Busted Flush Update

The other day I had a blog entry on David Thompson's publishing venture. Today the Houston Chronicle catches up with me.

It's not "Busted Flesh Press," says David Thompson, neophyte book publisher. Given his subject matter — murder and mayhem — some people hear it that way, but his new venture, he explains, is "Busted Flush Press."

Mystery fans will recognize the name as an homage to one of Thompson's favorite authors, John D. MacDonald, whose sleuth Travis McGee lives on the Busted Flush, a houseboat he won in a poker game. And an homage seems appropriate: Busted Flush Press is all about respect, existing chiefly to revive crime novels that have slipped out of print.

The fledgling imprint's first trade title is just out — A Fifth of Bruen, a 352-page collection of the early fiction of Ireland's Ken Bruen, who emerged as a cult favorite in this country after The Guards earned an Edgar nomination for best novel of 2003.