Pulp Fiction discussion

Nancy wrote: "The Factory series -- done. I will never, ever in my life forget these books."

These keep moving up my TBR list every time you post Nancy.

I finished


March Violets by Philip Kerr

a terrific detective novel which is set in 1936 Berlin during the rise of the Nazi Party as the Olympic Games are about to begin. The mystery part is good but when you add the vivid historical setting it really puts the story over the top, I gave it 5 stars.

Nancy wrote: "The Factory series -- done. I will never, ever in my life forget these books."

Who authors the Factory series?

Lawrence wrote: "Nancy wrote: "The Factory series -- done. I will never, ever in my life forget these books."

Who authors the Factory series?"

Derek Raymond

Michael wrote: "Lawrence wrote: "Nancy wrote: "The Factory series -- done. I will never, ever in my life forget these books."

Who authors the Factory series?"

Derek Raymond"

Thanks!

Nancy wrote: "Michael wrote: "Lawrence wrote: "Nancy wrote: "The Factory series -- done. I will never, ever in my life forget these books."

Who authors the Factory series?"

Derek Raymond"

Thanks!"

Thank YOU so much...

All right pulp fans, has anyone read According to the Evidence? It's a volume of stories by Hugh Pendexter which are collectively known as the adventures of The Bureau of Abnormal Litigation. I just found it on my shelves, not realizing I owned it.

1905-1914 (serialized)

Nancy wrote: "All right pulp fans, has anyone read According to the Evidence? It's a volume of stories by Hugh Pendexter which are collectively known as the adventures of The Bureau of Abnormal L..."

Thanks, Nancy! While we're on the subject, one could do a lot worse than The Alienist by Caleb Carr. I finally got around to reading it last year, and liked it a lot.

ALLEN wrote: "Nancy wrote: "All right pulp fans, has anyone read According to the Evidence? It's a volume of stories by Hugh Pendexter which are collectively known as the adventures of The Bureau..."

I read The Alienist eons ago. What's funny is that before the tv show was made, that was one of those paperbacks you would find in thrift stores/used book stores everywhere and now, not a copy on the shelves.

Nancy wrote: "ALLEN wrote: "Nancy wrote: "All right pulp fans, has anyone read According to the Evidence? It's a volume of stories by Hugh Pendexter which are collectively known as the adventures..."

I wondered why I had to buy mine new! No matter, it's worth the $$!

Just finished City of Bohane .
Review here if anyone is interested;
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Just finished reading The Blue Room, by Simenon. Excellent novel, one of his romans durs.

Just finished The Long Home . Read it in one sitting. Just brilliant!
My review here for anyone who is interested.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I don't know if this is the best place to announce a Kindle price drop, but I noticed today that Berlin Noir: March Violets / The Pale Criminal / A German Requiem is $1.99 today.

I haven't read these.

I love that series. It's a shame that Philip Kerr passed away recently. I would have liked to see more Bernie Gunther mysteries.

I was going to start on Frankie Machine, but this morning I read the first pages of "Faithful Place" by Tana French, and now I can't put it down. Compelling character building and sense of place in Dublin.

Paul wrote: "Just finished The Long Home. Read it in one sitting. Just brilliant!
My review here for anyone who is interested.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

That is a terrific book. I read it last year.

Christopher wrote: "I don't know if this is the best place to announce a Kindle price drop, but I noticed today that Berlin Noir: March Violets / The Pale Criminal / A German Requiem is $1.99 today.

I h..."

I read March Violets last month and loved it.

Algernon wrote: "I was going to start on Frankie Machine, but this morning I read the first pages of "Faithful Place" by Tana French, and now I can't put it down. Compelling character building and sense of place in..."

Make sure you get back to Frankie. I'm really enjoying it.

Algernon wrote: "I was going to start on Frankie Machine, but this morning I read the first pages of "Faithful Place" by Tana French, and now I can't put it down. Compelling character building and sense of place in..."

Frankie is very good!

Nancy wrote: "The Factory series -- done. I will never, ever in my life forget these books."

you make me want to re-read this series for the 3rd or 4th time ... by the way - were you able to find a copy of the sequel to "Dora Suarez"?
The fifth entry - not as riveting as the 1st 4 entries but more like a coda to "Dora".

Wonderful writing.
I need to read his general fiction novels but I'm afraid I'll be disappointed.

Algernon, Tana French is compelling read. I have read 2 other of her books - you cannot let go. And they resonate, you keep asking questions....

Still wrote: "Nancy wrote: "The Factory series -- done. I will never, ever in my life forget these books."

you make me want to re-read this series for the 3rd or 4th time ... by the way - were you able to find ..."

Yes. Melville House had reprinted all five of the Factory novels, so I'd added book #5 to the 4 Serpent's Tail editions to make a complete set. I thought book 5 was good, just not on the same level of outstanding as the other 4.

I'd kill to read his biography, but I don't want to pay three figures for the pleasure.

Does this mean that you are willing to kill someone for less than three figures? For a deal like that I almost wish I had someone that I wanted to get rid of.

Tom wrote: "Does this mean that you are willing to kill someone for less than three figures? For a deal like that I almost wish I had someone that I wanted to get rid of."

no, that's at least six figures. :)

Maybe an old-line Anarchist would do it for the cost of materials if you could persuade him or her it was good for society?

Stark House Press, which reprints old and often lost pulp/crime classics, this year put out an edition of 2 novels by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding which I'm about to finish today.

The two novels are Widow's Mite and Who's Afraid. Raymond Chandler was a huge advocate for Sanxay Holding, whose work has sadly faded into obscurity.

https://www.amazon.com/Widows-Afraid-...

Nancy wrote: "Stark House Press, which reprints old and often lost pulp/crime classics, this year put out an edition of 2 novels by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding which I'm about to finish today.

The two novels are W..."

With that kind of cred, Nancy, hopefully you'll review them soon!

Nancy wrote: "Stark House Press, which reprints old and often lost pulp/crime classics, this year put out an edition of 2 novels by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding which I'm about to finish today.

The two novels are W..."

I thought this needed looking into, and you are right:

In 1950 Raymond Chandler asked his English publisher, 'Does anybody in England publish Elisabeth Sanxay Holding? For my money she's the top suspense writer of them all. She doesn't pour it on and make you feel irritated. Her characters are wonderful; and she has a sort of inner calm which I find very attractive.'

http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/the-...

I thought Chandler had poked fun at Elizabeth Sanxay Holding, but it was Mary Roberts Rinehart (of The Circular Staircase) he took a dig at, but now I can't find the dig.

ALLEN wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Stark House Press, which reprints old and often lost pulp/crime classics, this year put out an edition of 2 novels by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding which I'm about to finish today.

The tw..."

working on it as we speak.

Christopher wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Stark House Press, which reprints old and often lost pulp/crime classics, this year put out an edition of 2 novels by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding which I'm about to finish today.

The tw..."

Oh, he was a major champion of Holding's work, most definitely. She's more of a (as the intro to my copy of this book says) "whydunit" sort of person, preferring that to the traditional "whodunit" format. As the intro also says, "the psychological underpinnings of her novels form the basis of the mystery," and after having now read four of them, that is most definitely the case.

I can see why Chandler would have a dig at Mary Roberts Rinehart, but my favorite mystery-writer dig was Dashiell Hammett on American crime novelist Carolyn Wells -- he wrote that her work was

""conscientiously in accordance with the formula as adopted as standard by the International Detective Story Writers' Convention at Geneva in 1904. One would expect that by now she would have learned to do the trick expertly. She hasn't."

http://www.ramblehouse.com/techniquec...

ALLEN wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Stark House Press, which reprints old and often lost pulp/crime classics, this year put out an edition of 2 novels by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding which I'm about to finish today.

The tw..."

done -- I had to add the book to goodreads first:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...

I finished this one and liked it a lot:


All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Rating: 5 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Whoa! I've never known GR to crash like that on a Wednesday afternoon!

Just finished a very good debut by Kim Zupan; The Ploughmen .
My brief review is here, for anyone interested:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

ALLEN wrote: "Whoa! I've never known GR to crash like that on a Wednesday afternoon!"

Yeah that was a long one. I thought maybe Amazon pulled the plug.

Randy wrote: "ALLEN wrote: "Whoa! I've never known GR to crash like that on a Wednesday afternoon!"

Yeah that was a long one. I thought maybe Amazon pulled the plug."

Have to admit the thought crossed through my mind, too, Randy.
My other speculation that afternoon: Now that Congress has abolished the
Net Neutrality Act, how soon will things on the 'Net slow down?

Let's hope it's neither!

As a GR junkie, I can remember Wednesday afternoons where GR might as well have been shut down.

(Valley girl voice): Like every Wednesday?

So I think "they" chose a slow time to run their upgrades, data stacks, whatever...

Thanks for the historical perspective!

I suppose I'm being paranoid, but I can't seem to remember if Yahoo (my homepage/portal) was on the winning or losing side of the so-called "Net Neutrality Wars." In other words, once the changes kick in, would my Yahoo run more slowly since they are on the downside of the de-re-deregulation in terms of bandwidth, or are they on the winning side and therefore will slow me down in hopes I'll go for paid service later?

I know, I know, I've phrased it as "Is Big Telecomm still beating its wife?" but on days like today -- when my Yahoo is slow as molasses at the DEW line and the GR avatars don't load right, I must wonder. Here in Rogers Park, where all the alleys are paved and all the utilities underground, we have ruled out the physical "flooded trap" syndrome in the alley which can make our little patch of AT&T run strangely on drippy, dreary days like this, because the phones are fine.

Anyway, I intend to expand the range of folks here whose postal or e-mail addresses I know. If they'll have it.

Allen Smalling
6528 N. Bosworth Ave.
Chicago, IL 60626 (USA)

[email protected].

My next step is to buy a dip pen and bottle of ink, a la Shelby Foote.

ALLEN wrote: "Anyway, I intend to expand the range of folks here whose postal or e-mail addresses I know. If they'll have it. "

Thanks, Allen. Now I can send you copies of The Watchtower.

Just kidding.

Maybe.

Melki wrote: "ALLEN wrote: "Anyway, I intend to expand the range of folks here whose postal or e-mail addresses I know. If they'll have it. "

Thanks, Allen. Now I can send you copies of The Watchtower.

Just ..."

Hee hee! Even in my very-very diverse neighborhood, the local JW's who try to proselytize have stopping paying for bulk copies of The Watchtower or Awake. Kind of a shame. Now they use pamphlets, but to their credit these pamphlets seek to answer perennial questions like: "Are Jehovah's Witnesses Christian"?

But really I just want a way to send my GR friends a Christmas card (paper, or e-mail), or the very occasional book. For instance, a very active Postcrosser (not a GR member that I know of) has told me she is sending me a number of Jo Nesbo's signed American hardcovers whether I want them or not. I don't want that many, but I understand her plight. Slightly indifferent foster parents are better than orphanages, for the most part; and either is better than the recycling hopper, which I consider barbaric for any well-thought-of HC work, at least those with hard covers.

Besides, I'm dying to find out:
When autographing his novels in the USA, does "Joe" slash his "O"?

ALLEN wrote: "Besides, I'm dying to find out:
When autographing his novels in the USA, does "Joe" slash his "O"? "

A burning question. Please let us know when you find out.

Many years ago when I was a stay-at-home mom, and desperate for someone over the age of five to talk to, I let one of Jehovah's finest into the house. We had a lot in common, and she ended up paying me a visit every other week for almost a year. I had fun playing Stump the Witness, asking questions she struggled to answer, while she attempted to save my soul. Eventually, I was given up as a lost cause (my extreme Halloween decorations may have had something to do with her decision), and she moved on to less challenging pastures.

ALLEN wrote: "Thanks for the historical perspective!

I suppose I'm being paranoid, but I can't seem to remember if Yahoo (my homepage/portal) was on the winning or losing side of the so-called "Net Neutrality ...My next step is to buy a dip pen and bottle of ink, a la Shelby Foote."

I'd have to forego the pen and ink, my handwriting is atrocious. I'll stick with the Underwood manual typewriter. By the way, for what it's worth, the best deterrence for visiting JW's is to open the door while in your undies and holding a beer.

Lawrence wrote: "ALLEN wrote: "Thanks for the historical perspective!

I suppose I'm being paranoid, but I can't seem to remember if Yahoo (my homepage/portal) was on the winning or losing side of the so-called "N..."

re the undies and the beer -- first laugh of the day. Thank you. :)

Hi, my name is Patty and I'm new to this group. I'm currently reading Nyctophobia by Christopher Fowler. I've read several of his Bryant and May mysteries, so I thought I'd give this a try.

I'm a pulp fiction addict; abebooks.com is
My supplier.

The last one that I read, I think, was A Town of Masks by Dorothy Salisbury Davis. I've purposely sought out female writers recently. I'd go through their names now, but I'd have to go to my bookcase.

Patty wrote: "Hi, my name is Patty and I'm new to this group. I'm currently reading Nyctophobia by Christopher Fowler. I've read several of his Bryant and May mysteries, so I thought I'd give this a try.

I'm a..."

Welcome, Patty. You'll get plenty of ideas for books to read from this group.

Patty wrote: "Hi, my name is Patty and I'm new to this group. I'm currently reading Nyctophobia by Christopher Fowler. I've read several of his Bryant and May mysteries, so I thought I'd give this a try.

I'm a..."

A familiar face! Welcome!

Nancy, it's because of you I found this group!

Patty wrote: "Nancy, it's because of you I found this group!"

I am a shining beacon! Seriously, welcome.

Howdy, Patty, and welcome! I hope you like it here. People are friendly, communicative and read like mad. What's not to like?

A big thank you to all of you in this Group. A few days ago my niece who is writing a dissertation on.... Not sure specifically what, but its about gender/law in Scandinavian crime novels whatsapped if I had read Chandler 😋. After my reply she said she should have known & approached me earlier because she needed to know the difference between Marlowe & Poirot +Holmes. I replied to the best of my ability. Then, all of you helped. I trawled through the threads, found several other points, summarised for her & got a big happy thank you. Don't know how it was relevant to her topic though. :-l