The noir Jonathan Woods: A busy, busy man
“Recovering lawyer” turned lauded and awarded author of pulp noir crime fiction, Jonathan Woods has so many irons in the fire these days it’s impossible to know which rump to smack a brand on.
Woods is twisted — and I say that in the nicest possible way. A while ago I agreed to review his latest book, a new collection of pulpy noir tales, Phone Call from Hell & Other Tales of the Damned. It starts off with a bang: A story in which the protagonist is a revolver. Honest. The book is great fun, in a warped, violent sort of way, and I recommend it to all those with a penchant for that kind of fun.
He is, however, a consummate master of language. Practically every page offers up a shining simile or metaphor, an adept alliteration. For example, a practically random sampling: “a sky as empty as the mind of a saint;” the woman who “pursed her lips into a pulchritudinous pout” and “legs spread apart, like a Mickey Spillane novel falling open to a favorite scene.” Amazing.
But Woods is doing so much else worth reporting that it seems withholding not to report on all of it.
First of all, Thursday, April 24, is his first local launch and signing of the book. It’s at Lucky Street Gallery from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., part of a reception in tandem with novelist Tony Eprile and singer-songwriter ellen cherry (“as her stage name she uses all lower case,” he warned — I presume as a gesture of modesty, sort of like poet e.e. Cummings). Eprile and cherry are April resident artists at The Studios of Key West. “It involves New Works from the Lucky Street artists plus readings/performances by me,” he said. “Eprile will read from either his award-winning novel or memoir in progress and cherry will sing a selection of her songs.” Woods noted that the official publication date was April 20, last Sunday, and the publisher is New Pulp Press.
On Monday, May 12, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Woods and TSKW studio-mate Jessica Argyle will discuss and read from their respective new books, Phone Call . . . and No Name Key. This is Argyle’s first novel; she already has a collection of lively short fiction on her resume. The twin launch is scheduled at TSKW, the old as opposed to the new building. In a program titled “New Blood Books, Jessica and I will read and somewhat calmly discuss our new books. A Q&A and book signing will follow the discussion and reading,” Woods reported, adding a PS: 10 percent of book sales will benefit The Studios.
TSKW is at 600 White St., Lucky Street Gallery at 540 Greene St., both in Old Town.
Saving the best for last, really, is Conch Director Quincy Perkins’ short film adapted from Woods’s story Swingers Anonymous, which appears in Phone Call . . . was first published in November by Akashic Books as part of the Dallas Noir anthology.
Cammy Clark, who covers the Keys beat for the Miami Herald, did a wonderful story about Woods which includes Perkins scouting of locations in Homestead and the first day of actual work on location, noting Woods’s excitement as shooting begins.
Perkins and Woods are beginning to become an item, having collaborated on three film projects now. First was a two-minute trailer for Woods’s second book, A Death in Mexico, then Tropic Cinema’s answer to TSKW’s wildly popular One Night Stand, The 72-Hour Film Challenge. They make a fine team.
Just out this week (Konk Life blasted it Tuesday morning) is a 44-second teaser for the film and it is, as I told Woods, “pure genius,” right down to the credits. Check it out (again) at http://vimeo.com/92480415— and when Swingers Anonymous begins to win real attention on the film festival circuit, remember you read it first in Konk Life.
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