Re: RARA-AVIS: Deus Ex Machina (was: Mike Shayne and his dames)

From: Maura McMillan ( mmcm@azstarnet.com)
Date: 16 Dec 2000


well, that's my point too. this is standard mike shayne, with the gender switched, that's all. i have a hard time with the ever-solicitous broad who's there to soothe the PI's fevered brow and bind his reeking wounds. i agree it's ludicrous, main character-wise, to have to depend on a secondary character for your basic hardboiled decision-making/operations to be successful. my idea of a hardboiled protag is one who makes their own way, MUST make their own way. mike shayne seemed, to me, to be somewhat dependent on the kindness of strangers. not your basic nihilist. so i had no choice but no mock him.

At 07:23 PM 12/16/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>This is one of my pet peeves ... a superman waiting in the wings for when
>the "detective" needs his or her ass bailed out. This is just poor writing.
>I read Harlan Corben's first and stopped there with his "Spec Ops" Win the
>enforcer character. If the PI can't save his own ass without such help, let
>'em die already.
>
>--
>Anthony Dauer
>
>Hard-boiled Noir
>http://www.adau.net/judas_ezine/toc.htm
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Maura McMillan
>Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2000 6:14 PM
>
>no, this guy does it all -- not only does he just stand by in awestruck
>admiration, but he word-processes a million words per second, keeps a fresh
>fifth of herradura in his desk drawer, and is always ready to put his life
>on the line for his empress -- whether it's carrying a gun, stealing files,
>flirting with the bad guy -- he'll do it all. and why? because michaela is
>TOO COOL not to back up with one's heart, soul, and brawn. i may not be
>keeping strictly to MS here -- what do i know -- but i'm thinking of the
>classy egghead broad in the bookstore who pours Bogart a snort and fills him
>in about the phony rare bookseller across the street who turns out to be you
>know who. this man friday is along those lines.
>
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