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February 2nd, 2010
I’m told by people who should know that there is only one spot left for my course, The Novel: Structure and Development, which begins this March. If you are local, and wish to achieve enlightenment, why not grab that last seat at the table of knowledge? Annoying people, I am not talking to you. Check out the remarkable and comically explosive details here. Also, while we are on the subject of me, people keep writing me to ask about my appearances this year. I don’t have a book out in 2010, so I won’t be doing a great deal of publicity, but I will be making a few appearances, mostly locally. Here’s what the year looks like thus far. February 16. 7 PM. I’ll be reading from my short story, “What Masie Knew,” published that very day in The New Dead, edited by Christopher Golden. Click here for other New Dead events, all on the same day. Mine is at Barnes and Noble La Cantera. 15900 La Cantera Parkway. San Antonio, TX 78256. February 18. 7 – 9 PM: Gemini Ink Autograph Series. Along with Andrew Porter. Local boys get the big-time treatment. Chapman Graduate Center Auditorium. Trinity University, 715 Stadium Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78212. This is a literary event, so I will likely also read from my zombie story. Just, you know, to be difficult. February 19, 11:45 am – 2 pm: Autograph Series Colloquium luncheon. Pearl Studio. 312 Pearl Parkway, Bldg. 2. Click here for more info on both these events. March 10. 11AM – 2PM Bulverde Library Book & Author Luncheon. Click here for more info. March 19th – 20th. Virginia Festival of the Book. Click here for my schedule. July 7 – 10. Thrilerfest. Check the Thrillerfest web site later in the year for schedules, or look for me at the bar. January 28th, 2010
 It looks cool! Maybe they'll give me a free one. Not likely. Do you remember when I asked Amazon to give me a free Kindle? My argument for getting one, you may recall, was that some authors received free Kindles, and I was not one of them. That made me feel not-special. I intuitively understood that a free Kindle would make me feel special again. I asked and asked and blogged and blogged, and Amazon said, sure, we’ll give you a free Kindle. And then they didn’t. We can all agree that’s not very nice.  The opossum I found in my garage. I caught it and released it like an unwanted Kindle. Well, now the story has a happy ending, because the Kindle is about to be crushed, and I will laugh and laugh and laugh at its demise, because I never received a free one. By now the entire planet has heard about the new Apple iPad, and I think we can all agree it looks ultra cool. Web surfing, ebook reading, all kinds of exciting aps, the ability to read comics books – good for a guy in the biz like myself. Granted the $499 price tag is a bit steep, but I figure that will come down in time, and the iPad’s superior versatility will make up the difference. All in all, I predict the Kindle will be removed from the market like a nasty, scabby opossum is removed from my garage. This is truly a great day for people who have not received free stuff when they asked for it. Oh, and for a laugh, check out this blogger’s post, in which a person I don’t remember accuses me of having been rude in 2003, and I respond. Thank you, internet, for letting me know when people are talking about me! January 26th, 2010
 At the newsstand, I couldn’t decide between this and Commentary. For those of you who’ve already purchased the latest Fangoria (issue 290!) but not yet had a chance to read it, let me point you toward the book reviews where there is a very nice piece on the forthcoming zombie anthology, The New Dead, in which I have a piece called “What Maisie Knew” – in no way based on the Henry James zombie novel of the same title. In his insightful review, Samuel Zimmerman praises the collection as a whole, but also reserves some of his kindest words for my piece: “Warranting special mention is Liss’ “What Maisie Knew,” whose narrator falls deep into a world of zombie fetishism while trying to hide his one shameful secret. It’s a special tale with plenty to say about human interaction, guilt and the strikingly similar consequences of both sex an pain.” This last point is not a connection I was especially looking to draw. If anything, the story wants to draw a link between pain and saying, “ouch,” but every reader will take away his or her own conclusions.
And I invite you to enjoy the cover art for the paperback version of The Devil’s Company, out April 26th. They’ve completely reworked the cover, and I like the results. What about you? Is this better than the hardcover, worse, or no significant difference? You know how much I value the opinion of anonymous people on the interent. But, since the art is already set, if you don’t like it, keep your opinions to yourself. I am very sensitive.
January 14th, 2010
I am told that readers like updates on my work, so here’s one. I’ve just sent the manuscript for my next novel, The Darkening Green, off to my editor. That bad boy is done. At least for now. The edits and tweaks will come later, but I am very happy with what I’ve done. Right now the book is vaguely slated for spring of 2011, and I will be posting more updates soon. In the meantime, let’s just say that this is a very different sort of book for me. In some ways, I’m still grappling with economic history – the background is the Luddite uprisings in England in the early 19th century – really the first organized resistance to the industrial revolution. To some extend the book is interested in how technological progress, for all the good it has brought, also destroyed countless lives, and ways of life, all over England and later the world. On the other hand, the book flaunts more famous people than I usually like to work with – in this case, William Blake and Lord Byron. It also has a female protagonist, and it represents a move into an entirely different genre. I like to think of it as historical urban fantasy. It was also a blast to write, and I can’t wait to get it into the hands of readers. And now, Anthony Trollope -like, I will immediately being work on something else. No breaks for me. Meanwhile, it is time to catch up on some old news I should have posted earlier. First of all, swell pal and brother of the book-writing business, Mark Haskell Smith, has recently published an article about his research at the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam. And here I am, like a sucker, researching 19th century Nottingham. Many of you may know that I’m a big fan of Mark’s whacked-out brand of hilarious crime fiction — I have even used his novel Moist as a teaching text for a creative writing class. I read a very early draft of his forthcoming novel, Baked, and I am super-psyched to read the finished book.
Jeffery Deaver January 11th, 2010
I’m going to mostly be criticizing the film so I should probably preface these remarks by saying that I enjoyed watching Avatar. It was a long movie, made longer by the clunky 3D glasses, but despite all that, I had a largely pleasurable movie experience. That said, I didn’t have as pleasurable a movie experience as I wanted. The fact is, Avatar was marketed as a game-changer, a movie like Star Wars or The Matrix that would set a new standard. It didn’t. First of all, I thought the 3D added nothing but an additional distraction. Other than kids’ movies where 3D provides an additional wow-effect, I don’t think anyone has figured out how to use 3D to real advantage, incorporating it into the narrative experience. Avatar in no way represented a significant step forward. If anything, I found the 3D apparatus distracting, and I likely would have enjoyed the beautiful vistas more in sharp 2D. But mostly, my problem with Avatar is its political message. I’ve seen several self-satisfied pieces on how ironic it is that a movie that is so critical of technology is, in fact, the product of so much technology. But Avatar is not anti-technology. The mining and military technology in the film is obviously demonized, but the scientific technology facilitates peace, love and understanding. So those clever reviews aren’t so clever after all.  Actually the totally-unrelated cartoon, Avatar: The Last Airbender is, in all ways, far superior. I'm not joking. Avatar is not trying to go after technology but rather rapacious capitalism, and this is where the movie troubled me. I’m all for clever critiques of unjust capitalist systems – some of my favorite movies, from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to Robocop do a fantastic job of incorporating this kind of social critique into an engaging narrative. My problem with Avatar is that its analysis of unfettered capitalism is so banal as to be meaningless, or maybe even counterproductive. The company is bad because it is willing to destroy aliens and nature to get its precious ore, and I think we can all get behind that, but it’s worth taking a look at how the film responds to the crisis it establishes. The aliens unite to fight back against the military might of the company, but in the end, they fail. It is nature itself that rises up against the company and defeats it utterly. This finality is absurd. At the end, we are supposed to believe having lost the battle, the company concedes it has lost the war, and now its content to leave all that precious ore alone forever. Not very likely. But beyond a silly and unsatisfying resolution, what is troubling is the implication that nature itself can undo the company’s evil work. In other words, Avatar promotes a laissez-faire theory of resistance. If nature is really upset enough about what corporations are doing, it will send some hammer-headed rhinos to take care of those pesky market externalities. The implied corollary is that if nature is not rebelling, how bad can all that destruction be? Besides serving up the most libertarian interpretation of revolution ever conceived, Avatar is always skirting the edge of racial insensitivity. The natives of planet Pandora seem to be a curious mixture of Native Americans, the elves of Rivendale, and my cats, and they are presented as idealized noble savages who live in perfect harmony with nature. Even the glowering alien who emerges as the protagonist’s love rival turns out to be a stand-up dude. But of course the protagonist emerges as the best and most capable alien of them all. You know how it is. Those native people can do their thing, but a white American guy can come in and, after a very short amount of time, do it even better – sort of like Dances with Wolves in space. Ultimately, Avatar’s weaknesses come down to an elevation of special effects over content, which is common enough in these big budget blockbusters. The sad thing is that one or two more drafts of the script could have fixed a lot of these problems. The movie had its heart in the right place, but it failed in its story-telling execution. The end result is something like a film version of the Warren Smith song, “Ubangi Stomp” – it’s enjoyable enough, but it ends up leaving you unsatisfied and vaguely offended. January 5th, 2010
So, here we are. Another year. San Antonio people, why not start the year out right? With me! I’ll be reading along with local author, homicide detective, and beer-drinking pal Joe McKinney this Thursday, January 7th, 6:30 PM at the Central Library (600 Soledad Street). I will most likely read from my novel-in-progress, The Darkening Green, which I am mere weeks away from submitting.  Blood, such as what came out of my hand in vast quantities, after playing the Wii. I still have the scar. In other news, my father bought my kids a Wii for Hanukah. Thus far, I think only the sports games – the ones that take advantage of the Wii technology – are any fun. I don’ t hold a grudge against the gaming system, despite the time, when using my brother-in-law’s Wii, I got a little excited playing tennis, jumped up, and smashed my hand into a lighting fixture. Technically I should have gotten stitches, but my daughter had her birthday party that afternoon, so I ended up bleeding all over the local Pump It Up. Good times. In other news, I saw this banner ad while browsing on Amazon.
Personally, I don’t know anything about this book, nor do I particularly give a crap about it. Maybe it’s good. Maybe it’s not. What am I, a fortune teller? The point here is that the ad refers to it as a “novel of historical fiction.” Is that insanely clunky, or is that just me? Does the fact that I’m grumbling about the wording in banner ads mean I’m getting older. Am I turning into a nut like the crank who used to send me hate e-mail because he didn’t like that I used the past perfect in my novels. I haven’t received anything from him in a while. Maybe he’s dead. Amazon, you will recall, makes the Kindle. I don’t own a Kindle. December 24th, 2009
One final post of the old year. Then, next year, it’s back to regular posting. Really, I promise.
I am skeptical no longer. Okay, maybe it is not, in fact, the greatest TV show ever, as I may have claimed to my wife. But it sure feels like it. The show is, almost necessarily, a little bit on the silly side, but it is also full of brilliantly executed action set-pieces, engaging characters who, for all they lack in complexity, are sure fun to watch, and loads of witty dialogue. In particular, Keith Allen plays the Sheriff of Nottingham with insanely campy verve. Trust me on this one, people. It’s my non-denominational holiday gift to you. December 14th, 2009
Yes, it has been a long time since my last update. It’s not for lack of content either. I’ve been very busy, and I’ve done things that would have made good blog entries. I’ve just been lazy, overwhelmed with work, and beaten down by holiday obligations. I promise to do better after the new year. So, what have I been up to? I gave a guest lecture at University of Texas where my books were assigned for a course on the history of capitalism. I also visited Penn State as part of the Josephine Berry Weiss Interdisciplinary Humanities Seminar, which was a cool thing to be asked to participate in. Shout out to Sean X. Goudie, the professor who brought me in for this, and bought me dinner at a very nice Thai restaurant in University Park, PA. More and more frequently I hear about my books being assigned in university courses, which I find especially gratifying. Always nice to warp young minds. One guy at Oberlin was talking about designing an entire course around my books, but I never heard back from him. Maybe he thought better of it. What else? I have finally nailed down the script for the first issue of my new project with Marvel. I am almost finished with the penultimate draft of my next novel. I have my agent negotiating a deal for me to write an “illustrated novel” set in the 12th century. I’ve got another comics project I’m trying to get off the ground. The film option for The Ethical Assassin expired, only to be replaced by a new film option for The Ethical Assassin, this one for money! Getting money for movie rights? Maybe the recession is over. Oh, and the forthcoming zombie anthology in which I have a story was reviewed in Publishers Weekly today. Dig who gets a nice mention. Nice to see my swell pal Jonathan Maberry get singled out too.
The 19 provocative, haunting, and genuinely unsettling original stories in this zombie anthology move the genre beyond its usual apocalyptic wastelands. David Liss’s novelette “What Maisie Knew” is a stunning and gruesome meditation on the banality of capitalism and evil. Mike Carey’s “Second Wind” is a haunting tale of an undead stockbroker who comes to question whether he ever truly lived. Lovers of more traditional zombie fare will also not be disappointed. Joe Hill’s ingenious “Twittering from the Circus of the Dead” tells a classic slasher film story through Twitter posts, while Jonathan Maberry’s heartbreaking “Family Business” describes a ruined America populated by kindly monks and zombie hunters. This powerful anthology shines a bright and unflinching light on the fears of death, decay, and loss that underpin America’s longstanding obsession with the undead. (Feb.) November 25th, 2009
 Don't sell tainted milk! I’ve been thinking a lot about the two men, a dairy farmer and a milk salesman, who were executed on Tuesday for their role in the tainted milk scandal in China. You may recall that 30,000 people were sickened, and six died, from milk tainted with melamine – an industrial chemical none of us had ever heard of before. Here’s the thing: we tend to look on these executions with distaste, a sign that China, despite its vibrant role in global capitalism, is still out of touch with Western ideas. There can be no doubt that these executions, however, are in the service of capitalism. They are indented as a sign that China takes its regulatory role seriously. But still – executing people because of their business decisions doesn’t sit well with us here in the west. It seems cruel and oppressive.
 I know what Shang-Chi would do. In the US, we see killing another human being out of passion or malice or for that particular person’s wealth is reprehensible, but killing lots of people in order to promote the riches of a company, while certainly not good, is nowhere near as bad. It is possible, however, that we may have it backwards. Most people who commit murder are those who are emotionally out of control or who have adopted a lifestyle which takes them outside the law. A deterrent isn’t gong to have much of an impact on such people. On the other hand, those who commit industrial or corporate murder do so only because they believe they opportunity for profit outweighs the consequence of exposure. Maybe the specter of lethal injection would make these guys think twice. November 17th, 2009
 Me and a big star. I bask in his glory. Some of you might associate Schwimmer with his role on one of those big ‘90s sitcoms, which I never saw myself (though I recall fondly his stirring performance as Greenzo on 30 Rock, among many other things), but this film is no comedy. It’s a gritty drama about a man trying to track down the sexual predator who raped his daughter, and the one scene I witnessed was pretty powerful stuff. Hats off to Schwim (possibly “Schwimm”), says I, for making such a gutsy film.  Me and Clive Owen's Chair in a high school parking lot. It turns out that neither Clive Owen nor Catherine Keener like to be photographed while on the set, lest their souls be stolen. They also don’t like to make chitchat with strangers, so I did not get to raise my charisma score by talking to them (though my ability to brave the Michigan cold speaks to my strong rolling in the constitution category, but I took a -1 penalty to wisdom). Still, I got to meet the director, who struck me as an all around good guy, and Tom himself, who was also a great guy and a pleasure to hang out with after ten years of emailing. Will this lead to a film deal? We’re talking the movie business here, so the answer is maybe. I may also start perspiring liquid gold. Still, you never know. Gotta be in it to win it. And all that. |
The only conclusion to take away from Kenneth Wishnia’s new novel, The Fifth Servant, is that it rocks. It’s just out today, so pick it up at a book store or streaming e-book portal near you. I’ve always dug Wishnia’s writing, but his first entry into the rarified and mysterious world of historical fiction is his best effort yet. This thriller, about a rabbi in 16th century Prague attempting to solve the murder of a Christian child, before the twitchy gentiles lower the boom, is not only compelling and exciting, but it is historical fiction done exactly right. Great stuff.
But enough of praising other people. Let’s talk more about me. I somehow missed the pub date, but now available for you to purchase is 
This weekend I finally made it to see Avatar, an experience augmented by the venue, the Alamo Draft House: a movie theater that has truly mastered the art of serving beer during a film. What follows is more a reaction to the movie, not a review, so be aware, spoilers abound. Don’t read unless you’ve seen it.
I’ve set aside my research on the 14th century in order to pursue an more immediate (and paying!) project set in the 12th century. I hope to be able to announce this project early next year, but unlike with novels, comics publishers keep a tight lid on these things until they are ready. In any case, being in a late 12th century kind of mood, I decided to check out the BBC Robin Hood TV show (which all you Netflix subscribers can stream directly to your computer). I’d heard good things about it, but allow me to say I was skeptical. 
Personally, I’m not a big fan of the death penalty. I don’t know that I have anything against it on principle, but I tend to think it is deployed unjustly and haphazardly in the US. Yet here, we would never think of executing businessmen for their decisions, even if those decisions resulted in death. We punish businesses, not people, for these sorts of things. No one went to jail for passing off Vioxx as a safe pain reliever, did they? Yet the decision to do harm on a grand scale, in the service of profit, is made not by corporations but by people – people who make amoral decisions because they want to enrich themselves and their interests.