Fun Where You Can Find It

• The subject of this week’s interview at Things I’d Rather Be Doing is New Mexico thriller writer David Morrell (about whom we’ve written here before). Blogger John Kenyon asks him about the balance between research and storytelling, the possibility that protagonist Frank Balenger (Creepers, Scavenger) could support an entire series, and whether financial success really taints an artist’s work. Read their whole exchange here.

• Two others interviews worth noting: At Noir Writer, Steve Allan talks with “redneck noir novelist” J.D. Rhoades, whose third book, Safe and Sound, is due out in July--and who’s been building up a pretty terrific, politics-oriented blog, besides. That interview is available here. Meanwhile, Dutch wordsmith Jochem van der Steen (White Knight Syndrome) inaugurates a new series of interviews at his Sons of Spade blog by delivering 10 questions to Dallas, Texas, novelist Harry Hunsicker, author of the forthcoming Crosshairs. You can read Hunsicker’s responses here.

• Writer-blogger Patrick Baggatta alerts us to the start-up of a new original crime-fiction site called Hard Boiled Chapters. “The idea is original crime fiction from emerging authors (two so far) in short, easy to read bursts,” Baggetta explains. “Like I said, we’re just getting started, but I thought your readers might be interested, especially those who may wish to contribute their own chapters.” Interested parties can submit questions and stories to Baggetta here.

• HBO’s justly celebrated western series, Deadwood, already died with its boots on, but its creator, David Milch, has now teamed up with novelist-surfer Kem Nunn (Tijuana Straits) on what’s being called a “surf noir” series, John from Cincinnati. TV Squad notes that this new show is set to premiere on Sunday, June 10, at 10 p.m., following the evening’s series finale of The Sopranos. Read more about it here.

• Gerald So reports that actor Tom Selleck “has ruled out a cameo role in a planned big-screen version of his 1980s TV hit, Magnum, P.I.--because he refuses to trivialize the show.” More on that here.

• Independent Crime blogger Nathan Cain lets us know that the Bleak House Books daily podcast site now hosts interviews with both novelist Marcus Sakey (The Blade Itself) and blogger-critic (and occasional January Magazine contributor) Sarah Weinman.

• What are the five most important books in Laura Lippman’s life? You need only click here to find out.

• And did you know that it was possible to listen online to episodes of the 1948-1951 radio drama series The Adventures of Philip Marlowe? Yeah, me neither. But you can! Simply click here--and try to ignore the fact that somebody at this OTR.Network Library Web site can’t spell either this famous detective’s first or last name.