Brian Thornton

United States

Profile Information:

Hometown:
Seattle, WA
About Me:
My short fiction has appeared in ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE, SHRED OF EVIDENCE, and (the sadly now-defunct) BULLET UK. I'm also the author of several full-length works of non-fiction, including 101 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT LINCOLN (Adams Media 2005). My historical articles and book reviews have appeared in COLUMBIA: THE MAGAZINE OF NORTHWEST HISTORY, and THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST FORUM.
I Am A:
Writer
Books And Authors I Like:
It's an eclectic grab-bag, so here they are in no particular order: Dashiell Hammett, Jane Austen, Jess Walter, William Shakespeare, Ken Bruen, Ernest Hemingay, Eric Ambler, Ross MacDonald, Raymond Chandler, Carl Hiassen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Rainier Maria Rilke, Michael Gruber, Megan Abbott, Sean Doolittle, Josephine Tey, Al Guthrie, Sean Chercover, Steve Brewer, Robert B. Parker, Dennis Lehane, Michael Connelly, John D. MacDonald, Dan J. Marlowe, Dorothy Uhnak, Robert Ludlum, William Butler Yeats, Glen David Gold, and Duane Swiercynski.
Movies And TV Shows I Like:
That opening shot from TOUCH OF EVIL, the hall of mirrors shot from LADY IN SHANGHAI, the little "cuckoo clock" speech Welles added to the script for THE THIRD MAN. John Huston's bravura freshman turn as a director for THE MALTEST FALCON, Billy Wilder's SUNSET STRIP, Chandler's script work on DOUBLE INDEMNITY, wow! I think that THE WIRE is the best thing on TV right now. Favorite movies include MURDER MY SWEET, HOLLYWOODLAND (WAY better than THE BLACK DAHLIA), CHINATOWN, THE TWO JAKES, THE DEPARTED, CASABLANCA, THE BIG HEAT, A LONELY PLACE...

There are also others here, lots of them! I'm a big film buff.

Comment Wall:

  • Brian Thornton

    Bite me, Winter.

    And what free time?

    Mar 19, 2007

  • Angie

    Howdy, Brian! Ah, another film buff. So now that I've done my bit of pointless drivel, I guess I'll go write something. I need to get the final draft of my grocery list done...

    Mar 19, 2007

  • Megan Abbott

    Hey, Brian--good to "see" you!
    By the way, I still have that IOU you gave me in Seattle...

    Mar 19, 2007

  • Brian Thornton

    Angie: thanks. I'd love to hear some of your radio work some time.

    Megan: Re: the IOU, it's good in Alaska, too. You can redeem it in September, if you're gonna be there.

    JT: Likewise.

    Mar 19, 2007

  • Patricia Harrington

    Hey, Brian, thanks for the welcome. And I'll look up my bio. Must have hit the wrong key when I was stating who I am. Most definitely of the female persuasium, and slowly closing in on finishing this flash fiction mystery. Rather like it, so I hope it sells.

    Cheers,

    Pat

    Mar 19, 2007

  • Sean Chercover

    I hope you're coming to Thrilerfest, so I can take your money again...uh...I mean, so we can have another friendly game of poker.

    Gay hustler photos...why I oughta...

    Mar 19, 2007

  • F.T. Bradley

    Hey Brian,

    Thanks for telling me about this place. The novel sounds interesting, which of course you'll no longer have time for now :-)

    Mar 20, 2007

  • Jason Starr

    Hey, deal me in for poker at ThrillerFest.

    Mar 20, 2007

  • Sean Doolittle

    Hey, where did you get those epaulets? I haven't had a pair I really liked since 1987. But yours look really nice.

    Mar 20, 2007

  • Bill Cameron

    Brian, you stud! Good to see you, pal!

    Mar 20, 2007

  • Michael W. Sherer

    Romio's is sort of like a favorite cop hang-out--writer go there to talk to other writers, not for the bad pizza.

    Mar 21, 2007

  • Laura Benedict

    Hey, Brian. I can't believe your family passed on Theron Thornton--what a fabulous opportunity! Pinckney got beat up on his West Virginia school bus every day until he went away to prep school, and it made a writer of him. I can't tell you what we named our son (though his screen name is Bengal), but let's just say we drive him to school every day....

    Your current project sounds very cool. I'm working on a novel about a very nasty demon.

    Mar 24, 2007

  • Donna Moore

    Brian, are you saying I drivel pointlessly? No, don't answer that. I am sorry to be missing out on the Thrillerfest poker, since I'm such an expert and have all the terminology down to a T'sies. Anyone for Alaska?

    Mar 28, 2007

  • Laura Benedict

    I'm up for Alaska!

    Mar 29, 2007

  • Brian Thornton

    Well, I won't be at either Thrillerfest or Sleuthfest, so it looks like I'll be saving my pennies for poker in Alaska (since I've already paid the fee for Anchorage's B'con).

    Mar 29, 2007

  • Patricia

    Brian you are welcome..and while I am a bit chatty...I am afraid I can only lurk on rara...and I am afraid you won't be learning from me..it is the other way around...

    Apr 7, 2007

  • Simon Wood

    should my ears be burning?

    Apr 10, 2007

  • Patricia Abbott

    Hi Brian. I'm trying to write my first novel after 25 short stories. It's harder yet more fun that I thought. Let you know how it all turns out.

    Apr 10, 2007

  • Patti McCoy Jacob

    Bought the Vader helmet at Target a couple of years ago for one of my son's birthdays. If you notice the little buttons on the front of the ladybug dress, they make all sorts of fun Vader sounds.

    Go to Target or Toys 'R Us.com and see if one pops up. I'd part with mine, but since I'm mostly machine now, it would mean my demise. And not that you're worth it, but you know, we've only just met...:)

    Apr 10, 2007

  • Dave Bara

    hey BT, did you make it to Norwescon Saturday?

    db

    Apr 10, 2007

  • Dave Bara

    I am totally with you on "The Illusionist". I found myself asking why Giamatti and Norton didn't get Oscar nominations. The thing I loved about it was the way it recreated the time and setting (Austria-Hungary) in a very gritty and realistic (and threatening) way.

    I thought "Prestige" was just so much popular pablum. And who is the baddest, Wolverine or Batman?

    And Scarlett J., she shouldn't be wasted in anything. I never saw her character as falling for either one of the Christian Bale's, just not believeable.

    Apr 11, 2007

  • F.T. Bradley

    Hey Brian,

    Didn't know you had family in Colorado! I missed the snow because I was off to Holland for two weeks, but I'm back now.
    And it's really freakin' cold, with predictions of snow. I miss California...

    Apr 12, 2007

  • Eliza Tucker

    I'm trying to get an agent for my first novel, a suspense historical set in 1903 New York City, and writing a YA about a young woman whose mother marries into old money, set in NYC in 1916. And how much do I love the Miles Davis? Very much, that's how much!

    Apr 12, 2007

  • Simon Wood

    BT, you're a class act...

    Apr 26, 2007

  • Julie Morrigan

    Hi Brian - thanks for the kind words about Pig. Nice to meet another Bulleteer, too. Hope your writing is going better than mine right now! Jools

    May 28, 2007

  • Julie Morrigan

    Hi Brian - I'm not far from Northumberland. It's stunningly beautiful. Mind you, my bit of coast ain't bad; Iain Rowan's got some pics up on his page - lovely stuff. Don't know if I sound like Al Guthrie - I have yet to hear his dulcet tones - although in this area we do have more in common with the Scots than the southern English (and I have also been told I sound Irish). Back in 2000, I did my world tour of Scotland with a presentation on enterprise. I visited both Orkney (where I gather Al's from) and Shetland. I was told that the Orcadians believe the Shetlanders are the laziest people alive and the Shetlanders believe the Orcadians are - and they're both right! I, of course, couldn't possibly comment, but they're both great places to visit, even as fleetingly as I did.

    Writing wise - for work, I just finished putting together a two-week training programme for young entrepreneurs to be used in Abu Dhabi. I'd have been out there last week doing train the trainer, were my home circumstances different (mam's not been so well). Still, the job got done and they seem to like it. Fiction wise - procrastination is the order of the day. Got stuff on my mind and I can't keep a straight thought in my head. Should all become clear in a couple of weeks, but right now, I'm distracted. So I wrote Pig rather than do nothing. Good luck juggling your time between the paying work and the fun stuff!

    May 28, 2007

  • Joan Conwell

    Hello! Thanks for being the first person to comment!

    Jun 20, 2007

  • Joan Conwell

    Brand new. In fact, I just added a reply to your Perez-Reverte question and I don't know where it went!

    Jun 20, 2007

  • Brian Kavanagh

    Hi Brian, good to meet up. I'm awaiting the publication of my third mystery, BLOODY HAM. Due in September from BeWrite Books.
    Cheers,
    Brian ( from Downunder)

    Jul 3, 2007

  • Rosie Contreras

    I love Yeats and Auden both. Auden's poetry is some of my favorite. Nice to meet you!

    Jul 7, 2007

  • Brian Kavanagh

    Hi Brian,
    I'm in Melbourne. Victoria where we are having a pretty cold winter - the first for many years, what with the drought etc., But some good rains which we need. I've worked around the country in most States working on various films and spent a lot of time over the years in Sydney, but Melbourne is my home town - and the best!
    Cheers,
    Brian

    Jul 10, 2007

  • Brian Kavanagh

    Brian, I forgot to mention my website has some links to details on Melbourne which you might find of interest - photos etc.,
    Cheers,
    Brian
    http://beekayvic.tripod.com

    Jul 10, 2007

  • Alafair Burke

    I hear Seattle's hot as heck this summer. Hope you have AC. Thanks for stopping by to say hi. I'll be in Bellingham next Wednesday if you feel like a really long road trip just to get a signed book :-)

    Jul 17, 2007

  • Alafair Burke

    Village Books, 7/25, 7 pm, 1210 11th Street. Best of luck with that deadline!

    Jul 19, 2007

  • Cara Black

    mi amigo!

    Jul 27, 2007

  • Alafair Burke

    Fab. Congrats on meeting the deadline. Doesn't the end of a book feel great?!

    Jul 27, 2007

  • Pat Mullan

    Greetings from Connemara, Brian. Enjoyed your piece, 'History is in the details', in the MWA newsletter...
    Slan, Pat.

    Aug 1, 2007

  • David Terrenoire

    Don't listen to Pat, Brian. He's a silver-tongued schemer who will say anything as long as you keep buying the drinks.

    And I really should pay more attention to your reasonable stance on blogging.

    Aug 11, 2007

  • Ken Isaacson

    The "Don't Stop Believing" video--you cut the best part! You WERE paid off, you dirty dog. So much for journalistic integrity.

    Oct 19, 2007

  • Cara Black

    Happy New Year, Brian
    xoxo
    Cara

    Dec 31, 2007

  • Cornelia Read

    Happy New Year, dude!

    I would give up blogging, except I hate writing and it's a good distraction.

    Dec 31, 2007

  • Dawn M. Kravagna

    That sounds like a cool mystery novel you're working on, Brian. I want to be first in line to buy a copy when it comes out. I love historical mysteries (except the U.S. Civil War period does not interest me. I cannot say why, just doesn't.) Sorry to take forever to get back to you. It's been an exhausting year, to my great surprise.

    I'm working on my second Cattle Capers(tm) short story for Amazon. com Shorts. I decided to bring it in to my writing critique group, who are all romance writers. I thought they'd think I was a little nuts, but I just didn't have time to work on my new novel and the short; to my pleasant surprise, they love the story. It's about collapsing dinosaurs in a museum, with the usual corny humor: "Surely you don't suspect me." "It's not Shirley who suspects you, it's us."

    Take care. Dawn
    PS. I've been to the Gold Coast in Australia. Wasn't dressed properly to go into the clubs since I was living out of a small school bag for five weeks.

    Feb 20, 2008

  • Dawn M. Kravagna

    Keep us informed, please, on your newest project. I just finished my new short story but it's about 650 words too long. Time to cut...after I get my taxes done! Procrastinated and now I'm suffering for it. Bye!

    Mar 20, 2008