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Re: RARA-AVIS: Are we up and running yet? 

On Mon, 6 Jan 1997, Bill Murray wrote:

Well, you've sent out the first message to the first batch of
subscribers after the announcement, Bill.  Congrats!  There are now a
grand total of nine people here, but I expect it will pick up soon.

: So, any Paul Cain fans out there? For a guy of such limited output,
: he has an amazing body of work. One novel, and one collection of
: seven short stories is all that's available from this extremely hard
: boiled writer. Has any one read his work, for those who haven't
: "Fast One" and "Seven Slayers" are available in recent Black Lizard
: editions. They really are must reads for fans of this genre.

I haven't read anything by him, but I've been meaning to get some of
his stuff since I saw a recommendation in rec.arts.mystery.  I didn't
know Black Lizard had reprinted him, that will make it a lot easier to
get.  

: What do you think, and who are your favorite authors?

I've never met a Hammett or Chandler story I didn't like (although I
recently received, courtesy of someone else on the list, some early
Hammett short stories, never anthologized, that had some pretty silly
plots - still very good reads, though).  There are tons of other
writers I like and whose books I will always buy and read.  Two modern
ones are James Ellroy and Charles Willeford.  Whether these are
hardboiled writers or "crime" writers is fodder for argument.  Elmore
Leonard, at least currently, I wouldn't call hardboiled.

Ellroy's L.A. Quartet knocked me out, from its span to its subject
matter to its style.  I loved the way he got more and more stripped
down from book to book, until by _White Jazz_ there were barely any
complete sentences outside of conversation.  As to Willeford, I picked
up _The Shark-Infested Custard_ the other day and finished it last
night.  Strange book.  It's about four guys in their twenties in
Miami, in the seventies.  There are four interwoven novellas,
centering on the different guys, usually involving murder, weird sex
and some other illegal activities.  It has an unsettling ending.  (If
you've never read any Willeford, _The Burnt Orange Heresy_ is a great
one about modern art.)

Bill
(Listowner)
-- 
William Denton : buff@vex.net     <-- Please note new address.
Toronto, Canada                   <-- I'm not at io.org any more.
http://www.vex.net/~buff/         Caveat lector.

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