Thursday, February 3, 2011

CHEAP-ASS KINDLE NOVELLA



It seems like a long, long time ago that Anthony Neil Smith and I decided to write a novella together called To the Devil, My Regards -- our stab at a very pulpy Private Eye story. To me, the title sounds like something Mickey Spillane might have written ... or maybe I'm thinking of Emerson LaSalle. You can see what Neil has to say about it right here.


I confessed to Neil in an earlier e-mail, that I actually remember very little about the story. For me, this is a big nostalgia trip because what I DO remember is how Neil and I sent the computer file back and forth as we co-wrote this crazy thing. We'd try to shock each other or make each other crack up. I think it was an act of friendship as much as it was a writing project. It was fun, and I think that fun shows in the story and the characters. It's gritty, goofy, hardboiled and odd.


So maybe it'll be one of the best things you've ever read on a Kindle or the worst thing since since the last terrible self-published thing you read as an e-book. But for .99 cents, does it really matter? Come on! 99 effing cents for crying out loud. That's worth it just to see what sort of goofy nonsense Smith & Gischler were up to a decade ago. (That's right, the novella has been in a cave with Bin Laden, waiting for the Kindle revolution to come along.)


Oh, and you can get it on the NOOK too.


4 comments:

Graham Powell said...

I remember really, really liking this story. Sort of takes the whole "loser PI" thing to another level.

Victor Gischler said...

Graham,

Thanks!

I was worried that since I wrote this with Neil more than 10 years ago it might not hold up. But I just re-read it on my Droid's Kindle app and was pleasantly amused.

VG

Bryan Smith said...

I've enjoyed all your novels, so I downloaded this. It's described as a novella. What's the word count?

Victor Gischler said...

Bryan,

Thanks, man. I appreciate it.

As for te novella word count, it's been a long time. But I think it was in the area of 20k words.

VG