Re: RARA-AVIS: Hard-boiled politics (Was: Short administrative

Larry Rickert (lrickert@ix.netcom.com)
Tue, 14 Jul 1998 02:14:59 +0000 James Michael Rogers wrote:

> At 02:58 PM 7/13/98 +0000, The persona-less Mr. Rickert wrote:
>
> >
> >In addition to enjoying hard-boiled stuff, I enjoy the work of Robert
> >E. Howard, who I consider to be a hard-boiled stylist in much of his
> >fantasy/adventure work. I think that Howard employs many of the
> >elements of the hard-boiled style, though his stories are set in
> >other milieus.
> >
> >So, I guess my question is: can this type of fiction be hard-boiled?
> >I'm interested in all opinions.
> >
> >Larry
> >
> Hey! I didn't know you was on dis list!
>
> Actually REH did write a couple of mysteries, although he hated both
> them and the genre as a whole. Be interesting to read 'em and see if they
> were HB or cozy types (hard to imagine, that last).

Hi James,

Good to see you hear. Howard's mysteries were, as you mentioned, not
labors of love for him. They were mostly of the 'weird menace' type,
written specifically for the pulps that featured this type of story.
Plenty of action and fast-paced, but the characters didn't ring true.

I was thinking more along the lines of Cormac Mac Art, Conan, or
Cormac Fitzgeoffrey. These guys are pretty hard-boiled characters.

Larry

Larry Rickert
PC Training and Consulting
lrickert@ix.netcom.com
http://www.netcom.com/~lrickert
Snail mail: 30 Highland Place
Brooklyn, NY 11208
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