Chew On This

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

The David Mamet drama book, THREE USES OF THE KNIFE, arrived today. Its like 100 pages, and I read all of it during the afternoon.

He writes like I write so you wont gain crap from it tho I found it fascinating. In a nutshell he explained why writing works or doesn't work, and why we write. Its a synthesis of the reality and bullshit inside our skulls. And a story or song or painting is like the discovery of a prime number. He also explains howcome most best-selling authors crank out shit after a while. I already mentioned what he says about where to hang the sex.

Finished chapter 2 of my noir series. It now needs tweaking or twerking or whatever.

The couple are 60 and 65. He's an assassin, she's a thief.

 

[SamScribble]

If you're on a curiosity bent at the moment, JBJ, you might want to take a look at James Wood's How Fiction Works. I found bits of it quite illuminating.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

If you're on a curiosity bent at the moment, JBJ, you might want to take a look at James Wood's How Fiction Works. I found bits of it quite illuminating.

Thanks for the recommendation.


For now I'm uncertain if fiction is a swan carved from a block of ice, or the human heart trimmed of bone and fat.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Christmas is upon us.

I give money and get Amazon Gift Certificates & Fruitcake. I love fruitcake and books, so it works out well. Anyway, I'm compiling a book order, and the winning writers are: David Goodis, Louis L'Amour, Christa Faust, and Robert McCammon. Plus a noir anthology.

Found the McCammon book, GONE SOUTH, at the Saint Pia Zadora Thrift Store today. For 79 cents. Almost new condition.

 

[patientlee]

Christmas is upon us.

I give money and get Amazon Gift Certificates & Fruitcake. I love fruitcake and books, so it works out well. Anyway, I'm compiling a book order, and the winning writers are: David Goodis, Louis L'Amour, Christa Faust, and Robert McCammon. Plus a noir anthology.

You are what you eat. (Sorry. You left yourself wide open on that one. Couldn't resist.)

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

You are what you eat. (Sorry. You left yourself wide open on that one. Couldn't resist.)

God made me clever enough to conceal it from the tests for it. When I come to a question like, WOULD YOU RATHER STUDY FOR A SPELLING BEE OR ATTACK STRANGERS WITH A FIRE AXE? I know the right answer!

 

[Desiremakesmeweak]

The right answer is: "Fire Axe - 'F.' 'I.' 'R.' 'E.,' 'A.' 'X.' E.'

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

The right answer is: "Fire Axe - 'F.' 'I.' 'R.' 'E.,' 'A.' 'X.' E.'

Very good!

Here's another tough question:

WOULD YOU RATHER A. GO TO A CONCERT WITH A GROUP OF FRIENDS OR B. STAPLE BALOGNA TO YOUR EAR LOBES?

 

[lovecraft68]

Christmas is upon us.

I give money and get Amazon Gift Certificates & Fruitcake. I love fruitcake and books, so it works out well. Anyway, I'm compiling a book order, and the winning writers are: David Goodis, Louis L'Amour, Christa Faust, and Robert McCammon. Plus a noir anthology.

Found the McCammon book, GONE SOUTH, at the Saint Pia Zadora Thrift Store today. For 79 cents. Almost new condition.

A Great McCammon book (other than the already recommended Wolf's hour and They Thirst" is Usher's Passing

It takes Poe's famous family from Fall of the House of Usher and brings them into the modern world as a wealthy family that manufactures guns, but the patriarch always dies of Usher's malady. Surprisingly good.

On the other hand stay away from Baal and Night Boat (his first two books) pretty boring and predictable.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

A Great McCammon book (other than the already recommended Wolf's hour and They Thirst" is Usher's Passing

It takes Poe's famous family from Fall of the House of Usher and brings them into the modern world as a wealthy family that manufactures guns, but the patriarch always dies of Usher's malady. Surprisingly good.

On the other hand stay away from Baal and Night Boat (his first two books) pretty boring and predictable.

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Submitted the 2nd chapter of the erotic noir series. 2700 words. Long for me. Yet theres little fat in it. The characters are old and dangerous. They cant trust each other, and fuck each other if they can.

Started a new series I call ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (yes its a movie title).

The Chinese buy up America and our pols. The President, Congress, and our Fort Knox gold go to Maui and exile. Places like New York, Philly, and New Orleans become fortress enclaves for the elites who remain to administer America for the Chinks. North Koreans police us. The rest of us live outside the enclaves and eat the fish heads and waste the elites discard.

 

[lovecraft68]

Thanks for the heads up!

Here's another

Peter Straub

Shadowland- You would really like this one for sure.

Floating Dragon- In my top ten of all time and trust me I have read a countless number of horror novels

Dean Koontz

Phantoms- this thing keeps you guessing as to what the monster is until the end

Intensity- a "real time" thriller that takes place in 24 hours. Lives up to the title, killed it in one night and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Here's another

Peter Straub

Shadowland- You would really like this one for sure.

Floating Dragon- In my top ten of all time and trust me I have read a countless number of horror novels

Dean Koontz

Phantoms- this thing keeps you guessing as to what the monster is until the end

Intensity- a "real time" thriller that takes place in 24 hours. Lives up to the title, killed it in one night and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.

Thank you!

 

[SamScribble]

Just been re-reading (for the umpteenth time) JP Donleavy's The Ginger Man, JBJ. Almost 60 years on, I think it still holds up. At 350 pages, it might require more than an afternoon, but ....

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Halfway thru the 2nd reading of David Mamet's drama book.

Its not a how to write tutorial, its 100 pages of advice from his experiences as a playwright and director and man on the street. I mentioned a few already, on other threads: Put the sex where it matters, do not use it or anything as ornament or embroidery. Avoid the implausible and the common where it matters, use the unusual.

The middle gives every writer fits, so load the middle with complications...credit cards are declined. Elmore Leonard used a clever complication that impressed me: The whole cast of characters are fighting over a huge block of common stock valued at 2 million dollars that's worth pennies almost overnite.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Mamet was on tv last night speaking about Happy Prose (LIT stories), that is, agenda driven plots vs tracking human interactions wherever they go.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Found two old erotic noir writers from Tampa. Gil Brewer and Harry Whittington. Downloaded samples of their wares. They published pulp back in the 50s and 60s. Tampa settings.

Finished the 2nd reading of the Mamet drama book.

Plotted the 3rd installment of my noir tale.

Thinking of turning OFF all comments as theyre almost never useful and I have no appetite for cosmetic flattery or snark.

 

[TE999]

Submitted the 2nd chapter of the erotic noir series. 2700 words. Long for me. Yet theres little fat in it. The characters are old and dangerous. They cant trust each other, and fuck each other if they can.

Started a new series I call ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (yes its a movie title).

The Chinese buy up America and our pols. The President, Congress, and our Fort Knox gold go to Maui and exile. Places like New York, Philly, and New Orleans become fortress enclaves for the elites who remain to administer America for the Chinks. North Koreans police us. The rest of us live outside the enclaves and eat the fish heads and waste the elites discard.

At the rate our country in increasingly in debt to the Chinese and others, you may very well be writing the 21st Century version of Orwell's '1984'.

Not to mention the venality and corruption of our politicians and government bureaucrats.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

At the rate our country in increasingly in debt to the Chinese and others, you may very well be writing the 21st Century version of Orwell's '1984'.

Not to mention the venality and corruption of our politicians and government bureaucrats.

From what I read the Chinese are buying America while the buyin's good.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Found a 3rd Tampa noir writer, a prolific author named Talmadge Powell.

Posted Chapter 2 of my noir series. It remains to be seen if older characters appeal to readers. The principal female character is 60. She's a grifter living by her wits, usually swindling old men.

Started Chapter 3 of the series.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Finished chapter 3 of my noir story. The end required some research, cuz a few readers will protest how my character cant do what he does in the story. In fact I have the victim sneer at my killer, "DUDE? DIDNT YOU WATCH MYTH BUSTERS? THAT SHIT AINT GONNA DO NUTHIN. ITS BULLSHIT."

I love science. When conditions are right plenty of impossible things happen. Like ice on your car when temps are in the 40s. Or 2 grape harvests in the same season.

 

[horrorotica]

Finished chapter 3 of my noir story. The end required some research, cuz a few readers will protest how my character cant do what he does in the story. In fact I have the victim sneer at my killer, "DUDE? DIDNT YOU WATCH MYTH BUSTERS? THAT SHIT AINT GONNA DO NUTHIN. ITS BULLSHIT."

I love science. When conditions are right plenty of impossible things happen. Like ice on your car when temps are in the 40s. Or 2 grape harvests in the same season.

There's a scientific explanation for everything. Even stuff that seems impossible.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

There's a scientific explanation for everything. Even stuff that seems impossible.

Old Timers usta assure me that aluminum cant be soldered, then I found a tool made by Reynolds Aluminum for that purpose; it looks like a hacksaw with a holder for a cigarette filter. The cigarette filter removes oxide from the aluminum as solder is applied. That is, heat the aluminum, deposit molten solder on the right place, scratch it with the filter, and the solder will bond to the pure aluminum as the filter pushes the oxide away.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Edited chapter 3 of the noir story and added 250 words for 10 printed book pages. The end is now better. Gives me a good place to start chapter 4. Will submit Saturday.

Made a Christmas book order:

2 books by Elmore Leonard
2 books by Louis L'Amour
and 2 collections of short stories.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Finished reading THE KILLER IS MINE by Talmage Powell, 1950s erotic noir set in Tampa and Clearwater Beach. Its Raymond Chandler minus the marvelous metaphors. A kid was raped and murdered, and her neighbor sits on Death Row convicted of the crime. The neighbor was passed out on the sofa (pity party) about the time the crime happened. He doesn't remember shit. The wife hires a private detective to sort it out, and falls in love with the man. 5 stars. Talmage Powell had a thing for carnival freaks, and Tampa is winter home for many carnival shows. I learned that a few midgets are miniature women, and quite attractive. I went looking and found a few of them online. So I learned something.

Finished reading BLACK FRIDAY by David Goodis, 1950s erotic noir of a murder fugitive who falls into the hands of a Philly mob. The moll of the impotent mob boss falls for the fugitive and starts sleeping with him.

Put 10 books by Vin Packer on order. Vin Packer's the pen name of a female noir writer of the 50s. Teenage killers was her thing. So her tales involve gangs and lesbian school girls and evil rich kids.