Hard Case Crime Update from Charles Ardai

Early reviews have cheered the return of Sam Fuller’s vivacious, heart-in-your-mouth storytelling (see below for some examples). Last week, at a Museum of Modern Art screening of a new documentary about Fuller’s extraordinary life (called “A Fuller Life,” natch), Fuller’s wife and daughter were joined in the audience by filmmakers such as Jonathan Demme, Jim Jarmusch, John Turturro, and James Toback. And that’s just the New York contingent – other filmmakers Fuller inspired include Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Win Wenders, and many, many more.

And the man’s movies are as visceral and shocking and unforgettable now as when they were made: THE BIG RED ONE, SHOCK CORRIDOR, THE NAKED KISS, THE STEEL HELMET, PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET…

We’ve had some big books at Hard Case Crime, but the publication of BRAINQUAKE in some ways tops ’em all. Fuller was a larger-than-life figure -- decorated D-Day veteran, liberator of the Falkenau concentration camp, teenage crime reporter in New York City, rail-rider with hoboes in the Depression, Hollywood wunderkind, fighter for racial equality, revered American icon overseas -- and having him join the Hard Case Crime family is a special privilege.

There’s a lot here to get excited about. I hope you’ll help us spread the word that this one-of-a-kind book by this one-of-a-kind man is at last coming to bookstores, 17 years after his death.