The first three entries in this excellent detective series run a bit long with the cases stretching over two 100 minute episodes. But in this glorious package, Superintendent Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren) works three 100 minute mysteries. The subject matter is still creepy, but the cases zip right along. This is the gold standard in detective fiction.

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Hello there, interweb readers and Lone Star Press fans. There is a new competition up at ZUDA and I have a strip running. Its called The Urban Adventures of Melvin Blank and it is a collaboration between myself and Thom Zahler. Among other things, Thom does the LOVE and CAPES comic and does some of the work on the SIDECHICKS webcomic.

Getting the whole strip down the road and on the ZUDA page has been pretty fun. I wrote it as a complete 4 page story and Thom did everything else. The inspiration was a little bit of HERBIE and a little bit of LENNY from OF MICE AND MEN. Here is the long version of the pitch–

“Melvin Blank has the mind of a child and the strength of a brute. After the passing of his parents, he lives in his Mother’s house in the heart of a big decaying city. He works as a dishwasher at a nearby greasy spoon and he has his urban adventures as he travels to and from work. Melvin thinks its hilarious that the mass transit system he rides, the City Area Rapid Transit System, is called “the CART”, but he doesn’t understand why a nearby diner is called “Joe Mama’s”. In a world of grays, Melvin sees things in black and white. Good and bad. Day and night. Cereal and pizza.

Melvin is pretty sure that the house down the street is haunted, but don’t worry, he plans to do something about it. He is in love with a beautiful co-worker who has an abusive boyfriend, for now. He is selling items from his parent’s estate to pay for an elaborate headstone for the pair. At home, he has an angry cat named SOCKS and he never, ever misses SPACE PATROL RANGER. Melvin is absolutely sure that he is living the American Dream and he wants to share it with the rest of the people in his neighborhood whether they like it or not.

The first story is a complete eight screen story. It has a beginning, middle, and an end. Melvin is like that, he likes things simple.

Melvin Blank features a script by Bill Williams (SideChicks) and art & colors by Thom Zahler (Love & Capes).”

I would appreciate it if you would go to the ZUDA page and view and vote. Call us your favorite!

Thom and I were interviewed here– http://ncane.com/hvs2

Info on LnC– http://www.loveandcapes.com/

Here’s MELVIN. Go VOTE!– http://www.zudacomics.com/node/1220

Thanks for reading.

Bill Williams

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Tom Selleck stars as the barely functional Jesse Stone who slugs down coffee all day and Johnny Walker Red all night. Jesse is a member of the walking wounded who misses his ex-wife and looks into a bottle for the resolution he cannot find with her. In an effort to better control his drinking, Jesse opens an old case, the story of a bank robbery that ended in death. There is a killer seeking revenge and a rape allegation to deal with, so Jesse spends a great deal of time interviewing people and coming to conclusions.

The thing that I like about the Jesse Stone movies is that they are more like the British mysteries like Foyles War, the Last Detective or Prime Suspect. They move at a more deliberate pace and come to a murky resolution more often than not. In short, the Jesse Stone mysteries more resemble real life just a little better.

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I love the Made-For-TV Jesse Stone movies starring Tom Selleck because they are the best distillation about what works about the Robert Parker novels. The plots proceed at a reasonable pace, there is a scene with the hero staying in shape for the coming fight, there is usually a shoot out. Each movie features snappy dialogue that never quite verges over into Too-Cutesey-Land. And they wrap up in under 90 minutes.

Selleck plays Stone as a man wandering in the wreckage of his life and trying to hang on and find some sort of meaning in his daily routine. He drinks too much and he has an ex-wife that he cannot quite let go. Stone is the newly hired Police Chief of PARADISE, MA which is a fictional vacation town that is a weekend place for the rich and famous of Boston.

In Night Passage, Stone leaves Los Angeles and his ex for the last place that will have him. He drives all of the way to Paradise and stumbles through his interview. When the former Chief of Police is killed, Stone starts turning over rocks that the City Leaders want left alone.

In Death in Paradise, Stone looks into the identity and the life of a young girl whose body surfaces after three weeks in the water. The mystery is not all that novel, but the style and grace of Selleck really comes through the screen.

There are wonderful mystery series that float around on British television including Prime Suspect, Foyle’s Way, the Brother Cadfael mysteries, etc. The Jesse Stone movies fit perfectly in that niche, mysteries for adults.

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I am running an experiment from deep in the Lone Star bunker. It is an
experiment with fiction, but I still wear the protective goggles just in case. There
is an ebook reader over at the SHORTCOVERS website that will work online
or on some mobile devices like the 3G iPhone. The stories are chopped up
into smaller iPhone sized pieces, so some of the content is broken down
by chapters.

I have posted some of the content from the Tokyo Pop and Other
Quinn Stories collection there. So, if you like free fiction, swing by and
check it out. The stories include–

the short story REFRIGERATOR WHITE

As well as–

the short story TOKYO POP

and the short story 96 DOLLARS

So swing by and check out the free fiction. And poke around while you are
there. I’m in good company with Neil Gaiman and David McCullough.

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So, we finished the Great February Writing Contest and it seemed to be a
rousing success. I wrote until I was bordering on being sick of the process
and I knocked out almost 70K words. (That’s the same as writing a damn
novel in a month.) Along the way, I got a few short stories finished and
kicked a bit of a novel out of my head. 
You can find the final score by clicking here.

The trash talking was here.

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I am now twittering, so if you have a need to know what I’m doing with a
slightly creepy Seinfeldian level of detail, click here.

Hello all,

We are having a writing contest over at the Clockwork Storybook Blog, so come on over and cheer for somebody. We are all working on random stuff and I can chat about mine, but as you might guess, Willingham is reluctant to tell you what is coming up in FABLES. Ditto for Sturges and the HOUSE OF MYSTERY.

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In a move that is kind of out of nowhere, that issue of JLU that I wrote back in the long long ago is getting reprinted in April. So, if you missed The Ghosts of Atlantis the first time around, it would be an excellent chance to see me happily write for the man. Here is the solicit–

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED: HEROES TP
Written by Adam Beechen, Mike McAvennie & Bill Williams
Art by Carlo Barberi, Rick Burchett, Leigh Gallagher, Sanford Green and others
JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #23-29 are collected in this new title starring The Worlds Greatest Super Heroes!
Advance-solicited; on sale April 8 * 144 pg, FC, $12.99 US

In a bold experiment, Lone Star Press has made the PANTHEON: Welcome to the Machine trade paperback available through Amazon.com at a discount. On top of that, since the book is warehoused at an Amazon facility, most domestic orders are available for the free shipping. We would like to thank our retail partners for all of their support in the Direct Market. The books have worked their way through the DM for ten weeks now and we want to make the material available to all of the FABLES fans out there.

If you have not tried the PANTHEON book, this is your best deal yet.