Category Archives: Books

David Goodis and the Intermittent Noir Revival The cruel tableau of dark shadows, femme fatales and hard men conjured by the word "noir" has become a cliche, the stuff of countless books, movies and television commercials, an easy mark, parodied … Continue reading →

Whenever I do my monthly order from my book distributor I try to make a point of ordering one book from their "Lightning Source" section. These are basically print on demand books, self published or from very small publishers, stuff … Continue reading →

You don’t really think of Agatha Christie as a sixties kind of bird, and yet she was certainly alive and writing in London when it was really swinging. Needless to say, like a lot of people, she didn’t get it, … Continue reading →

The first time I picked up Rimbaud’s Illuminations as a teenager it blew my mind. I loved it, but still I couldn’t help wondering What is this? Where did this come from? As I got more context and read people … Continue reading →

American Detective, Loren D. Estleman, Forge, $24.95   Amos Walker’s client in Loren Estleman’s American Detective is a former major league pitching star and it’s tempting to see Estleman in the same way – except that there’s no former about … Continue reading →

Hey, I just read another really good book. It’s called What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman. From the very beginning I was blown away – it’s the American equivalent of a Ruth Rendell book in its penetrating psychology, mordant … Continue reading →

Yes, dear UBUFAN, I did it again – read another BALZAC book, a novella actually, called THE GIRL WITH THE GOLDEN EYES, and, although I have been certified, don’t ya know, as a MASTER OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE by … Continue reading →

I really thought I’d read enough Balzac in my life. He’s a great writer, no doubt, but in the 19th Century the writer was God to his characters and Balzac is a very cruel one, the God of Job, tormenting … Continue reading →

Better Than Yesterday by Robyn Schneider   I first came across Robyn Schneider in the Ingram Advance magazine, which touted her as a hot first time Young Adult author. Her hook is that she’s only twenty years old and started … Continue reading →

Since I’m on the street level of the book biz, I get a lot of promotional material. There are authors who will send a five page letter about their artistic process or publish in blogs or fanzines lengthy accounts of … Continue reading →