Crime Fiction Revolution
Got a fancy new title, huh?
Isn’t it nice? And how about that graphic!
Are you…leading a revolution? Bro, calm down, he hasn’t even taken office yet.
Ha ha, no. Leading a revolution seems like a lot of work and a lot of singing and dancing and that makes me uncomfortable (most of my revolutionary knowledge comes from Hamilton).
So why the name change? I thought Crime Fiction Works was a good…well, no, actually, I didn’t understand it.
That’s fine.
Did you get sued?
What? No. Listen, every once in a while I use this section of the newsletter to talk about writers I like or controversies in the genre. And sometimes I write about war and elections.
I like to pivot.
Did you get a lot of, “All I want to hear about are the latest and greatest in crime fiction. Not your DUMB opinions, DUMMY.”
Not a lot, but a little. Enough to make me think that, even if I don’t agree with the occasional detractor, they got a point. This title needs to let you know, sometimes, things are gonna get punchy.
This is a crime fiction newsletter, to be sure, but it’s also my newsletter, and I’m a writer. This Author’s Note is often filled with something directly related to crime fiction and, if not, it’s tied to writing and the writing life. And yes, I could simply tell you about the best books to read while the world catches fire.
I’d still be a writer, just not an honest one.
And I can’t lay claim to what’s the greatest in crime fiction any more than an award or book club or clickbait listicle could. My goal is to share the titles that I personally think are important, or could be important, and the writers who are steering this new literary phase.
New literary phase?
Yah. I’ve stated this a lot over recent years, but we are in a new literary phase. One as important as romanticism or realism or modernism. It hasn’t been named yet, but we’re in a state where identity is the defining feature of our greatest works. This is happening in crime fiction, of course, but it’s also apparent in other literature. And I have always seen literature as a forest, with crime fiction as maybe the grandest tree, with its roots stretching and tangling with others for miles underneath the soil.
I want to focus on the writers who represent this new literary phase, who know the past and hold it in both reverence and rejection…as every new generation of artists eventually does of their mentors, as every child does of their parents.
(Except my son, who will always think I’m cool.)
So that’s why you went with “revolution.”
It’s a bit of that. Also because this newsletter comes out every three weeks, so it also fits the second definition of revolution: “an instance of revolving.” Isn’t that clever?
Ehhhhhh. Any other changes?
In addition to the occasional “shut up and dribbles,” some people have emailed suggestions that I make this a monetary venture…but I’m not doing that. I think literature, like all art, should be accessible to anyone, even though I also think artists should be fairly compensated. I dunno, maybe I’ll do a virtual tip jar someday, but I don’t know how to set that up and I spent most of my software learning time making that neat typing graphic.
This newsletter is coming up on six years of monthly’ish publication, and it’s been published under a few different titles during that time, and I’ve explored different formats and approaches. But the one thing that’s been consistent is that it’s mine and, because of that, it’s inherently going to document both what I observe in crime fiction, and my own growth as an essayist, short story writer, commentator, reviewer, and novelist. My job is to make it entertaining and informative and honest, and to offer you a path through the forest. I want to do my job well.
EA
You know that DC Reads program I’ve talked about non-stop for the past three months in this space? Well, registration is NOW OPEN.
You can read more about the program here, and registration links are hyperlinked below. I hope you can attend all the presentations, but the one I’m most excited about is on February 20, where I’ll be discussing DC’s ties to crime fiction with musical interludes from local jazz singer Sara Jones. I hope you can come to that one if you’re local to the DMV.
Wed., Feb. 12 - Virtual book for When She Left
Thurs, Feb. 20 - DC and Crime Fiction, with Sara Jones. Held at Southwest Library in DC.
Thurs, Mar. 20 - Panel with Lauren Francis-Sharma and Alice McDermott. Held at MLK Library in DC.
Welcome to Part Two of my long-running series, I MAKE IT AWKWARD (also known as “I Appreciate You”). Regular readers of CFR will remember that I launched this series with Halley Sutton last year, and then those readers very rightfully assumed I’d completely forgotten about it. Ha ha, not yet, but soon.
Anyway, I love the idea of this series, because I get to tell people how much I love their work, without having to tell them in person or be directly nice to anyone. So, homies, let’s talk about Alex Segura.
Every writer knows Alex, partially because he’s probably helped every writer out there at some point. He’s kind, knowledgeable, far too giving, and tireless. It’s hard to talk about him without talking about that generous spirit, but it’s a bit unfair, because he’s also become a formidable writer.
That sounds like he wasn’t before, which isn’t the case. Alex wrote the widely praised and influential Pete Fernandez detective series, which were fantastic, rightfully celebrated novels. But I was absolutely jaw-on-the-floor gobsmacked when I read his 2022 departure from that series, Secret Identity.
Every once in a while you read someone who has leveled up, and it seems fairly amazing, because they were already really good. That’s how Secret Identity hit me. Not only was this a compelling period mystery, but Alex absolutely wrote a story that only he could tell, and he told it beautifully. A longstanding fan of mystery novels and a influential comic books writer, with a love of New York and Miami, Alex put it all into Secret Identity, his story of a Cuban woman named Carmen Valdez who is intent on joining the comic book industry in 1975, and creates the first female superhero for her company. Reading it felt like knowing his heart.
Last weekend was my grandmother’s funeral, and I flew to Panama, and it was a very hard trip. For one thing, I don’t like to travel that much. I’ve always been a homebody, and that desire seems to only be growing more fixed as I get older. And I really don’t like going places without my wife and kid, but the trip was too expensive for all three of us, so I went without them. I wanted to be there for my mom, who is one of the strongest women you’ll ever meet, but also beautifully vulnerable. And Panama is, to my grief, a mixed place for me. I was born there, half my family lives there, and I long to know it better than I do…but my Spanish has always been so halting that I can never find the courage to talk. For sure, I feel loved when I’m there, but I sometimes don’t truly feel like I belong to these wonderful people.
Alex Segura’s Alter Ego came out in late December, his follow-up to Secret Identity, and I took it with me. I was nervous on the plane, for the reasons mentioned above, but as soon as I started reading, I was on familiar ground. The characters were different, but this was still a richly drawn comics book world, and it hearkened back to what I’d loved in its predecessor. It was like going to a new school, but doing so with old classmates. And that sensation introduced something in me, a familiarity, a familial urge, one that stayed with me in Panama, as I embraced my cousins, and said goodbye to mi abuela Raquel. As I held hands with my mother after she said a prayer by her mother’s tomb, as we ate tamales and rice and plantains at the same house I’ve visited over the past forty years. It turns out, I didn’t have to worry about being lonely, but I do think that Alex’s writing - which I returned to in my hotel room at nights and mornings - had a lot to do with that comfort.
I finished Alter Ego on the flight home, and it’s Alex’s best book yet. It was an instant USA Today bestseller, among a slew of other accolades (and more to come). I’m glad I read it when I did, and I’m glad we have a writer like Alex Segura working today.
Learn more about Alex and his work here.
It's giveaway time! The winner of a copy of Alter Ego is:
re.cor_______@gmail.com
Congrats, and I'll send you an email soon!
I have no idea how to set up a virtual tip jar. Is that even a thing? I bet this is so much easier in Substack.
Sorry to hear about your Grandmother. I just finished Alter Ego this morning and I loved it as well! I’ve been a fan of Segura since the Pete Fernandez days and was glad to see him in the book. I’m not a comic book fan, but, like with Secret Identity, it didn’t matter. The stories and characters were excellent. I hope there will be another sequel