French Open

They don't call it the French open for nothing.

Venus is offended that anyone would want to discuss her skin-colored underwear. Okay, we won't discuss it.













































And then there's this real obscenity making its debut at the French Open, Rafa Nadal's new watch. Cost, a mere, 425 thousand dollars. Oh, Rafa.

Back to Blogging

The photo was taken at the Floridita bar, one of Hemingway's hangouts in Havana. It was taken by Dink Bruce (son of Toby Bruce, Hemingway's right hand man). Photography is only one of Dink's many skills.

CLICK ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE





Dink and Les Standiford and I were in Havana recently. It's an extraordinarily beautiful city, but very sad as well. The architecture is amazing, as richly detailed and varied as Florence or Madrid or Sevilla. But inside those beautiful buildings are tenements. People living in extreme poverty.



















As you may have noticed, I've been taking a break, a long break from blogging lately. Lots of things have distracted me. I was finishing up a new non-fiction book on Bestsellers, for one thing. The book grows out of a course I taught at FIU for many years.

I've also been working on the new Thorn novel. More trauma for the guy. More loss, more adventure. This time he'll go a few places he's never been before. He gets involved with a woman who writes for the Miami Herald. He also discovers a couple of things about his past that he didn't know.

I've also been working on another non-fiction book proposal that has something to do with Hemingway. Just got back from Havana where I did a little research. This is a short video along the Malecon in a 57 Chevy on the way back from lunch at the Hotel Nacional.

Also been reading books on my Kindle and other books the Here's a very informative article on the state of Barnes and Noble and the book biz in general as it faces the rising tide of e-books.

Seems inevitable that a great majority of us will be reading on some electronic device in the next ten years or so. I like my Kindle, and lust for an iPad. But just as we couldn't see the iPad coming five years ago, it's unlikely that these will be the forms our ebooks will be taking five years from now.

All this matters to me as a reader, but it matters even more as a writer and friend of booksellers. The downward pressure on price has already started to effect the book biz, shaving away margins and depressing author "salaries." And as the article above makes clear, bookstores are going to have to do even more radical re-inventions if they're going to survive the next wave of change.

Here's a shot of me waiting for my lunch companions to go back downtown.

The car might look cool, but it was certainly showing its age. Noisy gears, rattling engine block, body held together with duct tape and a prayer. It's a credit to Cuban ingenuity and resourcefulness that the old girl was still running.


















Here, in no particular order, are some images from the streets of Havana.



A fruit market with two fruits



















Art, old and new.




















A hotel as ornate as a cathedral.





















Woman in red.

Key West Swarming with Tourists

Watch an old video of the road to Key West being built. And the prophecy that's come all too true.

Here's a truly wonderful video of JK Rowling giving a commencement address at Harvard. An incredibly moving speech.

Early Jim

Somebody sent me this to make me feel bad I suppose.

Tim Tebow

Love him or hate him.



I've had seriously mixed feelings about this guy, mainly because of the pushy way he promotes his religious views. Do we really want college athletes to wear Bible verses or passages from the Koran on their faces during games?

But still, this writer in the Washington Post makes some excellent arguments, and I'm almost convinced.

The Dallas Morning News

Yet another wonderful review in the Dallas Morning News:


James W. Hall should be adopted as a Florida state treasure.
But he won't be.

The Florida he has depicted over the course of nearly 20 terrific thrillers is, at its heart, as dark as a northern Siberian night in midwinter. He does a fine job, though, of making the Sunshine State a complex and intriguing location, in which avarice, violence, delusion, great heroism and sometimes even serious (if complicated) love play out.

Silencer, his latest entry featuring his ingenious hero Thorn, keeps his flag flying high. Although the premise – Thorn inherits a vast fortune – seems a bit tenuous, once we accept it, which we do after a chapter or so, the drama begins to build.

To use his money for the highest good, Thorn makes a deal with an important central Florida landowner to take vast acres out of commercial use and keep them natural for posterity. Unfortunately, one of the landowner's sons has another idea, which quickly leads to chicanery, murder and the near demise of Thorn (along with his longtime girlfriend, the talented sister of a former biker gang leader, and the landowner's other son, a Miami mounted police officer).

Fortunately, Thorn knows how to employ various artifacts, such as a family wedding ring and a powerful pistol, to keep himself and others alive.
To reveal more of the plot would spoil it.

Let's just say that this suspenseful novel also features a retiring central character who assumes a forceful role, two strong women and some excellent lore about hunting African beasts in central Florida. We also learn about old Floridian ruling-class conclaves and contemporary Floridian morals, or lack thereof, in a way that makes the Sunshine State look darker and darker as the story unfolds.

Providence Journal

Here's a nice review of Silencer from the Providence Journal:

James Hall’s enigmatic hero Thorn is back in “Silencer” (Minotaur, 276 pages, $24.99), albeit no longer the same simple rapscallion. Indeed, his last adventure, “Hell’s Bay,” ended with him inheriting a 10-figure fortune from a grandmother he hadn’t known he had.

With money, though, come problems and Thorn faces a host of them this time out, not the least of which is getting kidnapped by a pair of murderously deviant brothers right out of the Carl Hiaasen school of Florida lowlifes. They’re actually hired to kill Thorn, but opt to snatch him instead in order to see if there’s more they can get from the job than their bargain basement fee.

Ernest Hemingway explored similar territory in his brilliant short story “The Killers,” and the comparison holds further since Hall ranks with James Lee Burke as a brilliant stylist, lyricist and novelist as well as storyteller. And, make no mistake about it, there’s plenty of story in “Silencer,” including an animal preserve for rich folk who like to shoot geriatric big game and a sinister plot involving, as always, the tortured state of Florida’s land and environment.

Hall never disappoints and “Silencer” is no exception. Like Burke, to read Hall is to savor every sentence and description, and Thorn remains crime’s most unusual, if phlegmatic, protagonist.

Book Tour

Home from Phase 1 of book tour. Will give a full account later, but here's a nice review I collected along the way.

In the Dallas Morning News.

Library Journal

Library Journal likes it too.

Hall, James W. Silencer. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. Jan. 2010. c.304p. ISBN 978-0-312-35959-1. $24.99. M

Thorn shows no sign of changing his laid-back, loner ways in Hall’s (Hell’s Bay; Magic City) fine 11th novel featuring his laconic hero. When Thorn’s girlfriend, Rusty, finds a deal that will help him spend some of his vast fortune while saving a large tract of land in central Florida from development, he jumps at the opportunity. Unfortunately for Thorn, his willingness to be a good guy soon puts him in a sinkhole, literally—he’s tossed in by thugs working for developers anxious to prevent the land from going to Thorn. As Rusty and old friend Sugarman try to help Thorn and save the deal, they endanger themselves.

Verdict Thorn is among the most likable heroes in crime fiction. There is a fair amount of action that fans expect, but the story really revolves around Hall’s outstanding characterization of Thorn, Rusty, and Sugarman. Sure to please fans of the series, this is another winner. [Library marketing campaign; see Prepub Mystery, LJ 9/1/09.]—Craig Shufelt, Fort McMurray P.L., A.B.