Kurosawa meets Eddie LaCrosse

Quite a while ago, I posted the trailer to Akira Kurosawa’s crime thriller High and Low, and mentioned it was one of the influences on my novel Dark Jenny. I never got around to explaining that until now. High and Low is based on one of Ed McBain’s “87th Precinct” series of police procedurals, in this case King’s Ransom. And … Read More

Five favorite sword fights

As the author of a novel called The Sword-Edged Blonde, about a character derisively called a “sword jockey,” I’ve spent some time thinking about, reading about and watching lots of swordplay. For such an outdated mode of fighting, it permeates our popular culture. From Star Wars to Highlander, from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to Kill Bill, we love to see … Read More