Hi Bill-
Anyone who has paid any attention to what I have to say about
George P. should have expected that I would weigh in on this
one.
Bill Denton wrote:
> From an interview with Trevor Maviano, at
>
> http://www.sexandgutsmagazine.com/maviano.htm
>
> | But these are all guys that at least know their
way around. Someone like
> | Pelecanos, I call him the shoe salesman of crime
fiction. His rhythms
> | are wrong. He tries awful hard to be gritty.
That's how it comes off to
> | a guy like me, is tryin.... I find his stuff to be
incredibly contrived,
> | in that it is trying to expand the genre into new
areas, but I don't
> | [want] to hear preaching about racial division in
the United States
> | mixed in with my crime fiction. I just want crime.
If I want to read
> | something political, I'll read non-fiction for
Christ's sake.
>
> I think that's pretty much wrong on all counts.
Maviano later contradicts
> himself, saying, "My view of crime is different than
some people's. I feed
> off a social conflict model, that I think Marx
inspired quite a bit. I see
> crime for profit as being a political
thing."
I went and read the relevant stuff from this interview and
found that Trevor Maviano was interviewed by possibly the
longest-winded interviewer in the history of mankind (and
with David Frost around, that's saying something). Gene
Gregorits putting his own pontificating into the interview of
*Trevor Maviano* nothwithstanding, he did ask about Trevor's
thoughts on crime fiction, and Maviano gives the above
quotes, plus mentioning that he doesn't like Ellroy (I agree,
but for different reasons), and he also doesn't like Elmore
Leonard (which I think is nuts), and likens Pelecanos to
Leonard
(I've read both, and I don't see it, either stylistically or
subject matter-wise) to which the interviewer sort of agrees
(during one of those portions of the interview where he
interviews himself), after mentioning that he's actually
never read any Elmore Leonard (we're all smart people on this
list, so draw your own conclusions).
Based on what I read in this interview (and his observations
over at the zine he co-edits with Neil Smith, _Plots With
Guns_) Mr. Maviano is interested in cutting-edge, or even
just "edgy" crime fiction. He's morally ambiguous himself and
says that Pelecanos is moralist, and that comes through in
his writing (I agree, although I don't mind that aspect of
Pelecanos' work. I mind other things about Pelecanos'
writing. I don't mind having a protagonist with a moral code,
whatever it might be). He mentions having his own "street"
experience, and how writing crime fiction is able to take him
back to that place without the danger. Interesting
observation. I don't like Pelecanos' writing for some of the
reasons Maviano mentions (the way he sets up the conflict in
his books, the 'acting tough' as opposed to 'being tough'
part as well. It just rings false to me).
No offense to Mr. Maviano, but the impression I got here (and
I've never read any of his fiction) is that this is a fellow
who does not lack for confidence (that's good), and knows
what he likes (also good), and what he doesn't (likewise).
He's not going to do himself any favors by needlessly
alienating "mainstream crime fiction" fans (whoever that is)
by making broad distinctions about genre/subgenre/areas of
interest. I've found that there are readers out there who
might want to read Marcel Proust one day and Cornell Woolrich
the next, and most readers have varied tastes. I for
one
(speaking as both reader and writer) can't exist on a steady
diet of
*anything* for too long.
Good ol' Trevor's also not going to win friends and influence
people by loudly proclaiming that roughly 90% of crime
fiction is crap (because he doesn't like it). That just makes
a guy look arrogant. And I agree with Joy and her comments
about the "me too" insular nature of the tone of this
interview. I guess it'll be interesting to read "Three Way
Split" once/if he gets it published.
Of course, next on the angenda is my copy of our own Allan
Guthrie's "Two Way Split," which I am eagerly anticipating on
its way from Amazon.com.
All the Best-
Brian Thornton
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