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WORK TITLE: House of Blazes
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://dietrichkalteis.blogspot.com/
CITY: Vancouver
STATE: BC
COUNTRY: Canada
NATIONALITY:
au blog: http://dietrichkalteis.blogspot.com/ * http://thewordonthestreet.ca/toronto/festival/participants/dietrich-kalteis-2/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Male.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author.
AWARDS:Independent Publisher Awards for Canada West Regional Fiction, bronze medal, 2015, for Ride the Lightning.
WRITINGS
Contributor of short stories to publications.
SIDELIGHTS
Dietrich Kalteis is a Canadian author of novels and short stories. His novels include Ride the Lightning, The Deadbeat Club, House of Blazes, Triggerfish, and Zero Avenue.
The Deadbeat Club and House of Blazes
The Deadbeat Club is set near the author’s hometown of Vancouver. In the town of Whistler, the battle for the drug trade is hot and violent. Grey Stevens inherited his weed-growing business from his uncle and has cultivated an excellent pot called Eight Miles High. Grey would be happy just snowboarding and cycling, using his friends to distribute the pot, but others have higher ambitions. His pot has attracted the interest of some high rolling rival gangs of Vancouver crooks, turning the small town of Whistler into a war zone.
LF Press Web site reviewer Joan Barfoot commented: “For readers with reasonably strong stomachs for outlandish violence and an interest in the efforts that may go into high-profit drug crime, the pace is brisk, the talk smart and sometimes funny, and the characters are mainly intriguing — even, occasionally, almost charming in their extreme waywardness.” National Post Online reviewer Naben Ruthnum was impressed with the novel and wrote: “Kalteis has a breezy style that belies the meticulous organization that goes into a book like this, with a large cast moving around in different parts of the province and converging in violence.” Crime Syndicate Web site contributor Michael Pool wrote: “Trust me when I tell you that you’re going to want to pick up and read this book, and don’t be surprised if you find yourself unable to put it down until it’s spent, because that’s exactly what happened to me.”
In House of Blazes, the year is 1906. Levi Hayes comes home to San Francisco after serving five years in San Quentin prison for stealing $30,000 in gold from the San Francisco mint. He is out for revenge against the Healey brothers who set him up and stole his barroom, House of Blazes. He concocts a plan for revenge to get his bar back, telling his nephew, Mack Lewis, that the gold is hidden in one of the basement walls. The plan eventually backfires and Levi and Mack find themselves in jail. And then the great earthquake hits and Levi and Mack escape the demolished building and have to find their way through the burning city to recover his gold. A Publishers Weekly reviewer was impressed with the novel and wrote: “Populated by a diverse cast of well-drawn characters, … this book is for readers who like their history gritty and action-packed.”
Triggerfish
In Triggerfish, alcoholic ex-cop Rene Beckman is injured on the job by a terrorist with a knife. Using his disability insurance, Beckman buys a charter fishing boat and plans on enjoying a quiet life. However, that quiet life is shattered when he mistakenly sails into a rendezvous between drug dealers. Seeing too much, Beckman is pursued by one of the gangs, intent on permanently silencing him.
Ian Thomas Shaw, on the Ottawa Review of Books Web site, wrote: “What stands out in Kalteis’ writing is his absolute immunity to political correctness as he ramps up the tempo and splices in copious doses of off-colour humour. And few writers have his skill when it comes to bringing out the base toughness of his characters and the rawness of their power. Kalteis is pure noir.” Crime Syndicate Web site reviewer Pool commented: “Triggerfish is highly entertaining, and another big hit from a man quickly becoming the heir-apparent to the Elmore Leonard crime novel.” Margaret Cannon in the Globe and Mail Online wrote: “This book is no British cozy but if you like your crime hard and fast, Kalteis is for you.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, August 22, 2016, review of House of Blazes, p. 92.
ONLINE
Crime Syndicate, https://crimesyndicatemagazine.com (November 10, 2015), Michael Pool, review of Deadbeat Club; (May 24, 2016), Michael Pool, review of Triggerfish.
Globe and Mail, http://www.theglobeandmail.com (June 10, 2016), Margaret Cannon, review of Triggerfish.
LFP, http://www.lfpress.com (September 30, 2015), Joan Barfoot, review of Deadbeat Club.
National Post, http://news.nationalpost.com (October 15, 2015), Naben Ruthnum, review of Deadbeat Club.
Ottawa Review of Books, https://www.ottawareviewofbooks.com (January 2, 2016), Ian Thomas Shaw, review of Triggerfish.*
Dietrich Kalteis
The Deadbeat Club is the second novel by Dietrich Kalteis, released by ECW Press in October, 2015. The National Post calls it, A breakout for Kalteis, doing for Vancouver and Whistler what George V. Higgins did for Boston, and Jean-Claude Izzo does for Marseille.
His anticipated third novel, Triggerfish will be released in June, 2016; and his debut novel, Ride the Lightning, won the bronze medal in the 2015 Independent Publisher Awards for Canada West Regional Fiction, and was hailed as one of the best Vancouver crime novels.
More than 40 of his short stories have been published internationally, and his screenplay Between Jobs was a finalist in the Los Angeles Screenplay Festival. Kalteis resides with his family in West Vancouver and is currently working on his next novel.
Novels
Ride The Lightning (2014)
The Deadbeat Club (2015)
Triggerfish (2016)
House of Blazes (2016)
Zero Avenue (2017)
Collections
Fast Women and Neon Lights (2016) (with Sarah M Chen, Patrick Cooper, S A Cosby, C S DeWild, Matthew J Hockey, S W Lauden, Nina Mansfield, Michael Pool, Eryk Pruitt, Linda L Richards, Kat Richardson, Will Viharo and Sam Wiebe)
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Kalteis, Dietrich
Dietrich-Kalteis
Dietrich Kalteis’s debut novel Ride the Lightning won the bronze medal in the 2015 Independent Publisher Awards, for Canada West Regional Fiction. Set in Whistler, his second novel, The Deadbeat Club is available from ECW Press October, 2015. Forty-five of his short stories have been widely published, and his screenplay Between Jobs was a finalist in L.A.’s Screenplay Festival. He resides with his family in West Vancouver and is currently working on his next novel.
Interview with Book Author Dietrich Kalteis
Written by Mystery Sequels on June 24, 2014 · Leave a Comment
Dietrich KalteisI had the pleasure of interviewing Dietrich Kalteis, the author of Ride the Lighting (book review coming shortly). This is his debut novel and it was released April this year, published by ECW Press.
I am quite eager to read the crime story as the reviews are full of praise. Just have a look at what is being said about it:
Dietrich Kalteis will be deservedly compared to Elmore Leonard, but he is an original voice. Ride the Lightning is a great story filled with wonderfully flawed characters.”
– John McFetridge, author of Dirty Sweet and Black Rock.
“…it sustains a breakneck pace without sacrificing character to action, or action to character. Kalteis made me care about his cast of lowlifes, screw-ups and marginals.”
– Peter Rozovsky, Detectives Beyond Borders
What is Ride the Lighting about?
Ride the Lightning
Ride the Lightning centers on bounty hunter Karl Morgan as he goes after a wanted drug dealer named Miro Knotts on a skipped bond. When Karl catches up with Miro, one thing leads to another, and he ends up beating him badly enough to get his license revoked, while Miro gets off with just a suspended sentence.
So, finished in Seattle, Karl takes the only job he can find as a process server up in Vancouver, a job that pays half in a town that costs double. Meantime, Miro ducks a drug sweep back in Seattle, and because of the suspended sentence looming over him, he sneaks through the brambles separating the borders. Looking to even the score with Karl, he triggers a chain of events only one of them will walk away from.
What inspired you to write the story?
I read an article a couple of years ago that sparked the idea. It talked about the marijuana trade in BC being the province’s reigning cash crop, bigger than tourism, lumber or fishing. The article estimated, at the time, it was a six billion dollar per year industry, and that as many as one in every hundred homes had been converted to a grow-house at some point. That night as I walked my dog, I started looking at our neighbourhood differently, thinking statistically, I must have passed two or three grow houses. Intrigued, the next day I started writing.
Tell us more about Karl Morgen, what is his back story?
Karl was developed from a short story I wrote a couple of years ago about a process server who delivers divorce papers to the owner of a travel agency but has a hard time getting past the guy’s pretty receptionist. I liked the dialogue and tension between them, so I dropped Karl into a new scene and started writing, letting his character develop along with the story.
He’s a guy who likes living life on the edge, so his work as a bounty hunter suits him. I think the reader will get a sense that Karl likes to balance on that edge to keep himself from looking at his own life too closely. And bending the rules to get the job done is just part of the game for Karl, meaning that solid line between right and wrong sometimes blurs. He keeps an article the Seattle Times ran about him tacked over his desk that tells us a lot about his character: if your man’s breathing, Karl will find him; if he’s not, he’ll show you where he’s planted.
Will you turn Ride the Lighting into a series?
It was always meant as a stand-alone novel, although my next story does borrow a minor character who becomes a central character, so there is a link between the two. The new story takes place in Whistler, just north of Vancouver.
What is your writing process?
Strong coffee, loud music and a very loose plot outline. I write every morning until noon; that just seems to be the best time of day for me. I’m more focused and have more energy then.
Once I’ve finished a first draft, I take a bit of a break from the story, then I go back, look at it with fresh eyes and rewrite anything that doesn’t work or that I feel could be improved on. The story then gets a third and sometimes a fourth pass before I feel it’s ready to send out.
Is Ride the Lighting your debut novel? Have you written and published anything else before?
Yes, it’s my debut novel. Before that, I wrote a lot of short stories, many of which were published in print publications, online and in anthologies.
Is being a writer your full time job?
Yes
So when did you decide you wanted to become a writer?
I drafted a novel when I was sixteen; I wrote it longhand and kept the pages in a shoebox under the bed. I never did anything with it, just batting practice, but I knew this was what I wanted to do. Then about ten years ago, after talking and thinking about it for a very long time, I began writing short stories, finding spare time in the evenings and on weekends. I started submitting the stories and seeing them published, and my screenplay Between Jobs became a finalist in the Screenplay Festival in LA, all of which was very encouraging. Then about five years ago, my wife convinced me to focus on writing full-time. Needless to say, I didn’t need a lot of coaxing.
How easy (or difficult) was to get your book published?
With the short stories, and as soon as I finished one, I sent it out in hopes of getting it published. Then I started writing the next one and repeated the process, sending each story to two or three publications. Over the next couple of years I wrote about fifty short stories in all, and after a while I had quite a few queries bouncing around out there, so I became no stranger to the rejection letter.
When Ride the Lightning was complete, I queried several agents, looking for representation, and I also sent the manuscript unsolicited to ECW Press in Toronto who have a couple of my favorite crime writers on their roster. I thought Ride the Lightning might be a good fit, and luckily they agreed.
Who are your literary influences and what authors do you enjoy reading most today?
I read a lot, both fiction as well as non-fiction. I admire greats like Twain, Salinger, Steinbeck, Hemingway, Miller, Lee, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Bukowski, Thompson, Burroughs, to name a few. In the crime fiction genre, I love reading Elmore Leonard, James Ellroy, Don Winslow, Carl Hiaasen, Robert Crais, Richard Stark, and many others.
Where do you spend your time writing?
I have a studio set up in my home, a window with a great view, a phone that’s always off, as well as two cats and a dog that like to hang around and nap while I disappear into my stories. They’re really good at letting me know when it’s noon which is when I stop, and also their lunch time.
What are some of your main hobbies and interests, apart from writing?
I like to paint, play with cameras and guitars, watch football (soccer) and go for long walks. And, of course, I read a lot.
Do you have any tips for the aspiring writers out there?
Write every chance you get, and when you’re not writing, read what inspires you to write.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Twenty Questions With Dietrich Kalteis
Dietrich Kalteis’s first novel, Ride the Lightning, won the bronze medal for Canada West Regional Fiction at the 2015 Independent Publisher Books Awards. (Dietrich answered 20 Questions about Ride the Lightning on its release.) ECW Press will unveil his new book, The Deadbeat Club, on October 1, just in time to accommodate the throngs at Bouchercon, where he will appear on the panel, “The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly: Heroes & Antiheroes,” on Sunday, October 11 at 10:00. Dietrich runs a regular feature on his blog called “Off the Cuff,” where crime fiction writers can get together and shoot the shit on the topic du jour. They’re always such good reads not even my occasional appearances can sink them.
Dieter took time out from getting ready for Bouchercon, promoting the book, and preparing to cross the US-Canadian border to submit to 20 Questions.
One Bite at a Time: Tell us about The Deadbeat Club.
Dietrich Kalteis: The story takes place in Whistler, BC. Grey Stevens takes over the family business after his uncle passes away. The nature of the business is growing pot, and he ends up growing a strain which creates demand among the locals and tourists. Soon everybody wants to get their hands on it, including two rival gangs coming up from Vancouver to take over the business and squeeze Grey out.
OBAAT: One DK to another, where did you get this idea, and what made it worth developing for you? (Notice I didn’t ask “Where do you get your ideas?” I was careful to ask where you got this idea.)
DK: I liked the idea of Whistler as the setting for a crime story since it’s isolated, two hours north of Vancouver, and it’s known as a party town. I came up with the main character, Grey Stevens. He’s a laid back guy who just wants to grow pot, snowboard the cold months and bike the warm ones – an unwitting protagonist who finds himself in trouble after he saves a girl from a beating at the hands of one of the gang members coming up from Vancouver to squeeze him out of the pot trade. I liked the idea of dropping Grey into both a budding relationship and into the middle of a turf war. I wanted to see him develop as a character and see how he handled what was coming at him.
OBAAT: How long did it take to write The Deadbeat Club, start to finish?
DK: From first draft to sending it off to my publisher took about nine months. Then there was the usual time spent in editing and copy editing.
OBAAT: Where did Grey Stevens come from? In what ways is he like, and unlike, you?
DK: So far, I haven’t based characters on anybody I know, so Grey is pure fiction. He just developed into the perfect reluctant hero as the story developed. He’s likable and does enough of the right things, so I think readers will empathize with him.
OBAAT: In what time and place is The Deadbeat Club set? How important is the setting to the book as a whole?
DK: The story is set in present time, and Whistler is important as the setting since all the characters are funneled into this mountain playground, clashing with each other with nowhere to run.
OBAAT: How did The Deadbeat Club come to be published?
DK: It’s the second of a three book deal with ECW Press. All three stories are set in British Columbia, but outside of the Dara Addie character – who started out as a minor character borrowed from Ride the Lightning, and ends up as Grey’s love interest – there’s no connection between the stories.
OBAAT: Your writing has been compared to Elmore Leonard, and, frankly, you look more like Elmore Leonard than any other living author. Is that a conscious choice, to emulate him, or did it just kind of work out that way? In essence, how much of an effect did Leonard’s work have on yours? (The writing, not your personal appearance. Unless plastic surgery was involved. Then we want to know every juicy bit.)
DK: All natural, all me, no enhancements. Over the years, I have read everything Elmore Leonard ever wrote, a lot of it more than once. I don’t intentionally try to emulate him, but like him, I incorporate dark humor and characters who are often unwitting and on the shady side.
OBAAT: What kinds of stories do you like to read? Who are your favorite authors, in or out of that area?
DK: I read a lot of crime fiction, and some of my favorite authors are James Ellroy, Robert B. Parker, Donald Westlake, Robert Crais, Carl Hiaasen and George V Higgins.
I’ve also enjoyed books by newer-to-the-scene writers like yourself, Eric Beetner, Johnny Shaw, Joe Clifford. Paul D. Marks and David Swinson. And there are many more who I hope to read soon. Among Canadian authors, I like John McFetridge, Sam Wiebe, Owen Laukkanen, Linda L Richards, ER Brown, William Deverell and Robin Spano. Outside of crime fiction, I like anything written by Hunter S. Thompson, Charles Bukowski, William S. Burroughs, the Beat Generation, Edgar Hilsenrath and Patti Smith.
OBAAT: What made you decide to be an author?
DK: At sixteen, I penned my first attempt at a novel. A shoebox of hand-scrawled loose-leaf pages. It was pretty terrible, but I always held onto the notion that one day I would write. Okay, so it took a while. In fact, it wasn’t until six years ago when my wife suggested I pack up my graphics business and just start writing full time (I guess I talked about it a lot). And that’s what I did.
OBAAT: How do you think your life experiences have prepared you for writing crime fiction?
DK: Since I was a kid, I loved reading, and I loved spinning stories. I remember listening to the news or to something told to me and thinking, well what if this happened? And I still do this, gathering bits of what I hear and read for later use in my stories. I guess over the years all my own life experiences have given me more to draw on and a stronger foundation for the stories I come up with.
OBAAT: What do you like best about being a writer?
DK: I like creating stories. It’s a solo effort where I get to sit at my desk and spin scenes and create characters, mixing what I know with what I can imagine. And for me, there’s nothing better than that.
OBAAT: Who are your greatest influences? (Not necessarily writers. Filmmakers, other artists, whoever you think has had a major impact on your writing.)
DK: There’s just something about a Coen brothers’ film. I love their stories and their offbeat sense of humor. I’m also inspired by any kind of art that really speaks to me, whether it’s great photography, paintings or music.
OBAAT: Do you outline or fly by the seat of you pants? Do you even wear pants when you write?
DK: I just jump right in (fully clothed) with an idea, toss in an appropriate character or two and start writing and developing as I go. As far as outlining, I kind of do that in reverse. After I have the first draft, I put together a kind of rough outline which serves to check timelines and sequences.
OBAAT: Give us an idea of your process. Do you edit as you go? Throw anything into a first draft knowing the hard work is in the revisions? Something in between?
DK: Something in between. Once I’ve got a scene, I usually go back over it the next day and reread and edit out anything that isn’t working before moving on to the next scene. Often ideas spring from rereading, and I carry them into future scenes. The whole thing kind of builds as I keep writing.
OBAAT: Your blog runs a regular feature called “Off the Cuff,” where you discuss various aspects of writing with Martin Frankson and Sam Wiebe, and usually, one or two guest authors. (I’ve lowered property values there myself a couple of times, and it’s great fun.) What gave you the idea for that, and how are the topics and guests picked?
DK: I wanted to write a blog with no preset questions, invite guests at random, pick a topic and just treat it like a casual conversation. It’s been going for over a year, and it’s a great way to get other authors’ views on aspects of the writing process. We’ve been fortunate to have so many talented authors like yourself who generously give their time and contribute to make the whole thing sound like we know what we’re talking about.
OBAAT: If you could give a novice writer a single piece of advice, what would it be?
DK: Well, with two published books, I still feel like a novice, but one thing I’ve observed: no two writers seem to do anything the same way. So, someone new to the game would be well-advised to take a look at writers they admire and find out how each one does it. Then adapt what works best for them. One other thing, I think it’s important for a writer to read as much as possible.
OBAAT: Generally speaking the components of a novel are story/plot, character, setting, narrative, and tone. How would you rank these in order of their importance in your own writing, and can you add a few sentences to tell us more about how you approach each and why you rank them as you do?
DK: I’d have to say tone first. To me, that’s the voice and the pace. That’s what keeps me turning pages when I’m reading, but let’s face it, you need all these elements to really bring the whole thing together.
OBAAT: If you could have written any book of the past hundred years, what would it be, and what is it about that book you admire most?
DK: There are so many great books, but the first one that comes to mind right now is The Rum Diary, an early novel by Hunter S. Thompson. A great tale of jealousy, treachery and lust written by a true master. If we’re talking strictly crime fiction, then I’d say George V. Higgins’ debut novel The Friends of Eddie Coyle.
OBAAT: Favorite activity when you’re not reading or writing.
DK: Watching a movie and grabbing my guitar and hacking away as I watch. I make a very lazy and crappy musician, but it’s something I like to do. I also like to paint abstracts and snap black-and-white photos.
OBAAT: What are you working on now?
DK: I’ve been working on my fifth and sixth novels like a juggler this past year, finishing a draft of one, then switching to the other, and going back and forth. I’m not sure that it’s the best way to go, but so far it seems to be working.
Lastly, I’d like to say thanks, Dana, for inviting me over to “One Bite at a Time.” I look forward to seeing you and Corky at Bouchercon.
OBAAT: We’ll be there, and we’re both looking forward to seeing you again. Thanks for stopping by.
QUOTED: Populated by a diverse cast of well-drawn characters, ... this book is for readers who like their history gritty and action-packed.
House of Blazes
263.34 (Aug. 22, 2016): p92.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
House of Blazes
Dietrich Kalteis. ECW (Perseus/Legato, U.S. dist.; Jaguar, Canadian dist.), $16.95 trade paper (280p) ISBN 978-1-77041-286-6
Kalteis sets his fourth crime novel (after Triggerfish) in 1906 in San Francisco's Barbary Coast district, "a back alley of vice and corruption," viewed by many as "a moral cancer on this Paris of the Pacific." The story pits Levi Hayes, who has returned from doing five years in San Quentin Prison for stealing $30,000 in gold from the San Francisco mint, against the powerful Healey brothers, who he believes saw to it that he was found guilty. Levi wants to return to the House of Blazes, his barroom seized by the Healeys, to recover the gold coins hidden in the cellar walls and to seek revenge on the brothers. Laden with local color--gambling dens, houses of prostitution, lawlessness--much of the action takes place against the backdrop of the great earthquake and fire of 1906, and Kalteis vividly depicts the terror and random death both caused. Populated by a diverse cast of well-drawn characters, including Levi, his nephew Mack Lewis, the newly widowed Mabel Porter, black widow Florence Healey, madam Pearly Wilkes, crooked copper Quinn Healey, pimp Byron Blake, and Red Tom, this book is for readers who like their history gritty and action-packed. (Oct.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"House of Blazes." Publishers Weekly, 22 Aug. 2016, p. 92. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA461609304&it=r&asid=20364fc428ec485330e22cda9465e9c1. Accessed 12 May 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A461609304
Crime-On-Crime Review Series #18: Triggerfish, by Dietrich Kalteis
Posted on May 24, 2016 by Michael Pool Leave a comment
9781770411531_1024x1024What can I say about Dietrich Kalteis’s writing that I haven’t said in my review of his previous novel, The Deadbeat Club? His prose drills like a woodpecker on wood, and his characters always pop right off the page with engaging, character-specific dialog.
In Triggerfish, Dietrich is back to his old tricks. Rene Beckman is a former cop let go from the force after a questionable shooting that also left him with a near-fatal stab wound. Now he spends his days piloting the Triggerfish, a for-hire day trip fishing vessel. And things are going fine in his new life. That is, until Beck and his sexy vegan date Vicki witness a cartel drug deal involving a submarine and a tugboat taking place in a remote bay.
What follows is a cat-and-mouse organized crime extravaganza involving drug-dealing bikers, sociopath cartel henchmen, and in-over-their-heads vegan activists. One of the things I enjoy about Dietrich’s writing is his gift for putting quirky, seemingly harmless people in deadly situations, then letting them figure their own dumb luck way out. Triggerfish is highly entertaining, and another big hit from a man quickly becoming the heir-apparent to the Elmore Leonard crime novel.
There’s a reason we asked him to be the Guest Editor for Crime Syndicate Issue Two…
QUOTED: Trust me when I tell you that you’re going to want to pick up and read this book, and don’t be surprised if you find yourself unable to put it down until it’s spent, because that’s exactly what happened to me.
Crime-On-Crime Review Series #6: The Deadbeat Club, by Dietrich Kalteis
Posted on November 10, 2015 by Michael Pool 2 Comments
51c8jMhWv1L._SX321_BO1,204,203,200_Beware the man in the Canadian tuxedo, because he can write like hell. That man is Dietrich Kalteis, and his name should rightfully be changed to Vancouver Dutch the way he carries on Elmore Leonard’s spirit and legacy with his recently released sophomore novel from ECW Press, The Deadbeat Club. I’m super excited to review this book for Crime Syndicate, because as far as I’m concerned it’s a breakout effort from a rising star in Canadian crime fiction, and one of the best books I read this year. Seriously.
I first met Dietrich at Bouchercon, where I ended up hanging out with him and a few other Canadian crime fiction writers for most of the weekend. The stereotype about Canadians proved true, as they were all some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Dietrich is a soft-spoken, friendly guy. And yes, he was properly attired in denim top and bottom all weekend long, which is just plain badass. He’s also one hell of a crime writer, as I soon discovered.
In The Deadbeat Club, generational Whistler BC primo dope grower Grey Stevens finds himself caught smack in the middle of a turf war between rival gangs that both have their eyes on his coveted Eight Miles High cannabis strain. Stevens and his cast of hippish, outcast characters move from shenanigan to shenanigan as the plot unfolds, trying throughout to both cover their asses, and preserve their small street distribution ring, including Grey’s own off-the-grid grow houses.
On their trail are a couple of head-busting detectives up from Vancouver, a sexually-obsessed sociopath named Travis Rainey with his crime boss Bumpy Rosco’s idiot meathead son Nick Rosco in tow, and the entire Indo Army, who are as interested in stomping out Bumpy Rosco’s syndicate as they are in locking down Grey’s supply.
Lot’s of campy mayhem ensues, with spiked drinks, busted heads, flash mobs (yes, flash mobs), and explosions. The narrative arc takes a curb-stomping pace, yet never feels like it’s in a rush. To me, that speaks to Kalteis’s great sense of plotting and pace, not to mention his grasp of setting and character. At times funny, at other times thrilling and sexy, The Deadbeat Club has everything you could want in a crime book.
One of the most original aspects of Kalteis’s book is that it seems to reinterpret aspects of American rural noir into something both familiar and unique, which I would call Canadian rural noir. I’ll admit I’m not as up-to-date on my Canadian crime writers as I should be, but the approach felt both familiar and fresh, what my graduate school instructors would have called “uniquely familiar.”
I can think of no higher praise, so I’ll leave it at that. Trust me when I tell you that you’re going to want to pick up and read this book, and don’t be surprised if you find yourself unable to put it down until it’s spent, because that’s exactly what happened to me. Pick up a copy of The Deadbeat Club here, and find Dietrich online at http://dietrichkalteis.blogspot.com/.
QUOTED: What stands out in Kalteis' writing is his absolute immunity to political correctness as he ramps up the tempo and splices in copious doses of off-colour humour. And few writers have his skill when it comes to bringing out the base toughness of his characters and the rawness of their power. Kalteis is pure noir.
Triggerfish by Dietrich Kalteis
February 1, 2016
Reviewed by Ian Thomas Shaw
Like the chroniclers of Wild West gunslingers, Dietrich Kalteis builds on the machismo of his male characters and exploits the raw sensuality of his female leads. In his latest novel, Triggerfish, this West Vancouver author takes this to a new level.
As in all of Kalteis' novels, Triggerfish unveils the dark side of B.C. life—the underbelly of “cool.” The story's hero is a hard-drinking ex-cop, Rene Beckman, who, after barely surviving a confrontation with a knife-wielding terrorist, decides to cash in his disability insurance and buy a charter fishing boat. But the quiet life aboard the Triggerfish takes a dive when Beckman sails into a secret rendez-vous between Mexican drug smugglers on a submarine and the crew of a harbour tug sent by the buyers—the Rockers MC.
If crossing paths with the smugglers wasn't bad enough, the encounter comes in the midst of Beckman copulating with a very hot environmentalist, Vicki. A considerable amount of bluster and some help from the tug's captain, Ramon Sanchez, gets Beckman out of the jam, but not for long. The Mexicans decide not to leave loose ends and order the Rockers to track down Beckman and eliminate him. Pissed with Sanchez, whom he holds responsible for letting Beckman get away, the Mexicans' leader Diego Guzman decides that Sanchez' hapless nephew Eddie should make the hit. Guzman sends along his enforcer, Amado, to ensure that Eddie does the deed.
Beckman, unaware of the storm headed his way, is preoccupied with repairing the damage with Vicki, angry at being caught in flagrante delicto in full view of the gang-banging submariners. She doesn't stay angry long, but forgiveness comes with a price. Beckman must join her on a save-the-whales mission in the Antarctic. Beckman's hesitation to “jump on board” costs him when smooth-talking Jimmy steps in to win Vicki's affection with his impeccable eco-warrior and tofu-eating credentials.
When the bikers torch the Triggerfish in a botched assassination attempt, Beckman, assisted by Jimmy, goes on the offensive against them and the Mexicans. Pretty soon everyone is shooting at each other, and gang-bangers and bikers drop like flies. Along the way, Beckmancomes up against a ghost from his recent past, Ashika Shakira, the femme fatale terrorist whose knife to his chest ended his policing days. Ironically, Ashika's appearance is a blessing as her gunplay against the Mexicans and Rockers even the odds against Beckman.
What stands out in Kalteis' writing is his absolute immunity to political correctness as he ramps up the tempo and splices in copious doses of off-colour humour. And few writers have his skill when it comes to bringing out the base toughness of his characters and the rawness of their power. Kalteis is pure noir.
Triggerfish is published by ECW Press.
Crimewave: Dietrich Kalteis’ The Deadbeat Club paints Vancouver in Elmore Leonard’s voice
Naben Ruthnum | October 15, 2015 | Last Updated: Oct 29 12:03 PM ET
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9781770411524_1024x1024The Deadbeat Club, by Dietrich Kalteis (ECW Press, 312 pp., $14.95) is the Vancouver crime novel that I’ve always been hoping someone would write, an Elmore Leonard inflected, witty plunge into the vernacular and particular shape of drug crime and culture in the area.
Unsurprisingly, it’s a pot book, about a turf war over dealing rights and a top-shelf strain bred by Grey Stevens, a grower in Whistler whose dream is to retire in his mid-thirties to a life of snowboarding and biking. He’s got a nice arrangement with ex-bikers in the Lower Mainland and even a few buskers in Whistler to distribute his product, but neither Bumpy Rosco’s gang and their rivals the Indo Army have much patience for independent contractors like Grey.
Kalteis has a breezy style that belies the meticulous organization that goes into a book like this, with a large cast moving around in different parts of the province and converging in violence. It’s not just Grey Stevens who’s likable: every thug, casual crook, reluctantly involved civilian, and cop in this book has something appealing about them, usually in the way they speak or roll with the action that Kalteis’s plot throws at them. Even violent enforcer Travis Rainey is something of a charmer, an operator with who offers medical aftercare tips to guys he’s just roughed up.
This book deserves to be something of a breakout for Kalteis, who does for Vancouver and Whistler what George V. Higgins does for Boston and Jean-Claude Izzo does for Marseille: he animates familiar streets with excitement, crime, and appealing characters, providing readers with a most entertaining tourist manual.
Review: New crime fiction from Melanie Raabe, John Farrow and Dietrich Kalteis
MARGARET CANNON
Special to The Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Jun. 10, 2016 10:00AM EDT
Last updated Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016 2:42PM EST
Triggerfish
By Dietrich Kalteis
ECW, 264 pages, $14.95
There’s a subset of crime novels that celebrates machismo in all its tough and tawdry glory. Triggerfish, along with Kalteis’s other novels, is part of that and, if you like hard sex, tough talk, motorcycles, guns and boys with toys, this is your meat. Done well, it’s the late, great James Crumley. Kalteis doesn’t go that far, but he goes far enough. The renegade ex-cop is Rene Beckman, dishonoured and disowned by his Vancouver compatriots. He’s got a hot new lover who’s an ecology expert and a snappy new boat called the Triggerfish, which is his real love. Before you can say “set sail” there’s a confrontation with bad guys from a dangerous drug cartel and lots of roaring and fighting. Then it’s an encounter with a motorcycle gang, a trip down Vancouver’s back streets and an encounter with his old pals on the VPD force. This book is no British cozy but if you like your crime hard and fast, Kalteis is for you.
QUOTED: For readers with reasonably strong stomachs for outlandish violence and an interest in the efforts that may go into high-profit drug crime, the pace is brisk, the talk smart and sometimes funny, and the characters are mainly intriguing — even, occasionally, almost charming in their extreme waywardness.
Books: In his new, briskly paced novel The Deadbeat Club, Dietrich Kalteis explores the criminal rivalries roiling the high-stakes drug-trade world of Whistler, B.C.
By Joan Barfoot, Special to Postmedia Network
Wednesday, September 30, 2015 10:04:12 EDT AM
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THE DEADBEAT CLUB
By Dietrich Kalteis
ECW Press, $14.95
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There isn’t a single good guy among the criminal rabble-rousers who populate Vancouverite Dietrich Kalteis’s lively second novel.
Still, as in his first book, Ride the Lightning, there is the odd character who can be somewhat less despicable than others.
In The Deadbeat Club, the battle is over the drug trade around the resort town of Whistler, and occasionally it’s possible to root mildly for somebody — although it’s unwise to count on sustaining that tepid sentiment for long.
The least gangsterish character is Grey Stevens, a native of Whistler who has inherited his uncle’s weed-growing business, featuring the cultivation of an excellent pot called Eight Miles High.
Grey would like to be a laidback snowboarder and cyclist, using buddies and a collection of town buskers to get his crop — and a few other drugs — into the hands of tourists and assorted other customers.
But Whistler, and Eight Miles High, look like opportunity to some Vancouverites, and soon Grey and his pals are under violent siege.
Not that the two sets of Vancouver-based encroachers are allied with each other.
Bumpy Rosco is an old-fashioned sort of hard man, whose profit centres include meth labs and whose burdens include Nick, his flashy, arrogant, not-very-bright son.
The Roscos are at war with the Indo Army, a gang made up of young East Indians who have equally few qualms when it comes to violence, and when they all converge on Whistler, fists, weapons, teeth, threats and bodies all start to fly.
The Rosco team is led by a fellow named Travis, an ex-biker recruited for his contacts and forceful techniques to pressure Grey into turning over his operation.
Travis, also lumbered with the disruptive presence of Nick Rosco, has already had an explosive encounter with the Indo Army, which is now seeking not only to take over Grey’s business, but to wipe out Travis and the Roscos while they’re at it.
There are women, of course.
One is young Dara, who in hoping to escape her mother’s basement in Vancouver has agreed to a courier job with Nick Rosco.
When Nick unwisely tries to take their relationship further, she repels him with considerable violence.
And when Nick subsequently tries to assault her in Whistler, Grey sails up on his bicycle and wipes him out, adding another personal layer to what’s already a bad business.
Travis, meanwhile, gets slightly sidetracked romantically by an unusually worldly woman with her own talents and scruples.
People get tortured, people get killed, bodies get buried and stashed — creating a Whistler so perilous that both tourists and residents are often left gaping in the streets.
Scrambling to catch up are the cops, particularly a pair of RCMP officers tasked with investigating, if not necessarily nailing, the drug trade.
One is smart and professional, the other sloppy and unambitious, but handy with a few useful skills when they’re needed.
The Deadbeat Club isn’t quite as sprightly in tone and dialogue as Kalteis’s Ride the Lightning, which was also set mainly in British Columbia and also involved violent criminal rivalries.
But for readers with reasonably strong stomachs for outlandish violence and an interest in the efforts that may go into high-profit drug crime, the pace is brisk, the talk smart and sometimes funny, and the characters are mainly intriguing — even, occasionally, almost charming in their extreme waywardness.
Joan Barfoot is a novelist living in London.