Pulp Fiction discussion

Currently reading Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon (yes, for the first time). Then moving on to this month's group reads. I've just joined and look forward to learning about other great reads.

Welcome, Tom! I hope you like it here.

Tom wrote: "Currently reading Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon (yes, for the first time). Then moving on to this month's group reads. I've just joined and look forward to learning about other great reads."

I love Hammett in any way shape or form!!

I've never read 'The Falcon' - feel bad (aside:I don't really I'm just saying that because I think I should).

But I am loving Joe Ide's IQ right now - a shaky start but pretty brilliant in the middle,

Hi all. I'm writing this here because I don't know where to stick it exactly, but this podcast is AMAZING!

https://www.pointblankpodcast.com/

Ah you've just got to listen to it folks it's classic pulp and noir all the way. The most recent episode is The Night Has a Thousand Eyes by Cornell Woolrich.

Honestly we could have a whole discussion board topic dedicated to this podcast - what do you think moderators?

Michael wrote: "What pulp/crime novel are you currently reading or just finished"

Literally just finished Kevin Barry's City of Bohane. I loved it- raw, slangy, engrossing, dystopian, exact, sneakily sentimental and poetic.

Matt wrote: "Michael wrote: "What pulp/crime novel are you currently reading or just finished"

Literally just finished Kevin Barry's City of Bohane. I loved it- raw, slangy, engrossing, dystopian, exact, sneak..."

I LOVE City of Bohane! I read it when it first came out and fell in love with Kevin Barry. Such a good novel!

Nancy wrote: "Matt wrote: "Michael wrote: "What pulp/crime novel are you currently reading or just finished"

Literally just finished Kevin Barry's City of Bohane. I loved it- raw, slangy, engrossing, dystopian,..."

totally, I'm gonna get my hands on Beatlebone next, which I had heard of and vaguely registered but now seems a lot more interesting.

Matt wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Matt wrote: "Michael wrote: "What pulp/crime novel are you currently reading or just finished"

Literally just finished Kevin Barry's City of Bohane. I loved it- raw, slangy, engrossi..."

I have his Dark Lies the Island but not Beatlebone. I'll have to find that one. Thanks.

Nancy wrote: "Matt wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Matt wrote: "Michael wrote: "What pulp/crime novel are you currently reading or just finished"

Literally just finished Kevin Barry's City of Bohane. I loved it- raw, sla..."

Yeah that Bohane book looks pretty good...

If you like books that are well out of the mainstream, it's damn good.

Geoff wrote: "Hi all. I'm writing this here because I don't know where to stick it exactly, but this podcast is AMAZING!

https://www.pointblankpodcast.com/

Ah you've just got to listen to it folks it's class..."

That's pretty awesome. Gonna listen to the one about Shoot the Piano Player later today.

Frank wrote: "Geoff wrote: "Hi all. I'm writing this here because I don't know where to stick it exactly, but this podcast is AMAZING!

https://www.pointblankpodcast.com/

Ah you've just got to listen to it fo..."

Are the podcast what they call "behind a paywall"? Or what does 'subscribe' mean?

I confess I'm curious, but wary of submitting an e-mail w/o some sampling of the goods.

you're right, didn't notice that..... bummer. Seems to need Apple app too, so I won't do that...

EDIT: no, you can listen to em for free here, I think: http://pointblankpodcast.libsyn.com/w...

Christopher wrote: "Frank wrote: "Geoff wrote: "Hi all. I'm writing this here because I don't know where to stick it exactly, but this podcast is AMAZING!

https://www.pointblankpodcast.com/

Ah you've just got to l..."

You can subscribe to it for free through iTunes or Stitcher or I use PlayerFM . Just search for point blank podcast it's totally free.

They do reviews and give you loads of context and biographical stuff - it's a proper nerdfest.

The facebook page is here:
https://www.facebook.com/pointblankpo...

Oh and Frank's link works fine too. Sorry Frank, I should have tried that first!

Geoff wrote: "Christopher wrote: "Frank wrote: "Geoff wrote: "Hi all. I'm writing this here because I don't know where to stick it exactly, but this podcast is AMAZING!

https://www.pointblankpodcast.com/

Ah ..."

Thanks, Geoff. I will try Player FM.

I'm reading a book called The Syndicate by Clarence Cooper Jr. Evidently it's not on GR yet, which I'll remedy here shortly.

It is a "lost crime classic" which was published under his pseudonym Robert Chestnut in 1960 -- and it is as gritty as it gets. Description:

"....a fast-paced story plunging into the psycho-sexual depths of a ruthless enforcer sent to retrieve syndicate money. " According to the blurb, the author's "subsequent work fell into pulp oblivion."

The year 1960 is about the time pulps themselves "fell into oblivion."

ALLEN wrote: "The year 1960 is about the time pulps themselves "fell into oblivion.""

Also about the time cheap paperbacks with lurid covers were really hitting their stride.

Be that as it may, I just bought two more of Cooper's books:

The Farm and The Scene.

In my opinion, Bryan, not enough has been made of how changes in printing and distribution technology sometimes changes what gets printed. (Not until 1964 did Marshall McLuhan coin the catchphrase: "The medium is the message").

For example: lurid juvie comics crashed in about 1954 (political) but presses were still open for pulp-style mags and digests. However, around 1960 (I read this somewhere, I swear, just can't remember where) the pre-WWII printing presses were wearing out, and book publishers like Bantam were not ashamed to go downmarket sometimes (technological) -- of course, the market already supported "quarter reprints" of the kind mocked in THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH. Also, around 1957, the full-color "bleed" (no margin) printing technique came into prominence, making for more elaborately painted or photographed book and mag covers (technological).

We tend to think of the "message" (genre stories) seeking the most efficient medium, and that's true, but sometimes it works in reverse.

ALLEN wrote: "In my opinion, Bryan, not enough has been made of how changes in printing and distribution technology sometimes changes what gets printed. (Not until 1964 did Marshall McLuhan coin the catchphrase:..."

Wasn't there a printing company that had presses along the railroads that got sold about that time & folded shortly after, too?

Could be. Until fairly recently, Chicago's R.R. Donnelly, printer of many telephone directories, used to have its printing plant located adjacent to the Illinois Central.

Also, in the mid-20th Century Sears, Roebuck had its Chicago headquarters (Homan Ave.) right on top of train tracks. This served shipment of orders and, I suspect, those heavy catalogs, too. All that ended with the move to the (then)Sears Tower in the early Seventies. Perhaps it had already.

Some older folks may remember that before there was FedEx and UPS, there was railway express. You had to go down to the "depot"; no home delivery.

I can still remember when mail rode the rails. The postmistress would go across the street to the depot and put out a big thing that looked like a birdcage with a kind of slider bar instead of a cage that held a bag of mail. The train came by, extended a hook, and snatched it up! And someone within sent a bag or bags of mail tumbling out at speed. (You can see this early in the 1967 movie of IN COLD BLOOD, if you're interested). Mail could even be canceled and sorted on board a moving train, too: those were the "RPO" (Railway Post Office) cancellations.

During those years, though, practically all mail was taken away from the railroads and given to trucks. Supposedly it had something to do with LBJ spiting Bobby Kennedy by helping Jimmy Hoffa's union, but I have not been able to confirm that particular conspiracy theory. You'll recall the Interstate Highway System was just getting built, too. I don't think that highways really sped up the delivery of U.S. mail, but routine airlifting over long distances probably did.

Here's a sad unintended consequence of the move to trucks: the RPO cars paid the railroads to carry their cars, furnishing an indirect subsidy to passenger trains. When those were discontinued, the move by the railroad companies to cancel passenger trains really gained traction.

Well, apparently the post-Easter logjam in Glendale Heights, IL (west suburban Chicago) broke, because yesterday I received a bunch of books: three out of four of Joyce Carol Oates' WONDERLAND quartet, one of those "Uncle John's" bathroom readers (my first ever), and Capote's OTHER VOICES, OTHER ROOMS which I should be re-reading with a group in May. It was so heavy I cried, to quote a TV advert I don't much care for.

ALLEN wrote: "Well, apparently the post-Easter logjam in Glendale Heights, IL (west suburban Chicago) broke, because yesterday I received a bunch of books: three out of four of Joyce Carol Oates' WONDERLAND quartet and Capote's OTHER VOICES, OTHER ROOMS."

I need to track down a copy of Other Voices, Other Rooms. We'll be discussing it next month at the On the Southern Literary Trail group.

I shouldn't have put my above comment at this post, but I'm glad if it did you some good. I should think we have plenty of time to get OTHER VOICES in good/used but if not, Kindle or new should not be too hard to swing.

https://www.amazon.com/Other-Voices-R...

ALLEN wrote: "I shouldn't have put my above comment at this post, but I'm glad if it did you some good. I should think we have plenty of time to get OTHER VOICES in good/used but if not, Kindle or new should not..."

I can get a Kindle copy of it from the library through Overdrive.

I was getting out A Coffin for Dimitrios to read for another group, and decided to take a picture of my pulp fiction TBR pile:



As far as currently reading, I decided to get Comeback for Kindle and re-read it.

I may try for the whole Comeback, Backflash, Flashfire, Firebreak, Breakout string. They're ALL great.

That's the Mickey Spillane volume I have on order. It is now in the hands of the suburban USPS, on the way to me, but hasn't budged in two days.

Being practically a blueprint for future Mike Hammer novels, I expect that I, THE JURY will read quickly for me -- once I have it in my hands.

Maybe I can warm up by watching KISS ME, DEADLY on DVD.
I love that movie!

I'm not sure I would typify APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA as a "pulp" if ever I would.

I imagine Patricia Highsmith, as symbolized by the book in your photo, looking down on that big stack of books and saying, "I can write better than him. I can sure write better than HIM," and so on.

I do not believe she'd have said that about O'Hara.

ALLEN wrote: "I respect the contemporary use of "pulp" as a legitimate genre, but since we're dipping in and out of older modes, I'm aware it was once a severe put-down, too, as expressed by older, unenlightened..."

It was a question of prestige. "Slicks" paid a higher rate per word.

And yes, someone like James M. Cain would have disdained the "pulp" label, and proudly would have pointed out that he never did write for the pulps.

BTW, I haven't read Appointment in Samara, but doesn't it involve someone smacking a gangster?

Yet, back in the day, there were supposed authorities who sneered at the penny-a-word writers, yet sometimes the writings of those alleged inferior hacks, revisited today, make me want to reach back in time and tell the 'critic': "Shut UP! You're not fit to walk the same earth!"

It was my very awkward way of saying that folks had a lot of respect for John O'Hara back in the day (perhaps even more than now).
How long since one of these groups has picked up
?

"BTW, I haven't read Appointment in Samara, but doesn't it involve someone smacking a gangster?"

Not really, more like a priest getting a highball to da kisser.

And regardless of changing times, I think APPOINTMENT is terrif!

Let's see if I can post the old BOMC reprint cover here:

Tom wrote: "I need to track down a copy of Other Voices, Other Rooms. We'll be discussing it next month at the On the Southern Literary Trail group..."

Hi, Tom! Glad to see you stuck with us! I, too, am looking forward to the OVOR convo in May.

Reading The Borrowed, by Chan Ho-Kei from Hong Kong. Up until the last couple of pages of the first story (there are six) I was iffy about it, but then it all turned around & now I can't stop reading. Triads, drugs, murder, and a detective nicknamed "The Eye of Heaven," so far so good.

I'm reading Farewell, My Lovely.= by Raymond Chandler. I love his writing. His metaphors and similes are often hilarious, yet insightful. This is only my second Chandler, I read The Big Sleep last year.

Tom wrote: "I'm reading Farewell, My Lovely.= by Raymond Chandler. I love his writing. His metaphors and similes are often hilarious, yet insightful. This is only my second Chandler, I read The Big Sleep last ..."

That's one of my all-time favorite books.

Tom wrote: "I'm reading Farewell, My Lovely.= by Raymond Chandler. I love his writing. His metaphors and similes are often hilarious, yet insightful. This is only my second Chandler, I read The Big Sleep last ..."

The Big Sleep and Farewell my Lovely are in my list of top ten books of all time. Beautifully written, to such an extent, they transcend their genre.

Currently reading Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder , having previously completed Lonesome Dove and Streets of Laredo. Both excellent.

Paul wrote: "Currently reading Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder, having previously completed Lonesome Dove and [boo..."

Isn't Hodel the one that tried to make the case that his dad was the Black Dahlia killer? I read a different book by him a long while back & found it quite interesting.

I'm reading "The Asphalt Jungle" , trying to catch up with the monthly choices after a long holiday. I'm only a few chapters in but I love it so far for it's world weary descriptions of night and a big city ruled by corruption, with a couple of lone wolves still fighting back (the commissioner, the reporter).

Algernon wrote: "I'm reading "The Asphalt Jungle" , trying to catch up with the monthly choices after a long holiday. I'm only a few chapters in but I love it so far for it's world weary descriptions of night and a..."

So nice to "see" you again!!!!

I could have sworn I just posted here. Still need to get my TR's in the mail (not always a last-minute filer, but I am this year).

I have Mahfouz' CAIRO TRILOGY in front of me. I'm in danger of falling behind with THE LOCUSTS HAVE NO KING; hope I don't.
Re-re-reading MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL, which I always enjoy. Have set down THE PRODIGAL TONGUE by Lynne Murphy (US-vs-UK English), which wasn't as much fun as I had hope.

I finished The Borrowed, by Chan Ho-Kei ... whew!

Moving on to Jo Nesbo's Macbeth, part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series.

ALLEN wrote: "I could have sworn I just posted here. Still need to get my TR's in the mail (not always a last-minute filer, but I am this year).

I have Mahfouz' CAIRO TRILOGY in front of me. I'm in danger of f..."

I wish you'd mentioned Midnight in the Garden earlier...I've been wanting to read that ever since I was stationed about an hour away from Savannah back in the early 90s. I really liked Savannah--picturesque and very nice people.

Bryan wrote: "ALLEN wrote: "I could have sworn I just posted here. Still need to get my TR's in the mail (not always a last-minute filer, but I am this year).

I have Mahfouz' CAIRO TRILOGY in front of me. I'm ..."

So pick up MIDNIGHT and read it anyway? I've got the durn thing almost memorized and will buddy-discuss it with you on a day or two's warning. It didn't cross my mind that MIDNIGHT could be a group read here because so many folks read it in the Nineties, but if you want to propose it for such, I'll happily concur.

The Clint Eastwood movie, while it is a pretty good adaptation, IS an adaptation with a lot of "classic cinema" compromises (such as collapsing four murder trials into one) that make it advisable as a follow-up to reading the book, not as a prelude.

You can see my opinionated opinions of both book and movie at Amazon. Book was reviewed here, last week.

By the way, Chuck and I share your high opinion of Savannah. I do disagree with the scuttlebutt that MIDNIGHT put Savannah on the map, touristically speaking: it already was there. Consider that Jim Williams himself was a leading town preservationist.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

PS: Avoid AFTER MIdnight in the Garden . . . unless you want to read a shorter and dissimilar work with a deceptively similar cover.

PPS: Bryan, I'm sorry if I came across as peevish. The amount I owe to Illinois Dept. Rev. is much higher than I had thought it would be. (Not sure what it gets me as a citizen and taxpayer, but that's another matter...)

Nancy wrote: "Paul wrote: "Currently reading Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder, having previously completed , which comes to a completely different and yet compelling conclusion. Steve Hadel (the son and author) was a 25 year veteran of the LAPD, which would tend to lend more credibility to his claim his father was the killer.