Riordan's Desk

The Interplay of Life and Art

2014-03-30T11:29:00.003-07:00

Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow

A San Francisco Chinatown gangster named Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow is in the news for racketeering and shenanigans with a local politician.

Curiously, a character named "Squid Boy" does exactly the same thing in my novel Runoff. Must be a coincidence ...

Urban Landscape & Through a Lens: 10

2013-07-14T11:13:00.001-07:00

As a writer of private eye novels set in the big, bad city--who illustrates his books with scene-setting photographs--it's perhaps not too surprising that I had a photo accepted for 1650 Gallery's Urban Landscape show.

"Grade School Fog" by Mark Coggins

What may be a little more surprising is the photo I had accepted in Through a Lens: 10, this year's theme for the annual Michael H. Kellicut International Photo Show.

"Tree Tunnel" by Mark Coggins

It definitely belongs in the landscape category!

Megan Abbott in Conversation

2012-08-23T10:32:00.001-07:00

Check out my interview in The Rap Sheet with the "Queen of Noir," Megan Abbott. She talks about her terrific new novel, Dare Me, fellow crime fiction writers Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, and exactly whose lips are pictured on the cover of the new book.

A Mysterious Something

2012-08-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

A new biography of Raymond Chandler has been published in the UK. The subhead in the title is inspired by a line near the end of Chandler's first novel, The Big Sleep:

Outside the bright gardens had a haunted look, as though small wild eyes were watching me from behind the bushes, as though the sunshine itself had a mysterious something in its light.

Check out my Q&A with the book's author, Tom Williams, over on crime fiction blog The Rap Sheet.

The Big Wake-Up Goes Audible

2012-06-21T11:51:00.003-07:00

I'm very pleased to announce that my fifth August Riordan novel, The Big Wake-Up, is now available as an unabridged audio book. Stage actor Richardson Jones does a tremendous job narrating the book. His portrayal of Riordan's sidekick, Chris Duckworth, is worth the price of admission alone, not to mention the great job he does with all the South American characters (and their associated accents) and the villainess, Isis.

Check the book out on Audible.com, Amazon.com or iTunes.

Prom Night at The Booksmith

2012-06-08T17:57:00.000-07:00

I recently had an event at San Francisco bookstore The Booksmith for Prom Night and Other Man-made Disasters, my new collection of humorous, first-person essays describing episodes in my life from childhood, school, career, and relationships.

Getting into the whole prom night spirit, some pals from my writers group hired a limo and driver to transport them the event:

And went so far as to dress in prom-appropriate attire:

Ann, John and Sheila at The Booksmith

I read a portion of the title story in the collection, "Prom Night," which describes the improbable circumstances under which a shy nerd like me took the homecoming queen and head cheerleader to the senior prom at my high school:

(Photo by Russ Wyllie)

And afterward, a number of us retired to Aub Zam Zam, the venerable Persian-themed bar across the street where Herb Caen once quaffed Silver Bullets:

(Photo by Buzz Anderson)

Appearance on "In a Word"

2012-06-02T10:33:00.002-07:00

Here's a clip from my appearance on book talk program "In a Word" with host Kathy Cordova. I'm there to discuss Prom Night and Other Man-made Disasters, my new collection of humorous, first-person essays describing episodes in my life from childhood, school, career, and relationships.

Prom Night at The Poisoned Pen

2012-05-22T12:06:00.002-07:00

I just got back from a great event at The Poisoned Pen bookstore in Arizona for my new book, Prom Night and Other Man-made Disasters. Prom Night is a collection of humorous essays describing episodes in my life from childhood, school, work and relationships, and since I grew up in Phoenix in the 60's and 70's, a visit to Barbara Peters' bookstore in Scottsdale (a suburb of Phoenix) was just what the doctor ordered.

A number of friends and classmates from my high school, Central High, attended the event, including some who figured prominently in the essays. Here is a picture of me with my old pal Mary Holden, a writer and editor in her own right. (Say, interesting how our pose in the photo sort of echos the couple in the cover photo.)

I was the opening "act" for Craig Johnson, who is touring for his new book, As the Crow Flies. It was great to hear Craig talk about Crow and the forthcoming TV show, Longmire, based on his series of Walt Longmire books. Craig and I have done events together in the past, including this signing at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, right after his first novel, Cold Dish, was released.

It goes without saying that I snagged a copy of As the Crow Flies. I thought it was terrific--as I have all of Craig's books--but I had to laugh when I came to a passage about Wyoming Sheriff Longmire struggling to use a complicated DSLR camera to take pictures at a crime scene. It reminded me a lot of Craig's own struggles when he took this picture of me in his hat with my camera.

Mystery reviewer extraordinaire, library manager and hostess of the Glendale Library authors program, Authors @ The Teague, Lesa Holstine, was also present. She did a wonderful write-up of my conversation about Prom Night with Poisoned Pen's Patrick Millikin, so if you'd like to read more, check out her blog post here.

Prom Night Is Here!

2012-04-24T16:56:00.000-07:00

Prom Night and Other Man-Made Disasters

No, not an actual prom night (although of course the annual high school ritual will go forward across the nation this spring as always), but my new collection of humorous first person essays, Prom Night and Other Man-made Disasters.

The book is available in paperback from a variety of booksellers, and in eBook on the Kindle.

To kick things off, I'm giving some copies of the book away on Goodreads and LibraryThing. And there's also a Facebook Page to "like."

Conversations with James Ellroy

2012-03-08T16:25:00.001-08:00

Conversations with James Ellroy, edited by Steven Powell

I just learned of a new book of interviews with crime fiction great James Ellroy, edited by Steven Powell. That by itself would be a treat, but it also happens to feature a photograph I took of Ellroy at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.

I always thought it was a revealing shot of Ellroy--he has a sort of half smirk in the photo that suits him--and I'm glad to see it featured on the cover.

Bullets Across the Bay: Exhibit Sample

2012-02-25T17:37:00.002-08:00

I was thrilled to be part of the closing reception at the "Bullets Across the Bay" crime fiction exhibit at UC Berkeley. I was even more thrilled that curator Randal Brandt included my novel Runoff in the exhibit--in the authors influenced by Dashiell Hammett section:

Runoff at Bullets Across the Bay

The text reads:

San Francisco writer Mark Coggins has drawn comparisons to Hammett for his novels featuring hard-boiled, wise-cracking PI August Riordan. Although Riordan himself is something of a throwback, he tackles decidedly 21st century problems, including corporate espionage in the gaming software industry, internet pornography, and touch-screen voting fraud. In an earlier book, Vulture Capital (2002), Coggins experimented with using the uncommon [objective 3rd person] narrative style in a conscious effort to evoke Hammett's The Glass Key (1931).

Bullets Across the Bay Closing Reception

2012-02-19T10:21:00.000-08:00

Bullets Across the Bay Closing Reception

Come hear Sheldon Siegel, Janet Dawson, Diana Orgain, Simon Wood and myself read selections from our favorite Bay Area mystery writers at the closing reception for the "Bullets Across the Bay" crime fiction exhibit at UC Berkeley.

Curated by Randal S. Brandt, Maria C. Brandt and Michaelyn Burnette, the exhibit features first editions of mystery novels set in the Bay Area supplemented with materials that contribute to the understanding of the genre and the place.

I'll be reading a short selection from Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon and Joe Gore's Interface. For more information, visit this link.

Ride a Red Dragon

2011-12-19T07:01:00.000-08:00

I'm pleased to announce my short story, "Ride a Red Dragon" is available on Amazon Kindle for a mere 99 cents! Here's the set up:

When speakeasy and gambling hall owner Scooter Hawkins puts a call into private eye Vic Lane to investigate an extortion attempt, Lane barely has time to hear the assignment before two men with Thompson sub-machine guns burst through the door to ratchet up the stakes with a stream of lead.

Lane’s investigation leads to a rival gambling house known as the Red Dragon, and soon he is caught up in a ruthless struggle with its beautiful proprietress, Wan Jung.

Set in 1920s San Francisco with flappers, speakeasies and roadsters, “Ride a Red Dragon” is a two-fisted tale of deceit and revenge reminiscent of Dashiell Hammett’s Continental Op stories.

Pick it up here.

Patricia Cornwell's RED MIST

2011-12-03T10:30:00.001-08:00

#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell's new novel, Red Mist, goes on sale this Tuesday, December 6th.

What's that go to do with me? The book is set in and around Savannah, Georgia and when her publisher, Putnum, went looking for a atmospheric photograph from the area to use for the book's end papers, they found my shot of a foggy morning at Colonial Park Cemetery.

They printed it in silver on both end papers and I think it looks tremendous:

(Notice the image is reversed to keep the tree clear of the dust jacket flap.) Patricia is also featuring it on her website:

I don't think the Putnum folks realized that I am also a crime fiction writer, but of course the fact that I, too, write crime makes me all the more proud to have the photo on Patricia's book.

Coming to a Bookstore/eReader Near You!

2011-10-20T20:29:00.000-07:00

I can now say with confidence that Prom Night and Other Man-Made Disasters, my collection of humorous first-person essays, will be available in spring 2012. Keep an eye peeled for it!

Dollar Store-like Pricing on eBooks in the August Riordan Series!

2011-09-29T20:27:00.000-07:00

All five novels in the August Riordan series, including The Immortal Game, Vulture Capital, Candy from Strangers, Runoff and The Big Wake-Up are now available in eBook format for a mere 99 cents.

Get them while they are hot!

Candy from Strangers Podcast Complete!

2011-09-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

The free podcast for my third novel, Candy from Strangers, is complete! Download individual episodes or subscribe to the feed on Apple's iTunes here.

THE IMMORTAL GAME in Chinese!

2011-07-06T19:45:00.001-07:00

Traditional Chinese Translation of THE IMMORTAL GAME, a photo by Mark Coggins on Flickr.

Here's the cover and the promotional give-away (a USB drive in the shape of a chess king) for my first novel THE IMMORTAL GAME.

To Gertrude

2011-05-31T07:07:00.001-07:00

Check out my post on Gertrude Stein and a bit of "found prose" from her grave in Paris here on SFGate.com.

True Fiction

2011-05-20T09:37:00.000-07:00

Susan Harkema, research director at the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center in Louisville, recently published an article in Lancet regarding her work to help spinal cord injury victims regain mobility by using electrical stimulation to the spine. Read about it in the New York Times here and TechCrunch here.

The real life technology is very similar to that developed by the fictional start-up company NeuroStimix in my novel Vulture Capital. Read about the book here or listen to the free podcast here.

My New Celebrity Endorsement ...

2011-05-11T16:24:00.000-07:00

Appearance on the Kindle Author Blog

2011-05-04T11:48:00.000-07:00

Check out my interview on David Wisehart's Kindle Author blog right here.

Making Some Racket on PodioRacket

2011-04-07T09:32:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm podcasting my first novel, The Immortal Game for FREE. Listen to my interview about the book and the process of podcasting it with the great folks from PodioRacket here.

Pick up the actual podcast at Seth Harwood's CrimeWAV here or at PodioBooks here.

Martin Cruz Smith

2011-03-25T11:30:00.001-07:00

I was on a panel today at Left Coast Crime 2011 in Santa Fe, New Mexico with one of my literary heroes, Martin Cruz Smith of Gorky Park fame.

Reuniting Cissy & Ray

2011-02-15T19:35:00.000-08:00

Read my Rap Sheet post about the ceremony to reunite Raymond Chandler and his wife Cissy here.