Wading into 2008 Territory

Happy New Year, everybody. If the first day was anything to judge by, things are off to a pretty good start for me (granted, the mimosas helped, but so did the long walk and the utterly adorable sandy-haired two-year-old running around the Columbus Circle Borders with a permanent smile on his face.) And even though the holidays gave me license to be lazy, the workaholic in me welcomes getting back into my usual routines – which, of course, include blogging.

Having said that, I’m viewing Confessions in 2008 as something of an experiment. A lot will stay the same with regards to content, but don’t be surprised if a few new features show up unexpectedly. The focus remains on crime fiction, but more forensic science and true crime-related pieces will pop up here as well, and I’d rather post less and keep the quality high than rely on link dumps just for the sake of them. So naturally I’m starting with one, but I did say I was wading into the new year, right?

From 2007: Time Magazine on Qiu Xiaolong, Asahi Weekly walking the Tokyo streets with David Peace, Hallie Ephron’s year-ending crime fiction column for the Boston Globe, Nicholas Wroe chats with John Harvey, Otto Penzler purveys pulp to the WSJ and NRO, and Motoko Rich talking with Joseph Weisberg about AN ORDINARY SPY. And on the moi front, my LA Times column focused on British spy novelist John Bingham, while the week after I reviewed James Sallis’s SALT RIVER.

Speaking of spy fiction (something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately as the deadline for a piece I’m working on looms closer) the Urbanite has an extended Q&A with Dan Fesperman about his upcoming novel THE AMATEUR SPY.

Ed Gorman’s take on the newly discovered and reissued Lawrence Block novel A DIET OF TREACLE is dead-on. I also couldn’t help but wonder why this book was published using one of Block’s “sleaze” pseudonyms, Sheldon Lord, because it could easily have been a Gold Medal book to my mind. (Also, on a more idiosyncratic level, every time I read a book about the Beats written during that time period, I wonder where David Markson was at that particular moment.)

Dick Adler waxes eloquent about Laurie King’s new standalone novel for January Magazine. And may I say how thrilled I am to see Mr. Adler writing on a regular basis again?

Speaking of Janmag, Ali Karim fills us in on the plagiarism scandal that plagued Ian Fleming – and changed the course of the Bond universe.

Will video games develop their own version of film noir? I sure as hell hope so.

Dave White on the Bat Segundo Show. Need I say more?

Levi Asher cracks the Philly Inquirer!

Dr. Marcella Fierro, who is credited with inspiring Patricia Cornwell to create Kay Scarpetta, has retired as Virginia’s Chief Medical Examiner. (as for Scarpetta, Mark Lawson’s happy to have her back for some reason or another.) 

I am profoundly addicted to reading this site, even though I only frequent Starbucks shops out of necessity more than desire.