Helen Knode's Blog
October 1, 2012
THE GREATEST CHASE IN DETECTIVE FICTION
At Vroman's in Pasadena, a great question from the audience prompted this riff about how fossil fuels -- from coal to oil -- are essential for a staple of crime stories, the high-speed chase.
THE DARKNESS IS REAL
Last May James Ellroy and I did two gigs on the subject of Noir and our history with it. Here this is Vroman's bookstore and I'm explaining what I learned about Darkness the hard way, and why I don't play around with it anymore.
DOGPILE ON RAYMOND CHANDLER
Just a small friendly dogpile, at Vroman's. James Ellroy thinks Chandler can't plot and I talk about his ten-year stint with the Dabney Oil Syndicate in L.A. between 1922 and 1932.
CSI: NOWHERESVILLE
L.A. again, May again, Skylight Books again. I'm talking about why I didn't want to base my murder investigation on forensic evidence.
THE OIL BUSINESS IS A MONSTER
This is Skylight Books in L.A. last May. I'm talking about the research it took to make the drilling rig and crews, and the oil-field setting, of WILDCAT PLAY, factually accurate. My idea was that a murder that happens on a rig should be specific to a rig; it shouldn't be a murder that could've happened in an alley or a bedroom.
WILDCAT! WILDCAT! WILDCAT!
The word WILDCAT doesn't appear enough on this website. Here I'm reading the first chapter of the book at Vroman's bookstore in Pasadena, California.
September 14, 2012
WILDCAT MON AMOUR
Filmed at Vroman's in Pasadena during a His&Hers gig with James Ellroy, this is a brief synopsis of the travelogue that got me from TICKET OUT to WILDCAT PLAY.
BUY THIS BOOK!
A short, silly pseudo-commercial -- or infauxmercial -- for WILDCAT PLAY fllmed at Book Soup in L.A.
July 10, 2012
DRIVE-TIME RADIO TOUR
Laughing My Eyebrows Off With The Fastest-Talking People Who Ever Made Early Morning Painless
June 13, 2012
HOW I STOPPED WORRYING AND LEARNED TO LOVE THE OIL BUSINESS part deux
Four generations of Knodes in the oil patch
