any resemblance to real persons...

Marshall Karp is an author I just discovered.  At the end of the two "Lomax and Biggs" mysteries I read, after the Acknowledgments there's a "Thank You" to the reader.


"Thank you for reading my book."


I don't know whether I've ever seen that before -- thank you for reading this.  He directly addresses his audience.


Example:


----------------------- [excerpt, M. Karp] ---------------- Thank you for reading The Rabbit Factory.  It was my first book, and I didn't exactly know what I was doing, which is why it has so many pages and, for some of you, far too many F-Bombs.


For those of you who prefer zero profanity, my apologies.  My books are about murder and mayhem, cops and killers.  I did try to write a scene without any swearing, and here's how it came out:


The knife came from nowhere, slicing through the air into the back of his hand, and pinning it to the table.


"Oh, fudge," he screamed.  "That's an ouchy."


My editor sent it back with a few F-bombs of his own.


The follow-up book, Bloodthirsty, has fewer pages and much less cursing.


I have to confess that the fictional characters I murder in Bloodthirsty are based on real people I worked with in Hollywood.  Killing them on the page is totally legal and extremely cathartic. ... ----------------------- [end excerpt]


Sort of a spin -- or spin-around -- of the standard disclaimer:  "All characters appearing in this work are fictitious.  Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental."


Karp:  "The fictional characters I murder in this novel are based on real people.  Real people I worked with.  In Hollywood."  (Any resemblance to real persons I'd just as soon were dead is -- pretty much right on the money.  LOL)


______________________________





-------------------------- [excerpt from Bloodthirsty, a Lomax and Biggs mystery] ---------------------- "Hey, Tyler," Halsey said.  "Fellas, this is Tyler Baker-Broome, the man who runs Barry's life.  T.B., I'd like you to meet --"


T.B. didn't want to meet anybody.  "We have a problem," he said.


"I know.  I saw Damian make his grand entrance.  I'll bet Barry is livid.  Where is he?  I want him to meet Mike and Terry."


"He's not here," Baker-Broome said.  "That's the problem."


"Where is he?"


"I don't know where he is," Baker-Broome said, lowering his voice into a nasty whisper.  "I only know where he isn't."


"Did he walk out because of Damian?"


"He didn't walk out because of anything. 


He never showed up. 


I spoke to him this morning.  He was fine. 


I called him again at noon.  No answer, so I left a message.  I called him again at one.  Since then I've been calling every ten minutes.  I tried the office, the house, his cell, everything.  He was supposed to be in the theater an hour ago.  He's never missed an opening in his life."








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