> Speaking of Ellroy's style, did anyone else have a
hard time with the
> Winchell/telegraph style of the The Cold Six
Thousand? I gave up after
about
> 20 pages, it annoyed me so much.
I was happily surprised that CST was pretty smooth stylewise.
It didn't annoy me, but I'm one who loved White Jazz and
American Tabloid. The alliteration of the GQ stories (the
Hush-Hush editor narration) irked me, and I was afraid he was
going to apply that to a longer work.
I've come to feel that Ellroy's style is distinct in that
I've never seen imitators get anywhere close to his voice and
attitude. The imitations are usually infused with their
authors' own quirks, so I don't think of Ellroy's style as a
party trick. It comes from a real place inside him, it
seems
(worked for My Dark Places), and no one else is really doing
it anyway.
I've been most influenced by Ellroy, Pelecanos, James M. Cain
and Charles Willeford. All are highly different writers, all
highly stylized.
I'll say it like this--I'm glad to see h-b/noir writers who
try something unusual and stick their necks out.
Neil Smith www.plotswithguns.com
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