The Shameless Promotion Blog

By Jay Stringer

So I’ve been talking up on the twitters about two secret projects that I’ve been working away on. So secret that I’ve been talking about them on the twitters, right?

Well the second one is still cooking. You’ll be hearing about it soon, and I’m damned excited. It involves two great writers and has me tagging along.

But the first secret is out of the bag as of yesterday, and I hope y’all will take a look.

I’m a fan of podcasts. I was an early adopter; in my mid twenties I found myself living in an empty flat alone, with just a laptop and an Internet connection. Podcasts became a way to stay in touch with all the things I couldn’t afford to do; films, music, comic books and crime fiction.

They’ve taken off over the last few years, and now it seems like everyone has a podcast. Hell, we’ve got one. Check out the link to the right, It’s pretty good.

Anyway, focus, Stringer, focus.

One of my favourite podcasts these days is Matinee Idles. It’s a simple but effective formula; four guys get together and talk about films. Sometimes sober, sometimes not. Sometimes they agree, sometimes they don’t.

Check them out through itunes. The best episode so far, in my opinion at least, is the BLADE RUNNER ep. They spend two hours getting into every nook and cranny of that film, and you’ll come out of it finding some aspect you’d never considered before.

But check out all the other episodes too. Aside from film, you’ll hear about the fashion choices of Luke Cage, the genius of Keanu Reeves and the forgotten classic that is The Fall Guy.

But the guys were not content with having a really cool podcast. Nooooo. They decided to take over the Internet too. Starting this week the Matinee Idles website is up and providing, “an internet hub for multiple perspectives and opinions on film. Not a site dedicated to entertainment news or celebrity antics, but a site dedicated to actual movie discussion.”

Not enough for ya? Here’s more, “This website is about community and simply talking about one thing we all love: movies. I mean, we hope people check it out, but at the base of this project is the sole idea that we have created something that can hopefully bring a few film-fanatics together.”

There will be regular written content; reviews, articles and news. This is just the beginning, so join in and help it grow.

They were crazy enou….ummm….I mean clever enough to ask me to join in. There’s nothing more powerful than a bad idea whose time has come, and to prove that my feature will be a weekly review of a bad film. Each week I’ll be wheeling something out –from the latest blockbusters to old forgotten gems- and telling you what doesn’t make them tick.

And not just that. If you listen really carefully to an upcoming podcast, you might just hear me. I guested with the guys on an episode all about IRON MAN 2.

So that’s the first secret project out of the bag. In true comic book style I’m forging a cross over right here, Do Some Damage and Matinee Idles, twice as much cool content and two podcasts to subscribe to.

But while we're at it, what podcasts do you guys listen to? Who do you want to plug?

Is it over?

By Steve Weddle

Some years ago, when Russel D. McLean and I went to a Mel Gibson film festival, we nearly walked out of that movie called RANSOM. Not because the movie was full of dirty words and Russel's sensibilities were offended. No.

You see, we'd thought the movie was over. False ending. As any movie fan knows, when you put Ronnie Howard together with Mel Gibson and Marky Mark, you're going to have some cleverness. The movie ended, but then it turned a bit. Then there was more.

Some books end abruptly. Some books end a few times. Some books never seem to end at all.

I just finished my first Moe Prager book, which made me think of these sorts of endings. (Of course, the Reed Farrel Coleman book no more made me think of Mel Gibson than a dinner a fine dinner of prime rib makes me think of a bag of neutered weasels, but there you are.) The book comes to a close. Mystery solved. Bad guy confesses. Investigator gets his check. Dinner. Cigars. Drive home safely.

The book may have been satisfying, but the investigator himself isn't. Something doesn't feel right. A piece missing. Not quite fitting. Like that little fleck of a hangnail on your middle toe at three in the morning. So he goes back after things and the story develops a little more, then a little more. Things kinda went where you expected them to, then everything went topsy-turvy. Unlike some Hollywood trick, though, this works. Things move along, not just fragments thrown on at the end, but the story developed more, stretched out to completeness, like taffy at Coney Island.

Other books don't end at all where you expect them. Talk about a book not having the Hollywood ending, have you read this ICE HARVEST? Everyone (well, not the guy what cuts my hair. jerkhole) told me to read it and coupled that advice with this question: "Don't think it's like the movie." I hadn't seen the movie, but my copy of the book comes with Billy Joe Thornbob and Lloyd Dobler carrying a pirate's trunk. So I didn't know what to expect. Which is a good damn thing, because that ending came out of nowhere. (The dude's a chick named "Rosebud." Do NOT tell your friends.)

Contrast those endings with great crime fiction novels -- GUN MONKEYS (haha. thought I'd get through a post without mentioning GUN MONKEYS? haha. Nope. Now drink.) and COTTONWOOD. Both of these books have epilogues. (I don't remember whether they were actually called such or just final chapters, but I've loaned my copies out and can't check.) The wrap-up. Ten years later. A year later. Oh, same thing with THE DEPUTY. A year later.

So the ending: Hero rights the wrong, God's in his Heaven, etc. Good books -- hell, great books -- have ended like this. Other great ones don't. After you've worked through 70- or 80-thousand words, how much weight do you give to the final 10 pages? Have you read great books that ended in an unsatisfying way? Multiple endings?

Do you prefer an ending that wraps everything up neatly or one that leaves you wondering?

Have you been the victim of a crime?

by: Joelle Charbonneau

No, I’m not talking about feeling mugged after filing your taxes or knowing you were ripped off after paying full price to see the newest, and lamest, blockbuster movie. During jury duty (yeah, I’m back to talking about jury duty again), the judge questioned all of us potential jurors. One of the questions was “Have you or someone you know been the victim of a crime?”

My answer was yes. My cousin was shot and killed years ago by an angry boyfriend who went to the wrong apartment. Also, a friend of mine was shot in the head while walking home at night. Thankfully, he survived.

For some reason I was shocked to hear everyone answer yes. Wow…was crime that rampant? More interesting still was the crimes that people listed. Almost half the people said their car window had been broken. Well, when we lived in the city our car window was broken a number of times. It never occurred to me to claim that under the heading of “being a victim of a crime”. One woman said she forgot her purse on a bench, realized it hours later and went back to get it only to find it had been stolen. Another guy said his cousin’s house was robbed about twenty years before.

Maybe sitting in a jury box for an impending murder trial made me automatically think about big crimes – capital C Crimes. Murder, kidnapping, assault, armed robbery. I never really thought about the small things like a broken window or a misplaced and subsequently stolen purse.

But aren’t those what some of the best crime stories are about? Yeah, we all love a great murder mystery – at least I do – but the story that revolves around a misplaced wallet can be just as compelling. The lost/stolen purse really got me thinking. What if someone who took that purse got something he or she wasn’t expecting? What if that small act of theft turned into something much bigger? What if that person ended up running for his or her life simply because they didn’t turn the purse into lost and found? What if?

As writers, it's our job to ask “What if?” about everything. You never know which “What if” might inspire the next great story. I have to admit that the book I just started was inspired by me asking “What if” about that jury case… What kind of events or “What if” moments have inspired you?

And for all you moms out there - Happy Mother's Day!