Pulp Fiction discussion

Finished . Good. 4 stars.

Finished . My first by this author. Hard-Boiled Irish. Will be reading more by this author. 3 1/2 stars.

Started . Not my first Mosley book, but it is the first 'Leonard McGill Mystery'. Been on my TBR list for some time.

This weekend I finally started reading The Man Who Went Up in Smoke. I can already find it more involving than "Roseanna", since the plot is way better paced and the writing not quite as dry yet.

Not to mention that the content of the story is more directly commenting on the political situation of the time. It's not just the Cold War being the starting point of the story, basically having Sjöwall go all Le Carré but also the commentary about the aftermath of WW2 with reference to ex-Nazis working for NATO and so on.

Finished The Long Fall . Great! 4 stars.

Started Fire and Brimstone . Hard-Boiled Irish Mystery/Humour. Looks good so far.

Almost finished

Just finished . It's the fourth book in a series. Very entertaining.

Started reading . 12th in the Parker Series & the only one i haven't read.

Mike wrote: "Just finished . It's the fourth book in a series. Very entertaining."

I'm reading a new standalone thriller by Block to be released by Hard Case Crimes The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes. Spicy stuff!

I'm reading a 1960s spy novel that's sort of within the same idea-space as most of the literature discussed here: The Dark Crusader by Alistair MacLean.

Got interested in it because the story, which involves the mysterious disappearance of a bunch of high-ranking engineers and scientists involved in the aerospace industry, seems to parallel several conspiracy theories that would later become somewhat popular in the UK.

So far it reminds me a good deal of the first couple James Bond movies with Sean Connery in them, though a level more serious and less campy in tone. I guess you could say that as far as spy novels go, MacLean's the middle ground between Ian Fleming and John Le Carré. The nuts-and-bolts of the plot also provide a lot of insight into the political fallout from the dismantling of the British Empire, as the economic conflicts driving the story seem to revolve around exactly that.

Simon wrote: "I'm reading a 1960s spy novel that's sort of within the same idea-space as most of the literature discussed here: The Dark Crusader by Alistair MacLean."

I loved MacLean books as a kid and have considered revisiting them. I'm not familiar with this one. I remember being blown away by his first book, HMS Ulysses.

Same here, I read most of MacLean's books years ago.
Let's not forget how many of them have also been made into movies:

Where Eagles Dare
The Guns of Navarone
Force 10 from Navarone
When Eight Bells Toll
Breakheart Pass
Ice Station Zebra
The Satan Bug
Caravan to Vaccares

I think there are more but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

I quite liked Ice Station Zebra. Like I say, MacLean forms a happy medium between the two extremes of the spy fiction genre. Been meaning to get around to reading The Satan Bug one of these days too, it seems to have been really ahead of its time since bio-terrorism wasn't a thing when first written.

AndrewP wrote: "Same here, I read most of MacLean's books years ago.
Let's not forget how many of them have also been made into movies:

Where Eagles Dare
The Guns of Navarone
Force 10 from Navarone
When Eight Be..."

I read most of MacLean's books as a kid too & i remember particularly enjoying Ice Station Zebra .
Not really my thing now, but they gave me a lot of enjoyment way-back when.

I just finished listening to Black Mask Audio Magazine, Volume 1, Number 1: Classic Hard-Boiled Tales from the Original Black Mask. It was excellent. I gave it 4 stars & reviewed it here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Simon wrote: "I'm reading a 1960s spy novel that's sort of within the same idea-space as most of the literature discussed here: The Dark Crusader by Alistair MacLean.

Got interes..."

It looks like "The Dark Crusader" is a new title for MacLean's "The Black Shrike" which I read years and years ago.

"Dark Crusader" was its British title, "Black Shrike" the American one. No idea why they gave it different titles in different markets.

I;ve read most of his titles back in the eighties, but Dark Crusader somehow escaped my notice. Whre Eagles Dare and The guns from Navarone are two of the best movie adaptations of MacLean.

Just finished . Rather disappointing.

Thanks... good to know.

I'm reading a brilliant new novel by Matt Bell:

Still wrote: "I'm reading a brilliant new novel by Matt Bell:

"

Let us know what you think. I've got 2 by MB ( & ), but haven't read him yet.

Edwin wrote: "Verdict public domain pulp magazine from July, 1953. Includes stories from several pulp-noir writers including Cornell Woolrich, Dorothy B. Hughes, [author:Bruno Fisch..."

Thanks for that Ed. Have downloaded it. Will check it out.

Paul wrote: "Still wrote: "I'm reading a brilliant new novel by Matt Bell:

"

Let us know what you think. I've got 2 by MB ([bookcover:In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake a..."
Finished Scrapper this morning. Trying to craft a review to post later. Stunning read. Very interested in obtaining the earlier novels you mentioned.

Currently reading

Still wrote: "Paul wrote: "Still wrote: "I'm reading a brilliant new novel by Matt Bell:

"

Let us know what you think. I've got 2 by MB ([bookcover:In the House Upon the Dirt Betwe..."


Can send you a link for eBook versions if you like Still. Will read your review, when its up. Looks like an interesting writer.

Finished The Sour Lemon Score . It's the only Parker novel i hadn't read & i loved it. Tempted to write a review. Tempted also to give it 5 stars, which i almost never do, so it's 4 1/2 stars from me.

Started The Drowning Pool .

Going further and further into "The Dark Crusader". I wonder if Alistair Maclean got the idea for the novel from the conspiracy theories about the Black Knight Satellite (notice the very similar names), a mysterious orbiting object first detected in the late 1950s that neither the NATO nor Warsaw Pact claimed responsibility.

http://www.armaghplanet.com/blog/the-...

(view spoiler)[Maclean, writing at the time of the Sino-Soviet split, pins it on a British ICBM prototype stolen by the People's Republic of China with the help of a defector from inside the UK rocket program. (hide spoiler)]

Wanted a book to take for a test-drive on my new Kindle Fire, so i've started Ishmael Toffee , a novella. It's been on my TBR list for sometime, as have several others i have by Roger Smith.

Half way through Hell on Church Street . My first by this author. So far, so good.

Paul wrote: "Half way through Hell on Church Street. My first by this author. So far, so good."

That's a very good one!
Jake Hinkson is terrific.
Also loved Hinkson's The Posthumous Man.

I totally agree with Still.
Both of the Jake Hinkson’s novels are very good.

Loved both Hell and Posthumous. Hinkson's other novels are good, too. Check out The Big Ugly and Saint Homicide. Up next to read is his new one No Tomorrow.

And another shout out from the Hinkson fan club!

His work is awesome!

Yeah,I'm recommending his works to my Japanese hardboiled/noir lovers.

Still wrote: "Paul wrote: "Half way through Hell on Church Street. My first by this author. So far, so good."

That's a very good one!
Jake Hinkson is te..."

Thanks Still. Will have to check out The Posthumous Man. I have The Big Ugly, Saint Homicide & Hinkson's just released collection of shorts, The Deepening Shade . He's quite the subversive storyteller. Thank God for subversives:)

Finished several days ago. Excellent!!

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

Currently into The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. I can see how the story is heavily influenced by "Gone Girl", especially when it comes to unreliable narrators, but it is different enough and well written enough to keep me glued to the page.

Algernon wrote: "Currently into The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. I can see how the story is heavily influenced by "Gone Girl", especially when it comes to unreliable narrators, but it is diff..."

The main difference between the two that I could see was that I liked this one.

I'm currently reading Ruined City by Nevil Shute. I have heard enough about Shute that I would like to read a lot more of his books.

Nevil Shute is one of my favorite writers. I like all his books, so it is difficult to recommend one, but maybe "A Town Like Alice" and "Landfall" are good examples of his style. "Ruined City" is also good, in a melancholic, understated way.

Algernon wrote: ""Ruined City" is also good, in a melancholic, understated way. "

I'm not sure I can think of another book to compare it to. The closest I can come is A Christmas Carol without the ghosts. Self-serving 1-percenter has a life-changing epiphany and becomes somebody entirely different.
I've decided to add Shute to my list of "Dead Brits whose books I collect". So far it includes Graham Greene and Eric Ambler.

On the Beach is a great Shute novel imo. Enjoyed the movie too & have been meaning to watch it again, as it was 30+ years ago i watched it.

Paul wrote: "On the Beach is a great Shute novel imo. Enjoyed the movie too & have been meaning to watch it again, as it was 30+ years ago i watched it."

I've seen the movie and may have read the book at some point in the distant past. I intend to read it again.

Definitely read "On the Beach". Great movie, and unusual as it stayed with the novel with no changes.

Started Half the Blood of Brooklyn , third in the 'Joe Pitt Series'.

After glancing at the 2015 GoodReads Choice Awards I realized that I read so much old Pulp/Noir this year that I failed to read anything published in 2015.

I should make more of an effort to modernize my reading choices for 2016.

Edwin wrote: "After glancing at the 2015 GoodReads Choice Awards I realized that I read so much old Pulp/Noir this year that I failed to read anything published in 2015.

I should make more of an effort to moder..."

Hardly an extensive list Edwin & it seemed mostly made up of 'bestseller' books, which in my observations are NOT a good indicator of good writing, just what is most commercial.
But good point. I still have a lot of catching up to do. There are so many good contemporary writers of Noir & Grit Lit out there.

Dilemma:
I received as gifts today Galveston by Nic Pizzolato and the first volume in the Berkley Books series of Richard Matheson short stories, Shock I.

I would link Shock I but each time I do it brings up something called "Shock Rock I".

I've already read the 1st two stories in the Matheson anthology and the 1st two pages of the Pizzolato number.

Both are above average.

Bummer.

Started Complete Novels today. Half way through 'Red Harvest'.

Halfway through Nineteen Seventy-Four . Had to put my eBook copy aside to read the above & a couple of others, as they are library books.

I'm following up the Ed Brubaker group read with book 1 of another of his series, Fatale, Vol. 1: Death Chases Me. It's a good combination of pulp and urban fantasy.

Currently reading THE MARTIAN https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Like Tom Hanks in Castaway, but on Mars.
Author sometimes speaks techno babble, but otherwise exciting novel of survival. Looking forward to Matt Damon movie.