Vicki,
I have a few questions about "female noir":
First, there's that blurb that describes you as the Queen of
Female Noir. Now this is obviously meant as a compliment, and
your publishers clearly see it as good for marketing (at
which I hope it is very successful), but I wonder if you have
any thoughts about the word
"female" as a qualifier in that title. I mean, Thompson, Cain
or Goodis, or whoever one might think is the king, would be
called the King of Noir, period, not the King of Male Noir.
So why must you be the Queen of Female Noir instead of just
the Queen of Noir? (Do his Nina Zero books make Robert Eversz
the King of Female Noir?) That kind of leads to my next
question . . .
Does it bother you that your gender is always brought up.
Yes, you write about female characters, but that doesn't make
them any less interesting, often makes them more so, since
they are still a bit of a novelty as a point of view
character in noir. So why must that one aspect be underlined
or separated out (by others, not by you)? Gender is just one
of many distinguishing characteristics, so why is so much
more attention paid it than others, such as profession,
class, region, race (well, race is separated out in a similar
way -- Black Lit), etc? Do you think it's simply the novelty?
Will it lose that distinction when there are more female
writers and protagonists in the field? You've mentioned that
you and other female writers are always put on the same,
separate panels at conventions. I hope it at least helps you
sell more books.
Finally, I have a question more specific to your own novels.
And I must admit that I'm about to be guilty of just what I
was asking about above, treating you as if your books
represent all women, whereas it would never occur to me to
think of the many men who follow femmes fatales to their
fates as exemplifiying all men, but . . . In all three of
your books that I have read (Miami Purity, Iguana Love and
Sky Blues), the women pay for being highly sexual, for being
led by their vaginas in the same way many noir men are led by
their dicks (as you note, it's actually just one of many
areas in which each protagonist begins to
"take risks"). Why must they pay for their attempted freedom?
It's very clear in each book why those particular characters
end up paying, but I was wondering about your thoughts on the
issue, since your returning to it seems to indicate that the
theme is important to you. And do you think of these women as
"acting like men," particulary in their sexual behavior? I'm
guessing that you do, at least in Iguana Love, where she
actually grows a faux phallus, but is that your view, that
women pay for acting like men? And if so, is that
prescriptive on your part or simply a reflection of how you
see gender relations in our current society? You also
mentioned that men tend to relate to the sexual women in your
books much better than women do -- do you think they're
responding to the sex or the payment due at the end? Maybe
both, offering the fantasy, but returning to reality at the
end?
Thanks for your thoughts on everything you've discussed this
month. The glimpse behind the curtain has been very
interesting and enlightening. Also, thanks for a lot of good
reading in the novels of yours I have read and those I will
read in the future.
Mark
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