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Tag: noir

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Reading a Series Out of Order

I'm Out of Order. You're Out of Order.

I love a good series of mysteries and I fall absolutely in the “Read Series Books In Order” camp. I’ll even research an order to a series if the author says there is no order. When left without an authorial order, or a fan derived one, I default to publishing chronology. Yes, I’m a big ol’ nerd. Then, I at least get a similar experience as original fans of the series.

A great place to figure out series order is on LibraryThing. Just type in the title of the book and under it will appear the name of the series and a number. Click that link and it will take you to a series page (here’s the page for Laurie R. King‘s Mary Russell – Sherlock Holmes Series). I love that the orders for series are largely sorted out, but also include things that maybe you’ve missed  — like short story appearances in out of the way anthologies.

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Mary Russell – Sherlock Holmes series by Laurie R. King

 

I hate spoilers and in the past when I’ve jumped to a later book and it’s like: “Why was she here? What business did she have, placing flowers on the grave of my beloved side-kick…” NOOOOOO!!! What happened!?? GAHHH!! SIDEKICK IS DEAD!!?? Yep. They were killed as punishment for my skipping around, that’s why.

That said, I’ve been doing it again, and haven’t been stung too bad so far. Since I’ve started writing myself, I have discovered another layer of enjoyment reading a good story that takes the sting out of my misdeeds. I’m coming to see the mechanics of the story a little more. Sort of like my experience as a museum curator and visiting museums on vacation and admiring mounts, signage, and good interpretive tools.

What about you? Do you skip around within a book series, or are you a ‘no exceptions’ order reader? Leave a comment and let me know, or request to join my new Facebook Group and we can all share!

 

About the Author: Benjamin L. Clark writes historical mysteries and works as a history museum curator.

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Book Review: Come Twilight by Tyler Dilts

Come Twilight cover ebook Tyler Dilts

WITH A BANG

Tyler Dilts’ latest installment in his current Long Beach Homicide series is fantastic.

Long Beach homicide detective Danny Beckett has had it rough, but things are starting to look up. That is until someone tries to kill him by blowing up his elderly Toyota Camry. The people around him, his fellow officers, his partner, and even his girlfriend do what they can to keep him safe from the mysterious people who have targeted him. And he hates it.

RECOMMENDED

I’m new to the series, which usually means I don’t get the ‘inside jokes’ and things, but it felt more like spending time with a group of great people, old friends, after hitting it off with a member of the group who is nice enough to include and accept you. I felt comfortable jumping in so late in the series and look forward to future books from Tyler Dilts.

I received a free ebook copy for review.

About the Author: Benjamin L. Clark writes historical mysteries and works as a history museum curator.

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MAYBE YOU LIKE THIS TOO?
Book Review: Six Bad Things by Charlie Huston
Noir Renaissance?

 

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Book Review: Six Bad Things by Charlie Huston

Book Six Bad Things by Charlie Huston
Book Six Bad Things by Charlie Huston
Six Bad Things by Charlie Huston

It was the blurb on the cover that did it. “This is one mean, cold, slit-eyed mother of a book.” — Peter Straub.

A couple weeks ago, I roamed Omaha’s wonderful Jackson Street Booksellers, and I know there’s at least one dedicated James Crumley fan on staff who puts books on a certain big table for browsers. Finding this book on that table carries the same weight to me as a personal recommendation from a good friend. This table is one of my best friends.

Table’s recommendation didn’t let me down. Six Bad Things by Charlie Huston is book two of a three book series. It’s unlike me to go out of order (if there’s an order) but I felt like I was caught up quickly and not too out of the loop on the main character and what had gone on to this point at the opening of book 2.   It’s contemporary noir (ca. 2005), so my history die-hards may look askance, but shouldn’t!  Classic noir fans will enjoy Huston’s style, though I will warn you, this is not a book for those with language and violence sensitivities.

This book is nearly non-stop, with nuanced and realistic action, and a main character that perfectly walks that line between hero and anti-hero. The main character, Hank Thompson, is also nuanced and realistic, conflicted. There are cracks in his life and character as a result of his choices. It’s also unexpectedly funny.

A big recommend from me.  Thanks, big table.

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Noir Renaissance?

A Noir Renaissance?

Probably the best essay I’ve read on noir fiction in a very long time, addressing the whiteness of noir, and the potential of its resurgence, making the point that noir has a place in protest literature.  I think it absolutely has that chance, but not many writers take it.  I certainly haven’t, but it’s something I’ll think about.

Nicholas Seeley, the author of the article, gives a good definition of noir stories as well:

By “noir,” I mean something more than a general tone of bleakness and dysfunction. … Anglo-American fiction evolved in the grip of a controlling public morality, which demanded the representation of behavior only within certain socially acceptable lines. The classic crime story, the kind written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dame Agatha Christie, is the whodunit: it takes place in an essentially orderly universe, with a common understanding of good and evil. Crime here is a dangerous anomaly, but order can be restored by a hero-detective who investigates and, eventually, unmasks the criminal: revealing evil for what it is, giving it a physical location in an individual, and in the process, re-affirming the innocence of the other characters.

Noir, as it emerged in the middle of a violent century, said to hell with all that. Its world was chaotic, baroque and hypocritical. Crime doesn’t disturb this world, it’s foundational to it. Noir stories gave the stage to criminals and their motivations, which range from unspeakable passions to a firm conviction that their particular crime serves a greater good. A detective may pursue such a criminal, but noir reveals the line between them to be a product of chance and circumstance—if, indeed, such a line exists at all.

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Courtesy The Internet Archive

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To new beginnings

Notebook and coffee

This is definitely not my first blog post.

I had a blog about book collecting and bibliophilia for many years over on blogger.  I’m active over on tumblr too, but that isn’t so much blogging as a constant stream of amusing/pretty/cool stuff.  I post a lot of photos and quotes and things I happen to like, (i.e. typewriters. I love me some typewriters.)  It’s more immediate too, so there will be music links and funny memes, you know, tumblr stuff. Here, I’ll share links to articles, tools, and especially historic research resources I find helpful.  I may occasionally post music to write to, or cool images.

Here, I’ll talk about my research, my writing, whatever I’m working on as I progress toward my writing goals.  What are those goals?  Well, in the short-term, I’ve managed to get a piece of flash-fiction placed with cool series from Akashic Books.  Next is to finish another short (but longer than flash) piece and get it placed somewhere.  Longer term, I’m working on what I’m seeing as a novella series, and then another series of full-length novels.  Both series are historic thrillers/mysteries. One of those series grabbed me by the collar and is dragging me along.

What I’m working on now: a novella set in and around 1930s Denver. I was not alive in the 1930s nor have I lived in Denver, so there’s some research to do.  This story also features a main character who I think will be a series character.  Anyway, the short has been a lot of fun, using info I’ve dug up previously, but haven’t used.

I’ve gotten to know the main character  in this one pretty well.  He first appeared as a supporting cast member of my first attempt at a novel back in 2007 or so.  Through edits, rewrites, and dumping the whole thing and starting over a couple times, he’s emerged as one of the two main characters of that novel — he was too fascinating, and too much fun to hang out with compared to my original main character.

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Anyway, thanks for reading.  No spoilers, but amazing poster served as a bit of inspiration this week:

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