the life sentence

Today over at The Life Sentence, author and TLS Board member Bill Loehfelm gives us an excellent rundown on the progressive politics and pleasures of everyone’s favorite FBI sci-fi show of the late 90s, The X-Files, in preparation for the January 2016 return of Agents Scully and Mulder. 

Loehfelm gave himself the task of re-watching, thanks to Netflix, the show’s entire first nine seasons and came up with 13 observations, five of which we’re highlighting below.

1. “The showrunners seem to really enjoy random shots of Scully mid-autopsy.”

Just weighing some guts.

...guts that don’t want to be weighed. 

Contemplating a corpse. 

Off to a great start!

Reading up on dead guys.

2. “If Mulder takes out his gun, there’s a 60-40 chance he’s about to get punched in the face and lose his weapon.”

Sometimes things don’t end well for Agent Mulder. 

Sometimes a car blows up.

“I surrender!”

But other times, Mulder is a badass. 

3. “[Scully] also dishes it out pretty good and saves herself as least as often as she’s saved. She’s established early on as someone who can handle herself physically, and is a better field agent than Mulder.” 

Knock, knock, it’s Scully. 

Can she make it any clearer?

Scully, taking care of business. 

Scully is not a fan.

This is what Scully thinks of your bullshit.

4. “Mulder is a Mets fan. Most people who grew up where he did in New England would become fans of the Boston Red Sox. One of the Mets’ enduring team mottos, however, is ‘Ya Gotta Believe.’”

Mulder: he wants to believe. 

Just pretend Mulder is wears a Mets jersey as he teaches Scully all about baseball. 

5. “Giovanni Ribisi, Jack Black, and Ryan Reynolds all guest star in season three. Ribisi lives the longest but none of them survive their episodes. Reynolds, in fact, gets killed by devil-worshipping high school girls before the opening credits.”

Giovanni Ribisi as the troubled kid with electrical-related powers in the season three episode “D.P.O.”

Jack Black, in the same episode as Ribisi, having a crackling good time with hair that would fit in perfectly in School of Rock.

Once again, we at The Life Sentence want to bring you the best in crime fiction news and fun from across the globe, even when we can’t report on such news ourselves. So we send trusty people like author and TLS Board member Doug Johnstone to events like Bloody Scotland. 

Here’s what he had to say.

Might be a bit of a wait for a drink…

Doug’s fortune. It’s a keeper.

The Slice Girls before they take the stage (from L to R: author Lucy Ribchester, Simon & Schuster senior publicist Elizabeth Preston, author and screenwriter Alexandra Sokoloff, author SJI Holliday, author Kati Hiekkapelto, and author and blogger Steph Broadribb aka Crime Thriller Girl)

The Slice Girls in action, from left to right: Kati Hiekkapelto (author), Elizabeth Preston (Simon & Schuster senior publicist), Lucy Ribchester (author), author and blogger Steph Broadribb aka Crime Thriller Girl, author SJI Holliday and author and screenwriter Alexandra Sokoloff (you can just see her behind Holliday’s shoulder).

Ian Rankin (left) and Simon Kernick square off in the match of the century. 

Johnstone for Scotland!

Writers duking it out…with a football. 

Denise Mina and Val McDermid declare Scotland open to Syrian refugees. 

“We can’t all be saints,” says John Dillinger in the epigraph of Chris Holm’s new thriller, THE KILLING KIND. And what a boring world it would be, one full of saints. At least on the page, it’s much more exciting to have men like the (anti-)hero of THE KILLING KIND, hitman Michael Hendricks, who has the distinction of being a hired gun who only kills other hitmen. 

Over at The Life Sentence, Holm talks to TLS editor Katrina Niidas Holm (and what’s better than a married couple talking about crime fiction?) about hitmen, what went into creating THE KILLING KIND, and his pop culture influences. 

Here are some highlights. 

“I like hitman novels. I like hitman fiction in general. For whatever reason, I tend to be more attracted to hitman stories in film.”

In Bruges

John Wick

“One of my all-time favorite writers is Donald Westlake; he’s an absolute master of crime fiction. And my favorite Westlake books are the ones he wrote under the pen name Richard Stark, the Parker books.”

“I’m not sure what it says about me, but Parker books are my comfort food.” 

“When I need to remind myself why I love writing crime fiction, why I love reading crime fiction, [these] are what I pick up.”

“I wound up creating a character who, rather than serving with him in Afghanistan, spent a lot of time in Central and South America working for the CIA in the drug war. It’s a minor detail, and that character’s background doesn’t weigh heavily on the story, but I’m positive it was influenced by the fact that I was reading Don Winslow at the time.”

“Alexander Engelmann is my take on a gleefully irredeemable sociopath in the vein of Hannibal Lecter.”

“My rough-hewn Southie hitman, Leon Leonwood, might look completely at home in The Departed.”

“In [my] Collector series, Sam Thornton is a man who made a literal devil’s bargain to save his dying wife, and ends up in servitude to hell. [...] [Michael] was sent to Afghanistan, where he discovered that he had a knack for killing, if not always the stomach for it — and now he’s haunted by the things he’s done. Sam and Michael are kindred spirits. They’d likely get along if they could manage not to kill each other.”

“I spent some time in an infectious disease Ph.D. program at the University of Virginia. I dropped out when I decided I wanted to become a writer — which puts me in good company, since Edgar Allan Poe dropped out of the University of Virginia as an undergrad. Hopefully I’m not found wandering the streets half-dead a few years from now.”

If this isn’t enough to get you excited about THE KILLING KIND, check out what some other writers that we at The Life Sentence admire had to say about the adventures of Hendricks and company:

And Kirkus liked it so much that they gave it a coveted starred review. 

We’re all afraid of something. Some of those fears are common enough to have movies named in their honor (Arachnophobia, anyone?) and some are a little more exotic (afraid of large things? you’re a megalophobic). Over at The Life Sentence, our Editor-in-Chief Lisa Levy interviewed author Michael Koryta about his new book LAST WORDS, which might make the claustrophobic readers a bit uncomfortable (think caves—lots and lots of caves). Be sure to enter HERE for a chance to win a copy of Koryta’s latest. 

To celebrate those things that terrify us, however irrational they might be, here are 10 phobias that are a little off the beaten path.

1. Pogonophobia

Fear of beards.

There is no specific phobia on record for a fear of hipsters.

2. Pediophobia

Fear of dolls.

One of these things is not like the other. All of these things are scary.

3. Aulophobia

Fear of flutes.

Those with aulophobia should also avoid bands like Jethro Tull, best known for Ian Anderson and his flute:

4. Lutraphobia

Fear of otters.

5. Metrophobia

Fear of poetry. 

Sorry, Walt. It’s not you, it’s us. 

6. Papaphobia

Fear of the Pope. 

7. Porphyrophobia

Fear of the color purple. 

Also, this:

8. Hodophobia

Fear of road travel or travel. 

Non-recommended reading for the hodophobic. And here’s some non-recommended viewing:

9. Satanophobia

Fear of Satan. 

10. Wiccaphobia

Fear of witches and witchcraft.

Double threat: Hermione and Professor McGonagall. (And if you’re afraid of Hedwig and other birds, you’re considered ornithophobic.)

We asked for all things little and pretty to celebrate the release of Lori Rader-Day’s second novel, Little Pretty Things, and you answered! 

The five winning entries will receive hand-made gift bags from Rader-Day — and it’s not even a holiday! There will even be a vintage-y t-shirt from the fictional Midway High School Track & Field team (go Lady Panthers!).

Let’s see who’ll be taking home the coveted prizes. All entries are from Twitter, using the hashtag #lpthings. 

@rsmonterusso

Little pretty pendant, anyone?

@Summahh_katt

A little pretty friend of the canine variety.

taralibrarian

An assortment of pretty miscellany, all of it little.

Shabnam 

Something little and pretty to hang on one ear.

@ksather12

Two little pretty charms, going for a ride.

It’s a sad day when any author dies but we at The Life Sentence are especially sorry to hear of the passing of true crime legend Ann Rule at the age of 83. For many crime fiction and true crime fans, Rule was where it all began, often when we were too young and her tales of serial killers haunted us long into the night. Once a cop in Seattle who also worked the crisis line with a certain charming psychopath by the name of Ted Bundy, Rule brought a gritty realism to her expertly researched books. She’ll be forever missed but her work has already shown that it can stand the test of time. Her chronicle of her time working alongside Bundy, and his subsequent arrest and trial, 1980′s The Stranger Beside Me, is older than the co-eds Bundy killed and is still cited as one of the most influential true crime books of all time. 

Here are five Rule must-reads, either for those of you who’ve never accompanied her on a tour of the dark side of human nature, or those who just want to honor her memory by re-reading some of her best work. 

We won’t tell if you leave the lights on.

The Stranger Beside Me (1980)

This is THE book to read if you want to know about all things Bundy. Working together at a Washington crisis line, Rule found herself drawn to the sensitive Ted, who would later confess to murdering at least 36 women. The book, more intimate than most true crime exposés, details their strange relationship and draws on the pair’s correspondence, which lasted nearly until Bundy was executed in Florida in 1989. Need a book to keep you up all night? You’ve found it? And wonder why Rule never suffered the same fate as Bundy’s other victims? She “wasn’t his type.” 

Green River Running Red (2004)

What would you do if, as an author, a serial killer came to your book signings? If you’re Ann Rule — and you’ve lived in Washington for years, in an area terrorized by the man known as the Green River Killer — you’d write a book about it. Turns out that man who lurked around Rule’s events was none other than Gary Ridgeway, eventually arrested in conjunction with the murders of 49 women, at a minimum, over the span of 20+ years. In Green River, Rule traces the long-running investigation and her own intense interest in the case. It’s a captivating, and terrifying, read. 

Small Sacrifices (1987)

Rule explores the harrowing case of Oregon mother Diane Downs who, in 1983, arrived at an emergency room with her three young children in tow. All three of them had been shot and Downs first claimed that a “bushy-haired stranger” was the culprit but finally admitted that she’d shot them herself; one died and two were disabled for life. In Sacrifices, which draws comparisons to Capote’s In Cold Blood, Rule delves deep into Downs’s troubled childhood and her desperate need for affection and attention. It’s a darkly fascinating look at what some will do in the pursuit of love.

The I-5 Killer (1984) 

Interstate-5, or I-5, passes through Rule’s Washington and so it makes sense she’d be interested in Randall Woodfield, a handsome guy who seemed like every college girl’s dream boy — until he turned out to be a serial killer with 44 victims to his name. Driving an 800-mile stretch of I-5, Woodfield preyed on women of all ages, abusing them in horrific ways before killing them. Rule focuses not only on the crimes but also on the women who would become Woodfield’s victims, a tact too often ignored in true crime. This is NOT the book to listen to during your morning commute.  

Fatal Friends, Deadly Neighbors (2012)

One of Rule’s last books before she died, this collection — part of the author’s Crime Files series — focuses on supposedly intimate (and safe) relationships that turn dangerous. She alternates between cases that grabbed big headlines and those that slipped through the cracks, pursuing both with the dogged enthusiasm of a veteran crime reporter, or a weathered detective with a bone. Rule exposes the ugly truth that even when things look rosy from the outside, inner turmoil — and even murder — can be lurking just on the other side of the door.

Even when the editorial staff of The Life Sentence can’t make it across the pond to events like Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, we still want you, our faithful and crime-loving readers, to get the chance to experience this annual extravaganza. 

Luckily for you — and us — Erin Mitchell traveled to Yorkshire and reported back on all things British crime. 

Here’s her report. 

The Old Swan hotel, where Agatha Christie hid out.

Art in Yorkshire. 

The nominees.

Sarah Hilary wins!

Sara Paretsky and her Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction award.

Val McDermid (left) and Ann Cleeves (right). 

Sara Paretsky signing books.

Val McDermid ready to sign (and ready to read her copy of Paretsky’s BRUSH BACK). 

The Irish Noir lads. 

Stuart Neville (left) and Mark Billingham (right). 

Ann Cleeves (front), Lee Child (back), and Brenda Blethyn (right). 

Lisa Gardner

Patricia Highsmith

Here’s a great video overview of the festival:

All thanks for fantastic reportage go to ERIN MITCHELL.

Raised a reader, Erin Mitchell married her passion for fantastic stories to her uncanny ability to shout from virtual rooftops, working with both new and established authors. Erin has more than two decades of global experience in the arts and sciences of public relations, advertising, and marketing communications. Erin dubs her style, in PR and life, "unflappable." 

With the news that NBC is canceling Hannibal after three seasons, we at The Life Sentence thought it was high time we paid some well-deserved attention to Dr. Hannibal Lecter. As we did earlier in the year with Sherlock Holmes, we thought an excellent way to pay homage to Hannibal and his creator, Thomas Harris, was to take a trip down a very bloody memory lane and revisit all the different versions of everyone’s favorite cannibal.

And, as a special bonus, since the Harris universe is one that’s been richly explored on the large and, thanks to the genius that is Bryan Fuller (yes, we at The Life Sentence are massive fans of the show and we will not apologize), small screens, we’ll also look at who’s best represented Lecter’s friends, foes, and foodstuffs. 

So as not to unduly influence the process, the list will be presented chronologically, starting with the first time Harris’s work appeared on the big screen. 

Manhunter (1986)

Directed by Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral), this is the first adaptation of Harris’s 1981 novel, Red Dragon, which introduced Dr. Lecter and Dr. Will Graham.

Manhunter stars William Petersen (he of CSI fame) as Will Graham.

Brian Cox (starting the tradition of Lecter being played by a non-American actor — Cox is Scottish) co-stars as Dr. Lecter.

Dennis Farina played FBI Agent Jack Crawford, who called in his former prize student, Will, to help catch another serial killer, dubbed The Tooth Fairy.

And speaking of The Tooth Fairy (also known as the titular Red Dragon of Harris’s novel and William Blake’s painting, The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun), Tom Noonan played the killer — whose real name is Francis Dolarhyde — in Manhunter. 

And now, on to the last film to sweep Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress at the Oscars. 

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Directed by Jonathan Demme (Philadelphia, Something Wild), Lambs is based on Harris’s 1988 novel of the same name, which is the sequel to Red Dragon. In it, Lecter is locked away in the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where he’s visited by newbie FBI agent Clarice Starling. Better than Wikipedia when it comes to other serial killers, Lecter is considered by Jack Crawford to be a possible source of information about a particularly vicious killer known as Buffalo Bill (you know him, he wants you to put the lotion in the basket). Lecter, of course, has other ideas and designs on the young Starling. 

Lambs stars Sir Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, in an Oscar-winning role.

Jodie Foster won her second Oscar for her portrayal of Agent Clarice Starling.

Scott Glenn took over for Dennis Farina as Agent Jack Crawford. 

And we’re introduced to the smarmy Dr. Frederick Chilton (Anthony Heald), the head of the Baltimore Hospital and one of Lecter’s favorite people to torment. 

Next time around, we bid adieu to some familiar faces (no, we won’t eat them — cannibalism is frowned upon at The Life Sentence) while some remain.

Hannibal (2001)

Directed by Ridley Scott (Lambs director Demme declined to be involved), Hannibal is based on Harris’s 1999 novel, which is set 10 years after Lambs and sees Agent Starling under the unpleasant FBI spotlight after a bust goes bad. She comes to the attention of Mason Verger, a wealthy child molester who also happens to be one of Lecter’s victims whom he left horribly disfigured during a therapy session (please answer your page, Dr. Freud). Verger uses Starling’s connections to Lecter to try and draw him out of hiding — he’s in Italy, which will sound familiar to viewers of Fuller’s show. 

Hopkins reprises his role as the titular cannibal, who’s now on the loose.

Julianne Moore takes over as Starling from Foster, who, along with Demme and Lambs screenwriter Ted Tally, declined to be involved in the sequel.

Though barely recognizable, Gary Oldman plays Mason Verger, a role that comes up again in the television adaptation. 

And then, as if Manhunter never happened, the same book is adapted for the screen again. 

Red Dragon (2002)

Directed by Brett Ratner and based, as was Manhunter, on Harris’s debut novel, 1981′s Red Dragon, this adaptation saw Hopkins once again reprise his role as Lecter, this time in the pre-Starling days. 

Edward Norton took over the role of the tortured (first psychologically then literally!) Dr. Will Graham who’s chasing The Tooth Fairy after putting Lecter behind bars several years before, though not before Hannibal the Cannibal gave him a little nibble. 

As Agent Jack Crawford, Harvey Keitel brought the G-Man a gritty toughness that balanced perfectly with Norton’s delicately damaged Graham.

Francis Dolarhyde, better known by his masticating moniker The Tooth Fairy, was played with fiendish glee by Ralph Fiennes. 

And just in case you doubted The Tooth Fairy’s commitment to tattooing:

Only the most dedicated of Thomas Harris and Lecter fans are aware of the most recent film adaptation. It’s probably best that way — Lecter’s last big screen outing has a 15% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Hannibal Rising (2007)

Directed by Peter Webber from a screenplay by Harris and based on Harris’s 2006 of the same name, Hannibal Rising is a prequel to Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal. It traces the rise of everyone’s favorite cannibalistic serial killer.

Continuing the tradition of non-American taking on the role of Lecter, French actor Gaspard Ulliel plays the young Hannibal. 

Even as a young man, he’d still like to share a nice glass of Chianti. You bring the fava beans.  

Now it’s time for the current iteration of our dear Dr. Lecter, the current NBC television series developed by Bryan Fuller.

Hannibal (2013 - present)

Focused primarily on the events and characters from Harris’s novel Red Dragon, Fuller’s series stars Danish actor (chalk one more point in the “Foreign Hannibal” column) Mads Mikkelsen as Dr. Lecter. He’s fond of expensive suits and well-prepared meats (all sorts). 

His friend (or greatest foe?), Dr. Will Graham, is played by Hugh Dancy, who expertly balances wide-eyed confusion with steely determination.

Taking over the role of Agent Jack Crawford, Laurence Fishburne may be a bit slow to realize Hannibal’s true nature—he’s slippery that way, our dear doctor—but once he does, watch out. 

New to the Lecter canon for the TV series is Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier, played by Gillian Anderson, who started out as Hannibal’s own therapist and ended up as...much more. 

Michael Pitt takes over Gary Oldman’s role as the rich child molester Mason Verger in the series, who has an...unpleasant encounter with Hannibal. 

Fans of Law & Order: SVU will recognize the new Dr. Chilton, now played by Raúl Esparza. He’s much more dapper as a DA than he is as the smarmy plaything of Dr. Lecter. 

We’ve gotten a peak or two at Fuller’s vision of The Tooth Fairy, at least from behind:

For those who are curious about what he looks like from the front, here’s a hint:

Still wondering? Here’s a less Shire-y version:

Fans at Comic Con were treated to an epic trailer of Richard Armitage’s transformation into Francis Dolarhyde and a lengthy look at how the serial killer will be integrated into the show’s remaining episodes. 

So, Fannibals, who wielded the scalpel best? And what would a Hopkins Lecter versus Mikkelsen Lecter smackdown look like?

Summer in New York City means a lot things but for thriller authors and fans, there’s just one thing: ThrillerFest. This year, our intrepid EIC Lisa Levy braved the heat and the crowds to bring you a first-hand account of the convention’s tenth anniversary. 

(John Sandford is so special he doesn’t have a sign. But that’s him wearing the blue shirt. Don’t be fooled—he’s not Steve Martini.)

Kathy Reichs accepting the Silver Bullet Award

Scott Turow, last year’s Thriller Master, introducing this year’s Thriller Master, Nelson DeMille. 

Julia Dahl and Village Person Brad Parks. 

Hilary Davidson and Village Person From Another Angle Brad Parks. 

Two Village People Brad Parks and Daniel Palmer performing YMCA. 

The last time we checked in with our esteemed Editorial Board, we asked them for book recommendations. This time, we want to know what our board members are sipping while they’re reading — and writing — this summer. (Please note that we waited until now to make a tumbler/Tumblr pun.)

We’re also celebrating reading and drinking over at The Life Sentence, where editor Faith Black Ross offers up some cocktails to match your reading tastes. 

Let’s see what our board members have on tap for us. Bottoms up! 

Sarah Weinman...

“Lately it’s Rose Pinot Noir, which has a little more body and bite than the usual Rose drinks.”

Scott Adlerberg...

“My favorite drink is a Ti Punch, as it’s called in Martinique. That’s rum (preferably dark), honey, and a strong twist of lime.”

Daniel Handler...

“Mix a bottle of bourbon with equal parts water, maybe 1/4 cup powdered sugar, and a handful of mint, seal it up in a plastic container and keep it in the freezer. Then, when anyone stops by, you have a gorgeous mint julep slushie you can squirt a little soda on top of and swap humidity for humility.” 

Paul French...

“The only cocktail for any lover of the truly hardboiled? Raymond Chandler’s gimlet. Philip Marlowe’s recipe in The Long Goodbye is the simplest and best and should not be tampered with:

‘a real gimlet is half gin and half Rose’s lime juice and nothing else’

Steph Cha...

“I love a thick, spicy Bloody Mary, particularly if it comes with some good pickles. I once had a Bloody Mary that came with a skewer of pickles with salami and a wedge of cheese, and that is just a thing I would like to have in my life every day. 

Katherine Hall Page...

“I am sending a great recipe for Old Fashioned Lemonade, which can be served Twisted as a summer cocktail. Two more: years ago, a friend introduced us to Mount Gay rum, tonic with a generous wedge of lime over ice. Yum!

We also drink Pimm’s, but without the cucumber, just fruit. Unfortunately do not have an Ascot hat to put on while doing so.”

And here’s Katherine Hall Page’s Old Fashioned Lemonade recipe. We know you all want it with a twist:

Over at The Life Sentence, author and TLS board member Andrew Kaplan gives us a rundown on the six characteristics of a great thriller. And what IS a great thriller, according to Kaplan?

“For me, it’s a compelling novel that most readers immediately recognize as out of the ordinary; the kind of book other writers envy, that makes us remember why we became writers in the first place.”

Not only does Kaplan break down the essentials of the genre, he gives us his own Top 20 Thrillers. How many have YOU read?

1. The Spy Who Came In From the Cold by John le Carré

2. The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth

3. A Small Town in Germany by John le Carré

4. The Honourable Schoolboy by John le Carré (hey, what can we say? The man is a master.)

5. The Shining by Stephen King

6. Red Dragon by Thomas Harris

7. The IPCRESS File by Len Deighton

8. The Mask of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler

9. Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett

10. Serpentine by Thomas Thompson

11. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

12. Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith

13. One Shot by Lee Child

14. Funeral in Berlin by Len Deighton 

15. Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene

16. Mystic River by Dennis Lehane

17. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

18. Dark Star by Alan Furst

19. The Alienist by Caleb Carr

20. The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum

Ten years ago, Don Winslow took readers on a little Mexican vacation in The Power of the Dog.

Full of sun, surf, and…drugs. Lots and lots of drugs. 

Wait, maybe this wasn’t really a breezy vacation book but a sobering, thoroughly researched look into the violent world of the Mexican cartels, America’s own “War on Drugs,” and the corruption infecting both sides of the border. 

Since the drug trade hasn’t magically dried up in the decade since Dog’s publication, the territory is rife for a sequel, which is exactly what Winslow delivers in The Cartel, out this week.

Head over to The Life Sentence to check out Winslow’s interview with EIC Lisa Levy, where he talks about his research process and the correlation between the War on Drugs and the War on Terror. 

Drug trafficking permeates so many aspects of life in Mexico, including music. There’s even a genre devoted to songs about men who ferry cocaine and other narcotics across Mexico and into the United States (we’re the largest drug market in the world). These “narcocorridos,” violent ballads about the drug traffickers, are even banned in several areas around the country. 

According to the blog Insight Crime, one of Winslow’s go-to resources while researching The Cartel: 

“Chihuahua is not the first place in Mexico to temporarily prohibit ‘narcocorridos’ — songs about drug traffickers. Last year Sinaloa state, which along with Chihuahua is one of the regions of the country worst affected by Mexico’s drug violence, issued a decree banning the genre. Any bars or clubs that played narcocorridos would lose its liquor license. In the past the city of Tijuana has tried to pass a similar ordinance. The states of Nuevo Leon and Baja California Norte have also enforced bans.”

One of the most famous narcorridos is Angel Gonzalez’s “Contrabando y Traicion.”

(Please stage a live production of this song if you’re reading this Tumblr in Chihuahua. We cannot cover your legal fees.)

If you’re looking for a playlist that’s illegal to play live in several states in Mexico, Insight has a list of the Top Five Most Infamous Narco-Songs. 

Are you looking for an up-to-date list on all the Mexican cartels? Borderland Beat has you covered with this comprehensive (and rather terrifying) list. 

And if your Spanish is up to snuff, check out El Blog del Narco for up-to-the-minute information on cartel arrests throughout Mexico and more. 

Here’s a cheery tidbit to send you on your way: while Americans are fretting about how many people this “Jinx” killed

The people of Mexico can breathe a little easier knowing that these two men, Miguel Ángel Cuéllar Meza and Juan Antonio Orona Morales, henchmen of “The Jinx,” the leader of the Gulf Cartel, were arrested. 

Vincent Bugliosi, the Los Angeles district attorney who successfully prosecuted Charles Manson and several of his followers for the 1969 Tate-LaBianca Murders, died on June 6, 2015, at age 80. 

Helter Skelter, Bugliosi’s account of the crimes and the trial, became one of the bestselling true crime books of all time.

For the majority of listeners, The Beatles’s song “Helter Skelter” on The Beatles (you know, The White Album) is a bluesy number, that has nothing to do with a) hell, b) racial tension of any kind, or c) death. 

Instead, Paul McCartney had a terrifying monstrosity like this in mind:

But if you’re this guy...

you hear this song...

and become convince that an apocalyptic race war is imminent. The song, if you listened hard enough, also contained coded messages. 

And on August 8, 1969, Manson told his followers—his Family—“Now is the time for Helter Skelter.” 

Between August 8 and August 10, Manson’s followers killed seven people: actress Sharon Tate (wife of Roman Polanski); hairstylist Jay Sebring; coffee heiress Abigail Folger; aspiring screenwriter Wojciech Frykowski; Steven Parent; and couple Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. 

 Bugliosi successfully prosecuted Manson for orchestrating the Tate-LaBianca murders, as well as securing guilty verdicts for his followers who committed the crimes. 

Not one to shy away from controversial subjects, Bugliosi’s later books include 2007′s Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy (no spoilers on Bugliosi’s take on the Grassy Knoll). Like Helter Skelter did in 1975, Reclaiming History won an Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime.

In 2008, Bugliosi published The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, where he argued that former President George W. Bush steered the United States into invading Iraq under false pretenses and as such should be (spoiler alert) tried for the murder of the American soldiers killed during the war. 

If you’ve never read Helter Skelter, now’s the time. It’s a book that deserves the hype. And if you’re in the mood for something meaty and political, try this essay Bugliosi wrote in 2001 for The Nation following the 2000 presidential election. Here’s a preview, just to whet your appetite:

“In the December 12 ruling by the US Supreme Court handing the election to George Bush, the Court committed the unpardonable sin of being a knowing surrogate for the Republican Party instead of being an impartial arbiter of the law.”

Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994, but the love of grunge—and all things Nirvana—never died. Over at The Life Sentence, we’re reviewing Lynn Crosbie’s Where Did You Sleep Last Night, which features a teenage Cobain fan in the 1990s who loves Kurt…and death. Bonus points if you can name a) the Nirvana album the song Sleep appeared on and b) whose version of the Appalachian folk song the group reinterprets. 

Cobain Worship isn’t a thing of fiction—how many times have you “borrowed” an ex’s HBO-Go password (or your parents’) and watched Montage of Heck, Brett Morgen’s recently released documentary on the talented, troubled singer’s life? 

How many of you are unconsciously humming “Smells Like Teen Spirit” right now?

(Do any of you still actually smell like Teen Spirit?)

For the uninitiated, that’s not Cobain’s ex-wife—and frontwoman of seminal grunge band Hole—Courtney Love in the photo above, but rather Kathleen Hanna, punk/riot grrrl superstar and former lead singer of Bikini Kill. It was Hanna who sowed the seed for “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” when she wrote “Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit” (not a compliment, by the way) on the Nirvana singer’s wall. 

Hanna went on to form Le Tigre in the late 1990s (and later marry Ad Rock of the Beastie Boys). 

Depending on who you ask, Courtney Love is either Grunge Queen Extraordinaire

…or the Antichrist who (directly or indirectly) killed Kurt Cobain.

Regardless of your thoughts on Love (or love), here’s a shot of Cobain to cleanse your palate. You can bet an autographed LP of Nevermind that if animated gifs existed in the 90s, Evelyn, the young Kurt devotee at the heart of Crosbie’s novel, would have been a huge fan.

Beyond Cobain, she has an affinity for others tortured lives that end abruptly:

Joy Division’s Ian Curtis (hanged himself at age 23). 

Poet Anne Sexton (locked herself in her garage and left her car running, killing herself age 45). 

Philosopher Gilles Deleuze (jumped out a Paris window at age 70).

And her namesake, 23-year-old Evelyn McHale, dubbed “the most beautiful suicide” after throwing herself off the 86th floor of the Empire State Building in 1947 and landing as if posed for a photoshoot on a limousine on the street below. Her image was captured by a photography student who happened to be passing by the scene. 

Borrowing lyrics from Neil Young’s “My My, Hey Hey” [it’s the acoustic bookend to “Hey Hey, My My”], Cobain ended his suicide note “so remember, it’s better to burn out than to fade away.”

But perhaps what he forgot was that Young also sings “…and once you’re gone, you can’t come back.”

The Javits Center means different things to different people. For book people in May, it means BEA. Here’s The Life Sentence’s own Lisa Levy—founder, editor in chief, braver of massive crowds in the name of literature—with her take on this year’s expo.