Welcome to the Hammer Party

Welcome to the resurrection - temporary only - of WELCOME TO THE HAMMER PARTY. What’s that I hear? Is that commerce’s theme music? The narcissism of self-publicity? Or maybe, just maybe, art? My new novel A VIOLENT MASTERPIECE hits shelves on Tuesday. Look at that cover, goddamn. I told them I thought it should have “neon gravitas” and hoo boy howdy did they nail it. I’ll be honest, at this point in the PR process I can’t take much more tooting my own horn. It’s making my back hurt.

Welcome to the Hammer Party - the newsletter of crime writer Jordan Harper. Sign up now and you’ll receive the first issue when it launches in January. Just press the button: This is experimental. It’s an attempt to wrench the pulped meat of my brain from the jaws of social media. My plan is to issue monthly. Each issue will include updates about my work (inshallah), thoughts about crime and culture, and brief movie, book and music recommendations.

Welcome to the hammer party. This issue is mostly dedicated to my favorite subject, writer’s block, but first … I visited the podcast Watch With Jen (hosted by my friend Jen Johans) recently to talk about David Mamet. We go both wide and deep, talking about most of his movies and many of his theoretical works. He’s one of my problematic faves, so it was really fun to hash him out with Jen.

Welcome to the Hammer Party. I’ve been cruising submarine-deep these last few months, trying to finish the new book (formerly known as HOLLYWOOD SICKOS) while back in a television writers room (a zoom-room, anyway). So these updates have grown sparse, and this isn’t going to be a full edition of the newsletter. But I did want to share this update: Tomorrow night, June 14, the ATX Festival will be virtually airing the pilot to LA Confidential that I wrote and executive-produced in 2018.

Welcome to the Hammer Party. Time is gushing as if from a wound, don’t you think? The first year of Welcome to the Hammer Party is over. It’s been very fulfilling to see people finding my ideas on writing useful, and I’m going to keep this going in one form or another in the new year. I’m considering moving towards a podcasting model next year, under the perhaps foolhardy belief that it will be easier than getting these essays out.

One of my favorite short stories that I have written is my one Christmas tale, “Christmas Morning Coming Down.” It first appeared in the ThugLit Cruel Yule anthology in a slightly different form. Enjoy and see you next year. BY JORDAN HARPER … and were all pretty goddamn rank by then, which is maybe why none of us in the van noticed that bad-cheese smell coming off Jimmy’s chest where the hippie had stabbed him. Maybe Jimmy didn’t even smell it, hard as that was to believe.

Welcome to the Hammer Party. Today my novel THE LAST KING OF CALIFORNIA is out in the UK, and as for now only in the UK. Fortunately, we live in the 21st century and getting books from other countries has become very simple. And while you’re at it, why not go ahead and pre-order my next book, EVERYBODY KNOWS, out in the US in January?

Welcome to the Hammer Party. This month I sat down with the Agitator crew to discuss Battles Without Honor and Humanity, as well as Elden Ring, nuclear fallout and a whole lot more. Give it a listen. I also highly recommend you check out at least the first movie in the five-film series, a masterpiece of plot-as-vibes and mid-century Yakuza style.

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