From John Williams' long post a few days back:
<< but
it strikes me - talking right off the top of my head
now - that maybe the
most interesting way for the noir/hb writing to develop
is to move out of
the genre confines. The challenge, certainly, that
interests me as a writer,
is to apply the things I like about noir/hb - the sense
that the world is
not OK, that the underdog viewpoint is the one to take,
that corruption is
everywhere, that the evocation of place can be crucial
to the creation of
character - to novels that do not neccessarily need to
revolve around a dead
body or a zillion dollar coke deal. >>
This admirable goal maybe runs counter to the realities of
the publishing industry--just a speculation. It seems to me
that I've heard at least one writer (Moseley, maybe) say that
he had written a non-genre novel with a noir/h-b atmosphere,
and when it couldn't sell, he was advised to write a crime
novel. Doug
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