Pulp Fiction discussion

C.K. wrote: "

This book was exactly what I needed to read; a short crime thriller that really packs a punch. It's gritty, fast-paced and pu..."

Is this your own book CK? I don't mind self-promotion, and sometimes I'm willing to check out new names, but a novel with a single rating on Goodreads makes me suspicious.
Cheers, and good luck with it.

4/5 books
Coming out August 20, 2024

Does cruelty beget cruelty?
Please read my review linked below:

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

Algernon (Darth Anyan) wrote: "C.K. wrote: "

This book was exactly what I needed to read; a short crime thriller that really packs a punch. It's gritty, fast..."

With quite a few books published on small presses, Danish books that haven't been translated into other languages and quite a few that fall into both categories I find that I am the first person to rate let alone review.

Patty wrote: "

4/5 books
Coming out August 20, 2024

Does cruelty beget cruelty?
Please read my review linked below:

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

"Sacrificial Animals" sounds really interesting, thanks for posting about that novel and writing an in depth review.

The combination of East Asian and Scandinavian cultural influences sounds curious, if the type of thing that becomes more commonplace as the world becomes more globalised. For one example see one of my friends from Copenhagen University being in a punk band named Pleaser whose music style is heavily influenced by Japanese punk bands like Melt-Banana and Otoboke Beaver. Interestingly enough the other main songwriter in that band is half Chinese and half Danish, while a lot of HER musical inspiration comes from Czech and Polish heavy metal groups who in turn take influence from THEIR countries' traditional music styles. (so that's at least three very different cultural spheres colliding with each other)

The unconventional plot, constant switching between multiple viewpoint characters and incorporation of mystical elements that play important roles in the story but are never explained rationally (as far as I can tell) in "Sacrificial Animals" reminds me of a book I read last year, "The Galaxy Club" by Brendan Connell which is one of the weirdest novels I've ever read in any genre. And yes it's technically speaking a hard boiled crime novel, about various weird goings-on in an isolated New Mexico town ruled over by the titular secret society. I wonder if Kailee Pedersen has read it?

I could also see clear echoes of "The Galaxy Club" in the film "Love Lies Bleeding" starring Kristen Stewart, which I saw earlier this year.

At any rate, if I see "Sacrificial Animals" at a public library I will borrow it and give it a try.

Simon wrote: "Patty wrote: "

4/5 books
Coming out August 20, 2024

Does cruelty beget cruelty?
Please read my review linked below:

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

The relationship between the father and sons (and the land) reminded me of the folklore of Eastern Europe. I'm not too sure if it was her intent to, or my own experiences with the folklore creeping in. She was adopted from Nanking and grew up on a farm in Nebraska. The melding of the two cultures in her writing of this book gave it such a magical feel (to me).

It certainly looks like an interesting novel, where different readers might find different aspects of it important. For me it's things like the multiple viewpoint character structure, the incorporation of mystical elements into a modern realistic setting, as well as inspiration from very different cultures.

I finished our current group read, the classic Science-Fiction social satire:


Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'll post more thoughts in the Group Read discussion soon...

Started reading Alejandro Jodorowsky's "Final Incal" this week, finished volume 1 out of 3 yesterday. So far I can tell that it focuses less on the film noir detective angle than "Before the Incal" did, and more on the apocalyptic science-fiction angle.

The apocalyptic is meant both in the modern sense in that the plot gets kicked off by a plague that causes all organic life to mutate uncontrollably, but also in the religious sense since the events of the book are ultimately driven by two rivalling deities whose forces are currently on collision course for a final showdown a la the Book of Revelation in the New Testament: One representing light and the other darkness. Where the forces of light recruit the private detective protagonist John Difool once again to be their saviour figure which results in him being drawn into another dimension of existence, where he meets several different alternate universe versions of himself - one of which is a revered saint.

I find it interesting that "The Final Incal" recycles some of the elements in the aborted original continuation to the Incal cycle "The New Dream", where Moebius again returned to do the artwork. Examples the mutating plague as well as the forces of light that recuit John Difool taking the form of an entire symbiotic ecosystem of giant insects, yet there are more clear callbacks to both the original Incal and "Before the Incal". For example Orh, the deity encountered at the end of the original Incal, makes an appearance; as does Louz, the rebellious daughter of a prominent upper class family on Difool's home planet who plays an important role in "Before the Incal". (last seen becoming a space pirate) I am very, very curious how this terminates.

On a final note, I find it interesting that the artist for this series, José Ladrönn, uses a much more stereotypically 1980's/1990's cyberpunk art style than either Moebius or Zoran Janjetov (who illustrated "Before the Incal") used.

3/5 stars
Coming out: August 27, 2024

Young women go missing and nobody notices

Please read my review linked below:

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

Done with "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest". Falls somewhere between "Dragon Tattoo" and "Played With Fire" in quality in my estimation, overall I liked the trilogy even if there were things in it that didn't work completely for me. I find it interesting reading reviews by other people of the trilogy, and notice that it's different things people liked and disliked about them.

Now I'm curious about seeing the films, both the Swedish originals with Noomi Rapace as Liz Salander and the American version of "Dragon Tattoo" with Rooney Mara in the role.

Simon wrote: "Algernon (Darth Anyan) wrote: "C.K. wrote: "

This book was exactly what I needed to read; a short crime thriller that really p..."

Algernon (Darth Anyan) wrote: "C.K. wrote: "

This book was exactly what I needed to read; a short crime thriller that really packs a punch. It's gritty, fast..."

Algernon (Darth Anyan) wrote: "C.K. wrote: "

This book was exactly what I needed to read; a short crime thriller that really packs a punch. It's gritty, fast..."

Hi Darth, Thanks for the post. Yes, I confess, it's my story -produced together with my editor, Lizzy (aka Break-In Publications). The review was a 'cut and paste' from a genuine review left on Amazon. To be honest, I spend the majority of my time writing and do little to no promotion... so don't be overly suspicious about limited reviews, you are either getting on with the job, or crowing about yourself! I hope to be hugely influential after my death.... Happy Friday :) C.K.

I am reading Deathworld 1 by Harry Harrison, a science-fiction novel from 1960 about a professional gambler who flees the authorities to a jungle planet where all life (be it plant, fungus or animal) is hostile to humanity in some way or another. It's only approximately 150 pages and I am currently 50 pages through but it's already gone through both well written hard-boiled crime action (complete with a sarcastic femme fatale love interest for our antihero), space adventure and about to start on the wilderness survival part of the plot.

I can also tell it has some fairly involved worldbuilding that Harrison doesn't dwell that much on, e. g. involving political conflict between different galactic empires that allows the protagonist Jason dinAlt to flee from the authorities because the military on his planet doesn't want to upset the galaxy's political balance and cause an accidental war (given when this was written it's probably inspired by the Cold War), or how the human settlers on the jungle deathworld have already evolved their own unique culture and even in terms of evolution adapting to its environment showing signs of becoming their own human subspecies. (I can tell that the planet Catachan in "Warhammer 40,000" is more or less based on Pyrrus from "Deathworld")

Around here hints start being dropped that all the bizarre and dangerous Pyrran wildlife has NOT evolved naturally but are instead the creation of the planet's past intelligent inhabitants, designed to defend it against intruders. Curious to see how this thread of the plot goes, as well as where Harrison takes it in the sequels.

5/5 stars
It was a dark and stormy night when...

Please read my review linked below:

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

Never heard of Kate Atkinson before but your review makes her writing sound quite interesting, like a more realistic take on the rural British crime subgenre that is quite popular here in Denmark.

I finished Harrison's "Deathworld" last week and wrote a review. I imagine quite a few people in here would enjoy it as it combines hard boiled crime fiction with a futuristic take on jungle adventure novels and complex political drama in just 150 pages:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Simon wrote: "Never heard of Kate Atkinson before but your review makes her writing sound quite interesting, like a more realistic take on the rural British crime subgenre that is quite popular here in Denmark.
..."

I hope you get the chance to read her. I read your review, and have read some science fiction from the era. I have to agree with what you say about the writing style. I could never put my finger onto why I am not drawn to science fiction. I think it is the writing.

Fair enough, nothing is for everyone.

I've started reading "The Sunken Land Begins To Rise Again" by M. John Harrison - no relation to Harry Harrison but both were part of the new wave of science-fiction authors who started in the 1960's and focused more on speculation within the "soft" social sciences than within "hard" natural science. (Harry died in 2012 but John still writes new books)

Also started reading Vol. 1 of "Michael Moorcock's Multiverse". A comic book set in fantasy author Michael Moorcock's setting of multiple overlapping parallel universes where different incarnations of the same archetypes fight for either chaos or order. (Moorcock makes it clear that his cosmology is centred around chaos vs order rather than good vs evil since he considers those concepts culturally relative) One of the storylines specifically involves gamblers in New Orleans, to tie it into "Deathworld". (Moorcock was also a key figure in the New Wave of Science Fiction even if more of his work falls into fantasy) Oh, and the author himself appears as a character.

4/5 stars

The group from hell.
Please read my review linked below:

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

That sounds like an interesting novel, like a satire of convoluted galaxy brain takes on management that are very popular at the moment.

Halfways through "Moorcock's Multiverse" and one of the many converging plotlines turns out to follow a detective in WW2-era Britain investing a series of mysterious murders that might be connected to a degenerate German noble family.

I finished a non-Robert Langdon Dan Brown thriller


Deception Point by Dan Brown
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started re-reading


Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

4/5 stars
Coming out 9/17/24

A fun, cozy horror.
Please read my review, linked below:

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

I'm almost finished with The Course of the Heart by M. John Harrison, a novel following a group of occultists in modern Britain. Weird but surprisingly seamless mix between drugged out mysticism, dark humour and realistic portrayal of everyday life in the UK.

One thing I find interesting is that none of the main characters are ever portrayed as glamourous, cool or intimidating. Even the closest thing to a villain, Mr. Yaxley (whom I suspect is intended as a caricature of influential British Satanist David Myatt) comes across as more pathetic than anything else. Compare to say Vertigo's "John Constantine: Hellblazer" comics and you will see how unusual MJH's portrayal of modern occultists is.

Recently Finished: William Campbell Gault, The Bloody Bokhara (1952). Top-notch hard-boiled / noir stand-alone, whose protagonist is neither a PI nor a cop, but an ordinary guy caught up in some iffy dealings. Set amidst the milieux of the Oriental rug trade and the Armenian-American community in Chicago, so this gets BIG points for novelty and freshness.

Just started reading Naomi Alderman's The Power. Right now I am reading more science-fiction than crime, but I guess that is also a classic pulp genre.

And when October comes ... it's time to head to Ray Bradbury country. I picked one of his few crime novels, dedicated to the masters of noir and mentioned as a favorite of the Marseille detective in Total Chaos: Death is a Lonely Business

Since I finished it quick, I think I have time this month for another classic: The Man with the Golden Arm. I have high hopes here, too, based on the glowing comments in my critical edition

Algernon (Darth Anyan) wrote: "And when October comes ... it's time to head to Ray Bradbury country. I picked one of his few crime novels, dedicated to the masters of noir and mentioned as a favorite of the Marseille detective i..."

I am reading The Man with the Golden Arm right now! First-rate fiction, although I can’t say as I would want to know any of the characters or hang out in that scuzzy milieu. I am fascinated with the down-and-out at a safe distance. 🙂

Scott Laurence’s Georgia Hotel is an extremely obscure noirish paperback original published by Pyramid in 1958 and re-issued in 1967. No ratings or reviews at Goodreads. There appear to be no other titles under that author name, which may of course be a pseudonym. I bought the 1958 edition attracted by the cover and subject (I love hotel novels). Very good so far. 

This week I finished Octavia E. Butler's Dawn, the first volume in her "Xenogenesis" trilogy, and started reading Adulthood Rites which is the 2nd volume.

One side effect of spending less time on social media is that I now have more time and energy for reading epic multi-part novel series like that.

I was a little disenchanted with modern crime stories, so I decided to go back to basics and to revisit my Travis McGee series : A Deadly Shade of Gold might be the best from MacDonald so far, mixing violent crime with social commentary

4/5 stars
Coming out: April 15, 2025

Please read my review linked below:

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

Apart from our own selection If He Hollers Let Him Go, two more of my groups are reading novels by Black authors: If Beale Street Could Talk and The Reformatory.

Halfways through Jim Thompson's Pop. 1280 about a surrealistically corrupt sheriff in a small Texan town whose marriage starts falling apart.

Between the caricatured portrayal of small town southern America that feels more like a funhouse mirror version or fever dream than a realistic portrayal, colourfully eccentric and mostly amoral characters most of which are engaged in some type of marital infidelity, the cartoonish vibe combined with lots of sex and violence, it scratches a similar itch to me as some of Russ Meyer's films. (in particular "Mudhoney" but the protagonist Nick Corey also reminds me of the corrupt police officer who is the main villain in "Supervixens" EXCEPT he is actually one of the LESS horrible people in the cast here!)

What Does It Feel Like?

4 stars
Deeply personal and disarmingly honest mirroring her own life

My review here - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished Thompson's "Pop. 1280" last week, many things but certainly not boring. Started reading Raymond Chandler's The Little Sister, currently 50 pages into it.