52 Novels

Hey... you're here! Get all the fun of 52 Novels as it happens and subscribe by e-mail or >subscribe using your favorite RSS feed reader. Might as well. Don't cost nothin. Not sure what RSS is? Click here to learn all about it. Just be sure to come right back.

Two nights ago, my workshop got to chatting about the cost of theft and burglary. It goes beyond just the value of the stolen goods.

Hang with me here:

• File a claim, then your insurance company gets some.
• If something in your home got damaged, then the home improvement store gets some.
• If your home’s damaged enough, then maybe a contractor gets some.
• If you file a police report, that adds pressure to hire more cops (so the cops get some, too).
• If the cops find the perp, then the courts get some.
• If you sue to recover, then your lawyer gets some. Go back one space for a victory lap through the courts.

Everybody, it seems, has their hands in the victim’s pockets. So we asked, “What’s the incentive to stop crime?”

Not in a million years did anyone say that it’s no good — or not in our collective best interests — to let crime go unfettered. And none of us had any of the answers.

But there is a vicious irony at work because the only way you can minimize the damage is to let the guy get away with your shit. And that’s precisely what we don’t want.

True to form, though, that’s also precisely what’s happening.

Recent findings from Denver’s participation in the DNA Burglary Project show that a typical prolific burglar here in the Mile High City gets away with nearly 250 burglaries per year, despite the 15 percent drop in burglaries since the project began in 2005.

The study, though, attributes the overall drop to the collection of the bad guy’s DNA during investigation, which results in a conviction rate that’s five times higher than if DNA had not been collected. Jail sentences in cases where DNA was collected are twice as long, too.

Further, the number of full-time thieves seems to be fairly significant. In fact, one busted burglar copped to more than a thousand break-ins. After his arrest, burglaries in a single neighborhood dropped by 40 percent.

The trouble with all of this is that it’s hard to collect DNA from a crime scene when people — faced with the disincentives listed above — don’t bother to let the cops know in the first place.

And as long as the system is set up the way it is, I don’t see much changing anytime soon.

Thoughts?

Sphere: Related Content

Tomorrow is Day One of my second novel workshop and I’m thrilled this time because I’ll be learning from Mario Acevedo.

I don’t mean to be unkind to my previous workshop and its students. I had a blast, and there was so much talent in the room each week. I made some new friends… and learned a great deal about myself and writing and storytelling.

But this go round is a little bit different because Acevedo is a genre writer. For someone as shameless as I am for thrillers and noir and police procedurals—someone who loves genre fiction almost exclusively—this is a great opportunity.

That’s where the sucking up comes in.

You’ll note that what I’m currently reading is Acevedo’s debut novel, THE NYMPHOS OF ROCKY FLATS. I’m about a hundred pages in right now and I have to admit I’m pleasantly surprised.

It’s not that I thought it wouldn’t be any good. Quite the opposite: I almost always assume that something is worth the read going in.

It’s just that I’m not a fan of the vampire genre. I’ve tried Anne Rice to no avail. She’s a good writer, to be sure. But I always come back to, “You know, it’s about vampires. Like that could happen.”

That said, I’m really enjoying NYMPHOS. And what red-blooded man wouldn’t? (Ba dump bump. I’m here all week, folks. Be sure to tip the wait staff.)

But seriously, why shouldn’t I enjoy the book? It’s got all the things I love: a private investigator, a mystery, nymphomaniacs, hot nymphomaniac sex, and it’s set right here in Denver. (I may have mentioned before that I’ve always liked reading books and seeing movies about places where I’ve lived. If I haven’t mentioned it before, well, I am now.)

I’m a little too soon into this one to have a feeling for where it’s going. Our hero, Felix Gomez, a Gulf War II vet who’s turned into a vampire by an Iraqi, has been called in to investigate why the women who worked at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons manufacturing plant became, um, well, nymphos.

So far, Gomez has resistance from the nymphos themselves, the local vampire head honcho, and some as yet unidentified bad guy (presumably from the Department of Energy or some other black ops government agency).

I know… the premise just sounds so insanely goofy. But, so far, the read is super-fun and I’m having a ball with it. It’s fast and gritty… and it’s well written.

Well enough that I forget it’s about vampires.

Some final words

I realize I said last week that I had a few more things to do before this version of 52 Novels is complete. Mea culpa. My wife and I have had some projects we’ve been working on around the house, so the blogging part of my day is a little narrow.

And the things I mentioned a while back? Well, those are still in the works, too. I realize this thing has been about The Sunday Salon lately. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

It’s just that I think this place is better when it’s about more. No worries. I’m getting back to it.

Also, I’m e-mailing people today to get their names and mailing addresses so that I can let Steven Torres know which readers get a free copy of his latest, THE CONCRETE MAZE. Look for my e-mail sometime today. Tomorrow at the latest.

Friday afternoon I noticed that 52 Novels had fifty two subscribers. Not only was it the first time we’d cracked fifty, it just happened to land on the number 52. Mmmm. Spooky.

And speaking of subscribers… if you liked this post and you don’t yet subscribe to 52 Novels, please take a moment and sign up. If you’re already a subscriber, please recommend the site to others. Might as well. After all, it don’t cost nothin.

Sphere: Related Content

Yesterday, Denver’s mayor—Hizonner John Hickenlooper—announced this year’s “One Book, One Denver” edition: Nick Arvin’s ARTICLES OF WAR. It’s the first time in the program’s four years that a local writer’s work was chosen. Previously, Denver read Leif Enger’s “PEACE LIKE A RIVER,” Sandra Cisneros’s “CARAMELO,” and John Nichols’s “THE MILAGRO BEANFIELD WAR.”

If you’re unfamiliar with “One Book, One Denver”—and I have to assume you are, considering the “national audience” for 52 Novels—it’s Mayor Hick’s brilliant effort to, first, get the entire community reading the same book, and then, second, get them talking about it, via events scheduled throughout the year.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sphere: Related Content

Because I like getting free stuff, I figured I’d play along with a fellow Denver writer/blogger’s Zune giveaway deal:

Kelly at A Yoga Coffee Outlook is giving away a Zune MP3 Player.

Love your blog… hope I win!

Sphere: Related Content

… and we got snow today!

Okay, it’s fairly common for the high country to get some of the white stuff this late. In fact, the peaks have snow on them well into June sometimes.

But here in the city?

Not very often. In the seven years I’ve lived in Denver, I can’t remember ever getting snow so late.

Late April? Yep.

Middle of May? Maybe.

But almost freaking June? Never.

Hail no, it wasn’t snow.

Sure looked like it from where I sat in my office this afternoon.

Big hailstorm. I didn’t hear it.

iPod. Figures.

Sphere: Related Content