Pulp Fiction discussion
General
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Welcome and Introductions
Tristan wrote: "Hey people - I'm a Belgium-based devotee of all things noir. I have to come clean by saying that I haven't read that much of the genre, but I do know a thing or two about the genre in the filmmediu..."Tristan you're a lucky man if Belgium is anything like other parts of Europe in its appreciation for American noir. So many great authors are still in print in France and Italy for example that were never reprinted in English.
I hope you have fun with our group.
Mark wrote: "Hi everyone I'm Mark from Northampton. Have previously been reading a lot of modern crime/thriller fiction but since being on Goodreads have realized how many great books to read and how much more ..."Hey Mark, welcome! Goodreads is pretty amazing for helping to grow your to-be-read pile isn't it?
You could always check out some of the great books we've read in the group so far, filed on our bookshelf. Michael who set the group up has a blog Literary Exploration which as of Sunday will have a four part history/brief overview of the genre to get to know a few key authors and books.
Mod
The 1930′s – 1940′s
The 1950′s
The 1960′s – 1980′s
The 1990′s – Onwards
Howdy folks,Nice to meet you all. I'm a pulp hound, mostly noir. I love Jim Thompson and Dashiell Hamett, but also modern variants like Joe Lansdale, Norm Partridge, and Joe Clifford.
Would be cool to get folks recommendations on favorite modern pulp masters, especially for this past year.
Cheers,
JSR
Hi All, my name's Craig and I'm a noiraholic. I write it, I read it, I live it and breath it. (Well, maybe not live it). JSR, check out Chelsea Cain's "Heart" series for phenomenally dark modern noir. For offbeat, check out Daniel Woodrell's Country noir, John Straley's Alaskan noir, Megan Abbott's retro noir (Die a Little), Charlie Huston's neo-noir, Steve Hamilton's Great Lakes noir, Gillian Flynn's Dark Places, Thomas Perry's The Butcher's Boy, Tod Goldberg, T Jefferson Parker's Silent Joe, Christa Faust's Money Shot... that ought to give you a start.
Craig Faustus wrote: "Hi All, my name's Craig and I'm a noiraholic. I write it, I read it, I live it and breath it. (Well, maybe not live it). JSR, check out Chelsea Cain's "Heart" series for phenomenally dark modern..."Will do, Craig I've read some of what you mentioned (Meg Abbot and Charlie Huston and Christa Faust) but will add the rest to the list.
Cheers,
JSR
Hey guys,I just signed up with this group. I'm not a PI with my shoes on the desk top and a small fan whirling on the filing cabinet. I don't own a gun, and haven't been in a fistfight since grade school. I do, however, drink gin gimlets and read about people who own guns and get into fistfights.
Mharper wrote: "Hey guys,I just signed up with this group. I'm not a PI with my shoes on the desk top and a small fan whirling on the filing cabinet. I don't own a gun, and haven't been in a fistfight since gr..."
Well, welcome. Seriously, we won't hold any of that stuff against you!
This looks like fun, thanks, Melki! Now i have a good excuse to dig into the pulps! :)
Mod
Hello Everyone, I'm Ty. I recently discovered GoodReads and this group and am happy to be here. I've been reading pulp/noir for a long time, ever since I randomly picked up a Richard Stark book in the public library (sadly they only had 3 of his books.) But I quickly followed that with lots of John D. MacDonald and Elmore Leonard. I hope to get some good recommendations and I've ordered The Sins of the Fathers so I can join in next month's discussion. Looking forward to it. Thanks!
Ty wrote: "Hello Everyone, I'm Ty. I recently discovered GoodReads and this group and am happy to be here. I've been reading pulp/noir for a long time, ever since I randomly picked up a Richard Stark book in..."
Welcome Ty, I'm sure we all look forward to some fresh eyes in the discussion groups. Every month is a good read in this group but I'm glad that your first experience will be with this excellent Lawrence Block book.
Hello! I'm new and thought I'd say hi. Hi.
Even newer than Matthew here. Just found this group and it's exciting ... love all noir, from ancient to classic to modern to now. Appreciate the discussion and group reads here and look forward to participating.
Hi everyone. I am Sebastian and I am new to the group. I am a relative newbie with regards to noir, in the sense that I have dabbled in the genre for years but only marginally. Finding the excellent Jack Taylor series by Ken Bruen has sparked my interest and I am looking forward to learn a lot from my interactions in this group. Cheers!
Sebastian wrote: "Hi everyone. I am Sebastian and I am new to the group. I am a relative newbie with regards to noir, in the sense that I have dabbled in the genre for years but only marginally. Finding the excellen..."Mohammed is your man for Bruen, he's a big fan. I'm sure we'll all be able to pass on our personal enthusiasms however.
Hi,
New to this group, I'm a big fan of crime fiction but try and keep things fresh with a mix of genre reading - main love is crime though. I even read the 50 Shades of grim trilogy last year - ha ha don't boot me off the group - I try and read what my wife reads just to promote a bit of learned discourse in the household!
Fave authors - too many to mention but a few - Norman Green, Elmore Leonard, Joe Lansdale, Gerald Petievich, Harry Crews, Thomas Perry, Roger Smith, Charles Willeford, Dnaiel Woodrell, Don Winslow,
Also a bit of espionage stuff - John LeCarre, Olen Steinhauer, Jeremy Duns
New to this group, I'm a big fan of crime fiction but try and keep things fresh with a mix of genre reading - main love is crime though. I even read the 50 Shades of grim trilogy last year - ha ha don't boot me off the group - I try and read what my wife reads just to promote a bit of learned discourse in the household!
Fave authors - too many to mention but a few - Norman Green, Elmore Leonard, Joe Lansdale, Gerald Petievich, Harry Crews, Thomas Perry, Roger Smith, Charles Willeford, Dnaiel Woodrell, Don Winslow,
Also a bit of espionage stuff - John LeCarre, Olen Steinhauer, Jeremy Duns
Hello all, I'm Joe. I am new to Goodreads, and new to groups. This group seems to be closest to my own reading taste, although I read in other genres as well. I love this stuff. I have read a lot of Mickey Spillane, most of Richard Stark's Parker books, "Bodies Are Where You Find Them" - Halliday, "Double Indemnity" - Cain, "The Lady in the Lake", "The Big Sleep", and "The Long Goodbye - Chandler, "The Grifters" and "The Getaway" - Thompson,and "The Name of the Game is Death" - Marlowe, just to name a few. I'm currently reading "The Sentry" by Robert Crais, and my To Read list includes "The Last Good Kiss" - Crumley and "Hard Rain" by Barry Eisler. Everyone in this group seems cool, and I'm hoping to make some new friends with similar tastes. (I know the above titles should be underlined...I'm working on that.) :)
Mod
He needs to be ridden mercilessly. I just happen to have a riding crop...
Melki wrote: "Hello to all the new Pulp Fiction members! Joe is forgiven for not underlining, but I don't think we can ever forget Col's 50 Shades transgression.He needs to be ridden mercilessly. I just happ..."
Stop it, you're making him flush, down there.
Joe wrote: "Hello all, I'm Joe. I am new to Goodreads, and new to groups. This group seems to be closest to my own reading taste, although I read in other genres as well. I love this stuff. I have read a lot o..."Hey Joe, you don't know how to or just forgot? If it's the first option click on add book/author and it does all of the work for you, once you've decided which book you want to link to of course.
Tfitoby wrote: "Joe wrote: "Hello all, I'm Joe. I am new to Goodreads, and new to groups. This group seems to be closest to my own reading taste, although I read in other genres as well. I love this stuff. I have..."Thanks. I appreciate the help.
Hi, first of all, thanks to Melki for encouraging me to join this group.I grew up reading Raymond Chandler,Dashiell Hammett, and Ross Macdonald before migrating to more contemporary writers like: Bill Pronzini,Marcia Muller,Michael Z. Lewin, and Thomas Perry.
I'm delighted that Altered Carbon is coming up. I'll definitely be joining in.
I'm looking forward to what the group has to say and would be happy to make friends with anyone else interested in thrillers and pulp fiction.
Hey, I'm Mike and I live just outside of Philadelphia, PA. I have enjoyed my share of pulp fiction over the years. Two of my favorite authors are Donald Westlake and Lawrence Block. I look forward to having my horizons widen as I join in with the Group Reads.
Hey everyone. I thought I'd join the group and hopefully discover some authors to read. Just from reading through the introductions, it looks like there are quite a few mentioned. As for me, I'm a writer and sometimes filmmaker. I actually had a modern film noir feature project in production a couple years ago but the project fell apart during casting due to distribution issues. Anyway, that's my sordid tale.
Nice to meet everyone. See you on the threads.
New blood! Welcome welcome. Don't forget to vote in our monthly polls guys, the more who read them the better the chatter.
Mod
Hello there...I started reading noir last year when I read a huge anthology of the Best American Noir of the Century. I fell in love immediately. I want to keep reading this genre, so I joined to find out about other authors/books/etc.
Wow. I keep finding groups that share my interests. I'm not alone! I am an avid reader (read: book junkie) and read most genres, but always come back to noir and pulp fiction. I am also a big sci-fi and fantasy fan, but most of the books I read in these genres have strong elements of noir and pulp. I'm not a total bookworm, though - I do construction work to pay the bills, am a former English teacher, and a combat veteran. I also do a lot of gardening, photography (with vintage cameras), and I like to tinker in the workshop re-building fishing gear. Guess I'm sort of a renaissance man. I collect, sell, and trade vintage paperbacks, so if your collection is missing something, just ask - I might have it.
Mod
Hello all, Just getting into Goodreads and thought I would get my feet wet early. I'm not dedicated to one kind of genre but I have a soft spot for a good piece of noir.
Mod
I'm kind of a newcomer to the genre, used to mostly read science-fiction and horror so I jumped ship to the pulp crime genre a few years ago when I got tired of my usual comfort zone.Favourite book in the genre, and one of my all-time favourite novels period, has to be James Crumley's "the Last Good Kiss".
Mod
It looks like The Last Good Kiss might be our group read for April. There's still time to vote for your favorite.
On a related note, have anyone else noticed that crime fiction seems to be the default go-to realistic genre for science-fiction fans who want to expand their horizons? (like it was for me)I think it has something to do with both genres' current forms having their origins in pulp magazines, and hence the long tradition of genre crossovers starting from Alfred Bester and Philip K. Dick in the 1950s to the cyberpunk of the 1980s and beyond. Also how the setting (esp. its sociological aspects) often is as important as the characters in both.
Mod
Mod
James wrote: "Hello!Name's James. I'm a bit of a novice to crime lit (basically only read the biggies -- Thompson, Chandler, Hammett, and a few random pick-ups), but I'm a huge film noir fan. I'm also an obnox..."
Welcome James, come join us in the film noir subsection of the group forum, new input always great to see. From my experience a passion for one form has inspired a passion in the other and now they are both feeding each other in a never ending circle of exploration. So little time!
Incredibly I've only seen 4 of those and despite the film noir encyclopedia lists i made in the group not heard of the others either!
Hey, folks. 'm Neil. New to the group. I'm a crime fiction author who toils in the noir trenches. It was really Ellroy who made me really see the potential of crime fiction, but I've wanted to be a writer since I was 10. And luckily, I've been able to publish my books and teach writing for over ten years now. Sweet.Looking forward to some cool discussions.
Mod
Just a risk I'll have to take...
Melki wrote: "Welcome to the group. I went to add your book, Yellow Medicine, to my to-read list, and whad'ya know...it's already there. Thanks for the opportunity to read-for-free. I understand that I will p..."Pay...and pay again, and again, and...
Thanks!
Anthony wrote: "Hey, folks. 'm Neil. New to the group. I'm a crime fiction author who toils in the noir trenches. It was really Ellroy who made me really see the potential of crime fiction, but I've wanted to be a..."
Nice to see you here, Neil..........see if you can get any of your books on the monthly poll - then you can vote for it, read it and review it - haha.
Col
Nice to see you here, Neil..........see if you can get any of your books on the monthly poll - then you can vote for it, read it and review it - haha.
Col
Aw, Col, that sounds hard. You do it for me!
Hi, everyone! I'm brand-spankin-new and so happy to be here. I love anything in black and white, Slavic women with a mean streak, men who smell like cigarettes and whiskey, women who smell like they've just been with that man.It's good to be here with folks who share my interests.
Cheers and enjoy the weekend,
Vic
Col wrote: "Anthony wrote: "Hey, folks. 'm Neil. New to the group. I'm a crime fiction author who toils in the noir trenches. It was really Ellroy who made me really see the potential of crime fiction, but I'v..."Hi Col:
Can't find Neil's post. What number is it? I'm a slacker...first time here this week. Sorry, friend, call me bad, I can take it.
You're funny...your post. cd
Cathy wrote: "Col wrote: "Anthony wrote: "Hey, folks. 'm Neil. New to the group. I'm a crime fiction author who toils in the noir trenches. It was really Ellroy who made me really see the potential of crime fict..."
No. 307 I think Cathy,
I've read a few of his books and they worked for me, probably not everyone's cup of tea though,
Col
No. 307 I think Cathy,
I've read a few of his books and they worked for me, probably not everyone's cup of tea though,
Col
Pulp Fiction
Books mentioned in this topic
Hard Rain Falling (other topics)The Little Sister (other topics)
The Hunter (other topics)
The Killer Inside Me (other topics)
The Big Sleep (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Don Carpenter (other topics)Gordon Ferris (other topics)
James M. Cain (other topics)
Denise Mina (other topics)
Ken Bruen (other topics)
More...
Welcome Diane, I had never realised that Sydney Sheldon was crime fiction. We don't post in the welcome section too frequently but the other discussions are generally ongoing and our monthly reads have been excellent so far. Hope to see you around.