At 02:15 PM 09/10/2003 -0700, Kevin Smith wrote:
>Sheesh. Although I too saw the echoes of Benchley and
Hemingway, I thought
>Spillane's latest was, well, pretty uneven, and at
times extremely dated.
>It's almost as if it was shoved in a back drawer back
in the fifties, and
>dragged out recently, given a brief, uneven updating
(Commies? DVDs but no
>cellphones?) and released in time for the holiday
buying season.
>
>It's not a horrible book, and it's not going to ruin
his reputation or
>anything, but it won't greatly enhance it, either.
Maybe what Spillane
>needed in this one was actually more comic book
action, not less. Instead
>I found it all rather subdued; edgeless if you will,
for someone who used
>to write with such venom and passion. A shaggy dog
story with a slightly
>fishy smell. Hammer was at times almost psychotic;
the hero here seems
>more like just a grumpy old man.
>
>Which is fine -- it's just that I wasn't expecting
this relatively
>light-hearted adventure yarn.
>
>Still, it's good to have the Mick back, and it's nice
to hear Vern's still
>out there, too. Kerry, get him to join the
list.
Don't think Vern's much of a joiner, though I have forwarded
him the odd RA missive, those that might tangentially be
related to a chapbook he's working on of stories in the
sub-genre he calls updated spaghetti-western noir. I think
I've got that right. It was inspired by his discovery of
section of Detroit that is reverting to prairie.
I will now forward him your thoughts.
Best Kerry
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Literary events Calendar (South Ont.) http://www.lit-electric.com
The evil men do lives after them http://www.murderoutthere.com
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