Welcome and Introductions

[Michael, Anti-Hero]

Welcome, I've started this group because I'm addicted to Goodreads and I wanted a good place to talk about my favourite genre; pulp. I'm sure as the group grows it will evolve into more crime styles. But for now, I think it will focus on good hard boiled and noir stories, old and new.

I'm KL, I'm moderator of another book club, a big reader and occasional blogger; as well as a soon to be uni student (doing a BA in English lit). Feel free to start treads

[Michael, Anti-Hero]

I will be working on setting this up better over the next few days, so stay tuned

[Melki, Femme fatale]

Welcome! I went away for a few hours and came back to learn that I've been made a moderator! Imagine my surprise!

I've been on Goodreads since April of this year. What a liberating experience to find that I can annoy people all over the world, not just members of my immediate family. I read over 100 books a year from all genres, but crime/mystery has always been a favorite, thanks to early indoctrination by my dear old dad, who used to shove Ed McBain books at me as soon as I learned how to read.

As KL said, please start any topics about your favorite authors and books.

[Franky]

Hey KL and Melki, imagine meeting you two over here :) Looks awesome. Can't wait for this to get going.

[Melki, Femme fatale]

Hi Franky! Glad you decided to join us.

[Kim]

What a surprise to see such shifty citizens hiding away down a dark alley while the rain pours and the thunder cracks

(unfortunately it's a bright, sunny summer day here :P)

[Michael, Anti-Hero]

It will be awesome, we need more noir in our lives

[David]

Hi guys. You are a man of action KL :)
By way of introduction, I love crime fiction, and have spent this year reading as much Australian crime fiction as I can. Having said that, any sort of good fiction is fine by me!
I am not sure much of what I read can be necessarily defined as noir. Maybe someone can give me an idea of modern noir authors. Are there any Australian authors that are considered noir? Peter Corris perhaps? Or is noir by definition, 1930s/40s Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett type novels? Anyway, I enjoy a good suspense or mystery novel. I read a lot of police procedurals, and books by anyone from local authors like David Owen, Garry Disher or Peter Corris through to the international mainstream authors like Lee Child, Tess Gerritsen or Kathy Reichs.
Nice to meet you all and I look forward to contributing when and where I can.

[David]

...btw Melki, I love your profile picture. I guess that picnic table is taken :)

[Michael, Anti-Hero]

David wrote: "Hi guys. You are a man of action KL :)
By way of introduction, I love crime fiction, and have spent this year reading as much Australian crime fiction as I can. Having said that, any sort of good ..."

Thanks for joining, I would say that modern authors that fit into the noir genre would include people like Elmore Leonard, Robert B. Parker, Walter Mosley and James Ellroy.

Having said that Noir has influenced authors like Michael Connelly and Stieg Larsson. It's a strange genres so it could really fit a lot of different authors into it. But I will try my best to explain Hardboiled and Noir.

Hard-Boiled is the detective genre, distinguished by the unsentimental portrayal of violence and sex, made famous by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.

While Noir focuses on a plot where the protagonist is the victim, suspect, or perpetrator; this style was commonly used by seminal author James M Cain.

[David]

Thanks KL.
With regard to hard-boiled, I have read some Raymond Chandler, Robert B. Parker and Michael Connelly in the past and liked them, and Larsson books are currently sitting on my bookshelf in the TBR queue.
With noir, I have always enjoyed books where the bad guy was the main character, but never actually realised this was defined as noir. Thanks for the heads-up. I will look forward to reading some more and will definitely check out James M. Cain.

[Michael, Anti-Hero]

James M Cain is awesome, you should read some of his work, they are all short books

[Melki, Femme fatale]

The picnic table WAS taken when I showed up, but now that I've devoured the pesky family AND the contents of their picnic basket....by all means, have a seat! ;P

Welcome to the group, David.

[David]

Haha Melki, thankyou and nice to meet you.
I can see why they made you a moderator :) Anything you want/need just ask, I'll jump!

[Melki, Femme fatale]

Hmmm....I'll get back to you on that.

[Paul]

Hi guys!

Great idea for a group, looking forward to joining in. I do love me a bit of noir - sometimes straight, often with a shot of other genres. Scifi, which I freely confess to being my main squeeze, has a fair bit of work influenced by hardboiled detective fiction, via Philip K Dick's The Man in the High Castle and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, especially in the movie form, Blade Runner. I also think noir is probably the biggest influence on contemporary crime fiction, or maybe that's just the stuff i read.

My favourite noir authors are Hammett and Elmore Leonard, and I'm also dying to jump into a short story collection I recently found called Pulp Fiction The Villains. I'll have to get hold of a copy of The Postman Always Rings Twice as I've never read that one.

Also enjoying some proper hardboiled fiction serialised on BBC Radio 4Extra at the moment, http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/...

Now I'm going to slowly back away as I realise that I may still smell of the toast and honey I had for breakfast and Melki's nose is twitching...

[Michael, Anti-Hero]

Good to have you here Paul, I hope you enjoy some good noir and hard boiled books. We do plain to dive into neo-noir and science-fiction-noir and all those wonderful new genres. So if you have any good suggestions let me know

[Melki, Femme fatale]

Do I hear my name being taken in vain?
You're lucky, Pez...some Jehovah's Witnesses showed up at my door this morning, and I don't think I could eat another bite;)

[Melki, Femme fatale]

Glad you decided to join us, by the way...

[Paul]

Melki wrote: "Do I hear my name being taken in vain?
You're lucky, Pez...some Jehovah's Witnesses showed up at my door this morning, and I don't think I could eat another bite;)"

Thanks, glad to be here. Aren't the Jehovah's usually a bit stringy, though...?

[Melki, Femme fatale]

Naw - you're thinking of the Seventh Day Adventists. Witnesses are usually quite plump, juicy, and filling.
Mmmmm...this conversation is making my hungry again. Join me for a bite?

[Paul]

Sounds good, I'll stoke up the barbie :D

[Lawyer]

What a wonderful idea for a group! The first read is certainly a winner. KL, thanks so much for starting this. And under Melki's watchful eye, I'll be sure to toe the line. *grin* This is going to be great fun.

Putting on my fedora. Got my trench coat. The Browning Hi-Power clip's full and there's an extra in the pocket. Flipping the cap on the Zippo to light up a Lucky Strike. Trouble is my business. Say, that reminds me of a story...

[Michael, Anti-Hero]

Thanks for joining Mike, I thought it was about time we had a group on here focusing on my favourite crime sub-genres :)

[Melki, Femme fatale]

Hello Mike. Glad you're here to class up the joint.

[Lawyer]

Melki, Class up the joint? I need to take you to my favorite joint. It's the Oasis, a classic late 40's roadhouse. Juke box, same scarred tables and tattered booths as when the place opened. Best burgers and the coldest beer in town! And you never know who you're going to rub elbows with there. *laughing* You can always find a few noir characters at the Oasis.

[Sonali]

I have always loved crime fiction and especially after a'deep' book it provides wonderful relief.Strange? that murder, violence can provide that.I have read more english crime fiction rather than american.Is that alright?

[Michael, Anti-Hero]

Of Course that is alright, but here you'll probably find most of the books would be American, possibly set in LA.

[Sonali]

Yes KL. I couldnt get hold of 'Postman'in any shop or library.(sad)However, my son has downloaded it for me and I shall be able to read it when I go to Mumbai for my Christmas vacations, i.e.24th Dec.

[Paul]

Sonali wrote: "Yes KL. I couldnt get hold of 'Postman'in any shop or library.(sad)However, my son has downloaded it for me and I shall be able to read it when I go to Mumbai for my Christmas vacations, i.e.24th Dec."

I confess I'd been having a little trouble getting hold of it - my library does have it but there's rather a long waiting list - but managed to find and order a copy just before the weekend!

And welcome to Sonali and Mike from another new recruit.

[Lawyer]

Thanks for the welcome, Paul. And welcome to you, too. I think we're all going to enjoy this group. Glad you got your copy. Fortunately, it was available to me. I'll be starting it soon.

Sonali, you'll easily make the read by the end of December. "Postman" is a quick and enjoyable read.

[Philippa]

Hello All :) I decided it probably made sense for me to join this group seeing as I read Postman this morning. Definately a nice quick read!
I've read plenty of crime books before, but probably very little that would actually fit in to this specific category. So will be lots of new stuff for me!

[Michael, Anti-Hero]

I hope you enjoyed the grittiness of the book. Good to have you here, Phillippa

[Melki, Femme fatale]

Hi Philippa. At least you've done something productive with your morning. Hope you like the group.

[Philippa]

Knowledge Lost wrote: "I hope you enjoyed the grittiness of the book. Good to have you here, Phillippa"

Thanks KL! It reminded me a bit of some of the kindle shorts I've read in that it was very self-contained and not overly complicated. But still very enjoyable. Will try and get some thoughts on it down later!

Melki wrote: "Hi Philippa. At least you've done something productive with your morning. Hope you like the group."

Thanks Melki! Will be a nice excuse to try something new. And also hopefully a nice break from some of the heavier stuff that comes up elsewhere. Think I'm now going to have a productive afternoon too and decorate my flat!

[Melki, Femme fatale]

Just watch where you hang that mistletoe!

[Heather]

Hi!

My name is Heather and I'm rather new to the pulp literary genre. I'm usually found over at my website reviewing horror book/short stories or novellas. I'm married to an author how have 2 books out. One of which I think might be of interest to the group, but I'm sure of the proper protocol for telling you about it so I will hold off for now.

I grew up watching old detective movies/shows, but never delved into the literary world until recently. I'm hoping to find some new authors and even friends to talk with.

[Melki, Femme fatale]

Welcome to the group, Heather.

I stole KL's folder from another group and created a writer's corner. (And also KL's words...)

Feel free to pimp your book there.

Thieves, pimps...what a bunch of lowlifes we are...

[Michael, Anti-Hero]

hahahaha, at least you didn't take credit for it ;)

[Dan]

I'm Dan. Pulp noir is one of my favorite genres. I've read a ton of Lawrence Block and Richard Stark in the last few years, as well as the entire Hard Case Crime series. I'm on a Jim Thompson kick lately but I have to space them out a bit.

[Melki, Femme fatale]

Aaaa! Richard Stark - again! *bangs head on desk before heading to Amazon to place huge Richard Stark order*

Welcome to the group, Dan.

[Melki, Femme fatale]

Just wanted to remind all the new gang members - there is a poll for our January read at the bottom of our homepage.

[Melki, Femme fatale]

Okay - just ordered The Hunter by Richard Stark. This means it should probably be our February read.

[Michael, Anti-Hero]

About time Melki! and welcome Dan

[Ed]

I'd be happy to read "The Hunter" again. It's a pretty fast read too.

[Adam]

I second (or third...whatever) reading The Hunter in November!

[Melki, Femme fatale]

One more reminder of the poll for the January read. If you haven't voted yet, please do so. Can't remember the closing date I picked... Let's just say the poll will close SOON, and be done with it.

[Mohammed]

Hi im Mohammed big fan of classic PI stories, classic noir. You can see in my Fav Goodread lists half of the authors are noir writes from pulp era and today. Hammett,Westlake in my top 5.

The only reason i read crime is really because i lured in by great noir fiction. Mostly thanks to pulp era authors.

I live in Sweden but was born in Somalia. I thank many of the authors mentioned in this group for they made me an avid reader :)

[Michael, Anti-Hero]

Welcome, you'll fit in well here with all that pulp you read

[Mohammed]

Knowledge Lost wrote: "Welcome, you'll fit in well here with all that pulp you read"

Yeah as you can see when i posted in 10 posts in this group in few minutes. Must be easily the group that fits in with my taste the most.

I will look forward to the group reads, i have many pulp books unread at home. I like in this group pulp is used for the era of noir stories. Not as insult to the noir,crime stories as they do in mainstream mags.