Monday, March 28, 2011

Pulp Poem of the Week



The men
with dirty faces
and calloused hands
said nothing.
David Goodis
The Blonde on the Street Corner
1954

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Author Photograph: P. J. Wolfson



P. J. Wolfson, author of Bodies Are Dust (one of the great early noirs), is the one in the yellow shirt with the blue stripe around the collar. Photograph posted here with the kind permission of Jon Wolfson.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Pulp Poem of the Week



the face of a
Vassar undergraduate
smelling a
dead cat
Richard Stark
The Dame
1969

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Book Review: Richard Stark, The Black Ice Score (1968)



More support for the International Parker Theorem: The more Parker gets involved in international intrigue, the less interesting he becomes. The best Parker books convince you that they take place in the real world of professional thieves. Those books that fall under the International Parker Theorem convince you that some of the Parker novels should have been left out of print. Grade: C-

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Dispatch from the Gil Brewer Collection



I’m spending my spring break in Laramie, Wyoming, at the American Heritage Center working in the Gil Brewer Collection. A couple of tidbits folks might find interesting:

1. On November 26, 1956, Brewer signed a contract with Lion Books to write four novels for them. I have no idea why Brewer never actually wrote anything for them. I have not seen Lion mentioned anywhere in the Brewer papers other than on this contract.

2. On July 17, 1958, Brewer signed a contract with Tower Publications to write a book titled Backwoods Bikini under the pseudonym of Zack Holland. This is more exciting than the Lion business because I suppose it’s just barely possible this book is actually out there somewhere. As with the Lion contract, however, I have not seen this mentioned anywhere else in the Brewer papers, and a quick check of online sources has not turned up the existence of any such book. Nevertheless, I thought I should make everybody aware of it, just in case. (And if you’ve got a copy, shoot me an email, and I’ll tell you where to send it.)

Monday, March 14, 2011

Pulp Poem of the Week



I saw to it that
it happened
fast and clean.
It was something
like working
in a butcher shop,
only my job
pays better,
the hours
are shorter,
and there isn’t
the mess.
Max Allan Collins
Quarry [a.k.a. The Broker]
1976

Monday, March 7, 2011

Pulp Poem of the Week



Kill yourself
into a hole,
and the chances are
a time comes
when you have to
kill yourself out.

Dashiell Hammett
The Dain Curse
1929