I don't know about you, but that's how I like my stories to start. That's the work of a hardboiled writer and blogger named Bill Crider, collected in a brand new anthology called Damn Near Dead.
The project was edited by Duane Swierczynski, our special guest this week, and today he explains how this slam-bam collection of geezer noir came together.
Welcome to the second installment of my interview with Swierczynski, part of my deceptively simple feature: Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a serialized set of weekly interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing...
Jason Boog:
Editing Damn Near Dead must have been a fantastic education--you met writers at every point of the age spectrum in the hardboiled genre. What was it like contacting writers and collecting these stories? What were the two most important things you learned from veteran writers while editing this book?
Duane Swierczynski:
Reaching out to the contributors was both a thrill and a huge source of anxiety...
I don't like to bug people. Never mind that, if the roles were reversed, I'd be thrilled to be invited to participate in something like this. I just hate putting people on the spot. Especially writers I've long admired.There is one writer in particular I should have invited, but was
absolutely panicked at the thought of approaching him. So I froze,
and never did invite him.
I know. I'm an idiot.
Fortunately, the mystery community is extremely friendly. I was lucky enough to have met people like Ken Bruen and Laura Lippman, and they helped me spread the word, and encouraged me to reach out to other writers.
Writers I was, frankly, too chickenshit to approach. (Really... I *hate* bugging people.)
And David Thompson, the publisher and owner of Busted Flush Press, was absolutely terrific in helping me approach writers with an invite. He has excellent taste-- his decision to work with me nonwithstanding.
The best part about editing this anthology was watching some of the
best imaginations on the planet at work. Nobody turned in the same
kind of story. No one sent something that had been dashed-off one
afternoon. It was a true thrill to open up each story document,
because every time, I was knocked on my ass...
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