Riordan's Desk

The Big Wake-Up Goes Electronic!

Granted it doesn't look quite as colorful as its hardcover or trade paperback brethren, but I'm pleased nonetheless to announce availability of the eBook edition of The Big Wake-Up. Now available through Amazon or Mobipocket. Check it out.

posted by Mark Coggins @ 11:35 AM 0 comments

Collector Alert

Bleak House Books only printed 1,000 copies of the hardcover edition of my new novel, The Big Wake-Up. I found out today (12/23/09) that there are less than 25 copies remaining in their warehouse.

If you are interested in a first edition of the (collectible, small print run) hardcover with the wonderful Owen Smith cover illustration, I suggest you snap one up soon!

posted by Mark Coggins @ 10:50 AM 0 comments

On Bookgasm

Bruce Grossman, Bookgasm reviewer and author of the weekly column, "Bullets, Broads, Blackmail and Bombs" has posted a nice review of The Big Wake-Up (my latest novel). Here's an excerpt:

In what easily could have been called The Maltese Peron, Coggins’ detective novel is infused with enough humor that it will make you forget how bloody things get... Coggins’ writing will have you ... engrossed... He’s a gifted storyteller who infuses not only humor to balance out the brutality, but also throws in plenty of pulp-like affectations, leaving readers to clamor for more.

I'm particularly pleased Bruce made the connection to The Maltese Falcon. Like Falcon, the plot of Wake-Up is driven by a mad hunt for a much desired, almost mystical object. In addition, there are several references to Falcon text in the book for Hammett cognoscente.

Read the whole review here.

posted by Mark Coggins @ 6:57 AM 0 comments

On an Indie Best List

Nathan Cain of Independent Crime has put together a best of the year list for independent crime fiction and--what do you know--The Big Wake-Up is on it.

Check it out here because, as he says, "I've decided that if you don't read the following books you are a loser and suck."

posted by Mark Coggins @ 7:33 AM 0 comments

Win a copy of THE BIG WAKE-UP

You have just two days to enter to win a copy of The Big Wake-Up (my latest novel) in a contest sponsored by Lesa Holstine on her blog, "Lesa's Book Critiques."

Entering is easy--you just have to e-mail her! Get the particulars here.

posted by Mark Coggins @ 9:46 AM 2 comments

Get a Clue and Vote for a Cover

The editors of the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books have a new Mystery Godoku Puzzle up on their blog. This week's clue?

Mark Coggins’ fifth August Riordan mystery has this title (without “The”, 9 letters).

You can see the post and the puzzle here.

And speaking of that particular book, The Rap Sheet has an electronic poll up for their annual "Best Crime Fiction Covers" competition. You might want to wander over there and put in a vote for the cover of a certain book with 9 letters in its title, not counting "The." Do it here.

posted by Mark Coggins @ 7:16 AM 0 comments

Writers with Drinks

I was a guest for Charlie Jane Anders' Writers with Drinks at The Make-Out Room in San Francisco last night.

The monthly gathering is kind of variety show for authors. I read part of the first chapter of my new novel, The Big Wake-Up, but was by far the straightest, unhippest, most-white-bread-with-mayo-est of the group.

It was an SRO crowd and all the other guests gave tremendous readings and/or performances. Furthermore, I got to meet and hang out with Dan Fante--who read from his novel 86'd--and Domenic Stansberry (one of my favorite crime novelists), who dropped by for the show.

As you might expect, The "Make-Out" Room is pretty dark, but I managed to capture some grainy no-flash pictures of emcee Charlie and the other guests. Check 'em out below ...

posted by Mark Coggins @ 3:38 PM 0 comments

Mystery Scene on THE BIG WAKE-UP

Here's an excerpt from Charles L. P. Silet's review of (my new novel) The Big Wake-Up from the latest edition of Mystery Scene Magazine:

[August] Riordan is ... a tough, wisecracking, chip off the old Philip Marlowe block. Mark Coggins writes a fast-paced, and at times very funny crime novel.

Given that Mr. Silet has written a book of essays on Woody Allen's films, I particularly appreciate his assessment of the book's humor.

Read the full review here.

posted by Mark Coggins @ 11:02 AM 0 comments

Three Guys at a Mystery Event

Three "finely aged" male crime writers overheard at this year's Men of Mystery Event:

Writer 1
(Speaking of a friend)
And now he has a 24-year-old girlfriend. Can you imagine that? I wouldn't even know what to do with a 24-year-old girlfriend.

Writer 2
Not even for an hour?

Writer 1
An hour? Maybe 5 minutes.

Writer 3
With a thirty minute warning for the pill to work.

posted by Mark Coggins @ 12:01 AM 0 comments

Afterlife in Recoleta

As I discussed in my Rap Sheet post on my new novel, The Big Wake-Up, the inspiration for the book came from a tour of Buenos Aires' famous La Recoleta Cemetery led by travel writer and photographer Robert Wright.

Now Robert has returned the favor by writing about The Big Wake-Up on AfterLife, his fascinating blog about La Recoleta. Check out the post in English here--or in Spanish here.

posted by Mark Coggins @ 7:43 AM 0 comments

Postcards from a Signing

Artist, photographer--and friend--Daniel Friedman attended Michelle Gagnon's and my signing at Poisoned Pen last week and took a few pictures of me doing my PowerPoint presentation on the book. If you missed it, check out the web-based version of my presentation here.

posted by Mark Coggins @ 7:49 AM 0 comments

Rube Photographer in the Big City

As I reported earlier, I recently managed to garner an honorable mention in in The Camera Club of New York’s (CCNY) 2009 National Juried Competition for my photograph of a Savannah Police Statue. The CCNY, established in 1884, is the oldest camera club in the country and among the most respected. A total of 300 photographers submitted their work.

On Saturday, I attended the reception for the competition exhibit, which was held in a Manhattan gallery. All the winning photographs were on display and many of the winning photographers were present, including the top three finishers: Antonio Chirinos, Mark Fernandes and Curtis Hamilton. It was humbling to say the least.

There were handouts with bios and artist statements from all the winners and I believe just about everyone but me had a degree in photography (most commonly an MFA) and had previously exhibited their work nationally and/or been selected for other juried competitions.

I faked my way through my bio since I've done that often enough in my crime-fiction writing career, but the artist statement really had me sweating. I'd never done one before. Here's what I came up with:

"Savannah Police Statue" comes from a documentation of crypts, funeral monuments and statues undertaken to illustrate my Fall 2009 novel, The Big Wake-Up. In making the image, I sought to emphasize the dripping Gothic atmosphere as a contrast to the rather severe and rigidly upright (stainless steel) representation of law enforcement.

I was particularly leery of having the thing made public because I had poked fun at artist statements in my novel Candy from Strangers. Here's what PI August Riordan says about one from a character who has an exhibit at a Noe Valley Starbucks:

I lingered a moment at the table and then went back to the photo exhibit. I found an artist statement tacked up in one corner ... which included quotes from Plato, Carl Jung and the obligatory reference to Joseph Campbell.

I guess mine quite wasn't quite that pretentious--despite my use of the word "documentation"--but I did find it hard not to do what I ascribed to the character in Candy: watching people as they examined my photograph!

It's for sale at the gallery for the low-low price of $300 throughout the rest of December. Get it while it's hot.

posted by Mark Coggins @ 4:15 PM 1 comments

Coggins @ the Teague

Lesa Holstine has a great write-up on Michelle Gagnon's and my visit to the Velma Teague Library in Glendale, Arizona. Read it here.

posted by Mark Coggins @ 6:28 AM 1 comments