Ed Lynskey's Blog: Cracked Rearview Mirror - Posts Tagged "writer"

"On Sunday, January 7, 1968, crime author Leonard “Len” S. Zinberg, perhaps better known by his Ed Lacy pseudonym, suffered a fatal coronary in a laundromat near his 75 St. Nicholas Place residence in north Harlem. He was 56. A widow Esther (1910-86) and a daughter Carla (born in the late 1950s, possibly adopted, and presumably still living) survived him. Zinberg had had a medical history of heart trouble dating back as early as 1960."

For the rest, please go to my article on the author Ed Lacy found on Steve Lewis's Mysteryfile Weblog:
http://tiny.cc/jjose

Ed Lynskey
@edlynskey
Author of Lake Charles and Quiet Anchorage

To be blunt: yes, it is. At least that's my reply after I've written more than a dozen novels, and kept this weblog perking for a mere six months. The aim is to keep your blog sounding congenial, engaging, and laconic.

The third aim--laconic--is becoming harder for me to do. So, I have to compress and end things faster. One advantage about a novel is you can revise it any number of times before it goes live. A blog is a few words you toss off the cuff, and hit the PUBLISH button. Presto! My words enter cyberspace.

I'll let you in on a secret: I have to revise my blogs before I release them to inflict on the world.

By Ed Lynskey
Twitter: @edlynskey
Author of Lake Charles
"Nice addition to anyone’s summer beach reading schedule."
Florida Times-Union

For some screwy reason, I awoke this morning with the refrains of Hank Williams, Sr. streaming through my head. The song was "I Saw the Light." He also wrote it, and other classic songs, as well.

"Cheatin' Heart" is probably his recording I like the least. No doubt because it's been lampooned into sounding campy if not corny. Sort of like Tammy Wynette's "Stand By Your Man." But the man, hands down, was an American Original.

He died years before I was born, but I grew up on his music. My parents liked his work. Even today, still a big fan, I give his CDs a listen on occasion.

The tragic way he died--alone in the cold rear seat while headed off to his next gig--adds to his mystique. (Now that's noir for you!) They say the young die die too soon, and Hank is yet another vivid example of it.

By Ed Lynskey
@edlynskey
Author of Lake Charles
"Satisfying."
The Rap Sheet/Kirkus Reviews

There's a quiet, private spot where I like to go and do my heaviest thinking. I bet you have a place like that, too. Mine is a rock on the shore of a river. I've gone there any number of times over the years.

We also all have a particular day out of the year when we give pause and mull over stuff. For me, that day falls the summer solstice. Yes, today at 1:16 p.m. EDT this rock we call earth swings around to its solstice.

My birthday was the previous day, and being the deliberate type, it doesn't hit me until a day later. Also, most of the anesthesia from yesterday's medical procedure has lifted, so I'm sharper eyed this morning.

What subjects occupy my thoughts are irrelevant. My point is I'm back at my thinking rock on the longest day of the year. So, I've got lots of time to sort out things.

By Ed Lynskey
Twitter: @edlynskey
Author of Lake Charles
"Nice addition to anyone’s summer beach reading schedule."
Florida Times-Union

Something of a history buff, every few years I like to drive up to the Gettysburg Battlefield where Robert E. Lee's second invasion of the north got repelled. Each time I go, I find my impressions are a bit different.

I'm still awed by the tremendous loss of life there. That never changes. The battlefield tactics and generals who never took a bullet don't interest me anymore. Seeing a bunch of cannons and brass plaques hardly excites me. Instead, I feel sadder as I turn older. Christ, will we ever learn?

Stroll out to Lee's equestrian statue where he met the remnants of Pickett's shattered command in retreat. The spooky place gives me chills. Or the boulder garden known as the Devil's Den where sharpshooters (a.k.a. snipers) played a lethal game of paintball. Eerie. I always shudder there.

Gettysburg used to have a nice small town look and feel. That has given way to the commercial development hydra. That's to be expected, I suppose. Same thing happened in my hometown. Maybe I've seen everything there is at the Gettysburg Battlefield. Going back will just be a redundant experience for me.

By Ed Lynskey
Twitter: @edlynskey
Author of Lake Charles
"Definitely recommend you take a fictional journey to Lake Charles."
Elizabeth A. White's Musings of an All Purpose Monkey