Tim Hallinan is Back: Notes from Exile

An apparition.

Our dear Tim has come back to visit. He’s gotten tons of accolades for his Junior Bender series and now his latest Poke set in Bangkok is out —FOR THE DEAD—and of it is said:  “A wondrous work, emotionally complex and stirring, with an excellent plot and perfect characterization. I don’t know how Hallinan channeled this from his inner self, but this book is superb. In fact, the whole series is extraordinary.”—Maddy van Hartbruggen, For Mystery Addicts

Thanks for joining us Tim and welcome ‘home’!

Cara 

It's soooooo nice to be back on MIE, and thanks to the ever-generous Cara Black for suggesting that I take her weekly spot to weigh in and tell you what's up in my world, now that I no longer pester you here once every week.

First in my heart, of course, are the Los Angeles Dodgers. Biggest payroll in major league baseball, talent at every position, and incapable of getting a runner home from second base. They hold the most melancholy baseball record I can think of at the moment: they're the team who, in a single season, most often got the bases loaded without scoring anyone. It was so bad that one writer suggested to opposing teams that the best way to beat the Dodgers was to let them get three men on base every inning.

Dodger center fielder, Yasiel Puig, 0 for 12 in post-season 

On the other hand, there was some good baseball news, and her name was Mo'ne Davis. What a lift she gave to my spirits.

Mo'ne, bringing it.

There is a world outside of baseball, and in it there's been yet another military coup in Thailand, the twelfth since 1932, when the constitutional monarchy was put in place. This one is especially heinous (in my mind) because it was, in essence, a coup against the nation's voters. The Democratic Party, the major party of the traditional Thai elite, has not attained power by, you know, winning an election since 2000, and it was becoming evident that they never would, so the Army (which is commanded by the elite) took over, and the head of the Army retired his uniform and proclaimed himself prime minister.  (See, a general isn't supposed to be prime minister, so this change of clothes avoided a violation of the constitution.  Wouldn't want to violate the constitution after illegally seizing power, would we?)

Coup troops restoring order. See all the disorder?

In a country with a long tradition of free speech, the coup outlawed protest of any kind. There was a brief rash of individuals sitting around eating sandwiches and reading Orwell's 1984, but they got arrested. So people left 1984 home and just sat around pointedly eating a sandwich, and they got arrested. Now the rule is (honest) no group of people numbering more five or more can just sit or stand around, with or without sandwiches.

Enemy of the State.  This guy was dragged away moments after this picture was taken. Honest. 

Oh, and the coup's motto is "Be Happy."

Junior's Latest Adventure

A bit closer to home, my Junior Bender series has been bought for NBC television by my favorite comic in the world, Eddie Izzard.  The deal for a weekly series was announced about a month ago. As happy as I am about this, the thing I probably like best is that I sat all by myself in Santa Monica, laughing as I wrote about Junior, and in London. God only knows how many thousand miles away, Eddie Izzard read it, and he laughed, too.  When I finally reach those pearly gates (fingers crossed) and I'm asked, "So?  What did you do?" I'll be able to say, "I made Eddie Izzard laugh."

Eddie, not laughing.

Last and certainly not least (the Dodgers can claim that honor), the sixth Poke Rafferty book, For the Dead, comes out today, November 4. This is Miaow's book, and I can (and will) say that I have a special feeling for it. Reviews have been phenomenal, and William Kent Krueger said, “For the Dead is not only a fast-paced, compelling tale, but also, on every level, a fine literary read.・And Edgar-winner Wendy Hornsby described it as, "Beautiful, scary, and heartbreaking all at once. Read it and weep."

Miaow's book.

When and if I ever stop writing the Poke novels, the character I'll miss most is Miaow.  She's been my favorite character to write, ever. I put whatever I had (and then some) into this particular book, and I hope it pays off in enjoyment on the reader's end of this long equation. Please let me know whether you like it.

Thanks to Cara, Jeffrey, et, al. for letting me hang my sign here this week.  See you all again, I hope.

Tim for Cara—Tuesday

It's a Great Place to Live, But I Wouldn't Want to Visit There.

National Geographic Traveler Magazine Photo

Cara, Leighton, Michael and Stanley, I have bad news.  National Geographic Traveler Magazine (NGT) has officially declared its twenty “Best of the World Trips for 2012,” and your spots didn’t make it.  London and Greece did, and Thailand’s Koh Lipe came in at number two, second only to—drum roll please—the land of the scourged sheep’s head, Yrsa’s Iceland.  So, to half my MIE mates, congratulations, and to the rest better luck next year.

Iceland's Snaefellsnes Peninsula (NGT photo)

Thailand (NGT photo)

London's Tower Bridge and City Hall (NGT photo)

Hmmm.   I’m not sure if I should share the balance of the news, because I don’t know if it will make my slighted brethren feel better or worse, but here goes.  Paris, Rio, and Cape Town weren’t just overlooked, they were stomped in the ratings by the home of Monongahela River water, pickle pins, and French fries served inside your crusty Italian bread sandwich and on top of your salad.

Pittsburgh's Duquesne incline

The list of the twenty best included three from North America: Muskoka, Ontario; Sonoma, California; and—triangle tinkle please—Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Yes, “da ‘burgh” as it is known to locals is now considered one of the Best Places in the World to Visit, and the photo from NGT at the top of this piece is of its convention center. 

Muskoka (NGT hoto)

Sonoma (NGT photo)

Yes, I hear the punch line coming, “but I wouldn’t want to live there.”  Funny thing about that is Pittsburgh was ranked in 2011 as the US’s most livable city, a ranking it’s achieved a half-dozen times, along with placing near the top of those rankings for most of the last three decades.  So, the line most often heard in self-deprecating Pittsburgh is the title to this piece.  At least until this month’s NGT came out.

On a personal level, the article has made me rethink several things.  For example, living as I do half the year on a Greek island, but being born and raised in Pittsburgh, you’d be surprised how often I get an interview question along the lines of, “So, how do you compare Mykonos to Pittsburgh?”

When the question is asked live, it’s invariably followed by “ha-ha,” and if in writing by a smiley face.

My stock answer had been, “In Pittsburgh the gyro is made out of ground, pressed lamb but on Mykonos it’s made with shaved lamb.  Otherwise the places are identical,” followed by the obligatory “ha-ha” or :-).   

What had I been missing?  I had to learn what led NGT’s editorial board to propel Pittsburgh from the town I’d known in my youth to the ranks of its top twenty—other than perhaps a few too many sips of its river water.

Vathia, in Southwest Mani

I figured I’d start as if evaluating a new guidebook: read what it said about a place I knew well and see if I agreed.  On Greece, NGT wrote that to discover the true “fierce beauty where traditions run deep” you must abandon “the instant gratification of its seaside resorts” and explore Greece’s mainland.  Then it went on to single out as special the rugged Mani peninsula in the southern Peloponnese.  I couldn’t have agreed more, except in the sense of more south, into the deep Mani part of the peninsula closer to where the Ionian Sea meets the Aegean.  I love that area (to visit) and wrote about it a year ago.

But I digress. 

Now that I knew NGT and I were on the same page, it was on to Pittsburgh.

           

Old Pittsburgh Steel Mill

I left right after college and though I return several times a year, I admit to having lost a bit of my native feel for the place.  Still, the opening lines of NGT’s description did not surprise me.  Pittsburgh’s transition from its heavy industrial history into a modern medical and high tech metropolis is a well-known international success story, so it wasn’t unexpected for NGT to describe Pittsburgh as “a reinvented city…with a transformation…[that] qualifies as revolutionary.”

But then came the line that should be the cover blurb for Pittsburgh’s City Charter: “A natural setting that rivals Lisbon and San Francisco, a wealth of fine art and architecture, and a quirky sense of humor.”

A Pittsburgh City Councilman

Wow.  And to think I left all that to live on an island of instant gratification.

I can’t wait to be back in da ‘burgh for Thanksgiving—after a quick panel appearance next Saturday (November 19th at 3PM) at Miami Book Fair International (along with my MIE tee shirt and authors Sharon Potts, Neil Plakcy, and Ian Vasquez).  I need to get back to my quirky roots…no matter how famous the t(h)ree rivers may have become :-).

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Jeff—Saturday