What about 32 (was it 23?) CADILLACS? That was a DKA Agency
novel. Was it just one of the ones you mention below with a
different title?
I'm glad it's Joe Gores month. I love his stuff.
All the Best-
Brian
----- Original Message -----
From: JIM DOHERTY
To:
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2008 1:36 PM
Subject: RARA-AVIS: There Was a Young Man
Some years ago, after completing a stint of
stateside
service in the US Army, a young man arrived in
San
Francisco, where he found a job as an operative
in a
large detective agency in that city.
Having an ambition to write, he began a series
of
short stories, most of which were published in
the
leading crime fiction magazine of the day,
fictionalizing his experiences as a private
investigator, using his old detective agency boss
as
the model for his hero.
The stories were successful enough that he
decided to
try book-length entries in the series. He
eventually
wrote three novels fictionalizing his experiences
with
the S.F. detective firm.
He followed it up with a non-series private eye
novel,
arguably one of the best PI novels ever
written,
featuring a character who was not an operative of
a
large firm (though he had been at one time), but
who
owned his own small business. Though known for
his
spare, direct style, this novel was
particularly
terse, told in a relentlessly objective,
third-person
voice that was a close as prose can get to a
camera
and a tape recorder. The hero's motives
were
difficult to discern, in it's not until the end
of the
book that you find what his real interest in
the
goings-on were. Somewhat disappointing short
fiction
about this character followed.
His success as a magazine writer and novelist led
to
other venues. Soon he was writing scripts
for
Hollywood films and enjoying success in the
broadcast
medium. He gave up novel-writing for the new
mediums,
but always intended to get back into books.
*********
Most of you probably recognized the subject of
that
capsule biography as Dashiell Hammett. And, in
all
likelihood, most of you also realized that it as
fit,
in virtually all respects, this month's
featured
subject at Rara-Avis, Joe Gores.
Hammett served in the Army during World War I as
a
stateside ambulance driver. Gores served at Ford
Hood
and the Pentagon shortly after the Korean
War.
After his military service ended, Hammett got a
job
with the San Francisco office of the Pinkerton
Agency
(he had previously worked in Pinkerton's
Baltimore
office prior to entering the Army).
Gores arrived in San Franciso and got a job with
David
Kikkert & Associates.
Hammett started a series of short stories,about
the
nameless operative in the San Francisco office of
the
Continental Detective Agency, a fictional
doppleganger
for the Pinkertons.
Gores started a series of short stories about
the
various operatives for Dan Kearney Associates,
a
fictional doppelganger for David Kikkert &
Associates.
Hammett modeled the Continental Op on Jim Wright,
the
superintendent of the Pinkerton Agency's
Baltimore
office, who first hired Hammett and taught him
the
detective business.
Gores modeled Dan Kearney on Dave Kikkert,
founder of
David Kikkert & Associates, who first hired
Gores and
taught him the detective business.
The Op stories appeared primarily in BLACK MASK,
the
leading crime fiction magazine of the day.
The DKA stories appeared primarily in ELLERY
QUEEN'S
MYSTERY MAGAZINE, the leading crime fiction
magazine
of the day.
Hammett eventually wrote three novels about the
Op,
BLOOD MONEY, RED HARVEST, and THE DAIN
CURSE.
Gores eventually wrote three DKA novels, DEAD
SKIP,
FINAL NOTICE, and GONE - NO FORWARDING.
Hammett followed up the Op series THE MALTESE
FALCON,
arguably the best PI novel ever, written in
a
rigorously objective third person mode, featuring
Sam
Spade, a tough PI who plays things so close to
the
vest that it's difficult to tell whose side he's
on.
Spade later went on to appear in three short
stories,
"A Man Called Spade," "Too Many Have Lived," and
"They
Can Only Hang You Once," which, while quite
well-done,
didn't do justice to the novel.
Gores followed up the DKA series with
INTERFACE,
arguably one of the best PI novels ever, written
in a
rigorously objective third person mode, featuring
Neil
Fargo, a tough PI who plays things so close to
the
vest that it's difficult to tell whose side he's
on.
Fargo went on to appear in a single short story
"Dance
of the Dead," which, while quite well-done,
didn't
really do justice to the novel.
Hammett was wooed by Hollywood, and wrote
screen
treatments and full scripts for a number of
films,
some of them featuring characters from his
books.
Gores was wooed by Hollywood, and wrote
screen
treatments and full scripts for a number of
films,
some of them based on his books.
Hammett had some success in radio drama, with
shows
like SAM SPADE and THE THIN MAN being based
on
characters he created for his novels. He is
credited
with creating the radio series THE FAT MAN.
Gores had major success in television, writing
scripts
for shows like KOJAK, STRIKE FORCE, EISCHIED, and
MIKE
HAMMER. He was a producer and head writer for the
PI
show B.L. STRYKER.
Here though, the story diverges.
Hammett always intended to get back into novels,
but
never did. Recognizing that his Op series, for
all
its realism, gave an idealized portrait of
detective
work, one of his ideas was a
semi-autobiographical
book about the picaresque adventures of a young
fellow
who eventually falls into the private
investigative
business, to be called THERE WAS A YOUNG MAN.
It
never came to fruition.
Gores DID come back to novels. He wrote three
more
DKA novels years after the initial trilogy
was
published, a bunch of stand-alones, and, as if to
draw
attention to the many parallels between his life
and
Hammett's, a novel in which Hammett himself is
the
private eye hero. Recognizing that his DKA
series,
for all its realism, was a somewhat idealized
portrait
of detective work, he had an idea for a
semi-autobiographical book involving the
pcaresques
adventures of a young fellow who eventually falls
into
the private investigative business, to be
called
CASES. He eventually brought it to
fruition.
Gores, in other words, has been a much more
productive
writer than Hammett, over a much longer period
of
time. As this is being written, he is
reportedly
putting the finishing touches on a novel to be
called
SPADE & ARCHER, a prequel to THE MALTESE
FALCON, about
the tempetuous partnership shared by the
titular
characters in the year preceding the events
described
in Hammett's classic novel.
I'm only sorry that it's not out yet so that we
can
discuss it during this month.
Fortunately, Gores has completed a lot of
other
material, short stories, novels, scripts for
movies
and TV shows, non-fiction, and criticism, so
we
shouldn't lack for subject matter to
discuss.
Welcome to Joe Gores month.
JIM DOHERTY
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