A Friday treatise on all that is good about James O. Born.

It's come to my attention that certain members of our community (Karen) think we've been too tough on Jim Born, author of books and nemesis of hombres malo in the Sunshine State.

That's Jim up there, putting a hammerlock on the septugenarian Dutch Leonard so that it looks like Dutch is actually endorsing Jim's book.

I heard that Jim once wrestled Laura Lippman to the ground demanding a blurb, but that could just be a rumor. I don't know. I wasn't there.

But I was in South Carolina this past weekend, thanks to Jim. He wrangled an invitation for me and I am not one to be ungrateful.

Which brings me to a larger topic.

Last Saturday a group of us adjourned to a local bar making the regular patrons wonder if a senior citizens' tour bus had broken down outside.

While in the bar, Ad Hudler joined us and decided to kill someone. Jeff Shelby suggested he start with Jim Born, but Ad meant to kill someone in fiction, not real life, and after our initial disappointment we asked why. Ad said it was because crime writers had more fun than literary novelists. That surprised me, and it got me thinking. In the next day or so, I'll air my theories as to why that might be.

But for today, I want to publicly thank Jim. He takes a lot of grief, and gives his share, and I'm happy to be his friend and colleague.

Now, can someone take these cuffs off?


Update - Seems Jim's having a good week. I received this note this morning:

Just found out that I, that's right, a Florida redneck, am the recipient of the inaugural prize for best novel (Escape Clause) in popular fiction for the Florida Book awards. Not bad, huh. Nice end to the week.