i love andrew vachss

i just got an email (lou bank / ten angry pitbulls) telling me he (vachss) will be ending his 'burke' series of books. if you've not read them, i tell you you're the one missing out. burke is an unusual 'hero' or lead character type. he's a criminal. i don't mean in the jaywalking vein either. he's done some serious time and some serious stuff in his life and the family he's gathered mostly came out of the same system. other criminals and people who don't quite fit in elsewhere. they span all ages and races and genders. they ARE a family (focus on your OWN damn family, james dobson) and they share the same values and beliefs and caring. the recurring theme of the series is the protection of children. sometimes, at ANY cost. the burke books are my absolute favorite series. yes, they're violent but it wouldn't be a burke book without it. i am saddened to know they have ended. i will always have the option of re-reading them. please pick one of them up. you won't be able to stop reading ANY of them after that!

i'm not going to bother giving you the bio of andrew vachss. it's at the link below and it's more than impressive (yes, even to me). all you need to know is, he's someone i absolutely would sit down with and have a cup o' steamin' joe.

the zero

............Andrew Vachss's next novel--the eighteenth and *last* Burke novel--is shipping the end of this month, and I'm trying to get word out to all those folks who were around for the beginning, and might want to see how it all ends. I see you've linked to The Zero, so ... maybe you'll want to check out ANOTHER LIFE. Book description below, and anyone who has a question for Andrew can get it answered live on camera here:

http://www.vachss.com/anotherlife/webcast_2009.html

Another Life is the end of a journey that began with Flood, Andrew Vachss' first novel featuring career criminal Burke and his Family of Choice. "I didn't set out to write a series. Who but a terminal narcissist would?" the author says of his 1985 debut. But twenty-three years--and seventeen Burke novels--later, Andrew Vachss is finally bringing down the curtain on a series that has been described as "urban nightmares" by Publishers Weekly, and "strong, gritty, gut-bucket stuff" by the Chicago Tribune. Anyone who has felt a part of the family that includes recurring series characters Max, the Mole, Michelle, the Prof, Terry, Clarence, and Mama--characters the Seattle Post-Intelligencer says "are as sharply defined as if they were etched in steel"--will want to be there for the end of the journey, as best-selling, award- winning author Andrew Vachss ties up the loose ends, and sends his Family of Choice off to ... Another Life..........