An extremely exciting announcement from Hard Case Crime

I've got an appealing stack of Hard Case Crime books waiting to be read--wasn't in the mood for noir so much these last few months (weariness of spring semester makes me like more contemplative books preferably with happy endings), but now the school year's over, I'm more likely to plunge into them and read them in a frenzy. And I'm super-excited about this announcement:

Award-Winning Authors
KEN BRUEN and JASON STARR
Team Up For Hard Case Crime

Authors of THE GUARDS and TWISTED CITY to Collaborate on BUST

New York (June 3, 2005) – Hard Case Crime announced today that acclaimed crime writers Ken Bruen and Jason Starr will collaborate on an original novel titled BUST, to be published in Spring 2006. Ireland-based Bruen is the author of more than a dozen celebrated novels, including THE GUARDS, THE KILLING OF THE TINKERS, and THE MAGDALEN MARTYRS. New York City-based Starr has won raves for novels such as HARD FEELINGS, TOUGH LUCK, and TWISTED CITY. Between them, the two authors have been nominated for almost every major award in the mystery field, including the Edgar, the Shamus, the Barry, the Anthony, and the Macavity Awards. (THE GUARDS won the Shamus in 2003, TOUGH LUCK won the Barry in 2004, and both men are again up for the Anthony and Barry Awards this year.) BUST tells the story of sleazy New York businessman Max Fisher, who hatches a plot to kill his wife with the help of his Irish-American executive assistant and an ex-IRA hit man of her acquaintance. Naturally, things go horribly wrong.

Launched in September 2004 by novelists and pulp mavens Charles Ardai and Max Phillips, the Edgar Award-winning Hard Case Crime imprint revives the storytelling and visual style of the great pulp paperbacks of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. The line features an exciting mix of lost pulp masterpieces from some of the most acclaimed crime writers of all time and gripping new novels from the next generation of great hardboiled authors, all with new painted covers in the grand pulp style. Authors range from current best-sellers such as Lawrence Block, Max Allan Collins, Ed McBain, and Donald E. Westlake to Golden Age stars like Erle Stanley Gardner (creator of “Perry Mason”), Donald Hamilton (creator of “Matt Helm”), Wade Miller (author of TOUCH OF EVIL), and Charles Williams (author of DEAD CALM). In October 2005, Hard Case Crime will publish THE COLORADO KID, a new book by Stephen King, who has said, “This is an exciting line and I’m delighted to be part of it.”

Since its debut, Hard Case Crime has been the subject of enthusiastic coverage by a wide range of publications including The New York Times, USA Today, Vanity Fair, Playboy, U.S. News & World Report, BusinessWeek, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Houston Chronicle, New York magazine, the New York Post and Daily News, Salon, Publishers Weekly and USA Weekend, as well as numerous other magazines, newspapers, and online media outlets. In The Stranger, Neal Pollack wrote, “Hard Case may be the best new American publisher to appear in the last decade.” The Chicago Sun-Times wrote, “Hard Case Crime is doing a wonderful job…These modern ‘penny dreadfuls’ are worth every dime.” And Publishers Weekly wrote, “They do write ‘em like they used to.”

“Ken and I have been looking for an excuse to work together and the chance to collaborate on an old-fashioned pulp crime novel for Hard Case Crime was just too good to pass up,” said Jason Starr. Ken Bruen added, “We had a blast writing this book and have already started talking about a sequel.”

“Bust is a simply terrific book that will not only satisfy existing fans of Ken’s and Jason’s work but should bring them legions of new readers,” said Charles Ardai, Hard Case Crime’s editor. “These guys are well versed in the pulp tradition and know how to tell the sort of story that grabs you by the throat on the first page and doesn’t let you go until the last. This is definitely a stay-up-all-night-to-finish-it sort of book.”