BLOG: Celebrating Misanthropy: Eastbound & Down and Observe and Report
Celebrating Misanthropy: Eastbound & Down and Observe and Report Eastbound & Down has just returned to HBO. Co-created by Danny McBride, Jody Hill and Ben Best, the show is easily one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen on television. If Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm is a “social assassin,” Kenny Powers (McBride), the… [Continue Reading]
BLOG: Death of the Femme Fatale
DEATH OF THE FEMME FATALE The classic Femme Fatale is dead. She lays face down on the carpet of crime fiction and standing in the doorway, gun curling smoke from the barrel, is the killer. Feminism. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like women. I love the fact that my wife and my daughters have… [Continue Reading]
BLOG: The Only Game In Town
The Only Game In Town Adrian McKinty recently asked “Why are most crime novels bad?” and came to the conclusion that they were mostly long-running series that have run out of steam. Personally I think he has a point – the truly successful and consistent long-running series is a rare beast indeed. Of course McKinty… [Continue Reading]
GUEST BLOG: Warning: Contains Language
Warning: Contains Language Is strong language an essential component to hardboiled crime fiction, or was the sexual tension of noir amplified because at the time, the writers had to rely on double entendre? I’ve read many reviews by readers who stopped reading a book because of foul language. And two of the biggest venues for… [Continue Reading]
BLOG: Feminist Fatales
When I was writing my first novel, Peepshow, about a PI/Stripper named Simone Kirsch who wasn’t averse to a drink and the occasional sexual encounter, I remember thinking that the book had no chance of being published. Simone was just too different from other female crime characters I’d read. She drank too much, danced on… [Continue Reading]
BLOG: Why Crime?
What is my obsession with crime stories? Of all the adventures one could have in fiction, why stories about fucked up dudes doing fucked up shit? You have however many hours a week you can devote to reading books and watching TV and movies, why spend that time checking in with some disturbed asshole’s struggles… [Continue Reading]
BLOG: What You’ll Be Reading This Year
You are in for a treat in 2012. I can say this with a fair amount of accuracy since I have three great books that don’t come out until then and you will want to know about them. Why don’t I tell you about them right now? Great idea! Let’s start with Abide With Me… [Continue Reading]
BLOG: The French Word for Bleak?
I have something of a soft spot for noir fiction. It was the sub-genre that first turned me on to the potential of crime fiction to deal with something beyond the solution of a mystery. This was the crime fiction of the dispossessed, the dubious and the dying on their feet. Its voices were forgotten… [Continue Reading]
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