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July 27th, 2012 | #1 |
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Pop Books
In this thread I will post succinct notes on pop books as distinct from serious lit, which i will post on elsewhere. Mostly crime stuff, like businessmen read. There's no reason to read these other than escapism, just to hear about someone else's problems when you have low energy.
Let's say I'm on a quest: to find the one cop novel that doesn't have the usual stereotyping. Read a bunch of these when my computer was broken in February, but don't have those notes in front of me. Kellerman, Jonathan: The Murder Book (2002). bio: Kellerman is a jew from NYC who moved to LA; he is a psychologist as well as very successful novelist hero: psychiatrist, queer detective, reformed nig junkie and straightlaced nig police chief bad guys: rich spoiled white guys notes: story takes place around LAl; one of the main degenerate rich families is Cossack (jews hate Cossacks), and the one good rich guy is named Obey. apart from 50 pages describing the interaction of "Pierce Schwinn," a wizened beat cop, and newcomer queer det. Milo Sturgis, this book is quite boring. PC stereotypes grade: 100% Gardner, Lisa: Catch Me (2012) bio: appears ordinary WASP living in NE, has written 14 novels - have only read a few pages but already the victim is a white pedophile living in a black housing project, where he sex-snuffs larval aspiring rap producers. Two of the cops have just begun dating. Those would be Neil and Ben. Last edited by Alex Linder; July 28th, 2012 at 12:50 AM. |
July 27th, 2012 | #2 |
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I enjoy a good escapist crime/thriller novel myself. Simon Wood's We All Fall Down is quite good. So are T. Jefferson Parker's Where Serpents Lie & Summer of Fear. An outfit called Hard Case Crime puts out old & old-style new detective thrillers that are often diverting as well.
http://www.hardcasecrime.com/index.shtml |
July 28th, 2012 | #3 | |
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I'm just staying in touch with what ordinary people are reading. It always amazes me that the reading public tolerates this utterly jejune stereotyping, yet it keeps buying these books. |
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July 28th, 2012 | #4 | ||
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July 30th, 2012 | #5 | |
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July 30th, 2012 | #6 | |
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I bet that you, on the other hand, could do it with ease, and make a tidy bundle, too. |
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July 30th, 2012 | #7 | |
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July 31st, 2012 | #8 | ||
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Summer of Fear online (most of it, anyway) http://books.google.com/books/about/...d=4ujV6DNOQRoC Last edited by Alex Linder; July 31st, 2012 at 12:07 AM. |
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July 31st, 2012 | #9 | ||
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September 29th, 2012 | #10 | |||
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Then again, the opposite view is that it's just that technical detail that the gun fags and weapons homos get off in, for best example, nebbish insurance agent Tom Clancy. I think in the end you have to write what you like, and trust there's a class of people who goes for the same thing. The mass market is not bothered by the absence of any kind of genuine thoughtfulness because it doesn't think. Conventional character types and conventional motivations are all it wants. It's not that it doesn't miss something deeper, it doesn't WANT it. Look at probably the best-selling international spy/mystery writer of all time, Robert Ludlum. He's as smooth a writer as there is, but it's all on one level: giving you the details of a neighborhood in Paris, Zurich or Buenos Aires. When it comes to actual philosophy or interesting ideas, he'll average out at about one page in a hundred with any kind of philosophy or idea-speculation. Quote:
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September 29th, 2012 | #11 | ||
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"First: Do No Good." - The Hymiecratic Oath "The man who does not exercise the first law of nature—that of self preservation — is not worthy of living and breathing the breath of life." - John Wesley Hardin |
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September 30th, 2012 | #12 | ||
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September 30th, 2012 | #13 | ||
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"First: Do No Good." - The Hymiecratic Oath "The man who does not exercise the first law of nature—that of self preservation — is not worthy of living and breathing the breath of life." - John Wesley Hardin |
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October 1st, 2012 | #14 | |
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Amazon stopped it because the rabbi contacted them about it and they asked Hoffman to produce the email: if Hoffman could do so then they'd sell it. If not then he would have to alter the covers before he could sell them off Amazon. Hoffman didn't do so as far as I am aware. I've got all the old emails somewhere in my Inbox as I contacted the rabbi and Amazon about it to hear their side of the story as Hoffman was alleging censorship and me being me I was skeptical as I am about most things he writes. Another example is that you can buy Hitchcock's 'The Synagogue of Satan' on Amazon quite happily. I do believe he's even got a 'Look Inside' function on the work there. They don't seem to really care about what you are selling as along as it isn't actually illegal.
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October 1st, 2012 | #15 | |
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"First: Do No Good." - The Hymiecratic Oath "The man who does not exercise the first law of nature—that of self preservation — is not worthy of living and breathing the breath of life." - John Wesley Hardin |
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October 2nd, 2012 | #16 |
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I was going to say: if you are interested in writing fiction. Why not practice writing short stories in the vein of say Aesop or Grimm to work out any kinks in your style and test out ideas, which you can then put out there to see what people like about them, what they don't and/or what they think you could change. It also helps iron out the tendency to over describe when writing after all do I as a reader really need to know about the floral patterns on a girl's dress in the middle of a novel?
I'd agree generally with Alex about the whole novel writers thing in so far as most professional writers today are fairly bog standard in what they produce and what tends to differentiate between the average and the interesting is the innovative, creative and unpredictable nature of their plots. George R. R. Martin is a good example as he's not actually; well I don't think so anyway, a very good writer, but because he is very unpredictable (although his sheer unpredictability is somewhat predictable now) and his characters rather complex (often both good and bad not one dimensional types) he holds people's interest as a writer. J. K. Rowling is another example of someone who is not a good writer, but at the same time she made up for it by being innovative with her actual work and essentially partially revived a genre. Interestingly her new book; which is overtly political and utterly turgid, after the Harry Potter series hasn't been doing too well precisely because without an innovative plot she can't make up for it in her written style. Everyone raves about Aldous Huxley and George Orwell, but I've never been able to really understand why. Oh well.
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October 2nd, 2012 | #17 |
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Or you could just write the 709th "Fourth Reich" book.They seem to sell well and you can always count on favorable reviews from the Judenpress.
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October 2nd, 2012 | #18 | |
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August 17th, 2013 | #19 |
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I've written several novels, and my first one got published last year, and my second is on its way. I don't know if I'm 'pop' or not. I write what I write, and although I read a lot of pop fiction, I also read a lot of classics. I think telling a good story and making strong characters is the key.
I admit my early writing had a lot of literary references and had some real technical problems. That was solved by rewriting, taking a writing course, and I go to a writer's group, and they've helped immensely. If I have a problem as a writer, it is not conforming my tastes to the market, and I'm not trying to complain or sound a critic. I just don't like murder mysteries, young adult books, or science fiction. One of the problems of getting published is getting your book reviewed. My book wasn't self-published, it went through a legit publisher but he didn't get anyone to review it, and if you don't review a book, it's DOA, but it's a good novel and I'm proud of it. I do like R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones, but thought it rather dense prose. I did think when he wrote about Tyrrel and Danerys (the dragon lady), the prose was much sharper and to the point, and they were vivid. |
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