Michael Chong (mchong@ytv.com)
Fri, 27 Aug 1999 14:28:09 -0400
Hello,
I just read Juri's letter and actually read the rara-avis
confirmation letter. So if there must be an intro, here it
is.
My name is Michael S. Chong and I reside in Toronto, the same
city as the proprietor of this fine list. I'm in my late
twenties and work in television. I've been reading the
website archives for years, but didn't want to join. I'm not
a real joiner. After awhile, when every search engine query
of mine popped up rara-avis, I knew I had to join. I believe
the first HB novel I ever read was Blue Belle by Vacchs. It
was given to me by a friend. It was interesting. That didn't
start the ball rolling...
I spent a significant amount of time in Europe, Holland to be
exact, and was starving for any reading material. I started
haunting the used bookstores and came across three books that
really got me. Hammett's Red Harvest (HB Year One), Graham
Greene's The Power and The Glory (Utter noir) and Ellroy's
Black Dahlia (Sex, Mom and Horror). Since then, there's been
no looking back. (Has Greene's work been debated as being
HB/noir? To me, The Power and the Glory, A Gun for Sale, and
Brighton Rock are hardcore HB/noir and tough to match.)
I love crime fiction more than mysteries. I like the sordid
bottom-feeders and trapped men doing bad things either
because they have to or because they love it, not PI's,
except the Op of course. I've read almost all of Jim
Thompson, James Ellroy, Andrew Vacchs and Elmore Leonard.
Other authors sampled and enjoyed are Frederic Brown, Cornell
Woolrich, Edward Bunker, Charles Williford, Chester Himes,
David Goodis, Paul Cain, James M. Cain, Steve Fisher, Iceberg
Slim and Joseph Wambaugh. Film noir and HB comics are cool
too (Personal faves in each medium: Out of the Past/Touch of
Evil and Sin City/Stray Bullets), but there's something about
the rhythm and stark imagery stuck into your mind solely
through the written word. This genre says so much (dare I use
the word existentially) to the alienated and outraged.
Dreaming until I die...
Michael Michael S. Chong Writer/Researcher gAmerZ 64
Jefferson Avenue, Unit 18 Toronto, ON M6K 3H3 416-534-1191
phone 416-533-0346 fax
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Fri 27 Aug 1999 - 14:29:30 EDT