crimefactory@mBox.com.au wrote:
<< Just joined the list so I wanted to introduce
myself.
I'm in the process of publishing a new crime magazine from
Australia, Crime Factory, so I would be interested to hear
from anybody who would like to contribute on the hardboiled
genre.
>>
Welcome to the list!
And great to hear about your magazine launch! Best of luck
with it. Do you have a website up to support it yet, or do
you expect to do so?
<< Can anyone provide information on writer Jerome
Charyn? Is he still around?
>>
Charyn's work is nearly uncategorizable when compared to the
rest of the crime writing published in the US. In France,
maybe Daniel Pennac's stuff comes close, but there's still a
world of difference there.
Yes, he's still around and, apparently, working like a demon
-- the guy seems to release two or three books a year. Not
all crime-related or part of his Sidel series, but all over
the place -- fiction, memoir, whatever.
As Neil Smith said, "He's nuts, and that makes the novels
just amazing, doesn't it?"
Prolly so, and yes. I'm semi-nuts about his stuff myself.
Here's the text I wrote for the Dec. 28, 1998, edition of
Emazing.com's late, lamented (by me, at least) Crime Fiction
Tip of the Day:
<< JEROME CHARYN
In his stories about Isaac Sidel, Jerome Charyn has written
the most distinctive series of New York cop novels since
Chester Himes recounted the adventures of Harlem detectives
Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones.
Sidel first appeared in BLUE EYES (1974) as a deputy police
commissioner. During the course of the series, he has risen
through the administrative ranks until he becomes NYC police
commissioner, then mayor, and in the latest entry, CITIZEN
SIDEL, he is a candidate for U.S. Vice-President. In each
role, Isaac is the conscience-stricken moral man who feels he
must use immoral methods to create order in a chaotic and
conscienceless universe.
Charyn turned to writing crime novels after reading THE
GALTON CASE, a Lew Archer novel written by Ross MacDonald.
Besides the quest for truth and order that both Isaac and
Archer follow, a reader would be hard-pressed to find
similarities between the two writers and their fictional
worlds. Charyn's storytelling style recalls that of fairy
tales, and his protagonists take on larger-than-life
characteristics--all quite suitable for crime stories set in
the magical land of New York City. (Himes' tales of Harlem
have a similar familiar-but-exotic feel.)
In CITIZEN SIDEL, Isaac faces off against the righteous
criminals of his own political party and of the U.S.
Government's intelligence agencies. As he battles
institutional corruption while seeking to protect the
innocence of a convicted orphan, Isaac comes to question his
own moral center.
This novel is yet another great entry in the chronicles of
Isaac Sidel.
>>
I also contributed a bit on Charyn to the Comic Book Tip of
the Day:
<< JEROME CHARYN: MAGICIAN WITH WORDS
Jerome Charyn's literary novels offer a stylistic verve
rarely displayed by U.S. authors these days. He's best known
for his series of crime novels featuring police commissioner
Isaac Sidel, the most distinctive New York cop novels to
appear since Chester Himes' stories of Harlem detectives
Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones. But few U.S.
readers realize that Charyn also writes comics.
Note that you won't find any spandex-clad superheroes in
Charyn's comics. The graphic novels he writes--most
originally published in France as albums--have no continuing
characters. However, his distinctive use of folklore, dark
humor, magic realism, identity quests and violence reflect a
singular imagination at work in each book. But anyone
familiar with Charyn's Isaac novels will recognize the
mythopoeic qualities he brings to his graphic novels. If you
want a comic-reading experience that's completely different
from that offered by the typical U.S.-produced graphic novel,
here are some titles to look for at your local comic shop
(some of these are out of print, so check the marked-down
box):
The Magician's Wife Billy Budd, KGB Margot in Badtown Margot:
Queen of the Night Family Man
>>
I warned you: semi-nuts.
-- Duane Spurlock
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