Criminal Cornucopia

Just in case you find the waning days of summer (it seems to grow dark an hour earlier than it did just a few weeks ago) to be a little depressing, here are some things to look forward to in the upcoming days, weeks, and months:“Zombie,” a play based on the chilling novella by Joyce Carol Oates, makes its world premiere as part of the 12th annual New York International Fringe Festival. This hour-long adaptation by Bill Connington, who also stars, is the story of a sexual psychopath whose mission is to create zombie slaves. A serial killer in the mode of Jeffrey Dahmer, Quentin P___ describes the rape, torture, and murder of his young male victims. This cheerful play is directed by Thomas Caruso, the resident director of Broadway’s “Mama Mia!,” so if you can’t get tickets to that, take the kids to “Zombie” instead.(Kidding.) Play dates begin this Saturday, and the short run ends on Thursday, August 21. It’s at the Players Loft at the Players Theatre, 115 MacDougal St. Call (1-866-468-7619) or go to the Web site (ZombieNYFringe.com) for tickets, dates, time, etc.Michael Connelly continues to surprise and delight with his latest novel, which will be released on October 14. “The Brass Verdict” will feature both Mickey Haller, the eponymous protagonist of “The Lincoln Lawyer,” and his much-loved L.A. cop, Hieronymus Bosch.I believe Nelson DeMille’s “Word of Honor” to be one of the most powerful and suspenseful novels of all time, but his most beloved book is probably “The Gold Coast,” the superb satiric novel of what happens when social aristocrats get mixed up with the Mafia. On October 28, the ambitious sequel, “The Gate House,” will be published — 18 years after “The Gold Coast” first hit the best-seller list. You will see this big novel being read in the first class section on every flight for the rest of the autumn.The latest and, sadly, last season of “Foyle’s War,” one of the all-time great mystery series on television, will be released on DVD in the next week or so. If you haven’t caught this detective series, set on England’s coast during World War II with the perfectly understated Michael Kitchen as a British detective doing his job while the world around him explodes, you really should add these wonderfully produced discs to your shelves.Since we’re speaking of British gentlemen and television, you might like to know that Alexander McCall Smith’s “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” will be a 14-part HBO series this spring. Set in Botswana, these gentle, kindly stories feature Precious Ramotswe, who founded the country’s first detective agency. The BBC is filming episodes as we speak; Jill Scott and Anika Noni Rose will star. The 10th book by the Zimbabwean-born Scottish author should be published as the series airs.Enough good news. In case you missed it, the brilliant science fiction writer and poet Thomas M. Disch died last month, committing suicide at the age of 68. His forays into the mystery world were infrequent, but those who read “The Businessman” are unlikely to have forgotten it. He also wrote a novelization of the enigmatic TV program “The Prisoner.”Are you thinking of writing your own book? Fess up; of course you are. Just about everyone who reads thinks they can write something worthwhile, whether fiction or poetry or nonfiction or a children’s book. Here are a few statistics to mull over while you decide when to hit the keyboard, compiled in a study by the National Endowment for the Arts (the latest year of the study was 2005):Number of authors: 185,276 (I think 90% are writing mysteries, and I read most of their manuscripts this year.)Increase since 1990: 39%Median income for full-time authors: $50,800Median income for entire civilian labor force: $38,700Female authors: 54.9%Minority authors: 10.8%Authors under age 35: 26.8%Authors with at least a bachelor’s degree: 83.1%Self-employed authors: 45.9%Number of authors living in New York and California: about 50,000No. 1 city for authors per capita: Santa Fe, N.M.What does it all mean? If you want to write, then get a degree, move to Santa Fe, and follow your bliss. Oh, and it wouldn’t hurt to have the creativity and work ethic of James Patterson or Nora Roberts.Mr. Penzler is the proprietor of the Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan and the series editor of the annual Best American Mystery Stories. He can be reached at ottopenzler@mysteriousbookshop.com.

Criminal Cornucopia

Criminal Cornucopia

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