Duane Swierczynski doesn’t want to go around killing people, but…
…sometimes a man’s just gotta do what comes naturally. And make no mistake about it, Philadelphia native and author Duane Swierczynski knows his way around killing. Fictionally, of course. (At least that’s his story and he’s sticking to it.)
From the time he announced his presence on the crime fiction scene with the amazingly original, mind-bending Secret Dead Men to the first book in his new Charlie Hardie series, Fun and Games (June 20th from Mulholland Books), Swierczynski has written his way to cult status with his fast-paced, darkly humorous, violent stories.
Not content to kill with words alone, however, Swierczynski decided to branch out, first into comics (Punisher, Cable, The Immortal Iron Fist, the forthcoming Birds of Prey from DC), then by teaming up with CSI creator Anthony E. Zuiker to create the publishing world’s first digi-novel, Level 26: Dark Origins and its sequel, Dark Prophecy.
Along the way Swierczynski has garnered Edgar and Anthony Award nominations, both for his novel Expiration Date, had his book Severance Package optioned by Lion’s Gate Entertainment (Brett Simon is on board to direct and co-write the script with Swierczynski), and earned the undying respect of his peers and readers alike. What he hasn’t quite done – yet – is make that final push to the next level of becoming a household name, and quite frankly that pisses me off. More people should know the name Duane Swierczynski, even if they can’t pronounce it. (For the record, it’s “sweer-ZIN-ski”)
And so, out of my righteous indignation Swierczynski Week has arisen in order to showcase the work of this criminally under the mainstream’s radar crime writer. Tomorrow I will be presenting mini-reviews of the books The Wheelman, Expiration Date, and Level 26: Dark Origins, followed by full reviews of Severance Package and Fun and Games on Wednesday and Thursday. We’ll bring Swierczynski Week to a close with a bang on Friday when the man himself stops by for a guest post.
It’s my hope that if you’ve never read anything by him before Swierczynski Week will inspire you to give him a try, and that if you are already familiar with his work you’ll be inspired to join me this week in spreading the Swierczynski gospel far and wide.
Coming Tomorrow: Mini reviews of The Wheelman, Expiration Date, and Level 26: Dark Origins.
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Awesome! Looking forward to this week. I love his books!
Hooray! Looking forward to the festivities! I’m bringing chips and salsa.
Party up in here! 🙂
Sounds great! I’ll check your reviews 🙂
FYI, the title/opening of this post came from something Duane said in a great interview with Philadelphia Weekly when he was talking about the Punisher.
Looking forward to this week, Elizabeth!
Great job, Elizabeth. I totally agree.