SHORT BUT NOT SWEET

There's so much good recent noir around that it gets difficult sometimes to choose what to read next.  But I've had a lot of fun recently reading novella-length noirs by contemporary practitioners of the form who are really good.  One was by Jake Hinkson, his novella THE POSTHUMOUS MAN. This is pure, one hundred per cent proof, kick you in the guts noir. There's not a single wasted word in the novella, which starts out with the main character Elliot on his way to the hospital after a suicide attempt. He "dies" for a few minutes, but then the doctors manage to bring him back to life, and it's all downhill from there for him as a nurse at the hospital lures him into getting involved in a scheme to steal  an entire Oxycontin shipment headed to the hospital.  A lot is packed into its short length but the pacing is absolutely perfect and the character development full.  Elliot's tour through a garbage dump site where he has to dispose of some particularly important "merchandise" is like a tour through hell, yet at times darkly funny.  This is a book Jim Thompson or Charles Willeford could have written - as noir goes, that good.   Can't wait to read Hinkson's first novel, HELL ON CHURCH STREET, which like THE POSTHUMOUS MAN is set in Arkansas, a place Hinkson clearly knows well.    

TRENT'S LAST CASE: Great Mystery or Not?

Second readings of a book can be so worthwhile.  I had this experience not long ago when I re-read the classic Golden Age detective novel, TRENT'S LAST CASE, by E.C. Bentley.  Published in 1913, the novel was praised by mystery writer giants such as Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie.  G.K. Chesterton, the creator of Father Brown, called it "the finest detective story of modern times."  But when I read it as a teenager (long ago) I wasn't exactly dazzled.  Still, what about a second reading of it?  I picked the book up 35 years later, read it through, and this time I had quite a different reaction.  What changed? 

Though I read a lot of mysteries from the Golden Age period of detective novels when I was younger, I rarely read them anymore now.  I pretty much got my fill years ago of elaborately plotted, rather contrived murders taking place in drawing rooms, libraries, and country estates.  So I might have expected to like TRENT'S LAST CASE even less now than then.  Strange. Well, I thought so anyway, and I wrote a piece about these two readings 35 years apart over at Criminal Element.  Check it out.

SPRING BREAKERS

I saw Harmony Korine's SPRING BREAKERS last night and enjoyed it a lot.  It's a pretty remarkable piece of work and like no other movie playing anywhere now.  It doesn't have a conventional story structure and because of this and also because you know Korine doesn't give a damn about typical Hollywood conventions or endings, you have no idea where the story might go. This is exciting.  At the same time, while I was watching it, thoroughly enjoying its inventiveness, I felt that something about its look and rhythm, something about its entire feel, reminded me of another film or the work of another director.  I don't mean that Korine was copying anyone or even referencing anyone in any way.  He has his influences like anyone else, but in each of his films it's obvious that Korine works from within himself and what comes out of him is his alone.

Still, and I may sound like a goofball saying this, I realized that SPRING BREAKERS made me think of the works of none other than Jess Franco.  The Franco who's made over a couple hundred films in almost every genre (mostly horror) and who's made quite a few films that are flat-out terrible.  But in Harmony Korine there are a number of things that remind me of Franco.  There's Korine's total fearlessness in choosing material.  There's an esthetic that loves the contrasts between the beautiful and the disgusting, the gorgeous and the taboo, all of it delivered with a frequently pranksterish spirit.  In both guys, there's a  peculiar mixture of genius and obviousness you just don't get in many people. As Korine himself says, his films convey something somewhere between profundity and retardation.  And then there are specific things in SPRING BREAKERS that, put together, remind me of certain Franco films: the candy colors, the predominance of women in bikinis carrying guns, the many scenes that take place in bright sunlight and on beaches (Korine calls SPRING BREAKERS beach noir) the whole who-gives-a-damn approach to conventional structure, the genre/exploitation picture aspect of it.  But most of all it's the editing and dreaminess of SPRING BREAKERS that reminds me of Franco.  The loopy editing of Korine's film gives it a kind of forward and backward motion at the same time.  It's both energetic and static.  Events and scenes just blend into each other.  The whole thing is trancelike and druggy in a specific way that I've only experienced before in Franco films.  Films such as VENUS IN FURS and LORNA: THE EXORCIST, VAMPYROS LESBOS, and EUGENE: THE STORY OF HER JOURNEY INTO PERVERSION.  All these films, and many others of Franco, are edited in such a way that they create what you could call a "time of no time", and it's exactly this "time of no time" quality that SPRING BREAKERS has in spades.  There's beauty mingled with terror and the whole thing envelops you voluptuously. The 94 minute running time seems neither long nor short.  You are wrapped up in it completely, though, while you're watching, always in the present tense, so to speak.  An odd compelling feeling, and a very rare one to experience in a movie.  I'd be curious to ask Harmony Korine whether's he's familiar with Franco's films and, if he is, whether he likes them. 

Caught in a Publisher's Web

     Not long ago I wrote a piece for the Criminal Element website that detailed a nightmarish experience I had years ago with a publisher who accepted my novel SPIDERS AND FLIES.  Since then of course I've found a reputable publisher for the book, but recently I've been reading a number of articles about how the publishing world in general is getting yet harsher for writers.  The Science Fiction Writers of America, for example, recently declared that the new Random House ebook imprint Hydra does not meet its minimum standards for a qualifying market because Hydra's contact does not offer an advance.  In addition, Hydra tries to shift to the author costs traditionally borne by the publisher.  Writers who are eager to see their work in print are always vulnerable targets for publishers looking to take advantage, and I think it's useful for all writers to share any cautionary tales they may have about publishers. In that spirit, I've decided to link this blog to my post about my experience dealing with a scam publisher.  In any event, if nothing else, I think it makes for a good story.
 
     You can read the whole story here:

Reading in Brooklyn.

On Thursday, February 21, I'll be doing a reading/signing for SPIDERS AND FLIES at the terrific sci-fi and genre bookshop Singularity & Co. in Dumbo Brooklyn.  Singularity is mainly a sci-fi and fantasy bookshop, but they've agreed to allow in a crime writer for the night. Quite generous of them and the night should be fun.  The time: 7PM.  With plenty of red and white wine on hand. 

To learn more about Singularity & Co. bookstore and the wonderful things they do with sci-fi, dark fantasy, and vintage pulp fiction, click here: Singularity & Co.

Harvard Square Editions, Superb Indie Publisher

It's been about two and a half months now since Harvard Square Editions released my novel SPIDERS AND FLIES in trade paperback and E-book versions.  Time to take a moment to say the relationship has been a good one.  Harvard Square Editions is an excellent independent publisher, and the physical books they create are beautifully made.  Glad I'm working with them.

SPIDERS AND FLIES FREE KINDLE GIVEAWAY

SPIDERS AND FLIES is free at Amazon January 17-21 as a Kindle E-book. 
 
Pick up your copy here: SPIDERS AND FLIES.

Spiders and Flies is a story of kidnapping, seduction, and betrayal set on the Caribbean island of Martinique.  Tightly plotted and full of suspense, the story follows an American fugitive in exile, the woman who is his intended target, and the people close to both of them.  It is pure tropical noir.