> Are there any Westerns people would consider
hardboiled?
>
> How about hb Science Fiction?
>
In SF I'm surprised to see no-one yet mention Alfred Bester's
2 classics: "The Demolished Man" & "Tiger, Tiger" (US
title: "The Stars My Destination"). Both indispensable reads
for anyone into popular literature of the 20th C, as well as
very hardboiled. Somebody has mentioned Leigh Brackett, who
has written 2 or 3 excellent hb/noir books but who is mainly
remembered for her wonderful space opera stuff, much, if not
all, written in a hb vernacular. Consider: "The Venus dicks
were tough. They were plenty tough." You substitute
Chicago
(or any other modern town) for Venus & what you have is a
typical intro to a Black Mask story rather than a Planet
Stories opus. Someone also mentioned Algis Budrys. Aside from
"Rogue Moon", "Who?" is another rather HB-styled SF grounded
in Cold War paranoia.Again, as mentioned, his short "The
Master of the Hounds" is one that has to be read - one of my
favourite HB/noir shorts of all time. Some of Samuel R
Delany's earlier work (not familiar with later stuff) would
also get a guernsey, shorts such as "Time Considered as a
Helix of Semi-Precious Stones" as well as being a, if not
the, major influence on William Gibson, would also qualify.
Aside from all this there seems to be a strong connection
between writers connected with the British New Wave SF scene
of the 1960's & 1970's & modern noir - James Sallis
being the main example but also writers such as M John
Harrison whose most recent work is influenced by noir &
who mentions in interviews that he's a fan of modern US noir
writers.
Rene
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