Honored as hell to be part of this book with some of my favorite writers and favorite people. It’ll be out next August.
More info over at Akashic.
Monthly Archives: August 2015
Weird on Top
Wild at Heart was released 25 years ago today. I was 11, going on 12, and already a big David Lynch fan. I didn’t see it until it came out on VHS, whenever that was, and then I asked for the tape for my birthday the next year and watched it over and over, memorizing it. This is probably my favorite scene in any movie ever.
Also 25 years old: Pump Up the Volume, which I watched just about every goddamn day from seventh grade to eleventh grade (I dubbed it from a rental by connecting my mother’s VCR to my grandparents’ VCR). Probably the movie that had the most influence on me as a kid. The soundtrack introduced me to Leonard Cohen, MC5, The Pixies, Soundgarden, and Sonic Youth. I’m still in love with Nora Diniro. And I still chew Black Jack gum when I can find it. Bonus: the guy who wrote this great AV Club piece, Ron Hart, went to SUNY New Paltz, where I started in ’96 (I lived in New Paltz ’96-’01 and then ’02-’06).
Bound to Collapse
Dead End Follies made a list of “10 New Generation Genre Writers You Need to Read,” and I’m honored as hell to be included.
Thanks to Benoit for these kind words about my work:
“Boyle is a bit of a classicist who can harness the beauty of hardboiled and literary fiction both. His characters are complex, layered and tormented. They are built like rows of majestic buildings bound to collapse in an inevitable natural disaster.”
Update
Man. Shit. I haven’t updated this site in a long time. Have a bunch of stuff I’ve been wanting to post here since March; I hope I remember it all. A couple of other things first: I’m reading at TurnRow Books in Greenwood, MS before a presentation of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross on 8/13 at 6:45 p.m. I’ll also be on the Short Stories Panel at the Mississippi Book Festival in Jackson, MS on 8/22.
1. Back in March, my second book, a short story collection called Death Don’t Have No Mercy, came out. Megan Abbott, hero and pal, had these kind things to say about it:
2. I did the Book Talk podcast with Stephen Usery in Memphis. Listen here.
3. David Bowles said some swell things about Death Don’t Have No Mercy and Broken River Books over at The Monitor. He thought the stories were “evocative of James Cain,” which means a hell of a lot to me.
4. Rob Hart, who just put out a terrific debut novel called New Yorked, made a list of Five Great Books About New York City and included Gravesend. It lifted my heart to see my book up there on The Daily Beast with books by some of my heroes.
5. For a minute there, back at the end of April, I somehow had the top-selling book in Mississippi according to The Clarion-Ledger. I’m not sure how it’s even possible, but it’s the only time I’ll ever see my name at the top of a list like this, so I’ll take it.
6. Here’s Death Don’t Have No Mercy on Jack Pendarvis’s recommendation shelf at Square Books.
7. Noir at the Bar Oxford 2 was a big success. Seems like a long damn time ago already. I have some photos from the event, more than last time anyway. I won’t post them here, but they’re on my Instagram if you want to check them out. Great night.
8. Some kind words about Gravesend from Philip David Alexander, author of Peacefield, over at Goodreads: “This is a dark gem of a book that will more than satisfy fans of David Goodis, George V. Higgins, Richard Price and Daniel Woodrell.” Full review here.
9. I was home in Brooklyn for a couple of weeks and took a lot of pictures. Most are up on my Instagram page. Here are a couple I didn’t post there. This train platform is the D station at 25th Avenue in my neighborhood, where the last scene in Gravesend takes place.
10. Here’s a picture of me, Tom Franklin, and Ace Atkins celebrating the publication of Ace’s great new Quinn Colson novel, The Redeemers, on the balcony at City Grocery last week. Pick up a signed copy here. Photo credit: Milly Moorhead West.
William Boyle 