RARA-AVIS: Recent Read, The Lotus Crew

From: scatalogic@aol.com
Date: 01 Mar 2008


I'd never heard of Stewart Meyer before I found this -?in its enticing Serpent's Tail, Midnight Classic -?livery in a second hand book store. But after shooting through it and googling the man I find he's a William S Burroughs pal, viz: "Stewart Meyer, a street kid from Brooklyn, Burroughs' glorified chauffeur and best pupil. Meyer's first novel, The Lotus Crew, written under Burroughs' tutelage, became a classic in its own time."?Although another source indicates that he's British in origin.

I'm a sucker for drug lit, and I loved this. It's very short, 145 pages in this edition, and rattles along, telling the tale of a newly formed heroin crew in 1980s New York. I?needed the slang glossary at the end to start with but soon got the hang of the mostly hispanic lingo.?He writes the?dialogue phonetically, in a forest of apostrophes?- again, something that took a little getting used to, here's an example of what comes out:

"I gib j'uno mo' bag. J'shoulda seen j'face when I pull m'iron, man. Shit! Sorry 'bou' da' shit!"

At this length perhaps its not a surprise that you end up feeling you?wanted to know?a little more about?the characters, many of whom flit briefly?onto the page their stories never to be resolved?- the fellow I thought was going to be the main protaganist all but disapears from the story. And, hell, I like brevity and the narrative works nicely for me.?It reminded me of Clarence Cooper's?The Scene - which I also love, and, to me had echoes of Stark's The Outfit, for its explanation of the hows of criminal behaviour.?There's been some talk of authenticity of the list lately - this rings true, but in all honesty, how the heck would I know anyway? I can't find anything else by Meyer on the net, beyond a possible short story listen as content at a site selling second hand porn magazines. Did he do anything else? The only biographical detail in this copy is "Stewart Meyer lives in New York City".

I'd recommend it - won't take you long to finish either.??

All the best Avians,?

Colin.?

PS - Are my emails appearing to you with?question marks scattered at random through them? They do when they come?back to me - if anyone knows how to stop this annoying glitch I'd be grateful for an off-list shout. ??

-----Original Message----- From: scatalogic@aol.com To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com Sent: Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:34 Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Sin Pit (Flippant)

I have to say that Sin Pit is one of the finest Noir/HB book titles I've seen in a while. Almost archetypal you might say, and as the saying goes,?'would make a great?name for a band'.

Cheers all,?

Colin.?

-----Original Message----- From: Ron Clinton < clinton65@comcast.net> To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com Sent: Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:28 Subject: RE: RARA-AVIS: Sin Pit

Hi, Randy:

Email Gary Lovisi @ GryphonBooks@worldnet.att.net and let him know what you want. He'll confirm order via email and then request your CC (if that's the way you're paying) be sent in four separate emails (he has no secure ordering).

Hope this helps.

Ron

> -----Original Message-----
> From: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com [mailto: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com] On
> Behalf Of Randy Krbechek
> Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2008 11:58 PM
> To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: RARA-AVIS: Sin Pit
>
> At 2/27/2008, Ron Clinton wrote:
> >Sin Pit by Paul S. Meskil, incredible hard-boiled cop and crime Noir
> >by a master, new edition, reprints rare Lion Book from 1950s, intro by
Gary
> >Lovisi, new Afterword by the author, as new, trade paperback, $16.00 +
> >postage.
>
> Ron, I can't get the order form to work at the Gryphon Books
> website. How'd you place your order?
>
> Bye.
> Randy Krbechek
> Fresno, CA
>
>
>
>
> RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>

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