Magazines, Media & Monologues

Editor BJ Bourg recently announced that not only is his ezine Mouth Full of Bullets going to have a print edition alongside with the web version, but he's compiled a "best of" anthology covering the publication's first year which ranges from Autumn 2006 to Summer 2007. You can buy it in paperback or download via the following link. Kudos to BJ for helping support and promote short-form mystery and crime fiction when other similar publications are folding.

On to the "Monologues" part, in a relatively rare public appearance, author Robert B. Parker will discuss the upcoming sequel to his 2005 Western novel as well as his 35-year writing career including his most famous creation, Boston private eye Spenser. The talk is free, although advance tickets are required, and will take place at 7 p.m. on June 2 at Bass Hall in Fort Worth, Texas.

In Media Notes, Barbara Barnett reviews the movie OSS-177, Cairo, Nest of Spies, a spy-thriller parody. Barnett says "as much a fan of the [spy thriller] genre that I am, I’ve always been a hard sell when it comes to parodies. But when the satire is subtler, the humor more wry and ironic than cheap and slapstick, and blended with social commentary and great cinematography, la voila, as they say in France, you have success."

And two radio pieces to point out:  NPR's Weekend Edition discusses Louise Erdrich's latest novel, Plague of Doves, a multigenerational murder mystery of sorts, surrounding the 1911 slaughter of a farming family near Pluto, North Dakota; and To the Best of Our Knowledge featured a program titled "Author! Author! Pulp Fiction," with an electic mix including Steve Paulson reporting on the new genre of Scandinavian crime fiction.