: Blue Christmas, Death by Fruitcake, Nate Heller, Nathan Heller, Quarry, Quarry's Return, Reviews, True Detective, True Noir, True Noir: The Assassination of Anton Cermak
Posted in Message from M.A.C. | 7 Comments »

Prime Time for Blue Christmas; Farewell to Stephen Mertz

November 19th, 2024 by Max Allan Collins

Blue Christmas is available now on Amazon Prime for under $2.99 (to rent) in HD. It’s also on Fawesome, free, but there are commercials. Several other streaming services are considering it and I’ll post info here as that happens.

Now that the Blu-ray and DVD are out, we’ve had several really nice reviews, like this one.

We had a week-long run at the Palms multi-plex in Muscatine, Iowa (our home town) and Barb and I saw it twice, really loving how it looks on the big screen. The day before this update appears we’ll have had a nice screening at Muscatine Community College in the Black Box theater where we shot it.

Please support our little Christmas noir. If you get a chance to give us a decent star rating at IMDB, that would be welcome and appreciated.

Also, if you order the Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon, and like it, post a review.

And if you haven’t sent for it yet, consider going to the great physical media dealer Diabolik.

* * *

I have been approached by several folks about the Kickstarter page for True Noir. Apparently it hasn’t been updated of late. I am not directly associated with the page, but I’ve talked to Rob Burnett about it and he’s on the case.

There have been some delays in delivery of this ambitious project – a ten-episode immersive audio presentation of True Detective from my scripts. I can assure you this is an impressive production – everything I’ve heard has been terrific.

What happened is, to my understanding, initial plans to release the episodes one at a time, while the production was still in post, have shifted to waiting till the entire audio drama is done. The recording is entirely finished but editing and SFX are still in process, and the last two episodes haven’t been scored yet (but that’s coming – and this music is really impressive).

I will be doing mini-documentaries on each episode for inclusion on the eventual Blu-ray release.

* * *

When you live to be a certain age, or I should say when you are lucky enough to live to a certain age, you may come upon a sad and unsettling reality: more of your friends are dead than alive. I have lost bandmates, like Paul Thomas, Bruce Peters and Chuck Bunn, and Terry Becky (murdered in a motel room while touring); the brothers Van Winkle, Brian and Jim, and – unfortunately in the too rocky world of rock ‘n’ roll – a number of others. My filmmaking collaborator, actor Michael Cornelison is gone – he was part of Mommy, Mommy’s Day, Real Time: Siege at Lucas Street Market, Caveman: V.T. Hamlin & Alley Oop and Mike Hammer’s Mickey Spillane. I basically retired from filmmaking when Mike passed, and only recently have I had the heart to pick up the mantle again.

Now three of my closest friends in the writing game are gone – a while back Ed Gorman, recently Bob Randisi, and now Stephen Mertz.

Steve had his cantankerous side but was cheerful and fun and funny even at his crankiest, and mostly he was a sunny presence, enthusiastic about writers whose work he loved and himself a dedicated professional. He was also a musician and a good one. He was a radio d.j. at times, and the kind of ideal presence you’d love to have with you pouring from the car radio on a long drive.

I don’t recall when I met Steve. He’s one of those people I feel I always knew. It was probably at a Bouchercon, a long-ago one. I just know that he was one of Mickey Spillane’s biggest fans and boosters, and to some degree our friendship was grounded in that.

We were also among a small handful who knew of the work of Ennis Willie, a mysterious figure (for years anyway) whose ‘60s work at the minor paperback house Merit Books ran to two dozen-plus titles that rocketed from his typewriter, a pulp-style writer who seemed to disappear as quickly as he emerged. Had Willie been killed in a car accident or maybe died of a disease? Was he a Black writer? Was he Mickey Spillane secretly writing under a pseudonym? These topics and more were discussed endlessly by Steve and me (and also Ed Gorman).

Ultimately our enthusiasm for his work flushed Willie out of the normal life he’d been swallowed into (he was a publisher in the South) and he was astonished and, I think, thrilled that Steve and I (and Ed) had been such advocates of his work, particularly the Sand novels, which were similar to Westlake’s Parker books but with an overtly Spillane touch. (Matt Clemens and I named our John Sand secret agent character after Willie’s hoodlum hero, Sand.)

Steve was also a big booster of Michael Avallone, who had become, unfairly, a kind of joke in the eyes of some when he was really a dedicated craftsman with perhaps a little too much defensive pride in his work…but that’s better than the opposite.

The biggest argument Steve and I had, over the years, had to do with Steve hiding behind pseudonyms, protecting his real byline for bigger, greater work that he felt he would accomplish later. My approach was, you never know if there’s going to be a “later” – I would slap my name on a movie novelization knowing that the young readers of such books might become lifetime fans of my work. And that proved the case.

Steve wrote scores of men’s adventure novels, and was a big advocate of the work of Don Pendleton, and wound up as one of the best ghosts of the later Executioner novels. Again, this solid work was hidden behind a byline that wasn’t his, and I encouraged him for decades to get his real name out there. But he went on writing as “Jim Case” and “Stephen Brett” and “Cliff Banks”…and “Don Pendleton.” Finally, in the last few decades, he did sign his own work, and did so with pride on such distinctive novels as Hank & Muddy and The Castro Directive.

Back when I was doing a lot of tie-in novels, Steve was the only person I recommended to a publisher when my work schedule didn’t allow – his Sudden Death was a fine example of a tricky craft.

And I let Barb know if anything happened to me, of all my friends – even including Bob and Ed – that Steve was the one to approach if I passed with a book half-finished.

Now here I am, on my own. It will be up to Barb and Nate, if I don’t finish something…and you better.

Steve, you were a fine friend and a fine writer, and a real sweetheart of a guy. I often said you would argue with a tree stump…but with a smile and laugh.

I can hear that laugh now.

* * *

Read about Ennis Willie (who published new versions of his work after the Mertz/Gorman/M.A.C. enthusiasm caught fire) right here.

M.A.C.

Tags: Blue Christmas, Nate Heller, Nathan Heller, Passings, True Noir, True Noir: The Assassination of Anton Cermak
Posted in Message from M.A.C. | 3 Comments »

Many Happy Returns (Except For…)

November 12th, 2024 by Max Allan Collins

I stepped out from behind my usual “no politics here” stance last week by expressing my support for Kamala Harris. Wow, that really made the difference! Look, I am a centrist generally pissed off at both the far left and far right, having been cancelled by both in various eras. But I am grateful that nobody who follows this blog/update stepped up to slap me down last week. They respected or at least ignored my opinion. I had exactly one “pushback” on Facebook from somebody astounded that I would see Donald Trump as a threat to the rule of law. So at least I got one good laugh out of this.

The real winner of this campaign was social media for getting away with completely (a) blotting out any real news coverage in favor of this opinion and that one, and (b) making every one of us feel a sense of importance none of us deserve. Just this week I have had a movie I directed, and a book I am writing, lambasted by people who have not seen the movie and not read the book (not a surprise, since I haven’t finished it). I realize I am being a bit of hypocrite being opinionated in this – but how many of us now think our opinions are so important we need to express them in public, even when we are discussing a movie we haven’t seen, or a book that isn’t even out yet?

This is Alice in Wonderland stuff, boys and girls. And it’s going to get worse.

* * *

Trade Paperback:

E-Book:

Digital Audiobook:

Audiobook CD:

Audiobook MP3 CD:

Quarry’s Return is out now and you should be able to find it at your favorite brick-and-mortar bookstores, but it’s also available at the usual online retailers.

I’ve said a few places that this may be the final Quarry novel, but let’s face it – I said that before (about The Last Quarry and Quarry’s Blood, to name two). So who knows?

This novel is very much a sequel or follow-up to the Edgar-nominated Quarry’s Blood, though like all of these books, each can be read out of order without causing you too much mental whiplash. What I’ve discovered about Quarry, via this one and the preceding book in the saga, is that I like writing about him when he shares with me my current age (he’s actually a tad younger). I think that’s because he was conceived, in the first novel (Quarry a.k.a The Broker), as being my age, very much my contemporary as a child of the 1950s caught up in the Vietnam era.

Nate Heller has also been older in more recent novels (Too Many Bullets is something of a concluding one, though I do have one more to write, which is next up on my novelistic plate). Those books got out of chronological order fairly early on – only the first three (True Detective, True Crime, The Million-Dollar Wound) are strictly chronological, although you could kind of lump the fourth in (Neon Mirage) as well. After that I’m all over the map with Stolen Away and Damned in Paradise and so on.

Speaking of Heller, True Noir – the ten-part fully immersible, M.A.C.-scripted audio adaptation of True Detective is deep into post-production. Plans to drop the episodes gradually, while the later ones were still in post, have been scrapped by producer Mike Bawden in favor of waiting till the entire ten parts are complete. There is merit in this decision. Release should be some time in December or very early January. Exactly how and where they will be released I’ll announce here, as soon I know it.

What I do know is the cast and director Robert Meyer Burnett have done me proud. We have a terrific Nate Heller in Michael Rosenbaum of Smallville fame, and the supporting cast is second to none.

Getting back to Quarry, I should note that we have another terrific audio book of this one read by the great Stefan Rudnicki.

As far as more Quarry is concerned, it frankly depends on my health and the interest of a publisher. As long as Hard Case Crime is around, and I’m around, I’ll probably find a way to write the occasional Quarry. Whether any future one will be about the geriatric Quarry or a flashback to his earlier days remains to be seen.

At my age, writing this kind of book, I face not only my advancement of years, but that of my readership, which (let’s face it) is pretty much cult-ish, despite the occasional break-through like Road to Perdition.

I have found it revitalizing doing several micro-budget movie productions (Encore for Murder, Blue Christmas, Death by Fruitcake); but even at this modest (!) budgetary level, funding is difficult. We’ll see how Blue Christmas and Death by Fruitcake fare.

Right now Blue Christmas is playing a week-long run at the Palms Theater in Muscatine. Seeing our little film on a great big screen, with terrific sound, has been gratifying. (It’s still there through and including Nov. 14.) It’s a testimony to what director of photographer Phil Dingeldein and producer Chad Bishop were able to achieve on a wing and a prayer.

Blue Christmas also out on Blu-ray and DVD right now. Lots of special features, including a nice bio documentary of yours truly done for Muscatine Community College. A good place to get the Blue Christmas Blu-ray online (in addition to the usual online retailers) is the great website Diabolik. They are a terrific outfit offering all kinds of off-beat items, including our little Christmas fable. Their price is in line with other online retailers and I’d love to see you support them.

As for the DVD version, you can go to Amazon or Barnes & Noble and get it for eleven bucks and change.

Speaking of Blue Christmas, shortly after its run ends at the Palms Theater in Muscatine, there’s a special showing (open to the public) in the very Black Box venue where we recorded the film. This should be a great event and those of you in the eastern Iowa area may wish to take it in.

Hardcover:

E-Book:

Also out right now is the latest Antiques Trash ‘n’ Treasures comic mystery, Antiques Slay Belles. With Death by Fruitcake warming up as a release for next Christmas, with Brandy and Vivian Borne brought to life wonderfully by Alisabeth Von Presley and Paula Sands (co-starring with Rob Merritt who plays P.I. Richard Stone in Blue Christmas), Barb and I are happy to present another Antiques Christmas mystery. Sometimes the mystery of the Antiques novels is where to find the darn things. Our publisher, Severn House, is in the UK and sometimes it’s difficult to find the latest Antiques novel in a brick-and-mortar USA store (there have been some inroads with Barnes & Noble as well as mystery bookstores).

But you can absolutely get Antiques Slay Belles at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and whatever your favorite online retailer is likely to be.

Let’s face it. These are ideal stocking stuffers for a mystery fan – but choose wisely which of these items you stuff. Only the hardiest of souls out there might find both Antiques Slay Belles and Quarry’s Return (and yes, it’s a Christmas novel!) equally palatable. On the other hand, Blue Christmas would make a fine Christmas day family film, despite its noir-ish themes (same noir-ish themes as A Christmas Carol!).

* * *

Check out our Blue Christmas IMDB page!

This is quite a lovely review of Blue Christmas, very positive but frank about our low-budget indie feature.

Here’s another nice Blue Christmas review, if brief; you have to scroll down to find it.

Hey, movies don’t get much more indie or micro than this; but if you like my work, I think – I hope – you’ll impressed with what we came up with. Much thanks goes to our eastern Iowa cast, with Alisabeth Von Presley already receiving a Best Actress award from the Iowa Motion Picture Association for what is essentially a supporting role. And Rob Merritt as Richard Stone carries a good deal of the weight of the production on his shoulders and proves his value as probably the most popular, busiest actor in this region.

M.A.C.

Tags: Antiques Series, Antiques Slay Belles, Barbara Allan, Blue Christmas, Nate Heller, New Releases, Quarry, Quarry's Return, Too Many Bullets, Trash 'n' Treasures, True Noir, True Noir: The Assassination of Anton Cermak
Posted in Message from M.A.C. | 2 Comments »

A Personal Note & A Premiere Weekend

November 5th, 2024 by Max Allan Collins

I try to keep politics out of these updates – having no desire to offend my “customers” (as a great writer would often call his readers), much less my personal friends and business associates – but this election is just too important. Please support Kamala Harris for President. I’d like to wake up on November 6 still in a democracy, with the rule of law respected (and fluoride in the water, since I haven’t had a cavity since 1966).

* * *

This week in our home town of Muscatine, Iowa, the Palms Theater hosted a world premiere of our new film, Death by Fruitcake. We had near full houses both nights (Friday and Saturday Nov. 1 and 2) with star Paula Sands appearing on both nights, co-star Alisabeth Von Presley on Saturday night and their co-star Rob Merritt (star of Blue Christmas!) appearing on Friday evening.

Death by Fruitcake brings the main characters of the Antiques novels to life, as created by my lovely and incredibly talented wife Barbara and her tagalong husband. Antiques Slay Belles, the latest in the novel series, is out now. Paula inhabits the uninhibited Vivian Borne and Alisabeth her long-suffering daughter Brandy. And they do an absolutely stellar job of it.

The screenings weren’t flawless. These were our first showings anywhere other than on our computers and Death by Fruitcake is primarily intended for television (streaming most likely) and physical media (Blu-ray and DVD). None of that marketing has begun, as the film is intended for a 2025 holiday release. So there were bumps, chiefly of the audio variety (softer image and audio on Friday, and still not ideal audio on Saturday). But they were eminently watchable and got a terrific reaction from both audiences, with lots of laughs and a good deal of fun at the red carpet event before and after, thanks to the efforts of producer/director of photography/editor Chad Bishop. Q and A with many cast members took place each night after the screening, and excerpts will appear on the eventual physical media.

Almost all of the cast made it to one of the two performances, so it was a star-studded night.

We are talking to the Last Picture House in Davenport and to the Collins Road Theater in Cedar Rapids about a few more advance screenings of Death by Fruitcake (stayed tuned) and the Palms in Muscatine is starting a one-week run on Friday Nov. 8 through Thursday Nov. 14. (I will likely be there on Friday for the two evening showings.)

Blue Christmas may be shown in other Fridley theaters around the state (we’re still talking) and at the Last Picture and maybe Collins Road (workin’ on it, as Bret Maverick once said). And of course the Blu-ray and DVD of Blue Christmas are available now from VCI/MVD (and can be found easily at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and numerous other on-line retailers).

For now, enjoy these photos from our wonderful weekend event with our stars and two lovely crowds at the Palms Theater in Muscatine.

Much of the cast is on hand to display the Number 2 for an infamous on-screen moment of Vivian Borne’s questionable taste during an interrogation (interview!). Front row (left to right): Producer Chad Bishop, Paula Sands, Alisabeth Von Presley, M.A.C., Barbara Collins; second row (left to right ) Tommy Ratkiewicz-Stierwalt, Tracy Pelzer-Timm, Ben Rollins, Chris Causey, Brian Linderman, Rene Mauck.