Pulp Fiction discussion

Ctgt wrote: "Very odd timing for me on the Seasick Steve music. Not even a month ago I was watching Later with Jools Holland and Steve was on and I promptly went out looking for some of his stuff. This was one ..."

Spooky - I actually heard some of his stuff a while ago and promptly went and threw up........go figure

Thanks for the info on James Lee Burke everybody. I will probably give another of the series a go. For now, i'm continuing my popular crime reading with A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton.

I'll be reading this book next. Underdog by WR Burnett.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

My review of The Killer by Wade Miller

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

After a fast read through 52 Pick Up by Elmore Leonard, I started And the Deep Blue Sea, an almost forgotten book by Charles Williams that I hope will be similar to his other nautical thriller I've read (Dead Calm).

I'm also into Trial Run by Dick Francis, more spy thriller than crime novel in the first chapters, with his ususal hero (retired steeplechase jockey) going to Moscow to investigate some shennanigns around the Olympic Games.

Leaving for Thanksgiving Holiday to go downriver for the usual family, etc.

I'm carrying my Kindle with me so I can read more short stories by Johnny Shaw that have appeared in e-Book anthologies such as THUGLIT, BLOOD & TACOS, and a few others.

After finishing Shaw's Dove Season I began reading The James Agee/Walker Evans scorching Cotton Tenants but I don't walk to drag a hardcover along with me on the train.

Spent last 2 nights reading short stories by Johnny Shaw from Blood Tacos 1, LEE from Crime Factory, and following links from his own official web-site one of which took me to an awesome site (Pulp Serenade dot com) which led me into a Charles Willeford vortex by following links from that site to Ethan Iverson's awesome essay "I Was Looking For Charles Willeford" which in turn led me to interviews with Ray Banks and Don Herron about Willeford's lesser known novels and poetry collections.

Hell. I never knew Willeford wrote a Western: HOMBRE FROM SONORA and/or THE DIFFERENCE (never figured out if this was the same novel retitled).

Then, after finishing that I went back to my Kindle and re-read Johnny Shaw's "The Big Red One" (which is so friggin' perfect, I don't know if I can go on living) again -from the Crime Factory issued e-anthology LEE and chased that with Jake Hinkson's astoundingly fabulous "Out On The 101".

So impressed with Jake Hinkson, I finally broke down and started the e-novella The Posthumous Man.
I was trying to crash for the night while reading that in an unfamiliar bed in ahome other than mine own.
Took me 2 hours, 4 Xanax, and half a Unisom to finally shudder the eyelids for a few hours.

Even then I dreamed of Lee Marvin, a famous female surgeon I know who has single-handedly saved more lives than anyone else I've ever met in my life, and something about having to scale a sheer wall (with the good doctor urging me along, saint that she is) only to fall and keep falling off what appeared to be a cliff over a roaring ocean.
Then I awoke... and it was only after brushing my teeth and shaving that I returned to what I like to call reality.

God! What a night.

I get home, I'm gonna write that review of Dove Season and finish the James Agee/Walker Evans reissue.
First I gotta finish Hinkson's compelling e-novella.

Whaaat?

I started Murakami's 1Q84... It's one of the best things I've ever read (but MAN, what a brick it is!)

Mantan wrote: "Spent last 2 nights reading short stories by Johnny Shaw from Blood Tacos 1, LEE from Crime Factory, and following links from his own official web-site one of which took me to an aw..."

I was looking at this on Amazon. Seems interesting. I'll pick it up at some point.
Maybe they'll come out with Manhunt as well.

I've just finished my first Cliff Janeway book by John Dunning: Booked To Die review text
I liked how he turned the secondhand book trade in Denver into a cutthroat world, and I picked up quite a lot of new titles to research from the books referenced in the text.

Still wrote: "Spent last 2 nights reading short stories by Johnny Shaw from Blood Tacos 1, LEE from Crime Factory, and following links from his own official web-site one of which took me to an aw..."

You sound like exactly the right person to offer my incredibly rare (as far as i know) copy of Willeford's Sex Is A Woman to. No charge beyond whatever the ripoff merchants at the post office ask.

Finished Underdog by WR Burnett. Disappointing. Now I'm going to read The Fourth Postman by Craig Rice

Tfitoby wrote: "Still wrote: "Spent last 2 nights reading short stories by Johnny Shaw from Blood Tacos 1, LEE from Crime Factory, and following links from his own official web-site one of which to..."

Who do you want killed for this grandly generous offer?
Email or PM for my address, etc.
First I have to run downstairs for a quick inventory of my Willefords - don't believe I have this but it's possible.


Incidentally- on Wednesday I received a new Willeford anthology I'd ordered off eBay: The Second Half Of The Double Feature allegedly a first edition copyright September 2003 by Betsy Willeford as published by WitSend. Contains short stories, excerpts from hard-to-find early novels, poems, & prosetry - including what appear to be essays.

This thing is brand-spanking new -as in mint condition.

Again- thank you for your kind offer. I'll PM you my vitals in a little while. ...early afternoon, latest.

Just picked up Elmore Leonard's short story collection Fire In The Hole for $1.99.

Just finished A is for Alibi and I can't think of anything good to say about it except it finally ended.

AndrewP wrote: "Just finished A is for Alibi and I can't think of anything good to say about it except it finally ended."
Yeah, I could never get into any of those novels either. Read one years ago, never read another.

I just started The First Quarry last night.

I'm about to start 'The sleeping and the dead' by Ann Cleeves. Hopefully worth reading.

started The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett : it's all extremely familiar after watching the movie version three times. I still enjoy the banter between Nick and Nora and the non-stop drinking but I think I prefer the darker style of Red Harvest.

I'm 2/3rds of the way through Woody Haut's Heartbreak Vine Hardboiled Writers in Hollywood.
This book is going on the reference shelf here in the office alongside my film noir reference books and Paperback Confidential by Brian Ritt.

I'm around halfways through The Name Is Archer by Ross Macdonald. It's interesting how while he's obviously in the Hammett/Chandler tradition, his entire writing style and authorial sensibility is completely different. He's way more introverted and cerebral, avoiding most of the sleaze and grit of his inspirations. The uncomfortable elements instead come almost entirely from the moral gray zones.

That it's written in as prosperous and optimistic an era as the early 1950s, rather than against the backdrop of the Great Depression or WW2, might also be a factor.

Here is my review of The Fourth Postman by Craig Rice. Lots of laughs at the very least.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I saw that several people liked my last review. Thanks for that. Here's another one.
Murder Is A Package Deal by Carter Brown.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'll be reading Streets of Death by Dell Shannon, a LT Mendoza Mystery.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9...

Here's my review of Bulletproof by Frank Kane. Really enjoyed it. Five stars.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm currently reading White Jazz by James Ellroy. This is the last book in the LA Quartet which I've read in order. My favorite is the Black Dahlia and then the Big Nowhere. I didn't find LA Confidential as compelling a read but I do think it had a great ending. Love Ellroy's style although it's almost a bit too staccato in White Jazz. It sort of feels like you're being hit in the face with each sentence,lol. I plan to go on to read the USA Underworld trilogy. Ellroy's a crazy SOB but tells a gripping story.

Shannon, congrats on getting through Ellroy's White Jazz. The staccato writing in LA Confidential and American Tabloid was too much for me, quit both before finishing them. And yes, from what I understand after speaking to someone who knew his, not sure if it was his first wife or a live-in girlfriend, James Ellroy is a pretty wild and crazy guy.

That said, he does create wildly interesting stories. Loved the film LA Confidential.

Susan wrote: "Shannon, congrats on getting through Ellroy's White Jazz. The staccato writing in LA Confidential and American Tabloid was too much for me, quit both before finishing them. And yes, from what I und..."

Do I have this correct: Ellroy's current special someone is a fan he met online?
I wonder how that worked out for both the celeb author and the star struck fan.

Not sure if that's the case but the last interview I read he is definitely not the monogamous type and doesn't sound like he cares if his girlfriend is. It mentioned that his girlfriend is married with kids and still lives with her family. Different.

Still wrote: "Susan wrote: "Shannon, congrats on getting through Ellroy's White Jazz. The staccato writing in LA Confidential and American Tabloid was too much for me, quit both before finishing them. And yes, f..."

Sorry my post was so vague. Don't know who JE's current woman friend is. The woman who told me the story knew the female he was living with [wife? GF?] several years ago, who said JE could be wild and crazy. His statement in the interview sounds rather unconventional, but hey, that's the lifestyle in and around LA and Hollywood, right? Almost anything goes? For some people anyway.

Shannon wrote: "Not sure if that's the case but the last interview I read he is definitely not the monogamous type and doesn't sound like he cares if his girlfriend is. It mentioned that his girlfriend is marrie..."

You're saying that the father of Ellroy's girlfriend's children is a cuckold? To James Ellroy of all people?
Yes, different.
Very different.

Not that there's anything wrong with "different". It's just that it's not for me.

I agree Susan and Still -- his lifestyle is not for me either. I'm a rather conventional lady when it comes to relationships. In the interview it stated that he would park his car near the girlfriend's home,get out and bay at the moon several times like a wolf. The girlfriend would call him the next day laughing. Wowza, lol. I do think he'd be a hoot to have a conversation with though. It would definitely be memorable ;)

The USA Underworld trilogy is phenomenal. I hope you like it as much as I did.

Susan wrote: "Still wrote: "Susan wrote: "Shannon, congrats on getting through Ellroy's White Jazz. The staccato writing in LA Confidential and American Tabloid was too much for me, quit both before finishing th..."

I'd think that any stable person would -having read Ellroy's biographical writings and seen a few of his interviews- have had at least a couple of reservations about hooking up for a prolonged romantic interlude with Ellroy.

Last week I read The Moving Target by Ross Macdonald. I think I can understand those who prefer him to either Hammett or Chandler, he's got the former's skill for plot structuring and the latter's gift for prose but possibly better at characterization than either.

To put it bluntly: He writes like Edward Hopper paints.

I just started Killing Floor, my first Reacher/Child book. So far I am enjoying it.

Thanks Chris! Underworld sounds fantastic - can't wait to delve in. I also have his short story Shakedown on my Kindle and will probably read that after White Jazz. Have you read it?

Still wrote: "You're saying that the father of Ellroy's girlfriend's children is a cuckold? To James Ellroy of all people? Yes, different. Very different."

Does that mean that James Ellroy, by virtue of, um, banging said girlfriend, who is not, apparently, married to the father (or fathers, as the case may be) of her children, causes said father(s) to be cuckolded?

Ya know, I got an A in Advanced Calculus but that whole contorted cuckold thing stumps me. :)

Susan wrote: "Does that mean that James Ellroy, by virtue of, um, banging said girlfriend, who is not, apparently, married to the father (or fathers, as the case may be) of her children, causes said father(s) to be cuckolded?
"

Wow! This is tougher than Chinese algebra.
Sorry.
When Shannon mentioned that that Ellroy's gf/wife is married with kids and still lives with her family, I took that to mean that she was living with the children's father while conducting an extra-marital affair with Ellroy.

Or something.

Which was me assuming (probably incorrectly I now realize) that there was one father and that he had been rendered a "cuckold".

I think my fever might be back.

Currently reading "Killer with a Key," the second in Dan J. Marlowe's greenhorn series with Johnny Killian. So far it's better than the terrible first entry, but still not very good stuff. Absolutely no hint that something like "The Name of the Game is Death" and "One Endless Hour" might come from the same pen.

@Still, take two aspirin with a large glass of wine for that fever and chill out with, oh, how about Don Dilillo's Underworld. Great book. 900 pages, so set aside a few hours :)

Meanwhile, I'm reading Martin Cruz Smith's Stalin's Ghost, starring Arkady Renko. Love his humor, but gee whiz, so much vodka drinking, such frigid cold in Moscow, such interesting triangle relationships!!

Susan wrote: "@Still, take two aspirin with a large glass of wine for that fever and chill out with, oh, how about Don Dilillo's Underworld. Great book. 900 pages, so set aside a few hours :)"


I own that book & loved it.
I've only read 2 Dilillo novels but they were two of the best novels I've ever read.
Underworld kills, though.

Currently reading Penance: A Chicago Thriller and about to get stuck into Black Rock: An Eddie Dougherty Mystery

Shannon wrote: "I'm currently reading White Jazz by James Ellroy. This is the last book in the LA Quartet which I've read in order. My favorite is the Black Dahlia and then the Big Nowhere. I didn't find LA Con..."

Love, Love, LOVE the LA Quartet. White Jazz was my favorite of the four.Then The Big Nowhere, and L.A. Confidential, with Dahlia last. In case anyone was keeping track.

Daniel wrote: "Shannon wrote: "I'm currently reading White Jazz by James Ellroy. This is the last book in the LA Quartet which I've read in order. My favorite is the Black Dahlia and then the Big Nowhere. I di..."

So far my favorites, in order, are Black Dahlia & Big Nowhere. I haven't gotten into the meat of White Jazz yet but have a feeling it's going to top LA Confidential. LA Confidential was too scattered for me but the ending did offer some redemption. I'm SO looking forward to the 2nd LA Quartet :) Perfidia is supposed to be released in Fall 2014. Such a treat that Ellroy's still writing.

Still wrote: "Susan wrote: "@Still, take two aspirin with a large glass of wine for that fever and chill out with, oh, how about Don Dilillo's Underworld. Great book. 900 pages, so set aside a few hours :)"
..."
I loved Underworld too. And several others. Libra was the first one I read. Most recently, Point Omega, which has an incredible shot by shot analysis of the shower scene in Hitchcock's Psycho. That sounds weird, but it really does fit into the plot.

@ Shannon: White Jazz has meat. It might be putrid, but it has meat. :).

IMO, The prologue of LA confidential are some of the best 20 or so pages of hard boiled fiction.

I've read all the Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade novels, but I just discovered The T.C.P.D. and The T.C.P.D.'s Most Wanted by Matthew Finneran. I just wanted to mention these books to this group - they are a delight, but more than anything they are original. I think of them as Paranormal/thrillers. If any on you read them - let me know what you think.

Nikki wrote: "I've read all the Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade novels, but I just discovered The T.C.P.D. and The T.C.P.D.'s Most Wanted by Matthew Finneran. I just wanted to mention these books to this group - th..."

I've read the first novel and loved also. Did not know that the sequel was out. I will check it out. Glad to hear someone one loved The T.C.P.D. It is very noir and the cover is a great piece of noir cover work.