The Lineup: Bargaining with David Corbett

The Lineup is Gerald So's annual chapbook series of crime poetry, and issue #4 is out now, featuring work from such hardboiled types as Ken Bruen, Reed Farrel Coleman, David Corbett, Kieran Shea, Keith Rawson and Steve Weddle, among others. This latest installment is dedicated to the memory of my friend David Thompson, who Gerald writes was "the first bookseller to believe in The Lineup."

For the 26th stop on The Lineup's "So Dark For April" tour, I asked contributor David Corbett to answer a few of my silly questions about his excellent and disturbing contribution, "The Bargain" (reprinted below).

Secret Dead Blog: What kind of creative itch does a poem scratch -- as opposed to say a short story or a novel?

DC: Stories and novels involve dramatic movement. Even if "something happens" in a poem, the basic purpose is to convey a certain emotional moment. And the itch that gets scratched when writing a poem is the desire to find and somehow capture that unique moment. It's like trying to capture a sound or a tone rather than a conversation. Or at least that's how I approach it. I realize that's a terrible description of poetry overall -- it fails to account for Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner or Stevens' The Man with the Blue Guitar or Jeffers' Roan Stallion or any number of other large, complex or dramatic poems. But that sort of poetry is, frankly, beyond my skill set. So, it's moments for me.

For Appearances' Sake

I know, I know, it's been deadly quiet around here. This is no way to run a blog. All I say can is, I've been writing my ass off, and I'll try harder to post more.

(Ironically, I have a ton of blog post ideas... but whenever I'm tempted to sit down and crank one of them out, a deadline nags at me. You know, one of those deadlines that will eventually result in a paycheck. So they're tough to ignore.)

Anyway, if you've missed me, and happen to give in the greater Philadelphia area, you have two chances to see me IN PERSON! (oh yes, the thrills never stop) over the next two weeks.

First up: a Philadelphia Noir panel smack dab in the middle of the Free Library of Philadelphia's Philadelphia Book Festival. (In case you were wondering, yes, the event takes place in Philadelphia.) We'll be getting part of the old band back together: yours truly, Carlin Romano, Asali Solomon and Jim Zervanos. April 13, 6 p.m. in the Skyline Room. If you stop by, please do say hello.

Second up: a joint Tales From the Cobra Wars signing on April 23rd at the Doylestown Bookshop in (wait for it) Doylestown, PA. I'll be joined by Jon McGoran (who some of you may know as "D.H. Dublin"), Jonathan Maberry and Dennis Tafoya, talking about our stories in IDW's big bad and brand new G.I. Joe antho edited by Max Brooks. (My own contribution, "Speed Trap," is actually a 15,000 word novella, and received some very kind reviews when it published in the back of G.I. Joe Cobra Special #2 last September.) Here's your chance to have this sucker signed by nearly half of its contributors!