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"It takes guts to be nuts." 
MAD DOGS, my new novel launched from the CIA's secret inane asylum, will be published this Fall. Check it out by clicking the MAD DOGS image above. 
The poster from the International Festival Du Film Policier at Cognac, France where Grady was honored for his novels. The Festival also honored actor Jeff Bridges and director Claude Chabrol for their careers. |
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©2003 James Grady, jamesgrady.net |
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WHAT'S NEW includes recommendations, observations, acknowledgements, previews and announcements of my projects. As of June 19 MAD DOGS has been option for movie and TV development by Lucas Foster, producer of MR. AND MRS. SMITH, JUMPERS and STREET KINGS. The English newspaper The Daily Telegraph just published a list of "50 Crime Writers To Read Before You Die" and I'm proud to say that I made their list. Charles Dickens, Conan Doyle, G.K. Chesterton, Wilkie Collins, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler are on the list, so to be mentiioned in their company is a truly humbling experience. I'm also lucky enough to count several of the authors as at least acquaintances, including the late Ed McBain, James Ellroy, Carl Hiaasen, Robert Crais, Elmore Leonard and George Pelecanos. Congratulations to all of the 50, here or gone. A new nonfiction book "Comrade J: The Untold Secrets of Russia's Master Spy in America After the End of the Cold War" by former WASHINGTON POST reporter Pete Earley reports that "THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR" -- the 1975 Robert Redford movie based on my SIX DAYS OF THE CONDOR novel -- inspired the KGB to create a 2,000 man secret division to do the kind of work KGB Generals saw Condor/Redord doing in the film. Essentially, my novel about spies who read fiction became a film that inspired the real world KGB to create a secret division of spies who read fiction. Wow! What if shapes what is. I feel like a character in a novel by Kurt Vonnegut or Phillip K. Dick. I'm the joker in the wilderness of mirrors. * * * * * Meanwhile, in more "ordinary" news.... * THANKS GUYS! The CBS drama "NCIS" gave CONDOR movie, book and me by name wondrously kind shout-outs on episodes called TRIBES and EYE SPY. I have a soft spot in my heart for that show, because the real life precursor of that TV agency, the Naval Investigative Service, figured prominently in my novel RIVER OF DARKNESS. * The Dark Sacred Night, is my original ultra noir crime story published via Amazon.com's "Shorts" program. * The Chopin Manuscript, an audio book, is a serial work of fiction written by a cast of authors like Jeff Deaver, S.J. Rozan, John Gilstrap and others as a benefit for the International Thriller Writers association. I wrote Chapter 3 and the project just got named "Best Audio Book" of the year. Mad Dogs In brick & mortar and on-line stores NOW! LIBRARY JOURNAL (Barbara Conaty): "Grady, whose phenomenal Six Days of the Condor transformed the spy genre, grips you immediately with phantasmagoric writing at a breakneck pace. Avoiding introspection, he nonetheless illuminates the trauma at the heart of each (character's) psychic wound so that you care about what happens. Could this new novel from a veteran writer/reporter be the One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest of the cyber-generation?" * My daughter, Rachel Grady, and her co-director/producer Heidi Ewing, were ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEES for 2007 for their documentary: "JESUS CAMP" that portrays the distrubing world of evangelical Christians without editorializing. Their first full-length documentry THE BOYS OF BARKA got nominated for a 2007 Emmy. Rachel's also featured in a special issue of Smithsonian Magazine as one of 37 innovators under 37 who will change the world and, with Heidi, was honored by People For The American Way. Heidi also got married -- congrats to her and Doug Easdon. * About three times a week, my wife Bonnie Goldstein writes www.slate.com's "HOT DOCUMENT" column. She is also free lancing in such publications as THE WASHINGTON POST. Please check out her work. * I've been selected to be in the second D.C. NOIR --- CLASSICS volume with my Edgar nominated short story published a few years back called "Kiss The Sky." That story was bought for movie adaptation by FX. * I've been asked to contribute a short story to an upcoming anthology of modern spy fiction under the editorialship of the legendary Otto Penzler. * I've been asked to contribute a short story to an upcoming anthology of "pulp fiction tribute" short stories created by my friend and great author Joe Lansdale. * A new British edition of SIX DAYS OF THE CONDOR packaged with my "re-imaging" of the saga as a post-9/11 short story "condor.net" and an essay linking all that to history will be available in America this spring. * I was lucky enough to see the Bruce Springsteen concert in Washington -- and it blew me away. I've been going to "Broooce!" shows for 30 years, more than half my life, and this show is one of the best I've ever seen: powerful, emotional, political, and -- to quote Jon Stewart -- "joyus." Springsteen is one of the five great "poets with guitars" to whom I dedicated MAD DOGS. * Richard Thompson, another great singer-songwriter and terrifc performer who I dedicated MAD DOGS to, along with Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson and Billie Holiday, honored me with a "thank you" on his great new CD "SWEET WARRIOR" that contains a stunning new song about the surreal horror of the current war in Iraq told through the eyes of American soldiers. The song is called "Dad's Gonna Kill Me" -- 'nobody loves me here,' is the sad, poignant refrain. BUY THIS CD. * If you get a chance, go see Richard Thompson's joyous "1,000 Years Of Popular Music" show. Richard brings the "pop" hits of the last thousand years to life with great musicianship and the wittiest stand-up banter on any music stage. He's backed up by two outstanding artists who deserve their own spotlights: Judith Owen and Debra Dobkin. This is a show you must not miss. * I've started studying Taiji sword, learning, among other things: Do not drop your sword! and Do not slash your sword into your teacher's ceiling! WHAT'S GOING ON? Things "in the real world" to pay attention to: * Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, Burma, Tibet -- and New Orleans. Above all, do not forget the people on all sides who are being mauled in these "hot zones" by power politics. We have to learn to look with open and fresh eyes or we will be condemned to keep repeating past mistakes. And now, Pakistan gives us the assassination blues with fresh fears about freedom and mushroom clouds. * Amidst the absurd -- as Jon Stewart calls it -- "clusterf__k" to the White House, the two most important developments are the birth of a "never-ending campaign" that both the public and its would-be leaders must suffer through and the oceans of cash that are flooding what should be a process that's not for sale. But beyond that, I'm so proud of our country. The leading successful politicians are a Black man, a woman, and a past retirement age crusader. This is the democracy I love. MOVIES TO CHECK OUT: So far, Summer 2008 has not blown me away with its movies. IRONMAN surprised me -- I liked it a lot.
ON TV: Summer means re-runs. In that reality, let me recommend: "THE WIRE" is great! As is "THE MEDIUM." And, of course, we've got "THE SIMPSONS," still nailing it after all these years and "THE OFFICE" making us laugh between the tears. For classic "cops" drama, expand from the "LAW & ORDER" empire and "CSI"'s most wondrous lead actress to more traditional shows like "NCIS." "HOUSE" and "BONES" both hold my attention, and I confess a weakness for "TWO AND A HALF MEN." And I still get my best "news" from THE DAILY SHOW and THE COLBERT REPORT. In "new" episodes, I'm hoping "WEEDS" maintains its wondrous appeal of previous seasons, but I'm afraid they might have burned up the magic. BOOKS: I'm on a Jess Walter ride, loved THE ZERO. David Mitchell's CLOUD ATLAS is a difficult but seductive and brilliant novel. Finally, if some karma or curse has kept you from becoming a Steve Hunter fan, break free and grab his new novel, THE 47th SAMURAI. On Amazon Shorts, check out my buddy Quintin Peterson's crime stories chronicled with the authenticity of the D.C. police officer he is. Autumn Poems Life We I is just have all often have our schmear the significance Jack Nicholson on the bagel, to life in my head. said the Buddha. of a raindrop 'Funny how good hitting a pond. we look. The best of us don't wait for gravity.
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