Dorchester Publishing Teams Up With Barnes & Noble

Charles Ardai, editor with Hard Case Crime takes the helm as Dorchester teams up with Barnes & Noble to create a forum for crime fiction discussion.

From the press release:
New York, NY – October 2, 2007 – To celebrate Mystery Month, Barnes & Noble.com will launch its new Crime Book Club this October with an online discussion among award-winning mystery novelists on the topic “Chandler’s Children.” The discussion will provide fans of detective fiction, hardboiled crime fiction, and film noir the opportunity to discuss with some of today's most talented crime writers how Raymond Chandler—the legendary novelist, two-time Edgar Award-winner, and creator of iconic private eye Philip Marlowe—continues to influence the genre almost 50 years after his death.

Moderated by 2007 Edgar Award-winning author and founder/editor of Hard Case Crime Charles Ardai, the inaugural Crime Book Club discussion will feature fellow Hard Case Crime authors Ken Bruen, Jason Starr, Allan Guthrie and Christa Faust, as well as Charlie Huston, Duane Swierczynski and Megan Abbott. The discussion will cover topics as diverse as “The Necessary Library: The Top Ten Novels that Every Noir Aficionado Must Have,” “Film Noir and the Novels That Inspired It,” “The Novelist as Screenwriter,” “Crime as Literature and the Origins of Crime Fiction,” “Dead Street: The Forthcoming Final Crime Novel from Mickey Spillane,” and—perhaps most importantly—“Chandler’s Children: How Today’s Crime Novelists Are Honoring and Adapting the Traditions of Noir Master Raymond Chandler.”

One of the originators of hardboiled and noir crime fiction, Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) authored nine novels, including The Big Sleep (1939), which was adapted into the 1946 film, directed by Howard Hawks, and The Long Goodbye (1953), which was adapted into the controversial 1973 film, directed by Robert Altman. Chandler is also the renowned screenwriter of the Oscar Award-nominated films Double Indemnity (1944), directed by Billy Wilder; The Blue Dahlia (1946), directed by George Marshall; and Strangers on a Train (1951), directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Additional Marlowe novels that were made into celebrated films include The High Window (released as Time to Kill in 1943), directed by Herbert I. Leeds and Farewell, My Lovely (1975), directed by Dick Richards. A new film based on Chandler's novella, "Trouble Is My Business," is currently in development by Universal Pictures, to be helmed by Frank Miller, director of Sin City and 300. A Philip Marlowe TV series is also in development.

Barnes & Noble’s Online Book Club provides a unique forum where readers and writers can meet to exchange ideas and opinions. Starting October 2, 2007, anyone interested in participating in the discussion or just discovering outstanding crime novels they might never have known about should visit www.bn.com/crime .

For more information on Hard Case Crime and the authors participating in this event, please visitHard Case Crime.

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The release suggests more pairings between Dorchester and Barnes & Noble may be in the future for other genres. As something of a cousin to the Hard Case Crime crew, I've already been snooping around a bit, and with Ardai's plans for the forum it promises to generate a lot of interest.