Book Review: The Gutter and the Grave by Ed McBain

Of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler once wrote this:

Hammett gave murder back to the kind of people that commit it for reasons, not just to provide a corpse; and with the means at hand, not with hand-wrought duelling pistols, curare, and tropical fish. He put these people down on paper as they are, and he made them talk and think in the language they customarily used for these purposes.

I always took that quote to partially explain the move, by mystery and crime fiction, into the twentieth century. And, by extension, brought it to the American city. Sure, there is the famous foggy London of Sherlock Holmes and there is death there, and danger. But what Hammett, Chandler, and other did was pull a Christopher Columbus on crime fiction: they discovered a new world and then began to exploit it. Their fiction teemed with immigrants and thugs, falling over each other in row houses and tenement apartments of New York or Philly or Boston. It smelled. People drank. People died…and not always naturally. This is America, dammit. Get used to it, toughen up, or get out of here.

By the time Ed McBain began writing fiction, this tradition was decades old. McBain scanned the landscape, saw what was what, judged the speed of the moving traffic, and merged right in, going zero to sixty in seconds. And he never looked back, even when he changed lanes. Everyone else had to swerve to get out of the way of this fast-moving car whose driver knew exactly what he wanted and where he wanted to go.

Originally published in 1958 under the title I’m Cannon—For Hire, I read the republished version from Hard Case Crime entitled The Gutter and the Grave. A quick check at Thrilling Detective (thanks again!) reveals that McBain liked the new title. The new title is quite apt. The first sentence of the story finds Matt Cordell basically in the gutter. The last sentence finds Cordell…well, I don’t want to ruin the ending.

McBain’s prose is, like Hammett’s, tough, ornery, and punchy. I use punchy because there are a few fights in the books, both in flashback and in the book’s present day. And the beating Cordell takes is brutal. It’s brutal by today’s standards. I can’t imagine the reading public’s reaction back in ’58.

I listened to the audiobook version. The good folks at BBC Audiobook America provided this one and a great narrator: Richard Ferrone. His voice is gravelly, as if he himself just got off the booze long enough to read this book. It’s a wonderful presentation. He also read the posthumously-published (by HCC, natch) novel by Mickey Spillane, Dead Street. I could think of nothing better than to have Ferrone read any old-school PI/noir book in the library. I’d check out every one.

This is the first McBain book I have read. I have his first 87^th Precinct, Cop Hater, on my list. This will not be the last. My next McBain step will be to find the collection Learning to Kill, McBain’s collection of short fiction that, according to him, helped him become “Ed McBain.” I hope there is another Matt Cordell story in there. If not, I’ll have to play Book PI and track them down. I want to know more about Matt Cordell. And you should, too.

Just don’t blame me if it starts an addiction. I warned you.

Thrilling Detective: 10 Years Old

One of the best websites out there for all you need to know about detective fiction, Thrilling Detective celebrates 10 years of existence. And that is saying something, considering how few quality websites there actually were in 1998 other than news organizations and merchants. Thrilling Detective is *the* place to go to if you have any question on the history of detectives in literature, radio, film, TV. The bibliographies are tremendous and, at times, frustrating...when you can't find a copy of a book they know exists.

And the artwork. Oh my goodness, it is eye candy for the PI geek in everyone.

One of my writing goals in life is to have a story of mine published at Thrilling Detective. It would be an honor.

So, Happy Birthday, Thrilling Detective. Here's to another 10 years!

Mary Doria Russell Coming to Houston

I received my newsletter from Blue Willow Book Shop this week and was happy to learn that Mary Doria Russell is coming to Houston next month.

My first and, to date, only encounter with Russell is via her book, The Sparrow. It is a literate SF novel of first contact. I know that there is a sequel but I have too much to read. Loved that first book and am looking forward to seeing her.

Writing Process: To Outline or Not To Outline

With my first book, Treason at Hanford, I outlined the entire novel, scene by scene, on 4x6 index cards. In fact, at one point, when my fellow writer/reviewers pointed out a discrepancy in the book, I stopped writing completely, filled in the gaps with a new outline, and then, only then, started writing again.

This book is different. I've been living with it, off and on, for nearly two years. I have given myself a 1 June 2008 deadline for completing the novel. This one is a modern crime story/mystery set in Houston, post-Katrina. I have a general outline in my head of where the story starts and where I *think* it's going to end. However, whenever I sit down with index cards to map out the story, my brain freezes. It's telling me that this time, just write and let your characters tell the story. It's a bit scary, what with my deadline approaching about 9 weeks away. But it's also kind of liberating. I'm just the tour guide for this story. And I'm the first reader.

P.s., something happened last night that bodes well. I am currently reading Allan Guthrie's entry to Hard Case Crime: Kiss Her Goodbye. Normally, I read a chapter before bedtime. Last night, I was more interested in my own characters. I wanted to know what happened next. That's my first step to making my own book my current can't-put-down book. It's a good feeling.

"Lost" Gets an 80s Theme Song

I'm still laughing...

Who says cliches are not true?

Go here and watch.

This video is done so well, it's a wonder I didn't remember watching this show back in college. Or did I?

Obama and History

When I started this blog, I decided to keep politics out of it. However, something happened today. Senator Barack Obama, reacting to recent criticism of his former preacher, Jeremiah Wright, made a speech today. This speech was delivered in Philadelphia. As a student of history, I was intrigued by the location. I missed the speech live, so I read the prepared text. I am one of those kind of people who actually annotates books, newspapers, and other things. As such, I printed out the text of his prepared speech, picked up my pen, and read the speech.

In short, I loved the speech. I like that the first words he spoke were "we the people, in order to form a more perfect union." the founding fathers gave us our mission statement... and this is it. Senator Obama has taken up that mission, and strives to move us forward, to move our history forward, to the next phase. most news organizations and news websites have his speech. Here's one place. Read it. Think about it. Then make your decision.

(note: this blog entry was compared using MacSpeech Dictate. I hope it is the first of many.)

Book Review: Naked in Death

Call me bi-curious. No, not in that way. I’m talking in the way of romance books.

I’m a red-blooded American male. I write mysteries, I read mysteries, SF, thrillers, history, food tomes, almost everything but romance books. Up until now, I’ve always thought of romance books as trite throwaways that contain a couple of good sex scenes. Read those and forget about the rest of the book.

But something happened about a month ago: I actually noticed, really, for the first time, how many romance books there actually are in a bookstore. Hundreds. Thousands? And, for the first time, my countenance faltered. I realized that I might actually be up to read a romance. But which one? I asked a fellow writer who she liked and, among the names was Nora Roberts. I know Nora Roberts just like people who don’t read horror stories knows Stephen King. I went the local library, picked up a few Nora Roberts books, but none of them really caught my attention.

Then I remembered J.D. Robb. I knew that Roberts wrote stories as Robb so I checked them out. And I found my beachhead in the field of romance books. Lead character is a police detective. I’m writing a book about a female lead detective. Stories take place in 2059. Hmm, that sounds like SF. I like SF. The books are characterized as romantic suspense. I like suspense. My first novel was a suspense novel. And I’m a romantic. What’s not to like? I verified which book was the first in the series, Naked in Death, checked out the audiobook from the library, and inserted the CD.

The first disc was not even halfway through before I was hooked. And not just mild interest but hook, line, and sinker. I was all in. The book has a nice pace, not slow at all. Since the book was written in 1995, it is interesting to note some of the futuristic discrepancies but just as cool to note the stuff Roberts got right. Eve Dallas, the lead character, carries around a device that will surely be what the iPhone is going to be: the all-in-one gadget that basically does everything. I also appreciated the more mundane aspects of 2059 NYC: cars that don’t fly. Sure, I want my flying car. Who doesn’t? But we’re probably not going to get there in 50 years.

Back to the story: Eve Dallas must investigate the murders of a licensed companion, a prostitute, who just happens to be the granddaughter of a prominent US Senator. It was pretty interesting to read this book, with legalized prostitution, during the week NY governor Eliot Spitzer resigned for being with one. Roberts really let us readers get into Eve’s head and thoughts. I found myself being mad when she was and happy when she was. I’ll admit the POV shifts that frequent this book is not the style in which I write. It was annoying at first but then I got used to it.

The story was great. But what about the romance? This was a romance book after all. Rourke, the all-everything Irish guy who starts as a suspect and becomes Eve’s lover, is the kind of guy, I’ll admit, seems to inhabit romance books. Now, I’m saying this purely from a stereotypical standpoint. But, hey, the first romance book I read has one of “those” guys in it. How’s a regular guy supposed to compete with that? Anyway, the romantic aspects of the novel seemed even, believable. Even the sex scene—there’s one main one, with intimate details—was good and hot. I give a hat tip to Ms. Roberts in the many ways to describe sexual intercourse without using actual physical words.

The final testament to reading Naked in Death is this: I have already checked out the second book, Glory in Death, on audio. I can’t wait to start.

One of my biggest questions to see Roberts answers is how the series characters Eve and Rourke go on being together, their daily interactions, their passion. Naked in Death was the ‘getting together’ book. Those are easier. Just look at all the movies out there (and probably half the romance books). What I want to know is how the characters grow together.

Side note: when I found that list of “In Death” books, I discovered there were 25 as of March 2008. She started writing then in 1995. That’s a book a year just as “J.D. Robb,” not to mention the “Nora Roberts” books. Goodness! Where does she find the time?

Writing Process: Finding the Right Voice

It's always a reassuring thing when I read about the travails of other authors. One of the biggest problems I've had with my second novel is the voice: whose story is it and why? I did finally arrive at the answer but only after letting go of all my preconceived ideas. And I fully agree with Paolo's sentiments about his chapter one.

Here is a question/answer from Paolo Bacigalupi from Fantastic Reviews:

R: You have pretty high standards if you're feeling that way about your stories.

PB: Well, I think there is compulsion there, too. Right now, I'm working on this novel of mine, and I have a horrifying number of first chapters. And I look at those and I think, this is obviously a sign of a crazy person. You can't have this many different versions of a first chapter and see anything other than insanity at work.

But the other thing that's going on is that I'm not clear. And that's why I keep writing these versions, because I haven't come to that one that says, right, I know what I was trying to say. So I know the reason for that compulsion is I'm hunting for something that I can't quite articulate even to myself. Sometimes I'll try to mark down, these are the things I want in this. I want this element or I want this character to be able to do these things. And I know those are there, but there's something else more intangible that just says, no, that didn't quite nail it; it just doesn't quite fire on all cylinders for some reason.

Where are the short SF books?

Over at SF Signal, there was a discussion last week framed around this question: Q: Are science fiction book series a barrier to gaining new readership? Here is the extended version of the question: If you take a look around your local bookstore's SF section, you can't help but notice the preponderance of book series on the shelves, especially in the fantasy arena, which seems to specialize in doorstopper series. Inevitably, the store won't have all published books in the series, leaving the customer out of luck if they decide to buy right then. There's a great discussion including some answers from folks in the field. Go check it out.

I posted this response:

In this discussion, folks have focused on THE BIG BOOK. That is, a tome that is the size of a small brick, that a reader would have to wade through just to see if he likes it. Personally, I have not even started Jordan's Wheel of Time series for the mere fact that I'd be reading nothing else for months on end. And the more I look at bookstore shelves of SF/F, the more I see huge books.

So here's my question: what ever happened to the smaller book? The 200pp-300pp book? Is it the market that has driven smaller books away, what with $8.99+ cover prices for a paperback and north of $27.00 for a hardback?

Over in the mystery field, there's a line of books under the Hard Case Crime imprint. Those guys want to bring back old-school pulp fiction, complete with new cover art in the old style. All the books are $6.99. Almost all of them are 200-230pp long. All can be consumed quickly and carried around in my back pocket. And, for me, reading an old, formerly out-of-print book by an author like Lawrence Block or Ed McBain caused me to seek out other books by these authors.

Is there a SF/F version of this out there? I'd like to think so. And I'd like to write for and read books from an imprint like that.

Any Ideas?

Six-Word Memoirs

The writing group I'm a member of down here in Houston has an interesting little exercise: compose your memoir in six words. Here are two for me.

Son, husband, father. Nothing else matters.

Writes manuals, novels nobody reads. Yet.


How about y'all?

Turning Pages

Just the other day, I posed a question to my wife: are there times when you feel compelled to go out in the shop to create not because of some looming deadline but because of a driving, inner need to create? She said yes. I, too, say yes, but it’s mainly in the past tense.

There was a moment when I was in the middle of writing the Truman story that I realized that Treason at Hanford was the ONLY book I wanted to read…and I was the one writing it. To date, with my second novel (RiHT), that has not occurred. Part of it stems from my brain freeze on how the story is to be shaped and my insane desire to write this book just like the Truman book. That is, with a set outline, set in stone, largely unmoving. RiHT has been anything but set. I have vacillated back and forth, back and forth, never seeming to hone in on the subject of the book. Now, ironically as I decided to throw out the pre-existing outline style of writing and just go (always drawing images and scenes and dialogue from the huge cloud of ideas about this book), I think I’m on to it. At least my wife and my critique group think so.

So why am I not compelled to just dive in and see where this thing goes? I can’t answer that yet. But part of it is my compulsion to read. I’m kind of in a reading mode now. Back when I was writing the Truman book, I wasn’t. In fact, when I realized that whatever I was reading began to influence my writing, I slowed down my reading. Almost all of it was audiobooks. Yes, I listened to all of the Narnia books by C. S. Lewis and a few non-fiction works but my reading pace slowed incredibly.

Nowadays, as my desire to read more and more pulp fiction increases, I am captured by the numbers. Most of what I’m reading is Hard Case Crime novels. They are all about 200 pages and, with my slow reading rate, I get intoxicated when I blow through one or more of these books in a week. I start wanting more and more to read more and more. It’s a bad spiral.

There are signs that the end of this cycle is nigh. Stephen King just published a new book, Duma Key, and it’s a 22-hour book. His son wrote Heart-shaped Box and it’s on my list and it’s over 10 hours. Even with my 40-minute, one-way commute every day, it’s going to take time to read these books. But that’s okay. Not every book should be dispatched quickly. And there is a new work of non-fiction, This Republic of Suffering, that I really want to read. (Part of the reason, I'll admit, is story ideas...but that's another blog.) In addition to these books on my reading list, I am writing book reviews that I intend to submit to contests. While I used to write book reviews back in grad school, I do actually have to pay attention to what I’m reading and not gloss over details. That is slowing me down, too.

And then there is my current book-in-progress, RiHT. I can't help but wonder if this is the sophomore slump. I finished my first novel in June 2006. I have yet to complete my second. Is this on par with other writers? I wonder. On one level, I can see the next three chapters, including the current, half-written one. And I have a heroine that I enjoy and who I have placed in a rather large hole, so to speak. And I keep piling on, from various places and things that happen to me. I am actually quite curious to see how she deals with them.

But then I hit the inevitable roadblock of all writers in the first draft: it ain’t art that which I type. Take my chapter 7. I know what I wanted to say and wrote it thus. I printed it out and re-read it…and it was garbage. So, my natural inclination to want to know what happens next is trumped by the bumps in the road and the text. And then there is the natural reaction to the printed page as opposed to one’s own imagination. Wow, a writer says, it seems much more vivid in my head.

And isn’t that the true crux of a writer’s responsibility? To convey the world in one’s head in as best light possible to a reader, so much so that the reader is compelled to turn the page? Yes, that is the writer’s responsibility. And, for a writer, he is the book’s first reader. If he doesn’t care about turning the page, how can he expect others to? It’s interesting but not really a conundrum. If I can’t make myself want to turn the page, why bother writing the book?

Because I do want to know what happens. That’s it in a nutshell. I basically know my entire book in my head. I am now the transcriber. I believe that I have a good story to tell. Only time will tell if I do a good job and the transcription.