Duane Swierczynski: Revolver

I've been a fan of Duane Swierczynski's writing for a long time, and I ended up translating his break-through novel The Wheelman in Finnish. Later on I also translated The Blonde. The books weren't big hits, to put it mildly, but the Finnish crime fiction market is now flooded with Scandinavian titles, and we have also lots of our own crime writers, though not many seem interesting to me. The books don't sizzle the way Swierczynski's books do.

And Revolver, Swierczynski's newest novel, sure sizzles. It's a tale of three generations of cops and possible future cops (the latest one in the line is studying forensics), and the murder of the cop of the first generation. In the first story line, Stan Walczak and his black friend, Wildey, work in the 1960s Philadelphia with all its racial tension. They end up getting shot, and the case if officially closed. In the second story line, Stan's son Jim, also a cop, is digging in the 1990's into a murder case that seems like a serial killer on the loose. The third story line is about Audrey, the daughter of Jim Walczak, who, as a part of her exam, is trying to dig into Stan's killing in the present time. Audrey finds new evidence and the plot starts to unravel.

Swierczynski shows that racism hasn't ceased in the USA. He out-Ellroys Ellroy with his depiction of the corrupt society and the secrets cops have had to take part in. The book shines especially in the delivery of the three separate story lines.

Swierczynski also creates a great female character in the daughter. Audrey is a troubled young woman who doesn't really love her family and feels like no one loves her. She's smart and stubborn, and she consumes large quantities of Bloody Marys during the course of the book. I was actually starting to feel I'd have to have one myself.

Everybody Lies out

My newest book, the short story anthology Everybody Lies, is finally out. It's available here - and of course it's in Finnish and the actual title is Kaikki valehtelevat, which is the literal translation of James Reasoner's story in the book.

The book consists of some 20 criminous short stories from writers like Reasoner, Jason Starr, Kevin Wignall, Duane Swierczynski, Vicki Hendricks and Patricia Abbott. All of the stories came previously out in my mags Isku, Ässä and Seikkailukertomuksia (= Adventure Stories), that were self-published pastiches of old-time crime rags. All the translations have been edited and proofread carefully. It's a nice and varied collection of new hardboiled and noir writing, especially since almost none of these writers are available in Finnish at the moment. Most of the stories were translated by me, but some of them were translated by some of my talented friends, namely Antti Autio, Tapani Bagge, Sonja Lahdenranta and Lotta Sonninen. Thanks for them for the big help! 

The beautiful cover was envisioned by a friend of mine, Jenni Jokiniemi, who works as a designer. This was her first book cover, if I understood correctly. I hope to collaborate with her more in the future. 

Here's the table of contents. 

I'm actually doing another collection in the same vein, of the flash fiction stories I published in Ässä. I've been asking for permissions from writers, but not all have responded. If you read this and remember having received an e-mail or a Facebook message from, please do respond! 

Michael Connelly: Echo Park

I've been having a vacation and reading all sorts of books and graphic novels (I really liked Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, which I'd never read), but it seems I'm running out of time to read all the books I meant to. I'm blaming Dean Koontz, whose Watchers I've been reading. It's a pretty good horror thriller, but it's too long! (I'll get back to the book shortly, once I've finished it.)

But Michael Connelly's Echo Park (2006; Sokkelokuja in Finnish) I finished with ease. Connelly is real comfort reading to me, and I don't mind saying that, since he's also always got some edge in his books. Connelly handles his dark materials (sic) easily but with verve, and his writing is smooth and simple without being simplistic. He's not a great stylist like Chandler or a great innovator like Ellroy, but he does very well what he does. His plots are also intricate and they involve some deep stuff without being heavy-handed or didactic.

Echo Park isn't one of the best Connellys (the plot is a bit too straightforward), but I still liked the heck out of it. I'm not so fond of Connelly's Terry McCaleb or Mickey Haller books, but Harry Bosch is a favourite. I remember when I interviewed Connelly and he said he's always imagined Donald Sutherland as the film version of Bosch. This may seem weird, but not long ago I watched Claude Chabrol's rarely-seen Ed McBain film Blood Relatives with Donald Sutherland. He's very good and convincing as McBain's Steve Carella, who's a blueprint for all the film cops. I can see him as Bosch, no problem.

By the way, it was nice to see both Duane Swierczynski and Sarah Weinman being Tuckerized in Echo Park.

Duane Swierczynski: Fun & Games

I really liked Expiration Date which I read rather recently. I had been mildly disappointed in Severance Package, but Expiration Date was so good my expectations were high when I started to read Fun & Games, the first in the series of the exploits of one Charlie Hardie, ex-cop who sits houses and fills the voids in his life watching DVDs and drinking whiskey. It has already been followed by Hell & Gone.

My reading of Fun & Games wasn't as non-interrupted as I'd hoped it to be. I took it with me to the summer cabin we were for the last week, but kids wanted all the time me to do something. Still the book hooked me from the first words, though I must admit there's something slightly wrong with the rhythm of the book: the first action scene starts from the first pages and goes on until the page 200 and then something else starts to happen as if from the new beginning. There's a small misbalance there, but I'm willing to forgive that as there's so much speed and tension going on all the time.

But this is not merely a bang-bang thriller. The theme of Swierczynski's book is how a counter-reality enters into our world. There's a subtle hint to Philip K. Dick, but what makes Swierczynski's take on the theme fresh is that the counter-reality is a part of our own reality: it's the counter-reality of the media and the so-called reality television.

Duane Swierczynski: Expiration Date

As the long-time readers of this blog well know, I've been a fan of Duane Swierczynski's writing almost from the start, ending up translating two of his novels (The Wheelman and The Blonde) in Finnish. Severance Package was a bit of a disappointment for me, as the set-up felt forced and I couldn't get into the characters, even though that has been, I think, Swierczynski's strongest asset: creating believable and likable characters who get into ridiculously tense and violent situations.

But Expiration Date, Duane's next novel after Severance Package... Man, it's good! No wonder he won the Anthony Award for the Best Paperback Original with this. The book deserves its praise. It starts with a bang, a bit like the film noir classic Sunset Boulevard, then proceeds more slowly as we get to know the protagonist (there are no heroes in Swierczynski's world), a bit homey weekly paper staff writer who's just been fired from his job. The events take a wild, wild step from there, one you simply wouldn't guess. And that's not the only wild step in the book, it's a cornucopia of them. And they don't even stop until the end, which leaves you guessing what really happened. But it all makes sense.

Swierczynski blends lots of different genres in Expiration Date: science fiction with a time-travel theme, hardboiled action and serial killer true crime with a decidedly melancholy noir bent. There's also lots of fascinating stuff about Philadelphia's forgotten past. This is probably not something an average science fiction reader would grab, however, as Swierczynski doesn't really dwell on the scientific or even theoretical issues of time-travelling, which is more than fine by me. The action and suspense, noirish atmosphere, good dialogue, great characterization, touching tragedies (for there are them) - these are enough.

If you haven't already read Expiration Date, read it now. I'm so sorry I lost a publisher for my project of translating new American and British noir writing, otherwise this would be high on the to-be-translated pile.

Kevin Wignall: Alchemy

I was away on a trip for over a week. We were in Sicily, in Cefalú to be exact, and travelled around the island for couple of times, in Palermo for instance. It's a beautiful city, with all its history and nice buildings. We also were at the Etna mountain. I'll probably post some pictures one of these days once they have been downloaded from the camera, but I'll save you from longer ramblings. I'll just say that it's a pity we didn't have enough time to try to find Aleister Crowley's house in Cefalú.

I read three books during the trip (I had four with me, and I started the fourth late last night, and it looks very good indeed: Duane Swierczynski's Expiration Date), one of them being a Finnish crime novel from an author I was requested to do an interview with. One was James Herbert's The Spear (1978), essentially a fun novel about neo-Nazis trying to rule the world with the help from the spear of Longinus, but also a bit outdated, with lots of old-fashioned thriller clichés to somewhat ruin the experience. But the one book rose above all the others: Kevin Wignall's Alchemy, the second installation in his Mercian trilogy. I reviewed the first one, called Blood, here. I seem to have written that Blood will be published in Finland, but that has changed, I'm sorry to say. I'm not sure what the current situation is.

Back to Alchemy. I was a bit confused in the beginning, since - being lousy on plots - I didn't remember much about the first book. Eventually I got into the story and it drew me in with irresistible force. The sadness and melancholy gave way also to other feelings, such as hatred and aggression, as Wignall introduces new characters. There are also some revelations of the most evil character in the book - in the whole universe, it seems - and it shows Wignall's mastery that I was beginning to doubt whether Lorcan Labraid really is worth all the talk, but indeed he is. The book ends in the midst of one of most harrowing reading experiences I've had in a while. Can't wait for the third book, Death, to appear. (And I'm sorry that it will be the final episode in the series.)

One point still, though: there are lots of discussion in the blogs and other venues that crime and other genre writing has deteriorated in the recent decades, say, Alistair MacLean is better than Tom Clancy. I won't dispute that, but Wignall absolutely beats James Herbert hands down. (Well, okay, Herbert isn't a very good example. I did enjoy his Rats, though.) What I mean to say is that sometimes things are just done in a bolder way. Wignall does exactly that.

New books out: Duane Swierczynski, Ken Bruen, JP Koskinen

I just won't stop putting out new titles! I received my translator's copies of Duane Swierczynski's The Blonde last Friday, alongside with Ken Bruen's London Boulevard and the Finnish writer, JP Koskinen's Eilispäivän sankarit (The Heroes of Yesterday), which I both had a hand in.

Here's Ossi Hiekkala's great cover for Swierczynski's book. The book is Vaaleaverikkö in Finnish, which is a literal translation. We would've gone for Blondi, but we didn't want the book to get mixed up with Joyce Carol Oates's Marilyn book. The cover wasn't an easy one. We wanted to avoid the easy Sin City banality of this cover, but doing a dramatic cover without any weapons or some such proved very difficult. I think Ossi did a fine job.

As for the Bruen, I only picked the book, located the agent and started the negotiations (and found the translator for it). Koskinen's book I commissioned, but I never edited it (someone else did. It's about an old criminal who's been inside for the last 30 years, and when he's finally getting out, he doesn't understand shit about the new world. It's a very touching book, with some heavy-duty violence and black humor.

This is a nice job, but the titles have been selling too poorly, so it looks like I won't be doing it anymore. There's still Jason Starr's Fake ID coming out, hopefully next year. (Hopefully especially, since it's my translation.)

More on the titles here, alongside with some other books.

Duane Swierczynski's The Blonde and Ken Bruen's London Boulevard out in Finnish in 2011

Commercial follows, in Finnish:

Arktisen Banaanin kevät 2011 pitää sisällään kaksi kovaa dekkariuutuutta: Keikkakuskin kirjoittajan Duane Swierczynskin hengästyneesti ryntäävä scifi-trilleri Vaaleaverikkö sekä irlantilaisen kovaksikeitetyn rikoskirjallisuuden supernimen Ken Bruenin ensimmäinen suomennos, kohta elokuvaksikin tuleva London Boulevard.

Vaaleaverikkö on raju kaahaus läpi öisen Philadelphian, 24 tunnin jännäri, jossa ei ole tyhjiä hetkiä. Naisella on veressään tappava virus ja uudeksi uhriksi joutuu viaton, avioero-oikeudenkäyntiä odottava toimittaja. Kirjasta sanottua: "OK, so we have hot girls, self-replicating killer-spy nanomachines, journo-suckers, affable hit-men, double-secret government cadres; are we forgetting anything? OH YEAH, a severed head in a duffle bag!"

Bruenin London Boulevard on ovela pastissi Billy Wilderin klassikkoelokuvasta Sunset Boulevard, mutta omillaankin toimiva kovanlyyrinen, haikean väkivaltainen rikosromaani. Elokuvan pääosissa ovat Keira Knightley ja Colin Farrell ja sen ohjaa Scorseselle käsikirjoituksia tehnyt William Monahan.

Vaaleaverikön kansikuvan on piirtänyt Ossi Hiekkala. Lisätietoa löytyy kustantajan sivuilta.

Review of Conrad Hirst

Ossi Hiekkala, the great illustrator of Arktinen Banaani's paperback series, found this very positive blog review of Kevin Wignall's Kuka on Conrad Hirst? The writer, blogger Kari Naskinen, compares, quite rightly, the book to Graham Greene's thrillers and says that Wignall's book could've well been published in the high-literary and prestigious Keltainen kirjasto series, which is quite a compliment. (Even though, with the exception of Brighton Rock, none of Greene's entertainments came out in that series.) He also compares Conrad Hirst to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, which is pretty apt.

The writer ends his review: "The best book I've read in years."

He mentions that this was so good he rushed out to buy the other books in the paperback series: Duane Swierczynski's Keikkakuski aka The Wheelman and Allan Guthrie's Viimeinen suudelma aka Kiss Her Goodbye. He says about Keikkakuski thus: "Top-notch, represents the American hardboiled tradition at its best."

Tommi Aitio's review of Keikkakuski

Here's a quote from Tommi Aitio's very positive and knowledgeable review of Duane Swierczynski's Keikkakuski. It appeared in Kauppalehti on June, 23rd.

Älä ota kesäkissaa, hanki kesäkirja!

Kauppalehti luki puolestasi suven kiinnostavimmat kirjauutuudet - Duane Swierczynski operoi Jim Thompsonin, Charles Williamsin, Charles Willefordin ja Elmore Leonardin rajaamassa vaikutuskentässä, ja millä ketteryydellä!

Keikkakuski ei kenties luo kovan dekkarin perinteeseen mitään uutta, mutta tyylipastissina se on niin täydellinen, että sen soisi herättävän vaikkapa Tarantinon huomion. Virheetön suoritus, kerrassaan.

Hurmehommat Keikkakuski kuvaa kohtuullisen suorasukaisesti niin kuin valitun tyylilajin ilmaisulliseen perinteeseen kuuluu. Perinnetietoista on myös Swierczynskin tapa pyöräyttää luku luvulta tarinaan lisää henkilöhahmoja ja narratiivisia käänteitä. Lopulta porukkaa on paikalla lähes hallitsemattomasti, mutta tällaiset dramaturgiset haasteet Swierczynski voittaa tapattamalla muutaman tyypin pois juonenkulkua häiritsemästä. Autenttinen pulp-kirjailija, siis.

My dream with Duane Swierczynski

I had a strangest dream last night: it was about a graphic novel, written by Duane Swierczynski, that had this really weird structure with metafictional story in which the hero of the actual story imagined The Lord of the Rings as a black-and-white crime graphic novel that looked really neat. And it was set in the present time, with Glocks and all. (Meanwhile I was being tried to assassinate in the "real" life, but more on that later.) I can't draw shit, but I can imagine the best-looking cartoon ever?

Duane Swierczynski iskee lujaa

Vastikään ilmestynyt Keikkakuski aloittaa Arktisen Banaanin uuden pokkarisarjan, joka tuo suomalaisten lukijoiden ulottuville parasta uutta kovaksikeitettyä dekkaria Yhdysvalloista ja Englannista.

Keikkakuski on Duane Swierczynskin toinen romaani. Ensimmäinen oli outo paranoidista scifiä ja kovaksikeitettyä dekkaria sekoittava Secret Dead Men, joka ilmestyi PointBlank-kustantamolta vuonna 2005. Keikkakuski eli The Wheelman otti kuitenkin dekkarimaailman ällikällä ilmestyessään keskisuuren St. Martin’s -kustantamon kovakantisena kirjana vielä samana vuonna. Yhdistelmä rajua väkivaltaa ja sysimustaa huumoria puri erityisesti ylipitkiin ja löysiin trillereihin kyllästyneisiin lukijoihin ja tuntui tuovan kovaksikeitetyn lajityypin suoraan 2000-luvulle.

Kysyimme muutamia kysymyksiä kiireiseltä kirjailijalta.

Miten Keikkakuski syntyi?

Kirjoitin sitä huvikseni lukukausien välillä, kun opetin journalismia. En ollut vielä julkaissut mitään, mutta olin jo kirjoittanut Secret Dead Menin, joka oli jäänyt tietokoneen kovalevylle. Halusin kokeilla, onnistuisiko tiukan ja ilkeän rikoskirjan kirjoittaminen, enkä ajatellut, että se johtaisi mihinkään. Halusin yksinkertaisesti vain viihdyttää itseäni.

Keikkakuski on kunnianosoitus Richard Starkin (eli Donald Westlaken) Parker-kirjoille ja ylipäätään koko keikkalajityypille. Miksi keikkakuvaukset kiinnostavat sinua?

En oikeastaan ole keikkalajityypin suuri fani. Täydellisesti ajoitetun keikan suunnittelu ja toteutus ei innosta minua yhtä paljon kuin pieleen menneen keikan jälkiselvittelyt. Sen takia Keikkakuskikin alkaa muutamia sekunteja sen jälkeen, kun keikka on käytännössä jo hoidettu.

Oletko samaa mieltä, että kovaksikeitetty noir-dekkari elää nyt uutta nousukautta? Mistä se johtuu?

Minulla ei ole käsitystäkään. Sanoisin, että täällä USA:ssa pannaan jotain veteen, mutta vastaavia kirjoja on ilmestynyt viime aikoina paljon myös Englannissa ja Suomessakin, joten... Oikeasti olen sitä mieltä, että aina on lukijoita, jotka kaipaavat tällaisia synkkiä tarinoita. Ainoa asia, mikä muuttuu, on se, että kirjoille laitetaan erilaisia nimilappuja muutaman vuoden välein.

Onko sinulla joitain suosikkeja uusien kirjailijoiden joukossa?

Olin muutama kuukausi sitten aivan täpinöissäni Josh Bazellin kirjasta Beat the Reaper. Hän onnistui yhdistämään kaksi todella erilaista lajityyppiä, gangsterieepoksen ja lääkärijännärin, ja tuloksena oli jotain todella outoa, brutaalia ja väkivaltaisen hauskaa. En vieläkään ymmärrä, miten hän sen teki.

Keikkakuski on todella vauhdikas ja väkivaltainen kirja, mutta väkivalta tuntuu todelliselta, koska se sattuu. Miten määrittelisit eron sellaisen väkivallan välillä, joka on olemassa draaman takia, ja sellaisen, joka on pantu mukaan vain sen itsensä vuoksi?

Aina kun kirjoitan väkivaltaisen kohtauksen yritän saada aikaan jonkinlaisen tunteen lukijassa. Joskus haluan saadan heidät itkemään. Joskus hätkähtämään. Joskus nauramaan ja sitten tuntemaan itsensä syylliseksi.

Seuraavaksi sinulta ilmestyy suomeksi The Blonde (keväällä 2010 nimellä Vaaleaverikkö). Millainen kirja se on?

The Blonde on minun femme fatale -romaanini, sellainen jossa kaveri tapaa vääränlaisen naisen baarissa ja hänen elämänsä menee päin helvettiä. Tässä tapauksessa sankari Jack kohtaa naisen, joka sanoo, että jos hänet jätetään kymmeneksikin sekunniksi yksin, hän kuolee. Kenetköhän nainen pakottaa pitämään itselleen seuraa koko yön..?

Olet myös kirjoittanut Cable-, Iron Fist- ja Punisher-sarjakuvia Marvelille. Onko romaaneissasi vaikutteita sarjakuvista?

Ilman muuta. Minua kiehtoo ennen kaikkea laittaa henkilöt äärirajoilleen ja katsoa, miten he reagoivat niissä tilanteissa. Supersankarit kuten Cable ja Iron Fist eivät ole siinä mielessä erilaisia. Joskus minusta tuntuu, että olen kehitellyt juonet kirjoihini kaavalla: kiduta henkilöitäsi niin kauan että he melkein kuolevat.

Muutamia eriskummaisia faktoja Duane Swiercynskistä:

- kirjailijan sukunimi tarkoittaa kuusipuun lähellä asuvaa
- Duane ja hänen veljensä Gregg saivat nimensä Allman Brothers -bändiltä
- Duanen äidin sukunimi lyheni, kun hän meni naimisiin – hänen tyttönimensä oli Wojciechowski
- Duanen esikoispojan nimi Parker on kunnianosoitus Richard Starkin romaaneille
- Puolassa Swierczynskin nimi lausutaan ”Smith”

Q&A with Duane Swierczynski

In order to promote the recent translation of Duane Swierczynski's Keikkakuski/The Wheelman, I sent him a few questions about The Wheelman and his other work. Here are his answers; I'll post the Finnish translation later. (It's already been published in the Facebook group for the Arktinen Banaani's paperback series. Join now, if you haven't done that already!)

Q: The Wheelman wasn't your first novel. Could you tell us how your writing career led into The Wheelman?

The Wheelman was something I wrote for fun during breaks between semesters when I was teaching journalism. I'd a previous novel, but it had been languishing, unsold, on my hard drive for a few years, and I was just itching to tell a lean-and-mean crime story, with no expectation of publication. I just wanted to entertain myself.

Q: The Wheelman is an homage to the caper books of Richard Stark and Lionel White. Why are you fascinated in the caper genre?

I'm actually not a huge fan of capers -- the intellectual exercise of a perfectly-timed heist doesn't excite me as much as the aftermath of a heist gone wrong. Which is why THE WHEELMAN picks up a few seconds after the big heist has already happened.

Q: Do you see that there's a boom of hardboiled of noir writing nowadays? Where does it come from?

I have no idea. I'd say something in the water here in the USA, but there have been outbreaks in the UK and Finland as well, so... Honestly, I think readers have always had a thirst for these kinds of stories. The only things that change is what we label them every few years.

Q: Who are your favourite new writers in the genre?

A few months ago I was blown away by Josh Bazell's BEAT THE REAPER. Somehow he managed to combine two really different subgenres -- the gangland saga and the medical thriller -- into something weird, brutal and savagely funny. I still don't know how he did it.

Q: There's lots of action and violence in The Wheelman, but it always hurts. How would you draw the line between violence for vilence's sake and violence for drama's sake?

Whenever I write a violent scene I'm trying to reach out of the page and provoke a response from the reader. Sometimes I want them to cry. Sometimes, flinch. And sometimes, laugh, then feel guilty about laughing.

Q: We will have your novel The Blonde in Finnish translation in the Spring 2010. How would you describe the book?

THE BLONDE is my femme fatale novel -- you know, the kind of story where you meet the wrong kind of woman in a bar and your life promptly goes to hell? In this case, our hero Jack meets a woman who says that if she's left alone, even for 10 seconds, she'll die. And guess who's going to be forced to keep her company all night long?

Q: You've also been writing Cable and Iron Fist stories for Marvel. Are there same elements in your comics writing as in The Wheelman and your other novels?

Definitely -- I'm always fascinated by pushing characters to their limits, and watching how they respond. Superheroes like Cable and Iron Fist are no different. Sometimes I think that my version of plotting is nothing more than, "Torture main characters until they almost die."

The first Finnish rewiew of Keikkakuski

The first review of Swierczynski's Keikkakuski in Finnish on Jussi Katajala's blog. Very positive.

It's finally official

Here's the final cover of the Finnish translation of Duane Swierczynski's The Wheelman, called Keikkakuski, published by Arktinen Banaani. The book is now out and on sale everywhere where books are sold, also at the newstands. The cover illustration is by Ossi Hiekkala - it's very cool, isn't it? Both modern and retro at the same time and what's most important, it's full of action, as is the novel. Check out the bumper.

The Finnish title, "Keikkakuski", is taken from the Walter Hill flick The Driver, or actually its Finnish title, since we thought the association is a good one. I asked Duane about this and he said he hadn't seen the film. But I'm sure that when he'll see it, he'll know we were right about the title.

This also marks my first book-length translation in print. Up to this book, I've done only short stories for my fanzines. Not in print are two novels by Jason Starr (I'll see to them getting published) and 50 first pages of Russell Banks's fabulous Rule of the Bone (which I hope to finish some day).

I urge everyone who's reading this to join the Facebook group for the Arktinen Banaani's crime paperbacks. The group is in Finnish, but you can join for the purpose of support, too.

I'll be having a short Q&A with Duane here and on the FB group shortly (just as soon as he answers my questions!), so stay tuned.

The next novel in the paperback series, Allan Guthrie's Kiss Her Goodbye, under the Finnish title Viimeinen suudelma (The Last Kiss), is just going to printers and will be out in some weeks.

Arktisen Banaanin pokkarisarja lataa kovaksikeitettyä dekkaria

Aiemmin sarjakuvakustantajana tunnettu Arktinen Banaani laajentaa tänä keväänä pokkareiden ja myös dekkareiden puolelle. Sarjan dekkarit keskittyvät uuteen kovaksikeitettyyn ja noir-dekkariin, jotka ovat tällä hetkellä vahvassa nousussa sekä Yhdysvalloissa että Englannissa, sekä isoissa kustantamoissa että erikoistuneissa pienkustantamoissa. Arktisen Banaanin dekkaripokkareissa kunnioitetaan lajityypin perinteitä tyylikkäillä kuvitetuilla kansilla.

Sarjan ensimmäiset kirjat ovat Duane Swierczynskin Keikkakuski (The Wheelman, 2005) ja Allan Guthrien Viimeinen suudelma (Kiss Her Goodbye, 2006). Kirjat ilmestyvät lokakuussa.

Keikkakuski kertoo Patrick Lennonista, pankkirosvojen käyttämästä keikkakuskista, jonka paras etu työssään on, että hän on mykkä. Philadelphialaisen Wachovia-pankin ryöstö näyttää aluksi sujuvan ihan kohtuullisesti - mitä nyt pitää ajaa autolla pankin ovi rikki ja pamauttaa lastenvaunuja työntävä nainen pois tieltä -, mutta sitten joku puuttuu peliin ja täräyttää isolla pakulla keikka-auton kylkeen. Patrick Lennonin elämän painajaismaisin viikonloppu alkaa: hän herää, kun häntä ollaan työntämässä mustassa ruumissäkissä rakennustyömaan putkeen...

Viimeinen suudelma kertoo Joe Hopesta, karusta ja hiukan yksinkertaisesta koronkiskurin apurista, jonka tärkein työväline on pesäpallomaila. Joe Hope tulee aamuyöllä keikalta kotiin vain saadakseen kuulla, että joku on tappanut hänen teini-ikäisen tyttärensä. Masennuksesta ja juopotteluputkesta toivuttuaan Joe päättää kostaa.

Duane Swierczynski (s. 1972) iski itsensä läpi amerikkalaisten dekkarinlukijoiten tietoisuuteen toisella romaanillaan Keikkakuski, joka kertoo mykästä luottoajajasta. Tämä joutuu vaikeuksiin, kun huolella valmisteltua pankkikeikkaa onkin seurannut myös venäläisten mafia. Keikkakuski on 24-tv-sarjan ja 1950-luvun kovaksikeitettyjen rikospokkareiden risteytys: reaaliajassa kulkeva trilleri, jossa ei ole tyhjiä hetkiä.

Duane Swierczynski on nuoren polven amerikkalaisdekkaristien ehdotonta kärkeä, joka on kirjoittanut myös Marvel-yhtiön sarjakuvia, kuten X-Meniä ja Cablea. Hänen muihin romaaneihinsa kuuluvat The Blonde (2006) ja Severance Package (2008).

Allan Guthrien (s. 1965) debyyttiromaani Viimeinen suudelma löi dekkaripiirit ällikällä: kertomus pesäpallomailaa aseenaan käyttävästä koronkiskurin apupojasta, jonka tytär kuolee epämääräisissä olosuhteissa, on samaan aikaan inhimillisen lämmin että pirullisen väkivaltainen. Kirjallaan Guthrie oli myös ehdokkaana tunnetussa Edgar-palkintokisassa, joka myönnetään vuosittain parhaalle ilmestyneelle rikosromaanille.

Allan Guthrie on skottilaisen hardboiledin uusi mestari, jota on verrattu Irvine Welshiin ja Denise Minaan, mutta hänen kirjansa ovat rujompia ja rajumpia. Guthrien muuta tuotantoa ovat romaanit Two-Way Split (2006), Hard Man (2007), Kill Clock (2007) ja Savage Night (2008).

The paperback line finally coming!

The paperback line I'm editing for the Arktinen Banaani publishers is just about to start. Here's a poster that's being printed at the moment and to be delivered to book shops all over the country. The first book, Duane Swierczynski's The Wheelman (as Keikkakuski), is coming out in March.

All the covers are drawn by Ossi Hiekkala. The poster is designed by Tommi Hänninen who has also designed the layouts for the covers.

[I do know one of the words is missing the Ä dots...]

Duane Swierczynski: The Blonde

One of the books I read during my holiday was Duane Swierczynski's The Blonde. As you're probably aware (and you should be, especially if you're Finnish readers of this blog), Swierczynski's previous novel, the great The Wheelman, will soon be out in a paperback series of new hardboiled I edit, and if everything turns out okay, I believe The Blonde will also be. (Hmm.. is this a thing I'm able to mention or is it a business secret?)

You know the expression "non-stop action"? Well, most of the books or films on which that epithet is tacked on are not really non-stop action. But The Blonde is. Trust me. You can't put it down and the action starts from page one (well, okay, it starts from maybe page three or four). And there's lots of sex, while The Wheelman has almost none.

The book could be labeled as science fiction, but Swierczynski isn't really interested in exploring the science, which is fine by me. The Blonde is a perfect example of how a science fictional item can be used as a plot gimmick or even a MacGuffin. It slows the plot down none.

I have only one quibble: if the titular blonde is in the trouble she's in, just how can she act so cool? But there's always suspension of disbelief, and Swierczynski proves he's the master of it. And I just love how he links the previous book into this, even though they are totally separated.

And finally.. the paperback line

I've been hinting for at least two years now that I may start editing a crime paperback line. Now it's finally official. The Finnish publisher Arktinen Banaani that has been producing mainly graphic novels or comics will start a paperback line that will feature also crime novels - and they will be handpicked by me. You've probably guessed already that the line focuses on hardboiled and noir.

The first books, out in October, will be Duane Swierczynski's The Wheelman (under the Finnish title Keikkakuski; which is the Finnish title for Walter Hill's classic getaway film, The Driver) and Allan Guthrie's Kiss Her Goodbye (under the title Viimeinen suudelma; this may still be subject to change). Both are excellent noir thrillers, although very different from each other. While Duane's book is a violent non-stop ride through a professional heister's worst nightmare, Allan's book is more into character (even though his hero, Joe Hope, is necessarily not one you want to get into). Its violence quotient is still quite large.

The paperback line will have three more novels the coming Spring, but more about them later.

Must admit that all this was mainly caused by Hard Case Crime. It was too cool a concept to leave undeveloped. The first two books will have illustrated covers done by Ossi Hiekkala, a young Finnish guy whom I've already dubbed "the Robert McGinnis of Finland" (even though there are no near naked babes on these two covers, sorry 'bout that). I'm hoping I'll find some use to my friend Jukka Murtosaari, too.

The illustrations on this post don't have the titles as yet, as I have those only as PDF's on my computer and I don't have the right program here to convert them into embeddable pictures. (Is that a word? Embeddable?)

Arktisen Banaanin pokkaridekkarit

Aiemmin sarjakuvakustantajana tunnettu Arktinen Banaani laajentaa ensi syksynä pokkareiden ja myös dekkareiden puolelle. Sarjan dekkarit keskittyvät uuteen kovaksikeitettyyn ja noir-dekkariin, jotka ovat tällä hetkellä vahvassa nousussa sekä Yhdysvalloissa että Englannissa, sekä isoissa kustantamoissa että erikoistuneissa pienkustantamoissa. Arktisen Banaanin dekkaripokkareissa kunnioitetaan lajityypin perinteitä tyylikkäillä kuvitetuilla kansilla.

Sarjan ensimmäiset kirjat ovat Duane Swierczynskin Keikkakuski (The Wheelman, 2005) ja Allan Guthrien Viimeinen suudelma (Kiss Her Goodbye, 2006). Kirjat ilmestyvät lokakuussa.

Keikkakuski kertoo Patrick Lennonista, pankkirosvojen käyttämästä keikkakuskista, jonka paras etu työssään on, että hän on mykkä. Philadelphialaisen Wachovia-pankin ryöstö näyttää aluksi sujuvan ihan kohtuullisesti - mitä nyt pitää ajaa autolla pankin ovi rikki ja pamauttaa lastenvaunuja työntävä nainen pois tieltä -, mutta sitten joku puuttuu peliin ja täräyttää isolla pakulla keikka-auton kylkeen. Patrick Lennonin elämän painajaismaisin viikonloppu alkaa: hän herää, kun häntä ollaan työntämässä mustassa ruumissäkissä rakennustyömaan putkeen...

Viimeinen suudelma kertoo Joe Hopesta, karusta ja hiukan yksinkertaisesta koronkiskurin apurista, jonka tärkein työväline on pesäpallomaila. Joe Hope tulee aamuyöllä keikalta kotiin vain saadakseen kuulla, että joku on tappanut hänen teini-ikäisen tyttärensä. Masennuksesta ja juopotteluputkesta toivuttuaan Joe päättää kostaa.

Duane Swierczynski (s. 1972) iski itsensä läpi amerikkalaisten dekkarinlukijoiten tietoisuuteen toisella romaanillaan Keikkakuski, joka kertoo mykästä luottoajajasta. Tämä joutuu vaikeuksiin, kun huolella valmisteltua pankkikeikkaa onkin seurannut myös venäläisten mafia. Keikkakuski on 24-tv-sarjan ja 1950-luvun kovaksikeitettyjen rikospokkareiden risteytys: reaaliajassa kulkeva trilleri, jossa ei ole tyhjiä hetkiä.
Duane Swierczynski on nuoren polven amerikkalaisdekkaristien ehdotonta kärkeä, joka on kirjoittanut myös Marvel-yhtiön sarjakuvia, kuten X-Meniä ja Cablea. Hänen muihin romaaneihinsa kuuluvat The Blonde (2006) ja Severance Package (2008).

Allan Guthrien (s. 1965) debyyttiromaani Viimeinen suudelma löi dekkaripiirit ällikällä: kertomus pesäpallomailaa aseenaan käyttävästä koronkiskurin apupojasta, jonka tytär kuolee epämääräisissä olosuhteissa, on samaan aikaan inhimillisen lämmin että pirullisen väkivaltainen. Kirjallaan Guthrie oli myös ehdokkaana tunnetussa Edgar-palkintokisassa, joka myönnetään vuosittain parhaalle ilmestyneelle rikosromaanille.
Allan Guthrie on skottilaisen hardboiledin uusi mestari, jota on verrattu Irvine Welshiin ja Denise Minaan. Hän vain kirjoittaa väkivaltaisempia kirjoja.
Guthrien muuta tuotantoa ovat romaanit Two-Way Split (2006), Hard Man (2007), Kill Clock (2007) ja Savage Night (2008).