RE: RARA-AVIS: Mark Timlin

Spurlock, Duane (Dspurlock@paulschultz.com)
Tue, 25 Nov 1997 10:54:51 -0500 zombolas@itlops.com wrote:
>
>I'm surprised at the lack of discussion on British hardboiled on this
>list. I only just started reading the new UK hardboiled writers. By
>far, my favorite has been John Tilsley's, "Be a Good Boy Johnny". A
>ultra-hardboiled crime novel set in Las Vegas and the southest and one
>of the best first novels I read in a long time. This book was recommended
>to me by Gary Lovisi. I trust Gary's tastes and had to send to England
>for my copy. I was not disappointed. Tilsley's second novel, "Nevada
>Blue" was just published in the UK. It is at the top of the reading
>stack.
>
>Another UK author I enjoy is Chaz Brenchley. I've only read a couple
>of his crime short stories and thought they were very good. Brenchley
>reminds me somewhat of Joe Lansdale.
>

The UK writers I've stumbled across in various anthologies are, for the
most part, harder boiled than most US writers currently publishing. They
have a fresher or at least sharper-edged take on the genre, I think; I'm
not sure why, unless most US publishers have little interest in straying
from the obviously popular soft-boiled formula (I'd include in this mode
writers such as James Lee Burke and Lawrence Block). I get the feeling
that most of the new UK hard boiled writing is coming from smaller
presses. Most small presses in the US seem to be devoted to literary
writing rather than genre or hardboiled writing.

At any rate, I also recommend the _Fresh_Blood_ anthology (I'll have to
look for the second one) and Maxim Jakubowski's _London_Noir_. I also
agree with your assessment of Chaz Benchley. I've enjoyed his short
stories but haven't found any novel-length work by him.--Duane
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