Jim Doherty said:
<<The traditional PI novel isn't dead. It's not even
slumbering. It's certainly much more ubiquitous and much more
healthy now than it was in the early '80's when Bob Randisi
founded PWA primarily to get the PI novel noticed again. At
that time, virtually no one was getting hardpvers published
except Pronzini, Block, and Michael Collins. Suffice it to
say that there are a lot more now.>>
I'd be the first to agree that the genre isn't dead.
On the other hand, my assertion stands. At this point in
American publishing, it is damned difficult to get a new,
traditional, male PI series sold to one of the major
publishers. I applaud what the folks at Five Star are doing.
I've corresponded with them on several occasions and have
found them to be top shelf folks, but at best Five Star has
to be considered a large small press, perhaps on the order of
Poisoned Pen.
I'm also very happy to see John Connolly's success
with the Charlie Parker series. Well deserved, as is that of
Ken Bruen. On the other hand, I've also seen some damned fine
PI authors dropped by major houses, including Shamus winners
Daniel Judson and Andy Straka, and Edgar nominee Ken
Wishnia.
As for St. Martin's, I was a judge for the Best First
PI Novel contest they sponsor with PWA. I'm the one who sent
Michael Kronenwetter's book up the line to eventually win. I
also know they didn't award the prize the next year. Having
slogged through dozens of manuscripts to find FIRST KILL, I
don't think for a second that this had anything to do with
St. Martin's commitment to the genre, but rather that it was
probably just an 'off' year for manuscripts. On the other
hand, how many "traditional" mystery series and standalones
did they launch that year compared to "traditional" PI
series?
What I reported came from the mouths and keyboards of
people buried deep in the business. The message was very
clear. When it comes to traditional, hardboiled,
knuckles-and-know-how PI stories, the market is largely
supported by voices that have been in the biz for ten years
or more. The glass basement ceiling for shiny new PI writers
is a little thicker than it is for other genres. I think this
trend will continue until there's a change in the reading
culture, which will probably result from a change in the
general culture, or the emergence of an exciting new twist in
PI storytelling. In the interim, the niche markets are going
to have to continue to pick up the slack. R
Richard Helms Two-Time Shamus Award Nominee CORDITE
WINE (0-9710159-6-1), the second Eamon Gold PI novel, from
Back Alley Books! website: http://hometown.aol.com/murdvoocarre
"Cordite Wine is tough, funny, exciting, and very good!" -
Robert B. Parker
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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