G'day Richard,
Let me know what you think when you've read the novel.
I...ah... <<<confession time>>> collect
books about Ventriloquist Dummies and would like to know if
it's worth picking up.
Cheers,
Steve
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Richard Moore [mailto:
moorich2@aol.com]
> Sent: Monday, 28 February 2005 10:26 AM
> To:
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: RARA-AVIS: Mr. Blur
>
>
>
> Anyone on the list familiar with MR. BLUR by c.c.
dust (name always
> given as lower case) published by The Radiant Press
in 2004?
>
> It was an impulse purchase today. I love the title
and the cover art
> features the head of a ventriloquist dummy's head
over a shadowy
> cityscape. I also liked the cover line "there's
something wrong
> with reality" as it is a truth I first learned as a
teenager reading
> Philip K. Dick and have been reminded of many times
over the last
> quarter century as I worked in
Washington.
>
> The book is labeled "A Paul Bezier Mystery" (with an
accent mark over
> the first "e") and from the blurb I gather that he's
a private eye in
> New York's East Village. Also featured is a
detective named Ralf
> Westerback who in London 1888 "pursues a sinister
figure through the
> blind alleyways of Whitechapel."
>
> I'm up for a novel that mixes a bit of fantasy or SF
into the PI
> form, as this one appears to do.
>
> Opening at random I read the following paragraph
that somewhat
> dampened my enthusiasm:
>
> "Kyoko Jones, a lithe, athletic woman wearing a
black leather
> catsuit, blocks the doorway. She carries an 8 mm
Beretta strapped to
> one thigh and a carbon steel throwing knife pressed
against the
> other. Her eyes are blue as an American sky but the
rest of her face
> (except for her hair, which is long and blonde as a
valley girl's) is
> basically Asian. Her hands are encased in black
Micromesh gloves
> that look like chain mail and act like a set of
super brass
> knuckles. They click softly."
>
> I sense some influence here from the modern graphic
novel, a form I
> should know better than I do. I'll grant the
catsuit--I'm not sure
> where or when we are in this randomly selected
paragraph--but the 8
> mm Beretta gives me some trouble. Beretta makes a 9
mm and a 7.62 mm
> (or whatever .32 caliber translates to) but I've not
heard of an 8
> mm. Someone will correct me if I am wrong. If it is
set in a
> fantasy world, they might have an 8 mm there but in
a writer's group
> I would nitpick the point.
>
> But what really gives me trouble is imagining this
lethal babe with a
> sizable handgun strapped to one thigh and a throwing
knife strapped
> to the other. He talks about her fingers clicking
within her metal
> gloves, what about those thighs!? Unless she is as
bow-legged as
> Gabby Hayes, she'd rattle louder than Elijah Baley
with a bad
> hangover and give off more sparks than the average
Zippo lighter.
>
> Well now, I seem to have reviewed a novel based on
one random
> paragraph, wildly mixing cultural references as I go
along. So
> unfair. So much fun. A few more paragraphs like that
one and the
> novel will have repaid me in entertainment
value.
>
> But I would still appreciate any info or views of
MR. BLUR or mr.
> dust (who glancing inside again appears to also be a
character in the
> novel).
>
> Richard Moore
>
>
>
>
>
>
> RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
>
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>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 27 Feb 2005 EST