A Preview to a Kill (and a Kill and a Kill and a....)

I Don't Even Have to Think of a Clever Header...So There!

There's a lot I could say tonight. There's probably a lot I should say tonight. About Dawn of the Dreadfuls' stellar Booklist review. About its stellar Romantic Times review. About the dozens and dozens of stellar reviews it got this week from bloggers. About the new "Holmes on the Range" novel I just turned in. About the big changes on the way for this website.

But you know what? I am fried, people. I've been under the gun on one project or another for the past 18 months. And my breather's not going to last long, because...well, that's something else I could tell you about. I won't, though. Tonight is about me and a six pack of Fat Tire and Zombieland in my DVD player. Oh, and off-the-cuff Oscar predictions. Just because.

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker

Best Director: James Cameron

Best Actor: Jeff Bridges

Best Actress: Meryl Streep

Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz

Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique

Best Adapted Screenplay: Up in the Air

Best Original Screenplay: The Hurt Locker

Best Animated Feature: Up

Best Documentary: The Cove

Best Art Direction: Avatar

Best Cinematography: Avatar

Best Costume Design: Nine

Best Editing: The Hurt Locker

Best Score: Up

Best Original Song: "Almost There" by Randy Newman

Best Short Film (Animated): Well, whadaya know? My apologies to all the aspiring animators out there. I just stopped caring.

Bonus for anyone who's read this far and has nothing to do: Plug your own predictions into the Comments dealie-do. If you do better than me, you'll get...oh, something fun. Sorry, I just stopped caring again.

Zombieland, here I come!

Steve Hockensmith
March 6, 2010

Portrait of the Artist as a Total Goober

Obviously, I've been a bit remiss about posting around here lately. Let's just call February my retroactive blogging sabbatical and leave it at that. But good news! Things were quiet because I was so busy making things happen, baby! Just wait until you hear what's coming up. You'll plotz. And that's a good thing.

It's a little too early for big announcements, though. So how about a teeny one? I have new head shots. Be still your beating heart, right? Hey, it's a sign of progress, people. You'll see. And I really needed them.

The last few years, alas, I've been doing a sort of reverse Dorian Gray thing: getting grayer and fleshier while my 8 x 10 glossy stayed exactly the same. Strange, eh? Apparently, it's called aging. I didn't think it applied to me, but lately I've been proven wrong.

So here you go -- five fab new glamor shots to choose from. Which should show up on the dust jacket of my next hardcover? You decide! (I don't really mean that, by the way. I'll decide. Or, more likely, I'll decide, and then the publisher will say, "Meh. Got anything else?")

Pre-emptive mockery. Because y'all are gonna give me all kinds of crap for this, right?

Here I am attempting to "make love to the camera." Seconds later, the camera slapped me and called the police.

Speaking of making love. You've heard of "tree huggers," right? Well, here I look like a tree f-.... O.K., in the interest of sparing us all nightmares, I'm not going to finish that thought.

Here I attempt to recreate -- from memory, mind you -- the author photo of the lovely and talented thriller writer Graham Brown. I don't think I quite pulled it off. It just looks like I didn't make it to the Port-a-John in time.

And finally (for now, anyway) -- you want zombies? I've got your zombies right here, pal.

 

Photos by Cecily Hunt. Over-the-top mugging by me.

Steve Hockensmith
March 2, 2010