From Bruce

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Monday, August 28, 2006. I recently had an incredible experience in which two disparate parts of my world—mystery writing and philanthropy—collided. A panel I moderated in June at the 2006 Deadly Ink mystery conference was called “High Tech Crime and Crime Solving.” One of the authors on the panel was John Lamb, a retired police detective from Southern California. In his talk, he mentioned a US Supreme Court ruling that indicates that the “Miranda rights” that go to someone charged with a crime do not automatically accrue to a person who is not being charged with a crime. John wondered aloud how many people know that. A month later, I was traveling in the Los Angeles area, having dinner with a distinguished donor of the American Association for Cancer Research and her husband, a trial lawyer. In the course of the evening, I asked the husband if he had had any high profile cases. He said, “I had one case that went to the US Supreme Court, and our side won. You probably wouldn’t have heard of it because it’s a fairly technical criminal rights issue.” I said, “Dealing with Miranda rights?” And then state my understanding, that my fellow author had just recently given me, of the new ruling. He was duly impressed that I knew this ruling. I was even more impressed that I was sitting with one of the legal minds that constructed such a landmark ruling. Small world!

April 19, 2006. My second novel, Virtually Dead, is about to be released by Hilliard & Harris publishers. I am looking forward to appearing at Malice Domestic 2006, the annual conference of mystery writers, in Arlington, Virginia, to launch it. I am moderating a panel called "I Walk the Line: Violence in Mysteries--Does It Reflect Violence in the Real World?" My fellow panelists include Kate Flora, the author of the Thea Kozak series. It's particularly interesting because Malice Domestic is primarily geared toward readers of traditional mysteries, which have little violence. This is a panel of exceptions, so we do receive some special attention.

February 7, 2006. I recently created the Society for Philanthropy, a nonprofit organization with the mission of providing donors with education about the various philanthropic methods. Donors and donors' interests are at the core of the entire philanthropic system. The Society has been created to serve donors. I see the Society as a coalition of philanthropists, charitable fundraisers, and donors' financial advisors dedicated to serving the interests of donors and the general public. The Society for Philanthropy will provide informational sessions for donors, as well as training for volunteers and professionals in ethical fundraising. Ultimately, this will help to develop mutually beneficial relationships between donors and charities. To learn more about the Society for Philanthropy, send an e-mail to bruce@brucemakous.com.

July 17, 2005. I just finished 23 Shades of Black by K.j.a. Wishnia, 1997 (reprinted 2004 Point Blank Press). His first novel, highly noted because it was self-published then was one of the five finalists for an Edgar for Best First Novel. Filomena Buscarsela, an Ecuadorian-American cop in NYC, goes through hell trying to solve a crime of corporate corruption and murder. When a man she sees at the scene of a fume accident is then killed at a construction site owned by the same company, she becomes suspicious.She learns he is a painter, whose work focused on exposing the evils of corporate America, and he wrote and performed material that incriminates Morse, Inc., a large chemical company. In her investigation, she starts to uncover connections of the company to organized crime, and they of course are not happy about this. Her zealous pursuit of a formidable foe into a nearly impenetrable web of deceit and violence takes a toll on her personal relationships and pushes her into alcoholism. The NYC police force is portrayed believably as a male chauvinist institution in which it is almost impossible for a woman cop, even a superbly capable one, to distinguish herself. Ken shows his mastery at creating and sustaining a wonderfully sympathetic, though somewhat flawed, character, probably even more sympathetic to women readers than she was to me. Sort of a female version of Bruen's Jack Taylor, I think. She is a small person fighting against the corrupt powers that be, trying to do the right thing. She is a survivor, who starts out somewhat naive and has by the end of the novel become very tough, hardboiled. It is written in first person present, which I found at first to be a surprising choice but is very believable because it accurately captures the sense of a person enthusiastically telling an intensely emotional story. I recommend it.

July 12, 2005. My article, "DAF Kickbacks" was recently published in the July issue of Trusts & Estates, a leading financial journal. This addresses the ethics of certain practices in some donor-advised fund programs that create serious conflicts of interest for advisors and charities. I have been working on this matter for several years, and am pleased that this has received wide professional interest. Of greatest concern, of course, is protection of the rights and interests of donors. For access to the full article, go to "Non-fiction" or click on this link: "DAF Kickbacks" in Trusts & Estates. Thanks and best wishes.

May 18, 2005. Earlier this month, I met author Jack Bludis at the 2005 Malice Domestic mystery conference in Arlington, Virginia. I knew him from a list-serve we are both on called RARA-AVIS, which focuses on hardboiled and noir writing. Jack’s definitions—hardboiled means “tough” and noir means “screwed”—are the accepted brief definitions of the two genres. I respect his views on the contemporary mystery, and learned his book The Shadow of the Dahlia was nominated for a Shamus Award for 2004, so I read it. Set around 1948 in Los Angeles, at the time that the Black Dahlia murder was front page news, Jack draws a parallel intrigue, with series protagonist detective Rick Page hired to find Laura Prendergast, the wife of a Howard Hughes type of guy. He gradually uncovers an organized crime plot related to a booming whore business with houses, call girls, and street walkers. Rick’s a great, classic, hardboiled PI, with the Spade-esque pragmatic philosophy, and there’s a great surprise ending. I recommend it.

Before that I had read The Guards by Ken Bruen, Shamus Award winner in 2002. Set in contemporary Galway, Ireland. An investigator, Jack Taylor, a lovable, severely alcoholic guy, former “guard” or Galway cop, is hired by a woman to find out how her daughter was killed. It was declared a suicide by jumping off of a pier, but the mother is convinced it’s actually a murder. A number of other girls, all working at the same restaurant, are also declared suicides in similar deaths. Taylor drinks and vigilantes his way through a child porn ring and a scheme of corruption in the police force, as well as his own problems. Great book. I hadn't read any Bruen before this, and I'll definitely read more.

Wednesday, November 3, 2004. The first official book talk of my tour was held this evening at Barnes & Noble, Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. It was a very exciting event, with 50 people, mostly friends, in attendance. My focus for the talk was, in essence, explaining how I got started as a writer and why I stuck with it for all these years. I read several passages from the book and explained a little bit about my technique and style. I also discussed the source of the concept for Riding the Brand, which came out of my experiences with young high-tech entrepreneurs who had become incredibly wealthy through venture capitalists investing in their companies. I really enjoyed the event and was very gratified at the warm and enthusiastic response from the group.

Monday, October 11, 2004. I had my first book talk this afternoon at Freedom Village, my father's and my step-mother's retirement community. It went very well. Many people wanted to buy the book afterwards. A couple of hours later, at dinner, two older women approached me at the salad bar. One of them said, "It's your fault we're late for dinner! My friend here couldn't put your book down!" Others were also very enthusiastic. A couple of weeks later, my father told me that some people who had read the book were uncomfortable with the language and wondered where I had learned those words. “Research,” I told him to tell them. “When you’re presenting organized crime in a believable way, you have to do some research and become knowledgeable in street language.” Actually, I already knew most of those words. Since then, however, people there frequently approach me and tell me how much they loved the book.

October 7-9, 2004, Bouchercon, Toronto. This was an exciting three-day event in which I was able to rub elbows with some very established and distinguished writers, and learn a great deal at the sessions. I was able to get caught up with William Lashner, an excellent and very successful Philadelphia-area mystery writer, and I became acquainted with David Liss, author of several excellent and very well-received novels. I’m particularly fond of his first one, A Conspiracy of Paper, which won the 2000 Edgar First Novel Award. It was humbling to hold a book signing, sitting between two known authors, including Bill Lashner, with long lines, with very few people stopping by my table to chat or get a book signed. Another high point was being present and participating in the formation of the International Thriller Writers Association on Saturday, which was created to help bring more attention to the genre, neglected to some extent in terms of awards and recognition and educational events in recent decades. The Anthony Awards Banquet on Saturday night is the usual high point, but the drinks afterwards, getting to know a number of great authors, was by far the best part of the entire three days.

Wednesday, September 29, 2004. I was a guest on “Dr. Andy’s Technology and Poetry Hour” on WDVS, a public radio station out of University of California Davis. This was my most delightful interview. The show has the unlikely programming focus of juxtaposing cutting edge poetry with cutting edge technology, and that’s a great angle for my book. In the preparatory talk, Dr. Andy asked me if I had any poetry to read, and I promised a couple of pieces. I read “The Thief” my first published work, a prose poem nearly published at one point by The Paris Review, and an unpublished poem I used to flesh out and develop one of my characters in Riding the Brand. He also talked at length about the book, which he had actually read, and about my fundraising career, and he understood very well how fundraising letters benefit from emotionally evocative writing. It was a very enjoyable interview.

Tuesday, September 21, 2004. I was a guest today on The Stock Doctors, a nationally syndicated talk show. Host “Million Dollar” Bill Keevan said he had looked at the first few chapters and said it looked interesting, and provided some good insights for entrepreneurs. He asked me how I had researched the organized crime portions of Riding the Brand. I explained that I had done a lot of reading and used my imagination, and then I had the novel vetted by a couple of people who know about this industry. Then, after I was finished writing it, I learned that there was an investigation into a similar venture capital crime scheme committed in a different city, which I hadn't known about, so in a sense my novel is accidentally based on a true story. Bill said jokingly, "Sure. That happens all the time to famous novelists. I always say don't worry about it until you're in front of the grand jury!"

Friday, September 10, 2004. I was driving Dyani to Boston this afternoon, feeling pretty good because the feature article in the Wall Street Journal had just appeared. My publicist, Deborah, called me on my cell phone when we were on the New Jersey Turnpike and asked if I could do a live radio interview with WAIC in Massachusetts in about an hour. I pulled off of the Henry Hudson Parkway at the appointed time, and went into a Japanese Restaurant to take the call. My cell phone was dying so I asked the hostess if I could charge it for fifteen minutes behind the counter. She said OK. I ordered a dish of sushi to wait the fifteen minutes before it would start. My daughter was bored, and went to make some phone calls outside, and probably to secretly have a cigarette. At the appointed time for the interview, I went to get my phone from the hostess and she very apologetically explained that she hadn’t been able to plug it in to charge it. So I went on the air for a twenty minute show knowing I had about fifteen minutes of cell phone time left on the battery. The talk show host was a sort of a left-wing Rush Limbaugh, and wanted to use me to support his theories about executives like Ken Lay victimizing the working class. “And here, to talk about how white collar crime affects all of us, is Bruce Makous…” After the debacle on the TV interview the previous week, I was determined to segue back to my book, so I said, “Yes. And when you read my book, …” then explained that my book actually focuses on organized crime more than CEO crime. So we were able to spend quite a bit of air time talking about it. He said my book sounded a little like The Firm and wondered if Tom Cruise and Gene Hackman would be in it. As feared, about fifteen minutes into the call, my phone died, and I found a plug behind the sushi bar which my charging cord could just reach. While staring face-to-face at an irritated sushi chef who didn’t know English, chopping up some raw fish on his counter, I called back to sign off and say thanks.

Friday, September 3, 2004. My publicist got me a great TV appearance on “Your Morning” on CN8, which airs on cable from Washington DC to Boston. The talking points indicated that I was prepared to talk about high-tech venture capital crime, which was a key subject in my book. A short while before I went on, the young producer informed me that the host would segue by asking me about a news story from earlier that day about the plans to put “WiFi” wireless internet access throughout Philadelphia. I said I didn’t know anything about it. She said it was already set. So, I braced myself to move quickly off of that subject and get to my book. There were supposed to be seven questions over seven minutes. The set was gorgeous, with a big picture of the book jacket as a backdrop. Then the host said, “So, here to tell us about high technology is Bruce Makous, author of Riding the Brand.” I was mortified, since I was only knowledgeable about venture capital crime, not high technology. “How about that WiFi project in Philadelphia?” “Pretty incredible!” I said. “When do you think they might install that?” “I don’t know. This is the first I’m hearing about it myself.” “So, tell us about venture capital. Is this something that is …” I answered that question, and she said, “That was Bruce Makous, author of Riding the Brand.” She cut three minutes off the end of the interview because it was a heavy news day! I never said a word about my book! Later, a successful TV producer told me you simply have to be obnoxious and segue to my book by saying, “Yes, and when you read my book, you’ll see that…”

Friday, August 13, 2004. My publisher and publicist had just sent out reviewer copies of Riding the Brand to many publications. I was sitting at home at about 8:30 p.m. on a Friday, drinking a glass of wine and watching weekly commentary shows, when my cell phone rang. “Hello, this is Randall Smith with The Wall Street Journal.” I immediately stood and grabbed a glass of water. I assumed he had received a reviewer’s copy of the book and was going to interview me. “No. I was on the St. Joseph’s Prep web site, and saw your novel mentioned, and I’m doing some investigation for a book I’m writing about someone who has just been convicted of venture capital crimes. Is your book based on that story?” I told him it was not based on that at all, but on my experiences with high-tech entrepreneurs I knew who really disliked venture capitalists, because they pressured small start up companies, much like loan sharks. I told him I had written the draft of the book several years ago, and then saw a story in The Wall Street Journal about the mob entering the venture capital arena. “I wrote that story,” Randall Smith said. “What a coincidence!” I said. “I’ve been meaning to send you a copy for a jacket blurb.” He said, go ahead and send it. When I told him I had included some details from his reporting in my novel, he joked that, “Maybe you owe me a royalty!” After he received the book and read it he called and said, “I like the book, but we aren’t allowed to do jacket blurbs without a published article.” I said I was sorry to hear that. He said, “So, I’m going to place an article about the book in the paper.” I was stunned. He said it would help raise the profile of the book and bring attention to it, and he was right.

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