In January 1978 the mystery novelist Ross Macdonald wrote, "Fred Zackel's first novel reminds me of the young Dashiell Hammett's work, not because it is an imitation, but because it is not. It is a powerful and original book made from the lives and language of the people who live in San Francisco today."
My novel Cocaine and Blue Eyes was first published in hard cover by Coward, McCann & Geoghegan in 1978.
On 28 November 1978, TIME MAGAZINE described the novel as “A spectrum of sex, aging flower children, mafia money, houseboat life in Sausalito, booze, barbituates, bitterness, incest and greed … as nerve-rattling as a full-throttle auto chase!”
Then it was published in paperback by Berkley Books in 1981 and then reissued in 1983.
Cocaine and Blue Eyes was made into a NBC television movie that first aired 2 January 1983.
A French edition was published by Editions Gallimard in Paris, France, 1986.
A Spanish edition was published in Buenos Aires by Sudamericana sometime in 1993 or 94.
Cocaine and Blue Eyes was re-issued by Point Blank Press in November 2006.
It is now available on Kindle. The price goes up to $2.99 next month.
I firmly believe that the best way to sell a book is by letting people read some of the story. Here is a two paragraph sample from the opening chapter:
“It was almost midnight Christmas, and the runt was spoiling my breakfast. We were the only two customers in the OK truckstop. He said nothing to me, just sat sniffling at the counter. He had the sniffles bad.
“His hair was tied back in a ponytail. Patched blue jeans, a workshirt without buttons, raggedy hiking boots. The California highways were filled with hundreds just like him every summer. Some were raggier, almost all were taller. Just another rammy runt with a runny nose and a shirttail always hanging out …”
Enjoy good writing tonight in the privacy of your home.
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I would be honored by all those who can review me at the Kindle store, if you wish. And at smashwords.
And thank you for reading my writings in this forum.
Best wishes,
Fred Zackel