Riordan's Desk

Prom Night at The Poisoned Pen

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Tue, 22 May 2012 19:06:00 +0000

I just got back from a great event at The Poisoned Pen bookstore in Arizona for my new book, Prom Night and Other Man-made Disasters. Prom Night is a collection of humorous essays describing episodes in my life from childhood, school, work and relationships, and since I grew up in Phoenix in the 60's and 70's, a visit to Barbara Peters' bookstore in Scottsdale (a suburb of Phoenix) was just what the doctor ordered.

A number of friends and classmates from my high school, Central High, attended the event, including some who figured prominently in the essays. Here is a picture of me with my old pal Mary Holden, a writer and editor in her own right. (Say, interesting how our pose in the photo sort of echos the couple in the cover photo.)

I was the opening "act" for Craig Johnson, who is touring for his new book, As the Crow Flies. It was great to hear Craig talk about Crow and the forthcoming TV show, Longmire, based on his series of Walt Longmire books. Craig and I have done events together in the past, including this signing at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, right after his first novel, Cold Dish, was released.

It goes without saying that I snagged a copy of As the Crow Flies. I thought it was terrific--as I have all of Craig's books--but I had to laugh when I came to a passage about Wyoming Sheriff Longmire struggling to use a complicated DSLR camera to take pictures at a crime scene. It reminded me a lot of Craig's own struggles when he took this picture of me in his hat with my camera.

Mystery reviewer extraordinaire, library manager and hostess of the Glendale Library authors program, Authors @ The Teague, Lesa Holstine, was also present. She did a wonderful write-up of my conversation about Prom Night with Poisoned Pen's Patrick Millikin, so if you'd like to read more, check out her blog post here.

Prom Night Is Here!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 23:56:00 +0000

Prom Night and Other Man-Made Disasters

No, not an actual prom night (although of course the annual high school ritual will go forward across the nation this spring as always), but my new collection of humorous first person essays, Prom Night and Other Man-made Disasters.

The book is available in paperback from a variety of booksellers, and in eBook on the Kindle.

To kick things off, I'm giving some copies of the book away on Goodreads and LibraryThing. And there's also a Facebook Page to "like."

Conversations with James Ellroy

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 00:25:00 +0000

Conversations with James Ellroy, edited by Steven Powell

I just learned of a new book of interviews with crime fiction great James Ellroy, edited by Steven Powell. That by itself would be a treat, but it also happens to feature a photograph I took of Ellroy at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.

I always thought it was a revealing shot of Ellroy--he has a sort of half smirk in the photo that suits him--and I'm glad to see it featured on the cover.

Bullets Across the Bay: Exhibit Sample

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 01:37:00 +0000

I was thrilled to be part of the closing reception at the "Bullets Across the Bay" crime fiction exhibit at UC Berkeley. I was even more thrilled that curator Randal Brandt included my novel Runoff in the exhibit--in the authors influenced by Dashiell Hammett section:

Runoff at Bullets Across the Bay

The text reads:

San Francisco writer Mark Coggins has drawn comparisons to Hammett for his novels featuring hard-boiled, wise-cracking PI August Riordan. Although Riordan himself is something of a throwback, he tackles decidedly 21st century problems, including corporate espionage in the gaming software industry, internet pornography, and touch-screen voting fraud. In an earlier book, Vulture Capital (2002), Coggins experimented with using the uncommon [objective 3rd person] narrative style in a conscious effort to evoke Hammett's The Glass Key (1931).

Bullets Across the Bay Closing Reception

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 18:21:00 +0000

Bullets Across the Bay Closing Reception

Come hear Sheldon Siegel, Janet Dawson, Diana Orgain, Simon Wood and myself read selections from our favorite Bay Area mystery writers at the closing reception for the "Bullets Across the Bay" crime fiction exhibit at UC Berkeley.

Curated by Randal S. Brandt, Maria C. Brandt and Michaelyn Burnette, the exhibit features first editions of mystery novels set in the Bay Area supplemented with materials that contribute to the understanding of the genre and the place.

I'll be reading a short selection from Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon and Joe Gore's Interface. For more information, visit this link.

Ride a Red Dragon

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:01:00 +0000

I'm pleased to announce my short story, "Ride a Red Dragon" is available on Amazon Kindle for a mere 99 cents! Here's the set up:

When speakeasy and gambling hall owner Scooter Hawkins puts a call into private eye Vic Lane to investigate an extortion attempt, Lane barely has time to hear the assignment before two men with Thompson sub-machine guns burst through the door to ratchet up the stakes with a stream of lead.

Lane’s investigation leads to a rival gambling house known as the Red Dragon, and soon he is caught up in a ruthless struggle with its beautiful proprietress, Wan Jung.

Set in 1920s San Francisco with flappers, speakeasies and roadsters, “Ride a Red Dragon” is a two-fisted tale of deceit and revenge reminiscent of Dashiell Hammett’s Continental Op stories.

Pick it up here.

Patricia Cornwell's RED MIST

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 18:30:00 +0000

#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell's new novel, Red Mist, goes on sale this Tuesday, December 6th.

What's that go to do with me? The book is set in and around Savannah, Georgia and when her publisher, Putnum, went looking for a atmospheric photograph from the area to use for the book's end papers, they found my shot of a foggy morning at Colonial Park Cemetery.

They printed it in silver on both end papers and I think it looks tremendous:

(Notice the image is reversed to keep the tree clear of the dust jacket flap.) Patricia is also featuring it on her website:

I don't think the Putnum folks realized that I am also a crime fiction writer, but of course the fact that I, too, write crime makes me all the more proud to have the photo on Patricia's book.

Coming to a Bookstore/eReader Near You!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 03:29:00 +0000

I can now say with confidence that Prom Night and Other Man-Made Disasters, my collection of humorous first-person essays, will be available in spring 2012. Keep an eye peeled for it!

Dollar Store-like Pricing on eBooks in the August Riordan Series!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 03:27:00 +0000

All five novels in the August Riordan series, including The Immortal Game, Vulture Capital, Candy from Strangers, Runoff and The Big Wake-Up are now available in eBook format for a mere 99 cents.

Get them while they are hot!

Candy from Strangers Podcast Complete!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 03:20:00 +0000

The free podcast for my third novel, Candy from Strangers, is complete! Download individual episodes or subscribe to the feed on Apple's iTunes here.

THE IMMORTAL GAME in Chinese!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 02:45:00 +0000

Traditional Chinese Translation of THE IMMORTAL GAME, a photo by Mark Coggins on Flickr.

Here's the cover and the promotional give-away (a USB drive in the shape of a chess king) for my first novel THE IMMORTAL GAME.

To Gertrude

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Tue, 31 May 2011 14:07:00 +0000

Check out my post on Gertrude Stein and a bit of "found prose" from her grave in Paris here on SFGate.com.

True Fiction

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Fri, 20 May 2011 16:37:00 +0000

Susan Harkema, research director at the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center in Louisville, recently published an article in Lancet regarding her work to help spinal cord injury victims regain mobility by using electrical stimulation to the spine. Read about it in the New York Times here and TechCrunch here.

The real life technology is very similar to that developed by the fictional start-up company NeuroStimix in my novel Vulture Capital. Read about the book here or listen to the free podcast here.

My New Celebrity Endorsement ...

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Wed, 11 May 2011 23:24:00 +0000

Appearance on the Kindle Author Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Wed, 04 May 2011 18:48:00 +0000

Check out my interview on David Wisehart's Kindle Author blog right here.

Making Some Racket on PodioRacket

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 16:32:00 +0000

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm podcasting my first novel, The Immortal Game for FREE. Listen to my interview about the book and the process of podcasting it with the great folks from PodioRacket here.

Pick up the actual podcast at Seth Harwood's CrimeWAV here or at PodioBooks here.

Martin Cruz Smith

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 18:30:00 +0000

I was on a panel today at Left Coast Crime 2011 in Santa Fe, New Mexico with one of my literary heroes, Martin Cruz Smith of Gorky Park fame.

Reuniting Cissy & Ray

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 03:35:00 +0000

Read my Rap Sheet post about the ceremony to reunite Raymond Chandler and his wife Cissy here.

New Career

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 19:43:00 +0000

My wife says I have too many "hobbies," and she includes novel-writing among them! Well, here's another one to add to the list: author photographer.

Barbara Fister used a photo I snapped of her at a Left Coast Crime conference for her latest, Through the Cracks.

And Seth Harwood posed in my professionally furnished studio (i.e., my back yard) for his latest, Young Junius. (Say, Tyrus Books, what happened to that photo credit?)

Finally, I snapped a picture of another big name author at last year's Bouchercon. You'll see it on a book he has coming out this June.

The Many Faces (and Formats) of THE IMMORTAL GAME

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 15:49:00 +0000

Over the years, my first novel, The Immortal Game, has been issued in four (paper book) editions. Today I'm announcing release of a another edition in an entirely new medium: audio.

If you've not read the book, listen to a one minute promo for it here:

And subscribe to the free podcast of the entire novel here.

Der Malteser Falke

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 19:18:00 +0000

Swiss Publisher Diogenes borrowed the photograph I use for the masthead of this blog to promote their German translation of The Maltese Falcon.

The text in white is a line from the book, "Most things in San Francisco can be bought, or taken," which Sam Spade tells Brigid O'Shaughnessy.

The photo was originally done to promote my novel The Immortal Game, and if you look closely you can see the first paragraphs of Chapter 6, "Jodie's Tip," sitting in the typewriter. Quite an honor to have my words on a poster for one of Dashiell Hammett's books!

Joe Gores

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 15:32:00 +0000

Joe Gores, one of my favorite authors and an all-around wonderful guy, died on Monday, January 10th, 50 years to the day that Dashiell Hammett passed away. Read my tribute to him on The Rap Sheet here.

Podcast of Vulture Capital Complete!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 00:55:00 +0000

The free podcast of my novel Vulture Capital is complete. Check out the 1 minute promo for the podcast here:

And download or subscribe to all the episodes here.

Stockton Street Tunnel

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 17:13:00 +0000

The latest in my "Polaroids from the Metropolis" series, featuring noirish photos from San Francisco, is available here on the San Francisco Chronicle website.

Riordan eBook Bonanza

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Coggins) — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 16:34:00 +0000

Get 'em while they are hot: all five of my novels in the August Riordan series are available as eBooks in Kindle, Nook and Apple iBookstore (iPad) Format--and most are being sold for the low-low price of $2.99.

If you've not read any of the books in the series, I suggest you start with the first, The Immortal Game. There's no need to continue in sequence from there, but Vulture Capital is a quasi-standalone, so you may wish to save that until after you've got a few of the other books under your belt.