Chris D.'s SHALLOW WATER Now Available

Post-Civil War, embittered Confederate veteran and sometime bounty hunter Santo Brady drifts from town to town in the rural Deep South. He reluctantly rescues half-breed Indian prostitute Lucy Damien from a backwater whistle stop only to have the whole world fall in on his head. They embark on a freight train-hopping odyssey to New Orleans, unaware that Lucy’s rich white father and psychotic brother from St. Louis are hot on their trail. Sidetracked by a band of sadistic train robbers, Lucy is kidnapped, and the wounded Santo goes on a harrowing mission to track her. Reminiscent of such classic period noirs as James M. Cain’s Past All Dishonor and Cornell Woolrich’s Waltz Into Darkness, Chris D. delivers a tragic tall tale plunging headfirst into a wild heart of darkness.

"One sinister serpent of a story, an old Republic Pictures western serial scripted by James M. Cain and reimagined by Sam Peckinpah. I loved it. Dive in and wallow in Shallow Water."

— Eddie Muller, author of Dark City Dames
and Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir

Shallow Water is out now from New Texture. Order your copy HERE.

Chris D.'s MOTHER'S WORRY Out Now!

The year is 1987, and outlaw Ray Diamond’s mother Lorna is the queenpin of a cesspool of crime and perversion in Mystic, Georgia. When Ray is discharged from the Navy in San Diego, he absconds with a .45, planning to rob and drug deal his way east to his hometown. But when Ray arrogantly knocks over a mob-connected El Paso liquor store, he doesn’t count on the owner’s psychotic son Eli dogging his trail, and his life corkscrews deep into nightmare.

Back home in Mystic, Ray’s girl Connie Eustace resorts to stripping at Mama Lorna’s club to make ends meet. After witnessing a murder by the local sheriff, she goes on a drug and drink bender. Barely holding on until the long overdue, strangely changed Ray returns, Connie jumps from the frying pan into the fire.

“It takes a sick mind to write a book as thoroughly warped as Mother's Worry. How lucky we are that Chris D. has turned his pathological impulses to creative, rather than destructive, endeavors. This novel is of a piece with Chris' work in music, film, and poetry – a crazy dive into a universe populated largely by monsters – and is a classic update of the Gold Medal/Lion Library loser-noir tradition.”

– Byron Coley

Mother's Worry. Out now from New Texture.ORDER HERE.

Chris D.'s Latest: FILM NOIR - THE DIRECTORS

New from Chris D.!

Film Noir - The Directors, from Limelight. Edited by Alain Silver and James Ursini.

Chris D. contributes chapter-length studies on Joseph Losey and Otto Preminger.

Order your copy here.

New Books From Chris D.!

AVAILABLE NOW from New Texture:

Two new books by Chris D. : the novel No Evil Star and the short story collection Dragon Wheel Splendor and Other Love Stories of Violence and Dread.

In Dragon Wheel Splendor's title novella, a brilliant, alcoholic woman unable to find her place in Los Angeles' downtown arts community, helps a Japanese-American girl escape forced prostitution, only to ignite a string of violent deaths.

Chris D. delivers more twisted love tales here, populated by desperate, lonely people searching for that intangible something in another person: a British policewoman inadvertently falls-in-love with a hang-gliding serial killer near the white cliffs of Dover; a teen girl's gang rape spurs a vendetta by an estranged male friend in 1971's Southern California Inland Empire; a high school teacher-cum-punk rock journalist is haunted by the beautiful ghost of a junkie suicide in 1977; the gory fate of a reckless drifter and a self-loathing brothel madam spurs a violent strike in a 1948 French mining town; plus two more sagas of amour fou set against private environments of emotional chaos.

"Chris D. writes with a clarity so merciless, reality itself seems to shimmer with menace. Whatever the author survived to render these tales from the stark side informs his prose. His sentences evoke the dark truths of David Goodis and the savage humanity of a 21st century Dostoyevsky or Zola. Already a cult icon, with Dragon Wheel Splendor, the great Chris D. should finally find the audience he deserves. This is a book that can kill the voices in your head — or make you love them."
— Jerry Stahl (author of Permanent Midnight, Plainclothes Naked and Painkillers)


In No Evil Star, recovering addict and 'Nam vet, Milo, is resigned to his spartan life as caretaker of St. Margaret's cathedral in 1989 Manhattan. Guaranteed perpetual employment by Monsignor Aloysius, an old WWII comrade of his dead father, Milo's life starts to unravel when ex-CIA friend Dave goes off the deep end. Not only is Dave the heist man whacking drug dealers in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx, he's also hatching a hare-brained scheme to plunder Brooklyn mob boss Nunzio's treasure trove of paintings and objets d'art recovered from the Nazis at the end of WWII—which is conveniently stashed in St. Margaret's cellar. Complicating matters is ex-Viet Cong Yuen—a man with a very personal grudge against Milo and Dave—now working for the Hong Kong Triads.

When he arrives in the Big Apple to do business with two-timing underboss, Carmine, throw in hotheaded rehab priest Father Culkin, single mother Marie trying to stay straight, Nunzio's homicidal daughter Sarah, Milo's best friend, writer Jack, and you have a recipe guaranteed to erupt into an out-of-control urban holocaust.

"Chris D. has performed in his own bands, directed his own movie and written books, from Japanese film studies to volumes of his own poetry. Now he has written a crime novel, just another facet of the multi-faceted inside of his head. Some people can do one thing—Chris can do almost anything."
— Mary Woronov, (author of Swimming Underground, Niagara, Blind Love and Snake)

Click HERE to order Dragon Wheel Splendor.

Click HERE to order No Evil Star.

Wyatt Doyle on SEX AND GUTS

Wyatt Doyle talks Sex and Guts on Dangerous Minds.

Click here to read.

Coming from New Texture books!

COMING SOON!

Get ready for not one, but TWO new books by Chris D., coming soon from New Texture.

Watch for the collection DRAGON WHEEL SPLENDOR AND OTHER LOVE STORIES OF VIOLENCE AND DREAD and the novel NO EVIL STAR (previously excerpted in his A MINUTE TO PRAY, A SECOND TO DIE anthology).

Details to follow!

Chris D. at TKO Records

Chris D. and Donna Lethal read at TKO Records in Fountain Valley, July 2011.

photos © 2011 Wyatt Doyle

Reading at Vroman's Pasadena TOMORROW!

Donna Lethal kicks off the Summer Author and Music series at Vroman's Books in Pasadena, TOMORROW, Saturday, July 16 at 3:00 p.m. The reading and signing will be followed by a live performance from The Shore. Full details at the Vroman's Bookstore website here.

Attendees will have the opportunity to purchase advance copies of Milk of Amnesia months ahead of the book's official release and have them signed by both Donna Lethal and her editor, Chris D.!

Vroman's Bookstore
695 East Colorado Boulevard
Pasadena, CA 91101
(626) 449-5320


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Chris D. @ TKO Tomorrow!

TOMORROW NIGHT! Chris D. reads and signs A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die at TKO Records in Fountain Valley to celebrate of TKO's new vinyl-only release of 1978 Flesh Eaters demos (with original sleeve art by Chris D.)! He'll be joined by Donna Lethal, previewing her forthcoming book Milk of Amnesia, also from New Texture.
Friday, July 15 - 6 to 8 p.m.

TKO Records
18948 Brookhurst Street (@ Garfield)
Fountain Valley, CA
(714) 962-0500


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Chris D. @ TKO Records July 15!

Chris D. reads and signs A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die at TKO Records in Fountain Valley to celebrate of TKO's new vinyl-only release of 1978 Flesh Eaters demos (with original sleeve art by Chris D.)! He'll be joined by Donna Lethal, author of the forthcoming Milk of Amnesia, also from New Texture.

Friday, July 15 - 6 to 8 p.m.

TKO Records
18948 Brookhurst Street (@ Garfield)
Fountain Valley, CA
(714) 962-0500


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Next from New Texture: MILK OF AMNESIA!

Announcing the next book from New Texture: Donna Lethal's Milk of Amnesia!

“A trip. Maybe the funniest ‘my family is fucked’ memoir I've ever read.”

–Eddie Muller (Dark City Dames, The Distance)

“I am amazed, after reading these tales of her childhood in a Boston Irish-Catholic version of a John Waters movie, that she grew up as sane and funny and non-crazy as she has ... This is addictive, obsessive reading.”

–Eve Golden (Platinum Girl, Vamp)

“Visit Kerouac's grave and share a few smokes with Donna, the only punk rocker at Lowell High School in the early ’80s. Her ex-nun mom, bookie-bartender dad, and bank-robber brother fill out the family in this intense memoir with tales that take turns with the comic and the tragic.”

–Doug Simmons (Subway News editor; columnist, Boston Phoenix)

Set for release in Fall 2011, the book is edited by Chris D. (author of A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die) and includes his introduction.

Visit Donna Lethal online at her site, Lethal Dose.

This July, Los Angeles residents can enjoy a sneak preview of Milk: July 15, Donna joins Chris D. at TKO Records in Fountain Valley at 6:00 p.m., and on July 16 at Donna kicks off the Summer Author and Music series at Vroman's Books in Pasadena at 3:00 p.m. Attendees will have the opportunity to purchase advance copies signed by Donna Lethal, months ahead of the book's official release!

Happy Birthday, Chris D.!

Chris D.'s A MINUTE TO PRAY, A SECOND TO DIE - An epic anthology of poetry, lyrics, dreams, short stories, novel excerpts, screenplays and more. Preface by Byron Coley. Foreword by John Doe. Afterword by Lydia Lunch.

NOW AVAILABLE from New Texture books!

Click HERE to order.

(For signed copies, click HERE!)

Rest in Peace, Jean Rollin

Jean Rollin, succinctly eulogized by Chris D.:

Director Jean Rollin died today. He was responsible for many incredibly beautiful, poetic images in French films and was looked down on/ignored by the French film industry for decades as only a purveyor of trash. He didn't direct any unqualified masterpieces, but he was a poet and a visionary and deserves to be remembered fondly for creating some of the most beautiful, simultaneously melancholic, creepy, haunting images of pure poetry in French cinema from the mid-1960s to the present.

Jean Rollin
November 3, 1938 - December 15, 2010

Chris D. signs at La Luz de Jesus Gallery, December 2009

To purchase copies of Chris D.'s collection, A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die, click here.

copyright © 2009, 2010 Wyatt Doyle

Chris D. reads at La Luz de Jesus Gallery, December 2009

To purchase copies of Chris D.'s collection, A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die, click here.

copyright © 2009, 2010 Wyatt Doyle

New Texture LIVE in Los Angeles, July 7 - 11!

New Texture Nights kick off in Los Angeles NEXT WEEK, with live readings and performances by Josh Alan Friedman (Black Cracker), Chris D. (A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die) and Wyatt Doyle (Stop Requested). At most venues, Josh Alan - Czar of Atomic Acoustic Guitar - will play. (Listen to Josh Alan's music here.)

There are more events to come - check NewTextureNights.com for updates!

Here's the current schedule:

Wednesday July 7, 2010

7 pm
Book Soup
8818 West Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles 90069-2125
Josh Alan Friedman, Chris D. and Wyatt Doyle reading

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Thursday July 8, 2010

6 pm
La Luz de Jesus Gallery / Wacko
4633 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles 90027-5413
Josh Alan Friedman, Chris D. and Wyatt Doyle reading

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Friday July 9, 2010
7 pm
Alias Books (West)1650 Sawtelle Boulevard, Los Angeles 90025
Josh Alan Friedman, Chris D. and Wyatt Doyle reading

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Saturday, July 10

2 pm
Mystery & Imagination / Bookfellows
238 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale 91203
George Clayton Johnson Birthday Celebration
We celebrate the birthday of writer and activist George Clayton Johnson (Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Logan's Run, Ocean's 11) with an afternoon reading/birthday party in Glendale!
George Clayton Johnson, Josh Alan Friedman, Chris D. and Wyatt Doyle reading

6 pm - 9 pm
New Texture: Words & Music
@ The Echo
1822 West Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles 90026-3227
An all-star extravaganza at The Echo! This is a big one.
Josh Alan Friedman, Chris D., Wyatt Doyle and Georgina Spelvin reading
Musical performances by Reverend Raymond Branch and Josh Alan
Special guests Sandee Curry, Paul Silva and Matt Kennedy
No cover, no minimum, no shirt, no shoes, no service!

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Sunday, July 11

7 pm
Beyond Baroque
681 Venice Blvd., Venice 90291
Josh Alan Friedman, Chris D. and Wyatt Doyle reading

Chris D.'s "The Killer Not Allowed to Die"

her car goes off the cliff in a spasm
of color, of rainbow,
of oilfield fire…

"The Killer Not Allowed to Die," by Chris D.

Click here to read it on NewTexture.com

"Urban Conk Poi" by Chris D.

John Travolta in a loincloth lies, nonchalant and bored, on the satin bedspread, while a blonde-haired girl in a pink negligee does jumping jacks trampoline-style all around him. I think, “Oh, brother, this is too much! I can’t stand John Travolta!”

"Urban Conk Poi," a dream story by Chris D.

Click here to read it.

"Love: Part I" - Poetry by Chris D.

I prayed with the athletes of sixty million households,
then heard you describe over the megaphone
the intrapsychic conflicts of our bedroom scripts,
scenarios of winged pigs sprung from their camera cages
by our mutually neurotic revenge traumas.

"Love: Part I" by Chris D.

Read it here.

Signed copies of Chris D.'s A MINUTE TO PRAY now available!

Signed copies of Chris D.'s 500+ page anthology, A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die, are now available from New Texture via Amazon.com.

Click hereto order your signed copy!