A True Crime TV Appearance

 

By Claire Booth 

Almost exactly a year ago, I taped an episode of City Confidential, the A&E show that spends an entire episode on one crime and the ripple effects it has on a community.

They asked me for an interview because I wrote a book about the case they decided to feature. The False Prophet: Conspiracy, Extortion and Murder in the Name of God covers the five murders committed by a Bay Area man who claimed to be a prophet of God. I covered the story as a newspaper reporter, and it was so convoluted and complicated, I always knew it would take a book to explain it all properly.

Because it’s such a bizarre case, multiple TV shows have featured it, and me, over the years. City Confidential was definitely one of the most professional productions I’ve participated in. It was a pleasure to work with their producers and crew.

I’ve had to keep my involvement under wraps until the air date was announced. I just found out this week that the episode, “Marin County Murders,” airs at 10 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Pacific, this Thursday, April 6. I haven’t seen any footage, so I’ll be seeing it for the first time, too. And if that sparks your interest in the case, you can buy The False Prophet here for a special sale price this whole next week.

 

 

If You’re a Professional Copywriter, There’s a Book You Should Read

By

Scott D. Parker

We talk a lot here about fiction writing, but there are a good number of folks who make a living with a day job that also involves writing. I’m one of those fortunate individuals. I’m a marketing/corporate writer for an oil and gas company so I get to write and create content all day long. That includes my lunch hour fiction-writing sessions.

The corporate environment in which I find myself Mondays through Fridays is a good one, the most creative one in which I’ve worked. Everyone feels zero issues with chiming in on items, even if it’s a writer like me commenting on a design element or one of the designers suggesting different words.

As with fiction, it’s always a good idea to hone one’s skills. Unlike fiction, however, there are a lot more books about corporate writing and copywriting and marketing writing. My boss mentioned one last week. It’s by Robert W. Bly and it’s called The Copywriter’s Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Copy That Sells. The other sub-heading is A Master Class in Persuasive Writing for the Digital Age. My boss’s comment was that he might need to get the physical book because, as he listened to the audiobook on his commute, he kept wanting to make notes or underline passages.

I hadn’t heard about the book, so I read the introduction online and scanned the table of contents. The next thing I did was order a copy. This is the 4th edition, from 2020, so it brings in the various digital components of the modern internet. Since I also have a commute, I went ahead and ordered the audio as well. That way, I can follow along while driving, the book in the seat next to me, a pencil marking my page so I can underline key passages (at red lights only!).

Now, I’m only up to Chapter 3 (Writing to Communicate) but the content in Chapter 1 (Introduction to Copywriting) was excellent. Chapter 2, however, the one entitled “Writing to Get Attention: The Headline and the Subject Line,” has already been put to good use. I had to write a series of emails for a customer event and, if you’re like me, if the subject line of an email doesn’t grab me, I’m more likely to delete it unread. Bly’s chapter really helped me hone those five email subject lines this week. It’s pretty nifty when something like this book can pay immediate dividends.

If you write marketing material for a living, I encourage you to check out Bly’s book. I bet it’ll help you. I’ll report back when I’ve finished the book, but I was too excited about how just a couple of chapters already helped me rethink certain aspects of my day job that I wanted to share.

CALL: BISHOP RIDER LIVES - An Anthology of Retribution

 For more than a decade now, Beau Johnson's Bishop Rider has rampaged through the crime fiction scene. A combination of The Punisher, Jigsaw, and Andrew Vachss's Burke, a vigilante who knows he has gone too far, and a victim who knows he can never go far enough, Bishop, under Johnson's capable hands, has maimed, tortured, and killed heaps of "dirtbags." 

And now it's your turn. 

Because Beau is one of the best members of this community, because he has created such an incredible character, and because Beau thinks everyone deserves a chance to get in on the fun, he and his coeditor, Hector Acosta, are putting together BISHOP RIDER LIVES - An Anthology of Retribution. 

This is it. Your chance to tell a Bishop Rider story. 

Your chance to see how he makes them burn. 

Okay, Beau, tell us what it's all about: 

BISHOP RIDER LIVES

AN ANTHOLOGY OF RETRIBUTION

Well, this is surprising.  Fancy meeting you here.  I kid, of course.  But since you ARE here, I just want to thank you for taking an interest in something I never knew I wanted or dreamed could be.  An anthology of other voices and their takes on a character I’ve been living with for almost fifteen years.

Bishop Rider.

Guidelines:

Story length is 1500-5000 words but if you go over a bit, hey, we can talk. Put BISHOP RIDER ANTHO in the subject line of your email (email dana.beaujohnson@gmail.com) with story attached. 

Deadline: April 30, 2023   

Publisher: Down and Out Books.  Payment: Standard 50/50 split. 50% to Down and Out, 50% split between all authors involved.

My co-editor: Hector Acosta.  I am humbled he threw his hat in the ring, as this IS my first rodeo, and I feel I will need the help.  I am indebted and thankful for everything he will bring to the table.

If you need more info on Rider, his timeline and partners, see below: 

Because I write Rider’s story out of sequence there is some wiggle room for more story to occur, hence this entire antho.  Below I will attempt to be brief and bring you up to speed as best I can.  Use all of it, use some of it, use none of it. I can not express how happy I am just to be here.

Bishop Rider

Ex-army medic, former cop. Knows he’s the bad guy, struggles with the knowledge. ‘It’s not about saving people.  It’s about stopping them.’ Six feet, wears black, much Kevlar. Dark hair, often stubbled, custom-made prosthetic from below the knee of his right leg, pinky finger of his right hand bitten off.  Weakness: treadmills.

Inciting Incident: sister and mother, April and Maggie Rider, killed by Marcel Abrum. Sister is raped and murdered by six men in masks, video of her demise loaded up to the internet. Mother found face down in a dumpster.  Reason: parked too close to van full of undocumented immigrants Abrum was trafficking. Father N/A. Main hunting ground: Culver City, population one million, with adventures taking him to its sister city, Hanson Falls.

PARTNERS

John Batista 

Rider’s senior and old partner from the job. Bigger than Rider.  Burly.  Face the color of pissed-off brick. Most times wears a beard. Lost portions of the right side of his face to a man named Harrison Garrett. Retires soon after, from the force as well as his extracurricular activities with Rider. Dies of dementia and cancer.

Ray

Rider and Ray meet in Kuwait. Home, once asked, he joins Rider’s mission. A builder, he helps Rider create whatever a certain situation may need.  Retrofitted both basements of the Ronson place and the Buchanan place into torture chambers. Holds an aversion to socks. Has dirty blond hair. Gets beheaded by a man named Hightower late in the narrative. Rider takes to killing this Hightower slowly, as in piece by piece over an entire year.

Jeramiah Abrum

The son of Marcel Abrum, the man who set in motion the deaths of Rider’s sister and mother.  He feels he must make up for his father’s mistakes and why once he’s older he seeks Rider out.  He is nine at the time Rider and Batista dismember his father and roughly thirty when he catches up to Rider. He is the money of the story too, and bankrolls a lot of the shenanigans. The irony being the money came from insurance policies, from the death of Marcel Abrum itself.  Small eyes, slick back dark hair, Jeramiah resembles his father.  Takes to working out.

Alex Paine

Greasy hair.  Hoodie.  Hood always up on said hoodie.  Betrays Bishop, selling him out to a no-eyed piece of shit named Mapone. Leg is lost to an axe held by a neo-Nazi soon after. Hilarity ensues. (Kidding)

One-armed Billy

Another friend from Ray and Rider’s time overseas. Before Jeramiah enters the picture, they used his pig farm as disposal from time to time. Missing teeth. Halitosis. Always wearing camo.

That’s about it. I implement a pre-leg/post leg guideline to keep the timeline straight.  Pre-leg is Batista, post-leg Jeramiah. There is some overlap of these two particular partners, a couple years anyway. Bishop is roughly fifty when he loses the leg. Seventy-five when he succumbs to cancer. He’s an equal opportunist when it comes to ‘burning them all’ too---sticking to pedophiles, rapists, and human traffickers mostly, but he’s never looked a gift serial killer or incel in the mouth. He is full measure and then some.

Hope this helps.  Also, am I over the moon at the prospect at reading what you create? You’re goddamn right.  Long live crime fiction! Long live the dark stuff!

Ps. Any questions, don’t hesitate to ask/email me.

For more information Bishop Rider and his adventures, please see the previous collections of Beau's work, available here: 

OLD MAN RIDER 

ALL OF THEM TO BURN 

BRAND NEW DARK