Before dismissing Chandler as a complete wimp, remember that
he served in
World War I in the Canadian Arm as a member of the Gordon
Highlander and
saw heavy action in the mud and blood of the trenches of
France. He rose
steadily through the ranks, but his war experiences ended
under a barrage
of German shells that left him the sole survivor in his
outfit. He rarely
spoke of his war experiences.
Ellroy slept on a golfcourse and hasn't stopped talking about
it.
(Yeah, I know, also, his mother was killed, his life sucked,
he owned guns,
he took drugs, yadda yadda yadda-it makes good copy for
People
Magazine...maybe he'll do lite beer commercials next.)
All fiction is fantasy. An author uses whatever he or she can
to make it
believable, be it biography or imagination, but however it
gets there, it's
what's left on the page that counts.
**************************************************
Kevin Smith
Back to school and time to hit the books...the comic books,
that is...
Private eyes and comics in this month's P.I. Poll on The
Thrilling
Detective Web Site
http://www.colba.net/~kvnsmith/thrillingdetective/
Now with fresh fiction monthly....
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