Mark wrote
> So I'm more willing to buy one of the two theories
in the lawsuit Jordan
> brought up (thanks), either there was a falling out
with Holloway House
> or it's an imitation (or pastiche).
Well Holloway House had something of a history when it comes
to posthumous publishing. Most of the work that bears Donald
Goines' name came out after he died (btw how about this for a
terrible, hardboiled end - Goines was shot dead by two white
men, probably drug business asociates, in front of his infant
daughters. Two of his books were placed with the body in his
coffin, during his funeral one of them, Daddy Cool, was
stolen.
So Goines was nothing if not authentic. However it beggars
belief to accept that a man who lived as far out on the edge
as Goines had a bunch of manuscripts lying around that he
never bothered to publish. Also there's a marked increase in
quaility in the posthumous books, so my money is on another
of the Hollywood House writers - maybe the unsung Joe Nazel -
having taken over the mantle.
>
> Kerry also asked:
>
> "A question for you: can you recommend any others
like Slim?"
Well, depends a bit what you mean by 'like Slim'. If you want
boooks about pimping I'd suggest Charles Mingus'
extraordinary autobiography, Beneath The Underdog, or if you
wnat pimping and crime and prison I'd suggest Seth Morgan's
Homeboy, which was of course written by a rich white boy, but
one who lived the life (and should certainly have been
mentioned in last month's San Francisco theme). Other white
prison writers who have a lot in common with Slim are Eddie
Bunker and Malcolm Braly.
If you're more concerned with looking for black crime writers
period, then, for a rather less sensationalistic approach,
you might check out the perennially underated Gar Anthony
Haywood, and for neglected black novels of ghetto life you're
not going to go far wrong by sticking to the excellent Norton
Old Skool list (published in the UK by Payback) - buy them
now before they disappear from print once more.
Oh and surely it goes without saying that Chester Himes is up
there with Hammett at the very top of the pantheon.
John
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