Media Murder for Monday

 

On Morning Edition's "Crime in the City" series, they profiled Joseph Wambaugh (The Onion Field) who is now working with Sony Pictures to turn his Hollywood trilogy into a TV series. He says he plans to continue writing about the cops in Los Angeles, "because I'm an LAPD cop, now and forever."

"Fresh Air" from NPR and WHYY rebroadcast a program from 1997 which featured mystery novelist Janwillem Van de Wetering, who died July 4th of this year at the age of 77. The interview focused on his colorful past (which included stints as a motorcycle gang member in South Africa, an aspiring monk in Kyoto, Japan, and a policeman in Amsterdam) and how that all contributed to a masterful storyteller.

The Independent profiled podcast guru Scott Sigler, who is "changing the way we read." He broadcasts his science fiction novels, most of which have never been published, via a small cubicle containing an Apple Macintosh and some recording equipment, which is all he's needed to become the world's most famous podcast author. His first, Earthcore, notched up 10,000 listeners. Its sequel, Ancestor, managed 30,000. After building an audience via the Internet, this week, he will try to reach the traditional book-buying public with Infected, a physical book. "The only way to get people's attention these days is to give them something for free. If someone walks into a bookstore, why would they pick up a Scott Sigler when there's a Stephen King? They won't. So I give my content away, give readers a chance to try it for free. And if they like my stuff, then guess what: they'll go out and buy the book." We'll have to wait and see how his experiment plays out and what it means for other authors.

Journalist Gary Baumgarten's daily online show, News Talk Online, recently featured Stephen J. Cannell as guest. Cannell discussed his new novel, a thriller, At First Sight, the fact he overcame dyslexia to become a writer, and that he still uses a typewriter to tap out his work ("and probably always will").

And the U.S. Census Bureau, of all things, has an online Radio America series called "Profile America," which recently took a look at two important detective fiction birthdays this month, Erle Stanley Gardner and Raymond Chandler.