For
the past four or five years I've been writing almost exclusively in
the Western genre, much of it contract work that I can't say too much
about. Westerns have worked out very good for me. In the first place,
I love writing them (who knew that all those years of devouring
Western movies and TV shows and the endless hours spent playing
“Cowboys and Indians” as a kid would turn out to be a kind of
homework that I would tap into as an old man aiming to re-capture
some of those adventures with my writing?). Moreover, the Western
writing community has been very welcoming and gracious, I've gotten
decent reviews and managed to win a few awards, even made some nice
money in the process …
But
preceding all of that, as many of you know, what first inspired me to
try my hand at writing was the hardboiled detective/mystery genre,
particularly in the Mickey Spillane/Mike Hammer mold. What resulted,
first in a series of short stories and then several novels, was my
own PI: Joe Hannibal. At first just another Mike Hammer-wannabe, my
own blue collar Midwest background bled through into his
characterization and gave him a certain distinction that caused a
number of readers and reviewers to dub him “a blue collar private
eye”. Which was fine by me—I'm very proud of my blue collar
roots.
So
eight Joe Hannibal novels and a couple dozen short stories appeared
over thirty years. Spotty output (I was working a full-time job and
raising a family throughout) and getting handed off to several
different publishers made sales far from great, even though the
critical response was quite positive (6 PWA Shamus Award nominations,
an Anthony nomination, and even an Edgar nom—no wins).
So
now, here comes Wolfpack Publishing with a re-issue of all the
Hannibal novels and one short story “case file” collection, all
revised and re-edited in Kindle “book set” editions at the great
price of only 99-cents. The first of these, JOE HANNIBAL, PI: THE
COMPLETE SERIES – VOLUME ONE, is available now. It includes four
novels: Burning
Season; Skintight Shroud; Brutal Ballet;
and And
Flesh And Blood So Cheap. The
second set will follow shortly.
If
there's enough interest, I'd love to write some more Hannibal stories
and books. Joe and I are both definitely a little (okay, a lot)
longer in the tooth, but I think we've still got some moves left to
entertain readers and kick a few more bad guy asses … Toward that
end, I hope you give JOE HANNIBAL, PI: THE COMPLETE SERIES – VOLUME
ONE a try, and like it well enough to want more.
