Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! It's almost hard to believe it's been a year since Tough Business was born, and we're proud to say we've already accomplished so much and connected with so many amazing individuals -- if you've been a part of our journey, whether as reader or contributor, we can't thank you enough for giving us a chance!

Our original motivation behind the site was to offer a different perspective on Parker. At the heart of Donald Westlake's writing has always been a dedication to diversity exemplified in a body of work uniquely concerned with the daring and the different. All his protagonists are outsiders, and we've set out to prove that people like us still find themselves in his timeless novels. Our other priority was to approach a subject that's been talked about in a legitimate capacity even less than Mr. Westlake's social themes: Alan J. Grofield.

Despite being Richard Stark's other major creation -- and in fact, the star of the only spin-off series in Westlake's entire career -- and having four solo novels of his own, as well as being the secondary protagonist in Butcher's Moon (1974), Grofield very often gets cast aside. We here at Tough Business love Grofield, and have aimed to treat his novels with the same importance as the rest of the Stark canon.

According to Neocities, in 2025 we had a total of 40,262 views (most probably coming from direct links) and 25.9k impressions from Google. The release of Play Dirty brought in a lot of people, but our first major interview was with the wonderful creative team behind the French graphic novel Parker 1969 - La Proie.

In fact, we conducted ten interviews over the course of the year, and published eight of them; among the major figures in the world of crime fiction we spoke to were Eisner-winning comic book artist Sean Phillips, University of Chicago Press marketing director and editor Levi Stahl, Hard Case Crime founder and publisher Charles Ardai, author Dennis Lehane, author and journalist Sarah Weinman, acclaimed director Shane Black, and comic book writer and crime fiction author Max Allan Collins.

We created 70 pages: twenty dedicated to each of the Stark novels, twelve pertaining to Parker reprints in men's magazines as part of our site-exclusive archive, five translations of various critical essays, eight essays of our own, and various curiosities and fun facts. We also co-wrote reviews for La Proie, Lemons Never Lie, The Outfit, The Score, and Play Dirty.

Now that we've looked back at just how much Tough Business has grown, we'd like to share our favorite moments of the year:

Alissa: My favorite moment of the year has got to be getting to chat with Charles Ardai. It was such an unexpected, spur-of-the-moment way to get in touch and it ended up being one of my favorite interviews we've ever done. I appreciate each and every one of the talented creators we've spoken to, but I think talking to Mr. Ardai was when it really clicked for me that we're doing something significant for Stark's legacy. When Charles said, "Don made that particular style of crime story so much his own that he basically owns it at this point, just as Conan Doyle owns the brilliant Victorian detective with the less brilliant sidekick or Elmore Leonard owns his own peculiar brand of loquacious and irresistible crooks. Every tissue is a Kleenex, every adhesive bandage is a Band-Aid, and every time you see a heist in the Richard Stark mode, you think “Parker.” It’s really a remarkable achievement," I understood that all of us Parker enthusiasts hold that same reverence for the master of the heist story no matter where we're coming from.

But that's just this year. My favorite thing in the universe is getting to do all this alongside my partner everywhere, we've always completed each other and this constant exchange of ideas, of inspiration and joy and passion, has been nothing short of thrilling. Tough Business is a project I never could've imagined undertaking before it was actively happening, but with Shay, it's all easy and fun and fulfilling. I'm grateful we've carved out a space for ourselves within Parker's violent world, and I'm excited to keep it going in the new year!

Shay: I think the most exciting moment of our year had to be interviewing Shane Black, especially since we both loved Play Dirty so much. It was the first time we’ve done an interview together over the phone instead of through e-mail— despite being pretty nervous, I think we did really well! I still appreciate how kind and generous it was of him to give us the opportunity.

I also loved writing our first reviews together this year. I think our voices naturally blend well, especially since we’ve already worked on so many projects. I’m looking forward to reviewing more of Stark’s novels this year as we reread them together and dig into what makes them work perfectly every time. I could never accomplish even a fraction of what we’ve done together on my own, and I’m so lucky to have the best partner in the world. Here’s looking forward to 2026!