Look Who Reed's Hanging Out with Now

Reed, Neil Gaiman at a meeting of the Baker Street Irregulars, at Roosevelt Hotel

"Eventually, You Learn to Sink or Swim"

With the recent releases of my thirteenth (Gun Church, Audible.com) and fourteenth (Hurt Machine, Tyrus Books), it dawned on me that my very first novel, Life Goes Sleeping, was published over twenty years ago. Many are the day I wonder where all that time has got to. So much has happened between the call I got from Permanent Press’s Marty Sheperd informing me they intended to publish LGS and now, that it is really hard to fathom. On the one hand, it seems to have taken forever to get from there to here—wherever that is, exactly. On the other, it’s all been such a blur. Two things, though, have been constant through it all: my family and my routine. - from "Twenty Years and Counting," by Reed Farrel Coleman, at Kaye Barley's Meanderings and Muses

'Last Exits in Brooklyn': Moe in the NY Times

Nobody knows a man better than his ex-wife. So Moe Prager’s ex-wife, Carmella, is wise to this veteran private eye, accepting the fact that no matter how many times he marries, his first love will always be Brooklyn. “When you die, they should just bury you right here, under the boardwalk,” she tells him in HURT MACHINE (Tyrus, $24.95; paper, $15.95), Reed Farrel Coleman’s latest book in a series heavily saturated with local color. Since Prager has recently been told he has stomach cancer, that day may come sooner than Carmella thinks. But this stubborn old shamus is determined to do two things before his ashes are consigned to the sands of Coney Island: Attend his daughter’s wedding, and find the person who murdered Carmella’s older sister, Alta. - from "Last Exits in Brooklyn," by Marilyn Stasio, New York Times

Scene of the Crime: Visiting Moe Prager's World

For years, readers of my novels and short stories have written to me about my Brooklyn upbringing. I’ve been asked on many occasions why I set the majority of my work in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and on Long Island. The work speaks for itself, but I have always wanted a way to share some of my experiences of Brooklyn with my readers and fans. Last year I was approached by my friend and avid mystery reader, Bradd Bambo. Bradd asked if I was interested in going back to my old neighborhood and shooting some video. I jumped at the chance. The idea has since developed into The Scene of the Crime. Here are three segments from the series. Enjoy. - Reed

If you think you might be interested in doing something similar, contact Bradd Bambo. 

Scene of the Crime: The Summer of 1971

Scene of the Crime: Nathan's Famous

 Scene of the Crime: Sheepshead Bay

Advice to Writers: 'Fall in Love with Writing, Not with What You've Written'

Today's Reed's featured on Janice Gable Bashman's blog, where he talks about advice to writers:

My usual advice is as follows:

1. Sit down and write. No one gets published by wanting, only by writing.
2. Fall in love with writing, not with what you’ve written.
3. Never hit and run on a pitcher’s count. (sorry, that’s a baseball joke).

But just lately, I’ve come to the realization that people who want to get traditionally published think an acceptance letter and an advance is the end of the road. Nope. Getting published is the beginning of the road, not the end. And that’s what I tell people who want to make a career of it. Take the long view. It took me a long time to learn that lesson. -from "A Career," by Reed Farrel Coleman