Books, Blood & Bear Sightings

The last time I wrote you, I had just landed in Philly for the second stop on my California Bear book tour. I haven’t written since then because after gorging on my first Wawa hoagie in ages, I promptly fell into a cold cut coma and only woke up a few hours ago.

Okay, that’s not entirely true. After rousing myself from a carb-and-salt stupor, the tour continued on, through metaphorical rain and literal snow… I mean, look at the windshield of my rental car before trekking out to Reads & Co. in Phoenixville!

But as the tour rolled on, I had a secret agenda. In various hotel rooms across the country, I was practicing and fine-tuning a California Bear movie pitch with the wildly-talented writer Gary Lennon (Power Book IV: Force; Orange is the New Black, Justified), and all of these months later, I can finally share some pretty cool news, as first revealed over at Deadline last week:

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I couldn’t be happier with the teams at Proximity and 20th Century Studios, who have been fierce advocates of the novel back when it was still in galleys. Now the real fun begins as we rip apart the book and rearrange it into a screenplay. I’m hopeful this is only the start of a series of Matilda Queen adventures (in both print and film) but I realized that I’ve painted myself into a corner much like Dashiell Hammett did with The Thin Man. Remember: the titular “Thin Man” wasn’t Nick Charles, but Clyde Wynant, who ended up (90-year-old SPOILER here) dead. Likewise, the California Bear’s exploits are probably limited to this first novel. But what do I call the sequels? After the California Bear? Song of the California Bear? Cub of the California Bear? Freddy vs. Jason vs. The California Bear?

(Actually, I do have the titles of the next two Matilda Queen novels in mind, and none of them involve bears.)

I’ll keep you posted as much as I can… though typically, I’m not allowed to reveal anything before the studio does. For now, I’m happy to finally be able to share this announcement, and I know Evie would be proud. And, most likely, suggesting plenty of young actors who could play Matilda.

The Red Stuff

Next Thursday, July 11, the Team Evie Foundation is hosting its annual Birthday Blood Drive at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena! Each donation helps two patients at Children’s Hospital LA, and we know from lived experience how incredibly vital this can be. (Six years ago this summer, you may have donated a blood or platelets that helped Evie in her fight against leukemia.)

Pro-tip: sign up for an early slot, because every year Meredith and I bring a couple dozen of Randy’s Donuts to the donation mobile… and they go fast.

And if you’re nowhere near Pasadena, but still want to contribute, keep reading…

The Read Stuff

Every year we also host a fundraiser at Vroman’s, the best indie bookstore in town. For every book you buy, a portion of the sale goes to support the Foundation, which is dedicated to bringing new books and fresh blood to the kids at CHLA.

Shopping in person? Bring a copy of this voucher below and present it to the friendly clerk. Shopping online? Type TEAMEVIE into the coupon code field.

Stumped on what to order? If I were walking you around the store, I’d drop copies of, say, Cottonwood (Scott Phillips), Hurricane Blonde (Halley Sutton), Early Sobrieties (Michael Deagler), A Better World (Sarah Langan), Broiler (Eli Cranor), Violent Spring (Gary Phillips) and Catchpenny (Charlie Huston) into your eager arms, at which point I’d be dragging you over to the graphic novel section to do some real damage.

The point is: never go book shopping with me if you want to maintain good credit.

Actually, wait… the real point is: if you buy books, consider buying a lot of them next week, and don’t forget your voucher or TEAMEVIE coupon code.

WHO THE...? You’ve signed up for a newsletter from writer Duane Swierczynski, who has written more than a dozen novels, hundreds of comic books, a fistful of screenplays and audio dramas, and other violent entertainments. He works out of a tiny private-eye style office in Old Pasadena. Learn more at gleefulmayhem.com and linktr.ee/swierczy.