RARA-AVIS: Re: No, please, no

From: Kevin Burton Smith ( kvnsmith@colba.net)
Date: 13 Feb 2000


> > Could there be other unacknowledged links between hard-boiled and romantic
> > writing?
>
>No, please, no.

Hmmm....all you big he-men types seem to be getting your panties inordinately twisted over a little love stuff. What's the deal?

Actually, many hard-boiled novels, and certainly most post-Chandler
(or even post-Hammett) detective novels are romances, in the original meaning of the word. The French word for novel is romans.

But if you want to go into "romance," as it's commonly understood today, you guys should know Harlequin started out publishing all types of genre fiction some might even call it pulp fiction), including crime and detective stuff by Wade Miller, Robert Leslie Bellem, Harry Whittington, Frank Kane, Ronald Cooke, James Hadley Chase, Day Keene, Cleve Adams, David Montrose, Robert O. Saber and David Goodis. In a nice nod to tradition, or something, they currently publish crime and detective fiction, albeit with a heavy romance angle, and probably about as hard-boiled as a tissue, under their Intrigue imprint.

Still, I recently met one of their writers, Joyce Sullivan, a former private eye herself. afraid to), but she herself is one stand-up dame.

And then there's Casablanca, that sore spot where the romance and hard-boiled genres touch gloves, and then back into their respective corners.

Kevin Burton Smith The Thrilling Detective Web Site http://www.colba.net/~kvnsmith/thrillingdetective/ Now: The last few days to vote for The Thrillies. Soon: The P.I. Poll on Short Fiction, plus new stuff of our own.

--
# To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca.
# The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/ .



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 13 Feb 2000 EST