from John Sandford

I have a few "favorite authors" - those that I will read absolutely everything they write that I can get my hands on.  Dennis LeHane is one, I've mentioned him many times.  So is Jennifer Haigh.  And then there are writers that I read regularly, not necessarily because they're my favorite writers but maybe because I'm following their character thru a series (Sue Grafton's Kinsey Malone) or because I started with their first book & am numbly making a collection (John Grisham), or because I enjoyed one of their books & am hoping I'll enjoy more (but haven't quite yet, as would be the case with Scott Turow).  There's more, many more but amongst the collection is a stand-out.  This writer has had my heart from the first opening line I read and I've followed him & his characters (yeah, he has more than one), through book after book after book, and I've stalked him on Facebook, repeatedly check his website and joined his forum.  He is the writer I hold high above the rest.  He is not just my favorite of my favorites, he's THE BEST storyteller I've ever read, and if I thought about it, I'd have to say, he's the writer I respect the most (Stephen King would be a close second).

Who is this highly regarded phenomenon?  None other than...

John Sandford

I met him, in the literary sense, when my flight attendant roommate brought home "Rules of Prey," a paperback a passenger gave her as he exited her plane.  I picked it up & didn't put it down until I turned the last page.  I immediately went to the bookstore - Waldenbooks - and picked up his next two novels - same main character, same series, all have the word "Prey" in the title - already out in paperback.  I read them both within a few days and said, "when's the next book coming out?" 

Ahhhh, herein lies the problem: because I'm quirky (I admit it), I can't buy the hardbacks because I started my series collection in paperback.  Yeah, really.  Soooo, not only do I have to wait for the new books to release, I have to wait for them to be released in paperback!!!  That's, like, forever!

But I've made it through, and have even included his spin-off series in my reading collection.  I harbor every word, I covet every book.  I think this man humbly walks on water.  Such an inspiration to me (he started out as an investigative journalist), I'm in awe of him - and the reason I'm posting all this about him now is because this is what he posted today on
Facebook:

I've got a complete draft of Silken Prey, but it still needs a lot of work. I'll spend the next month doing that, the editing, take a week or so off, and then get started on the next Virgil Flowers novel. I think one problem that beginning writers have is that they try to make the first draft perfect -- and perfection is tough. I don't work that way. I try to get a decent first draft, then really bear down on the rewrite. A rewrite's a lot easier to get done when you know the whole arc of the novel. In the first version of this novel, for instance, the personality of the chief villain, a woman whose name is Taryn Grant, is a little too vague. I need to punch her up a bit, but really, that only takes a few hundred words, and because I now know all of her appearances in the novel, I can spread those words out to the appropriate places. (A novel has a certain pacing, which is damaged if you put in big blocks of description ...or characterization. You can take all the information from those blocks, break it up, spread it around, achieve the same end, and nobody notices.)


Feel like that is written just for me!  He's saying, "you can do it, but ya gotta just do it."  Damn.  He's not just a great storyteller, he's a great writing coach, too.

Certain Prey, the movie & the book

Huge, huge, HUGE John Sandford fan here - fell in love with his writing back in 1989 when my roommate, a flight attendant, came home with "Rules of Prey" (she was an avid reader, too, and had picked it up on an airport layover).  I confiscated it, then devoured it and then anxiously awaited the next in the series (talk about torture).  I've been reading this series, in order, ever since which means I've been following Lucas Davenport for 22 years now and my passion has never waned.  He's the best, he's a beast.  Oh, and John Sandford, his creator, is pretty cool, too.  He is definitely my favorite author and Lucas Davenport is still, after all these years, my favorite character.

So how excited do you think I was to hear there was a movie based on "Certain Prey" (book #10 out of 21) airing on USA Network Sunday, November 6th?

Pretty darn excited.  I even wrote it on my calendar so I wouldn't forget.

And I didn't.

Gotta say, I was not disappointed.

So wonderful to see a story come to life, especially when it comes to life RIGHT.  What could I expect from a 2-hour-w/commercial-interruptions-included-made-for-TV-movie?  Not much, right?  WRONG.  Dead wrong because this movie was dead on.  Well, except...  I pictured my black Irish, tough, brooding Lucas Davenport looking like this...

(it was the early '90s, remember?  And I did think Alec Baldwin was dreamy back then...)

Instead, the movie gave me this: 

NOT bad!  NOT complaining, just thinking Mark Harmon is a bit old for the womanizing, sex-fiend Davenport of 1999 when Certain Prey was published (maybe, tho, as the current married, committed father Lucas has grown into he'd be PERFECT).  But, I have to admit, it did end up working for me.  And quite well...

My favorite character in the movie is Carmel Loan.  Except...  well, I pictured her looking like this:

Tough as nails Ellen Barkin in her younger days (am I showing my age????).  What I got was...

Lola Glaudini of Criminal Minds and, as Carmel, she kicked ASS!  By far the best acting of the entire movie.  She absolutely nailed it.  You go, Girl.

I could go on & on & on, but I won't. 

Well, wait...  there was one character I didn't care for (but I think I didn't care for her in the book, either) - Marcy!  Literature Marcy looks like this:

A young, sexy Sean Young.  BUT the movie Marcy looked like this:

And THAT didn't work for me, but it wasn't Athena Karkanis' fault.  She's lovely and she tried really, really hard (maybe too much?).  I really think she didn't work for me because I don't like Marcy in the books, her character kinda sorta irks me...  and in the movie, they made her, really, VERY annoying.  Ugh.

Sorry, Athena.

The rest - Clara, Sloan, Mason, etc. - they were fine.  And I loved the movie, I truly did.  It followed the book closely, which was nice, believe it or not.  (Some folks don't like that.  Have to say, I'm not necessarily one of them).  You know, I read this book so long ago BUT it was one of the Davenports that has stuck with me through the years.  I remember it almost vividly and as we were watching (my son & I), I would say, "well, in the book, this is what was about to happen" (NO, I am NOT "one of those" who spoils the ending!  He, being only 13, had alot of questions - and he likes to guess what's going to happen next & he would ask me so I'd tell him.  Honest.).  And, sure enough, that is what would happen next. 

I got a little nervous there at the end because I thought they weren't going to have that one little phone call - if you saw the movie or read the book you know what I'm talking about! - but they did have it & I am sooooo excited, cuz, I'm thinking that means another movie should be coming!!!  Yay-o-yay-o-YAY! 

Hope Mark Harmon is up for it.