Seven-film series features screen adaptations of the hard-boiled crime writer’s work Special event on Friday, May 12: Abby Westlake and Luc Sante in conversation with program curator Levi Stahl Museum of the Moving Image, May 12–14, 2017 Astoria, Queens, NY, (April 10, 2017)—Donald E. Westlake published nearly a hundred novels under various pseudonyms during his half-century career, the most influential Read More …
Unbeknownst to everyone at the time, the birth of Donald Westlake–82 years ago today–would eventually result in the immaculate conception of more than a dozen other personalities all living within the same man. The best known of these, of course, is Richard Stark, creator of the Parker series. Tucker Coe took up residence a couple decades later and told five Read More …
The Getaway Car headlines the 54 new pages that have been added to the site. The other 53 cover short fiction and short non-fiction gathered from the original periodicals found in the Westlake library. Nine of the short non-fiction pages include the full piece, reproduced as large images from the original publications, most of which were not reprinted in The Read More …
New Year’s Eve marked five years of life on Earth sans the creative genius and ebullient personality of Donald Edwin Westlake, etc, etc. I have not and will not make a practice of recognizing that date in publishing and personal infamy on this site, which, in itself, stands as a daily tribute to his memory. Instead, I will tend to Read More …
Don had long maintained that he would not allow the name “Parker” to be used in a film unless the filmmakers agreed to produce a series instead of another one-off. The producers of the recent Jason Statham film, Parker, did just that and thus were allowed to use the name. But they weren’t the first production team working in a Read More …
Opening weekend has come and gone and the results are in. “Parker” came in 5th overall at the box office with a $7 million take over three days in more than 2,000 theaters nationwide. One of my pet peeves with the stenographic nature of American journalism is the fixation on opening weekend box office results. The only people who really Read More …
Propelled by what is probably the most aggressive and persuasive marketing campaign for any of the movies based on the Richard Stark novels, Parker, from the book, Flashfire, starts its theatrical run tomorrow. And I really can’t say enough about the marketing campaign, which has landed in my living room more times than I can count. Almost every person I Read More …
The first of what is slated to be several movies based on the Parker series (originally published under the pseudonym Richard Stark) is due to be released in January, 2013. The first trailer (below) is already out and beginning to make the rounds in theaters. And the die-hard DEW fans are already deep in discussion on the merits of the Read More …
The epic project of building a database and uploading images from every copy of every book in Don’s personal library has begun. The full collection containing one copy of every edition of every book in print, and in every language, numbers in the hundreds. Several hundreds. So far, I’ve been able to catalog the first 41. The 41st book in Read More …
Along with the other back-end trouble I had with the old host, I lost the ability to embed audio files in a reliable way. Well, that’s all over now, thanks partly to the migration, improvements in the new WordPress update and the existence of SoundCloud. There are currently only three audio tracks on the entire site and all three are Read More …
Been a long time getting this site back to normal. Lots of updates while it was in safe mode. There will definitely be separate blog posts coming in the near future but, for now, here’s an annotated list of the doings in the past few months… Violent World of Parker Happy Birthday to Donald Westlake [Editor’s note: Special thanks Read More …
At long last, the site has been migrated over to the new host and the back-end works again! I have full control of the website for the first time in months. Big, tremendous thanks to those who left messages or sent emails offering to help. Sorry for the lack of communication but I have to pay the bills, too, and Read More …
After a long delay, I hope to reset the site with a new host very soon. Meanwhile, here’s an interview I did with Maxim Jakubowski while on a recent trip through London. Until 2009, Maxim was the owner of the Murder One Bookshop on Charring Cross Road in London. The store had to close due to the pressures of big Read More …
If you happen to live in Toronto, you can catch the two previous film adaptations of Richard Stark’s The Hunter at the A.V. Club next Thursday: REMAKE/REMODEL: This week also sees the launch of an intriguing new program at the TUC. The brainchild of critic and AV Club Toronto editor John Semley, Remake/Remodel is a double bill of films that have a Read More …
@ExtAngel Glenn Kenny Goddamnit. I should never go to the gym while I’m in the MIDDLE of a Richard Stark novel. 14 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® @WDGagliani W.D. Gagliani Openings: John Dortmunder was a man on whom the sun shone only when he needed darkness. / Donald Westlake, Bad News, 2001 ((I can relate!)) 16 Nov via Read More …
