Crime Expert BURL BARER. Edgar Award Winner and NYT Bestselling Author

Resurrecting the Dead -- It's not a zombie, it's a work of literature!

"KING CITY began as a TV series pitch that I took all over Hollywood four or five years ago," writes my nephew, Lee Goldberg, best-selling author of the MONK books, among others.
"It generated some interest but ultimately didn't lead to anything. So I put it in a drawer and moved on."

Now, years later, KING CITY is schedule for publication as a stand alone novel.  Lee details the process of how King City went from discarded TV pitch to forthcoming novel in his latest blog post. 

I got a special kick out of him sharing this process because I recently had a similar experience with my forthcoming, "Hidden Words: The Alaska Mail Bomb Conspiracy."  It began as a non-fiction  proposal more than ten years ago, then expanded into a full outline when sold to a publisher for release in hardcover. Showtime was planning a TV movie adaptation, and everything seemed perfect.

No such luck. The publisher went under in the midst of a financial scandal,and the book rights were considered part of the company's assets until liquidation. SHOWTIME used the core concept for a Baltimore crime drama starring Lou Gossett, Jr.  By the time I had reversal of rights confirmation, the original crime was outside my new publisher's "time fence" for mass market paperback true crime books. 

Last month I found the original proposal, notes and some of my interviews tucked away in a cardboard box. Yep, I started all over again. The new improved Hidden Words: The Alaska Mail Bomb Conspiracy will appear in the anthology, "MASTERS OF TRUE CRIME: Chilling Stories of Murder and the Macabre" (Prometheus Books, August 2012), edited by R. Barri Flowers who provided excellent guidance on re-crafting the story's narrative drive. I'm delighted that the story will finally see publication, and thrilled that I'm considered among the MASTERS OF TRUE CRIME!

I'm sure Lee Goldberg agrees that stitching together the pieces and remnants of projects presumed dead, giving them a jolt of current literary sensibilities, and seeing them rise from the slab of unfulfilled promise gives an author a feeling of elation best expressed by the actor Colin Clive :  

“Chasing the Tail of the Dragon.”

“Chasing the tail of the dragon” is a drug culture expression meaning that the initial “high” of drug use cannot be re-experienced by using more drugs.

It is a futile quest because that initial high wasn't in the drug, but in the brain's chemical response.

Long after pleasure is replaced by discomfort, the addicted person will continue using in a vain attempt to have a sensation that recedes further and further from them with each attempt to attain it.

 The drug user who is not addicted knows that “chasing the tail of the dragon” is a waste of time, money, emotion and, of course, drugs. When the intoxication approaches a certain level, they “know when to say when.” For drinkers, this is called “drinking responsibly.” When non-addicted drug users find that a drug no longer “works,” they simply stop using it.

Persons with addiction, however, compulsively use long after the the thrill is gone, even when using causes blatantly unpleasant physical,.emotional and social consequences. This isn't because they “don't know any better,” or that they are intentionally hurting themselves. The reason, simply put, is that the “knowing better” part of the brain – the area of executive function and judgment – is temporarily out of order. They are not using drugs against their better judgment. They are continuing to use because their better judgment is not functioning.

 

 

 

Diana Montane praises FATAL BEAUTY, and that's enough to make me blush.

"More lies and deception than in the Casey Anthony case, and more premeditation and delusion than Betty Broderick, the case of Rhonda Glover rightly belongs among the top episodes of Investigation Discovery's "Deadly Women." (It was, however, featured in a segment of "Snapped," although Rhonda did not exactly "snap," but prey, and slowly.) 

Detectives uncover "allegations of conspiracy, financial fraud, manipulation of oil markets, kidnapping, child murder, drug dealing, Satanic rituals and perverse sexual behavior by respected members of Texas' social 
elite." Rhonda Glover reports seeing "demons in her walls and disembodied life forms threatening her." She also alleges that her long time live-in boyfriend, Jimmy Joste, is the biological son of serial killer John Wayne Gacy. 
Known for her sexual prowesses, beauty queen turned athlete Glover not only "could do no wrong. She could do all the wrong she wanted." 
Burl Barer puts together this real-life murder mystery like a picture puzzle, supplying the myriad pieces from accounts of detectives, CSI investigators, mental health professionals, substance abuse counselors, and even trainers at the shooting range where Rhonda engaged in target practice almost obsessively, and to the point of zeroing in on the upstairs bedroom of the home she shared with Joste. There are also telling tales from the people closest to the couple. 
This book is for those who prefer to draw their own conclusions about the ticking time-bomb that was this alluring, yet enigmatic woman."

Diana Montane is no stranger to compelling true crime. In fact, she co-authored with Teresa Rodriguez  the highly praised The Daughters of Juarez, submitted for consideration in the Edgar Awards.  

For more than twelve years, the city of Juárez, Mexico -- just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas -- has been the center of a horrific crime wave against women and girls. Consisting of kidnappings, rape, mutilation, and murder, most of the atrocities have involved young, slender, and poor victims -- fueling the premise that the murders are not random. As for who is behind the crimes themselves, the answer remains unknown -- though many have speculated that the killers are American citizens, and others have argued that the killings have become a sort of blood sport due to the lawlessness of the city itself. And despite numerous arrests over the last ten years, the murders continue to occur, with the killers growing bolder, dumping bodies in the city itself rather than on the outskirts of town, as was initially the case, indicating a possible growing and most alarming alliance of silence and cover-up by Mexican politicians.

Now, in The Daughters of Juárez, the authors provide the first eye-opening and authoritative nonfiction work of its kind, examining the brutal killings and drawing attention to these startling atrocities on the border. The end result will shock readers and become required reading on the subject for years to come.

Diana also co-wrote with Kathy Kelly, "I Would Find a Girl Walking," Culled from interviews with the lead investigator and the victims' families, and exclusive access to the killer, this is a revealing, shocking, and unflinching portrait of Gerald Eugene Stano, a man who fancied himself one of the greatest lady-killers of them all.

#5 best selling true crime e-book

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebooks.com%2F631491%2Ffatal-beauty%2Fbarer-burl%2F&h=8AQBW7U0vAQBsWKvYGg4YAEmh6-Szyo22ziA9PtCy2jEbTQ

When Outlaws are Outlawed, Only Outlaws will be Outlaws.

This is how old folks such as I amuse themselves....

The gang from Outlaw Radio with James Kotak and Stephani Smith

None of us were arrested, honest

Notice Matt Alan's head is, for the first time, leaning LEFT.

Petition the President about the price of gas? (repost from 2005)

Today I received an email petition to President Bush asking him to lower gasoline prices.

After staring drop jawed at the list of several hundred people who typed their names on this "petition," I had a long conversation with my dogie, Isis, about the absurd markup on dog food. The highest profit margin at your supermarket is on pet food. The stuff is cheap to make, and absurdly overpriced. Let's all send an email to the Executive Branch of the United States Government and bitch about dog food prices. Women's shoes are also overpriced. I'm sure the President can fix that too.   Perhaps more devastating to the economy is the recent increase in ticket prices at 93% of America's movie houses.

I'm sure the President of the United States has control over movie prices, dog food prices, and gas prices. He IS a dictator, isn't he? Oh, you say we have a democracy and a free market system? Private enterprise?  Gee, I guess if we want to complain about the price of goods or services, we might complain to the company that supplies the goods or services.  Seriously folks, our beloved President Bush describes himself as "the war president -- I wake up every morning with war on my mind."

While that is reassuring for the arms industry, It doesn't mean much for federal support of other matters -- be they education, arts, science, or price controls of private industry.  NOW : If the President of the United States is ever empowered to dictate the prices of goods and services in the marketplace, please inform me immediately --I want him to immediately lower the cost of dog food, cable TV, and jeans.