Platform

So, the bad news is N@B-Indianapolis isn't happening tomorrow night. Sucks. I was looking forward to that. The good news? N@B-St. Louis is back on next month. On July 17 with a forthcoming lineup, but damn, it's been long enough, huh? In a dubious bit of synchronicity Jen Conley wrote a piece about N@B-Global for The Los Angeles Review of Books this week and it featured a couple quotes from me. I should point out that it did not anywhere say "Fuck Peter Rozovsky," so it can hardly qualify as accurately representing the brand, but I do appreciate it. Thanks, Jen. And though N@B's had international events in the past (our Canadian neighbors have been doing it for a while) it's officially global now that Jay Stringer and Russel D. McLean have got N@B-Glasgow under their belts. Feck. Wish I coulda. 

Speaking of Stringer, you know he's got a podcast where he interviews crime writers? Well. He does. It's called Hacks and I was gonna leave an odor there a couple weeks ago, but technical difficulties on my end prevented that. You can still listen to the episode I was gonna stink up right here and make do with Jay and Anthony Neil Smith shooting shit in a barrel. Among other revelations on the episode - Smith ain't gonna make Bouchercon this year. Hell. You all know who is, though, right? I'll be there to not buy Allan Guthrie's tee totaling ass a drink. Been damned excited for this opportunity to meet the man for years. Can't wait.

Did you hear the good news out of Guthrie's Blasted Heath camp? Douglas Lindsay's The Long Midnight of Barney Thompson has been adapted as the feature directorial debut of Robert Carlyle and co-starring Carlyle as the killer cutter alongside Ray Winstone and Emma Thompson. The Legend of Barney Thompson is coming soon.

You wanna get a jump on it - read the book before the flick is available - currently only 99cents!

If you read LARB regularly you're probably already hip to Lisa Levy's swell new crime fiction magazine The Life Sentence. Spanning genres, but focused on criminality it's a top-notch collective and gathering spot for those looking to know what's going on or what it's all about (crime fiction, that is). Give this profile by Paul French of Adrian McKinty's Sean Duffy titles a taste.

e-Zines are so where it's at now. The Life Sentence joins the ranks of quality crime sites like Criminal Element, Crime Fiction Lover and The Rap Sheet. All terrific sites and all free. Y'know what tho? I've just bought my very first subscription to a digital publication - Noir City published by The Film Noir Foundation and gotdamn, it's a beaut. Every quarter a brannew issue brimming with the best of the worst. You wanna subscribe? A year's subscription to Noir City is "free" with a $20 donation to The Film Noir Foundation, so you can ease your conscience while reaping the benefits of teh labor of so many better minds - Noir City features regular contributions by folks like Eddie Muller, Jake Hinkson and Vince Keene.

You want a sample of what you'll find there? Hinkson's collected non-fiction The Blind Alley from Broken River Books has essays culled from Noir City as well as other online sites previously mentioned above. And BRB jefe J. David Osborne will be throwing his hat in the e-Zine ring soon with the Broken River Annual (I think this is still on, yeah JDO?). Killer lineup of contributors I've got wind of.