Fresh Air Interview with Charles Ardai

Hard Case Crime publisher Charles Ardai was interviewed by Terry Gross on the NPR program Fresh Air. It originally aired May 5, 2008, and it was rebroadcast yesterday. I didn’t catch it on the original air date, but I sure did yesterday and it was extremely enjoyable.

Mr. Ardai was articulate, intelligent, and overall very impressive. His knowledge of the pulp era authors and titles is vast, as proven by the selection of reprints he has selected for HCC. He also divulged a significant amount of personal information, including that he is the son of two Holocaust survivors. Overall I was as impressed with his wit and poise as I am with the novels he writes and publishes.

Do yourself a favor and track over to the NPR website and listen. It runs about 30 minutes. Click Here to go there directly.

A Note: Ardai's novel Songs of Innocence won the Shamus Award for best paperback original earlier this month. To see the entire list of winners over at Bob Randisi's PWA blog click Here.

Hard Case Crime Double Artwork

More cool news from Hard Case Crime. I received a very nice email from HCC editor and co-founder Charles Ardai this afternoon with the artwork for their recently announced Robert Bloch "Double," as it will actually look--the the back-to-back format along with the spine.



While I had his ear I also asked him about the selection process of the titles they publish; particularly how they choose between reprints and original novels. His response was terrific and very kind. In part he said:

As for originals vs. reprints, to some extent it's the luck of the draw -- we'll have a run of reprints, then a batch of originals all clumped up. It's not intentional, it's just the result of when authors happen to finish writing their books, and also of the variable quality of the submissions we get. (I'll always choose to buy a great reprint rather than a second-rate original novel, if that's my only alternative.)

Which probably sums up why HCC has had so much success in the marketplace. I'm always pushing for HCC to release more originals, but I can't argue with the overall quality of the titles they have chosen to bring back into print. How can I when they are reprinting hard-to-find novels from authors like Lawrence Block, Ed McBain, Max Allan Collins, Day Keene, David Goodis, John Lange and so many more? But still....

Thanks for the artwork and the email Charles.

"The Home Front" by Charles Ardai

This is kind of cool. Charles Ardai, the intrepid editor of Hard Case Crime, recently--last week--won an Edgar Allan Poe Award in the Best Short Story category for "The Home Front." It's not only cool that he won, but it is even cooler that he posted the story on the Internet for all to read for free. Congratulations Mr. Ardai.

"The Home Front" is a cool, atmospheric World War Two-era story featuring a rag-tag group of grifters, investigators, and mugs hired by the government to go after black market profiteers and put them out of business. It's a good read, and you can't go wrong with free!

Go Here to read Charles Ardai's "The Home Front."