From Reed Farrel Coleman

The two-time Edgar®-nominated author of Empty Ever After on The Lineup #1:

Well-conceived and well-executed, The Lineup both enlightens and frightens, but manages to do so without stumbling into hyperbole. At their best, the poems evoke William Carlos Williams. Tennyson wrote that nature was "red in tooth and claw." One can only speculate on what he might've said about The Lineup.

Graham Everett

Poet, professor, and publisher, Everett is the founding editor of Street Magazine and Press, He has worked as poet-in-residence at New York area schools, prisons, and arts councils from 1974-1986. Everett served as the Interim Director of the Poetry Center at SUNY-Stony Brook in the early 1990's.

Daniel Thomas Moran

Daniel Thomas Moran, born in New York City in 1957, is the author of six volumes of poetry, the most recent of which, Looking for the Uncertain Past, was published by Poetry Salzburg at The University of Salzburg in 2006. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from Stony Brook University (1979) and a Doctorate in Dental Surgery from Howard University (1983). He has read widely throughout New York City and Long Island and has done readings in Ireland, Italy, Austria and at The United Nations. He served as Suffolk County Poet Laureate 2005-2007.

Request for Submissions from LEO's and ex-LEO's

From Lineup contributor Sarah Cortez:

Everyone says only cops understand cops. This is probably true. But I think America needs to understand its cops better. We need to tell Americans who we are, what we do, and how we see ourselves. Maybe, even how we see them.

Here’s my challenge to you as a fellow cop. Fire up your lap top. Write about something in policing that means something to you – the case you can’t forget, the car-share you hate, what it felt like your first time as a solo unit. This book of assembled writing by many street cops, jailers, game wardens, school cops, state or federal agents will be full of different perspectives about police work, and how you do and see it. You can write about your life on-duty or off-duty, as long as policing is at the center of your perspective. No training articles; no academic writing, no political ranting. For examples, look at some of the writing by Ed Conlon in “Blue Blood,” or by Gina Gallo in “Armed and Dangerous.”

I’m an experienced writer and editor, and can help you revise your piece of writing. Our goal is a book of true life experiences with the author’s own reflections about the experiences – all written by those of us who police across America. You may not consider yourself a “writer.” That’s fine. Fire up the lap top anyway.

Nuts and Bolts

Each submission must be:
Length: No longer than 7,000 words (negotiable)
Format: Double-spaced, 12 pt. font
Unpublished
Factual - Not made-up, not fiction.
Deadline: October 1, 2008
Language: In English

Submission Process

Email your piece as an attachment to: copstoriesusa@gmail.com
If you don’t have email, mail it to: Sarah Cortez, P.O. Box 980579, Houston, TX 77098-0579.

Include the following info with your submission:

Name:
Current rank:
Current status: (Active, retired, reserve, etc.)
Current agency:
Email and Alternative email:
Contact phone and Alternative contact phone:
Mailing address:
Bio: (one paragraph that mentions your other publications, if any, and summarizes your LE career.)

Ken Bruen

Ken Bruen has been a finalist for the Edgar®, Barry, and Macavity Awards, and has twice won the Private Eye Writers of America's Shamus Award for Best Novel, in 2003 for The Guards and in 2007 for The Dramatist. He lives in Galway, Ireland.

From J. Kingston Pierce

The editor-in-chief of The Rap Sheet on The Lineup #1:

"The Lineup brings poetry to violence that often has no rhyme or reason."

From Sean Chercover

The Shamus Award-winning author of Big City, Bad Blood and Trigger City on The Lineup #1:

The Lineup is packed with passionate portraits of lust, revenge, guilt, obsession, regret . . . all the good things in life. Some of these poems will make you smile, others will put a lump in your throat. And some will stay with you for a very long time after you've closed the book.

From Charlie Stella

The author of Cheapskates, Shakedown, Mafiya, and Johnny Porno on The Lineup #1:

A fierce and passionate collection of visceral insights of, to and through the soul, The Lineup is strong … very strong. Special standouts for this reader included: Daniel Thomas Moran, This is a Fox News Alert; R. Narvaez, Papi was a Numbers Runner, Metro and Judgment Day; Misti Rainwater-Lites, Not Bonnie & Clyde, Exactly; and Gerald So, Witness Protection and Four Minutes.

May 22

Yes, May 22 is the day Indiana Jones returns to theaters. It's also the deadline I've set to have all the blurbs and ads in so we can do a final proofread and start printing The Lineup.

See our ad in Crimespree

...Issue #24, page 33:

From Kevin Burton Smith

The editor-in-chief of The Thrilling Detective Web Site on The Lineup #1:

Thrilling fiction editor So stakes a claim on the crime-rhyme turf, aided and abetted by Patrick Shawn Bagley, R. Narvaez, and Anthony Rainone, and featuring poetry in a hard-boiled vein from the likes of Graham Everett, Daniel Thomas Moran, Daniel Hatadi, Stephen D. Rogers and Ken Bruen, among others. But the real discovery for me was Misti Rainwater-Lites whose in your face sensuality and sexuality is as unapologetic as it is fierce. It must be hard to write with brass knuckles on, but these guys and dames, these bards of badass, manage to do it, peeling back the secret hurts of bruised and battered hearts to deliver tough, terse slabs of true grit.

Banner Day

Want to help advertise The Lineup on your site? John Collis has made banners in two sizes: 468x60 pixels (click to enlarge) and 480x60 pixels (Contact us for details).

The Cover Uncovered

Cover design by R. Narvaez and John Collis