Monday, March 26, 2012

Pulp Poem of the Week



Smelling
a cork
made her
amorous.
Gil Brewer
Love Me—and Die!
1951

Monday, March 19, 2012

Pulp Poem of the Week



My head ached and
I needed a shave and
I was in a dead man’s clothes.
It’s real great, the things that
happen to you.
You don't even have to
look for it hard.
Gil Brewer
The Red Scarf
1958

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Book Review: Richard Stark, Butcher's Moon (1974)


  
The Hunter + The Score = Butcher’s Moon. For more than two decades, it seemed that Butcher’s Moon would be the last Parker novel, and I have to admit that some small part of me wishes that it were, as it makes a perfect coda to original series of novels (and is even richer still if you have read the Grofield novels, too). Having said that, however, I will relish reading Comeback, and I will not feel obligated to wait 23 years before I do it.  Grade: A-

Monday, March 12, 2012

Pulp Poem of the Week



All she knew was
Get in bed with me,
I love you.
Kill.
And money.
Gil Brewer
13 French Street
1951

Monday, March 5, 2012

Pulp Poem of the Week



He wanted to go to some bar and get drunk:
stupid,
blind,
maggoty,
stumbling,
rotten,
lurching,
passed-out,
knocked-cold,
egg-eyed,
what’s-my-name?
drunk.
Gil Brewer
Play It Hard
1960

Friday, March 2, 2012

Book Review: Day Keene and Gil Brewer, Love Me--and Die! (1951)


  
A sort of apprentice novel in which Gil Brewer turns a longish Day Keene story (“Marry the Sixth for Murder!,” Detective Tales, May 1948) into something even longer. The original story didn’t make a great deal of sense to begin with, and Brewer stayed true to his source material. He adds a femme fatale and makes his protagonist a bit more hardboiled, but the substance of the plot is the same. If you’re interested, you should stick to the Keene story (which is reprinted in The League of the Grateful Dead: Day Keene in the Detective Pulps, Volume #1) and save your time to read a better novel. Grade: C-