Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: Street Kings (Is Ellroy Losing his Halo?)

From: Patrick King ( abrasax93@yahoo.com)
Date: 05 May 2008


--- Kevin Burton Smith
< kvnsmith@thrillingdetective.com> wrote:

> Sorry, he lost the halo long ago. If he ever had it.
> Or possibly he
> simply hocked it for the blow job of celebrity.
>
> Too little editing, too much self-indulgence. When
> even his most vocal
> defenders (enablers?) tag much of his work as
> "unreadable," you know
> the guy's star has faded.
>
> I remember Otto Penzler once discussing at a
> conference how much
> editing his first (and arguably best) books needed.
> Somehow, I wonder
> if anyone would dare edit him that much now. If not,
> it's a shame,
> because the guy is still an original, with a brave
> and unique voice.
> That's what drew us all to him in the first place.
>
> Or was it even a halo? Given the Mad Dog's carefully
> manipulated
> persona as a damaged and deranged hep cat enfant
> terrible
> (mommywaskilledbuymybook), they were probably a set
> of horns.
****************************************************** Out of curiosity, Kevin, what's your background? Anything interesting at all?

Patrick King

      ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 05 May 2008 EDT