O'Neil De Noux Biography
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O’Neil De Noux (born A working friendship
with western writer John Edward Ames and encouragement from friend George Alec Effinger and mentor Harlan Ellison, helped De Noux become a critically-acclaimed mystery writer and instructor of writing classes at several universities.
De Noux has influenced a number of published writers at the beginning of their careers. De Noux’s police procedural
novels and mystery stories have been lauded for their hyper-realism, sharp dialogue and strong use of setting, primarily New Early life O’Neil De Noux
was born on While in Italy, De Noux began his life-long love of books and movies. Reading a book a week from the army post library, he
saw just about every On Influence of his father The trauma of Vietnam visited the De Noux home with telling effects as his father, set to retire in 1965, volunteered for service
in His father retired from
the U.S. Army and brought the family to live in the De Noux’s father,
a strong influence in his life, rose through the ranks of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office to command the Crime Scene Division. Upon graduating from high school, De Noux joined
the sheriff’s office as a police cadet, attending Loyola University New Orleans where he studied criminology. Military service Leaving the sheriff’s
office in 1970 to join the F.B.I. as a clerk, De Noux was promptly drafted into the U.S. Army for service in His army MOS was Photographer:
Combat Still. De Noux took run-of-the-mill army pictures while expressing himself creatively with black-and-white still-life
photos, winning several Best Photo Awards. In later years De Noux’s photos adorned the covers of several fiction magazines,
as well as the covers of three of his books (LaStanza: New Orleans Police Stories, New Orleans Confidential
and New Orleans Irresistible). While at ‘Mother Rucker’ De Noux earned a Bachelor’s Degree in European
History from Troy University. With his father a war
hero, De Noux felt he’d succeeded in his military service when he was signing out of the army and met his company commander
for the first time. His captain declared, “What have we here, a new man?” To which De Noux responded no, he was
leaving the army. “How long have you been in my company?” asked the captain to which De Noux advised eighteen
months. An article in Stars-And-Stripes topped De Noux’s military career as it explained how he managed three
years of military service without anyone knowing he was even there. This followed De Noux’s earlier election as Senior
Most Likely to Remain Anonymous at Archbishop Rummel. By this time, De Noux’s affection for science fiction drew him to “New Wave” authors Roger Zelazny, Samuel R. Delany, James Sallis, and Harlan Ellison, his new favorite writer. He read everything available by Ellison and renewed his pursuit of writing science-fiction
with the same results – bad stories, badly written. Police career For the next three years,
De Noux served as criminal intelligence analyst for the From 1977 to 1980, De
Noux was a uniformed patrol officer for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, the most rewarding working experience of his life.
When promoted to the Homicide Division, De Noux found his calling and finally discovered what he should write about. An exceptional
career as a homicide detective followed in which De Noux solved every murder where he was lead investigator (fifteen) and assisted in over
fifty other homicide investigations. In 1980 De Noux completed the Homicide Investigation curriculum at The Southern Police
Institute of the University of Louisville. Earning seven commendations,
De Noux was named Homicide Detective of the Year in 1981. Shortly after, he was transferred from Homicide, banished
to a quiet police district when a new sheriff was elected. Offered a lucrative position as chief investigator at a private
investigative firm, De Noux worked as a P.I. for the next six years. Freed from working double shifts with the sheriff’s
office, De Noux sat down to pen a homicide novel in 1986. Writing career Turning Patrolman LaStanza
into a homicide detective, De Noux completed Grim Reaper, which was immediately purchased by Zebra Books. Four subsequent
LaStanza novels followed, The Big Kiss, Blue With the release of Grim
Reaper, De Noux met George Alec Effinger, a talented science-fiction writer living in near obscurity in the French Quarter. Effinger’s first book
in his Budayeen Series, When Gravity Fails, was just released. A strong friendship developed as Effinger encouraged,
then taught De Noux how to write short stories. When Effinger introduced De Noux to his literary idol, Harlan Ellison, De
Noux found his mentor. Ellison, the award-winning grand master of speculative fiction took De Noux under wing and remains
a strong influence in his writings. In an article about writing, voracious reader De Noux stated, “I read all the time.
Then I go back and read Ellison to cleanse my palate, like good wine.” Effinger also introduced
De Noux to another of his “New Wave” heroes, James Sallis, who had just begun writing his Shortly after accepting
De Noux’s story “The Desire Streetcar” in 1991, for their Pulphouse: Fiction Spotlight, the legendary
publishing house, Pulphouse Publishing (Eugene, Oregon), offered De Noux a job where he trained as an editor. De Noux became the founding editor of two short-lived
fiction magazines, Returning to New Orleans
in 1992, De Noux began a long association with Louisiana colleges, teaching writing classes (creative writing, short story
writing, mystery writing and science-fiction writing) at Tulane University (1993-1997), the University of New Orleans (1998-2005), and Delgado Community College (2004-2005). In 1993, De Noux’s non-fiction book Specific Intent, a lead title from Pinnacle Books, became a main selection of the Doubleday Book Club. This true-crime book detailed the intricate police investigation
of a murder case which shocked south In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina devastated In March 2006, his short
story collection, New Orleans Confidential, featuring N.O. Private Eye Lucien Caye, was published by PointBLANK Press ( Cementing his niche in
genre-blending, De Noux’s collection of erotic detective stories, New Orleans Irresistible, was published by
EAA Signature Series Books in May 2006. One story in the collection, Death on Denial, previously published in the critically
acclaimed anthology, Flesh & Blood: Guilty as Sin, edited by Max Allan Collins and Jeff Gelb (Mysterious Press)
had been chosen for the Best American Mystery Stories 2003 Collection (Houghton Mifflin). De Noux is also the creator
of two additional recurring characters, 1890s New Orleans Police Detective Jacques Dugas and contemporary NOPD Homicide
Detective John Raven Beau. These characters, along with Dino LaStanza and Lucien Caye, have appeared
in dozens of magazines and anthologies, including top mystery magazines such as Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock and
Crimewave ( Now in the 21st Century,
De Noux lists his literary influences as (alphabetically): John Edward Ames, Max Allan Collins, Bernard Cornwell, George Alec
Effinger, Harlan Ellison, Ken Follett, Thomas Harris, Greg Iles, Alexander Kent, Elmore Leonard, C. L. Moore, Jeff Shaara,
James Sallis and Kate Wilhelm. He has also developed a particular affinity for mystery writers Frederic Brown, Howard Browne,
David Dodge, Loren Estleman, David Hewson, Wade De Noux married Debra
Gray De Noux in 1992. They have collaborated on a number of short stories. He has two children from a previous marriage. Extremely
proud and protective of his children, De Noux describes them as his greatest collaborative effort. Shamus Award Winner The Private Eye Writers
of America awarded its prestigious Shamus Award for BEST SHORT STORY 2007 to The Heart Has Reasons by
O'Neil De Noux (the cover story of the September 2006 Issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine). The Shamus Award
is given annually to recognize outstanding achievement in private eye fiction. The 26th Annual Shamus Awards were announced
at Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in Derringer Award Winner The Short Mystery Fiction
Society awarded their 2009 Derringer Awards for best short mystery fiction on Bibliography Novels
Grim
Reaper (1988)
The
Big Kiss (1990)
Blue
The
Big Show (1998)
American
Casanova – The New Adventures of the Legendary Lover – Collaborator (2006)
Mafia
Aphrodite (2008 –
Line cancelled by Publisher) Short Story Collections
A
Century of
LaStanza:
Hollow
Point & The Mystery of Rochelle Marais (2000)
Non-fiction books
Specific
Intent (1993)
Building
Believable Characters
– Contributing Writer (1996) Selected Short Stories
The
Desire Streetcar
The
Man with Moon Hands
Slimy
Things Did Crawl With Legs Upon The Slimy Sea
The
Murders Along the Rue Frenchmen
The
Purloined Woman
The
Gold Bug of Jean Lafitte
A
Hot and Copper Sky
Whispers
in Walled Tombs
Fais
Do Do
Murder
at Suicide Oak
Friscoville
Murder
Most Sweet
Her
Windblown Skirt
The
Purple Side of Blue
Lair
of the Red Witch
Tyrannous
and Strong
The
Naked Lady of Whispering Gulch
Love
and Murder
Upon
a Painted Ocean
The
Iberville Mistress
A
Gathering at Lake St. Catherine
Expect
Consequences
Don’t
Make Me Take Off My Sunglasses
General
Order No. 28
Tracks
of Shining White
Cruelty
the Human Heart
The
Gorilla Murders
The
Silence of the Sea
Guilty
of Dust and Sin
The
Human Dress
It
Rumbled
Christmas
Weather
Kissable
Cleavage
Maria's
Hand
Unicorns
on Octavion
The
Heart Has Reasons SHAMUS AWARD WINNER
When
the Levees Break
Down
on the Pontchartrain
Ankle
Biters of Old
Too
Wise DERRINGER AWARD WINNER
The
Bonnie and
Murder
Intermezzo
Pretty Rita
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