NEW ORLEANS – Tulane University will award honorary degrees to best-selling mystery writer Walter Mosley, philosopher and Parliament member Onora O’Neill and renowned jurist Hein Kötz at its spring commencement, the university announced Tuesday.
Commencement ceremonies will be May 16 in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
The ceremonies will also include keynote speaker Maya Rudolph and performances by Topsy Chapman and Dr. Michael White’s Original Liberty Jazz Band, along with confetti cannons and a second-line procession.
Mosley is an author of more than 40 critically acclaimed books. Two of Mosley’s works, which include literary fiction, science fiction, political monographs and a young adult novel, have been made into movies: Devil in A Blue Dress and Always Outnumbered.
Killing Johnny Fry, which isn’t a new novel but is a new audiobook, is an interesting “Sexistential” novel surrounding Cordell and his midlife crisis and redemption. Percy has this great, sometimes dry voice that captures Cordell’s inner demons. The book itself is not in my usual vein of reading, and I enjoyed the break from the norm. There’s a lot of violence, D/s and a reinventing of Cordell that kept me fascinated throughout the story. While this is Percy’s first narration, hopefully it won’t be his last. I liked how he brought the characters to life and kept me on the edge of my seat. For a trip into an intense world, I would pick this up. It’s dark, odd and powerful.
What was your favorite scene in Killing Johnny Fry?
Percy: There’s a point when the protagonist, Cordell Carmel, unwittingly finds himself in a fistfight-cum-boxing match. It was one of my favorite moments because it’s a fight for self-realization as he steps into his own power, and I found myself rooting for him like never before.
What was your favorite character to narrate?
Percy: There’s a character that, later in the book, emerges as a revered figure in the underworld niche she’s carved out for herself. She was my favorite because of how unapologetically honest she is with herself and how skillfully she brings others around to investigating their true nature — Cordell included.
Any fun or interesting things happen while narrating Killing Johnny Fry?
Percy: Ha! The book is really the only thing happening for me during the two or three days it takes to record. I tend to spend at least eight hours a day in the studio and then at night I usually review the material I’ll be recording the following day, so it’s a pretty immersive experience. Often I’ll even eat the same series of meals just because it’s less for me to think about. Maybe I’m doing something wrong, but it’s honestly tough to remember anything of those few days other than the details of the book.
What are you currently working on?
Percy: Reconnecting with Mosley has resurrected my interest in mysteries and crime fiction, and I’m excited to be prepping a book in that vein for my next project.
At long last, the audiobook of Killing Johnny Fry.
When Cordell Carmel catches his longtime girlfriend with another man, the act he witnesses seems to dissolve all the boundaries he knows. He wants revenge but also something more. Killing Johnny Fry is the story of Cordell’s dark, funny, soulful, and outrageously explicit sexual odyssey in search of a new way of life. It marks new territory for the best-selling author of Devil in a Blue Dress and countless other books; it will surprise, provoke, inspire, and make you blush.
Pick up these genre-bending works to indulge your lust for the unbelievable, without committing to a 14-part novel series
By Tiffany Gilbert, TimeOut New York
Inside a Silver Box
This new sci-fi adventure is ripe with artificial intelligence, malevolent beings from another world and a race to save humankind. But Mosley’s writing shines brightest in his portrayal of his two heroes and their efforts to connect, despite so many differences.
Those with a painful history are apt either to forget or rewrite their history. While some, like talk-show host Steve “I don’t really care for slavery” Harvey, prefer to forget the painful past, there’s a growing literary trend in which writers are crafting an alternate past with the hope of shaping a better future.
“It’s not that we want to forget the past. We want to own the past,” said Walter Mosley, one of the most read American novelists at work today.
The author of more than three dozen fiction and nonfiction books, Mosley gained famed through his Easy Rawlins mysteries, including “Devil in a Blue Dress,” which was made into a motion picture starring Denzel Washington. Science fiction allows African American writers to tell often ignored stories, Mosley says. Read the rest of this entry »
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Fortunate Son (Photo: Back Bay Book)
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We already know that Mary Jane has good taste, so it’s no surprise that she broke out some Walter Mosley during her dinner party. In case you were wondering, keep flipping through for our suggestions on Walter Mosley books that all bibliophiles need to read.
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Crime and mystery writer Walter Mosley was presented with the group’s Literary Achievement Award. The author of more than 40 novels, his Devil In A Blue Dress was made into the 1995 film starring Denzel Washington; he’s currently adapting the book for a Broadway play.
In praise of libraries and librarians, Mosley recalled how after the terrorist attacks of September 11, the Bush Administration “sent out a memo to librarians saying, ‘We need to know who’s reading what; who’s reading books about building bombs; who’s reading books about Islam; who’s reading books that may be considered anti-American.’ And librarians said, ‘F*ck you. I ain’t doin’ that.’ The librarians said, ‘No, we’re not going to do that.’ “
It was then, Mosley said, that “I realized that they were the last bastion in America to stand up for our freedom. So when I was asked to come to participate in an event which, among other things, is going to raise money for our libraries and will make libraries stronger, I thought, ‘That’s great because if you make libraries stronger, you make America stronger — the America that I know and that I love.’ “
Set in the corrupt, racially charged Los Angeles of the late 1960s, Walter Mosley’s Rose Gold examines its social backdrop as much as its detective examines the mystery within it. Rose Gold is the newest addition to Mosley’s Easy Rawlins mysteries, but can be readily enjoyed as a stand-alone novel.
Private detective Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins finds himself entangled in jurisdictions and lies as he investigates the kidnapping of Rosemary Goldsmith, daughter of a military weapons developer, and her involvement with boxer-turned political activist Bob Mantle. As Rosemary’s case unfolds, Easy delves deeper into the world of communes and revolutionaries while relying on old friends and favors to help his investigation along. To clear names, navigate additional cases, and find Rosemary Goldsmith, Easy Rawlins will have to work his way through blatant prejudice and constant misdirection.
Rose Gold is more a mystery of connections than a thriller, with a constant, steady pace that picks up toward the climax of the novel. Mosley’s grasp on the culture of Vietnam-era L.A. is organic, and his use of setting will delight readers. His writing style is straightforward and easy to process, and is laced with moments of original, beautiful description.
Readers who are unfamiliar with the rest of the Easy Rawlins mysteries may find themselves overwhelmed by the number of characters in this novel, as they will have to meet both old and new figures and sort through their involvement. Those looking for a mystery with a smooth pace, humor, and a very involved narrator and those who are interested in postwar social interactions will find Mosley’s narrative captivating.
