Hammered – an Ode to Mickey Spillane” - the 2023 Story Event Official Support Thread

ChloeTzang

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Well guys 'n dames, writers and fans of gritty hard-boiled noir can rejoice! 2021 and 2022's "Hammered - an Ode to Mickey Spillane" events were so popular Laurel's asked me if I'd like to organize another one for 2023.

Well, of course I'm willing, especially because I didn't manage to get my own story done for last year's event either! So here we go - I’m posting this thread to officially kick off the 2023 “Hammered – an Ode to Mickey Spillane” Story Event. Laurel will be creating the Event Page shortly, but the “go live” date is Monday 31st July 2023, so you've got a whole 6 months to think, contemplate, plan and write for this one.

What’s the theme, you need to ask? Well, it’s an Ode to Mickey Spillane, so think gritty, dark, and overflowing with violence and sex in the best traditions of Spillane’s Mike Hammer. Spillane knew he was writing pulp, and his guiding principle serves as the theme for this event “violence will outsell sex every time,” but, “combined, they will outsell everything.” Spillane’s books were a huge commercial success, but their plain style and often violent content didn’t tend to sit well with critics. His works were variously referred to as “atrocious” and “nauseating,” while his most famous creation was called a “homicidal paranoiac” by Malcolm Cowley, who called Spillane himself "a dangerous paranoid, sadist, and masochist."

So there you go, and if you’re still not sure, go read a couple of Spillane’s Mike Hammer novels and go for it. Vivid descriptions. Short words. Fast transitions. Violence. Sex. Stereotyping and caricatures. Minimalism. The suggestion that allows your imagination to fill in the blanks. Like Spillane’s writing. Set the scene. Switch to dialogue.

Anyhow, the intent of this event is, well, to write something that reflects Spillane’s stylistic approach to writing as much as anything. Call it noir. Call it hard-boiled. Call it whatever the hell you like, guys 'n dames. I’d say, as much as anything, go for the style, the violence and the sex, but really, interpret it any way you like, and…

Have fun!
This thread is to SUPPORT and ENCOURAGE authors to enter their stories in this 2023 Story Event. If you have any questions, post them here, and someone will answer. It might be me, it might be someone else, but don’t be shy. Ask. There’s no such thing as a dumb question. And if you’re still shy, PM me. I’ll answer.

If you’re a first time writer, or this is the first time you’re thinking about doing a story for an “Event” or a Competition on Literotica, hey, don’t be stressed about it. We’ve all been there, and a “story event” like this is a great way to test the waters without getting into the competitiveness of a writing competition. This ain’t a competition, it’s open to everyone, from the complete novice to the writers that have been here since Literotica started and really, if you need any encouragement - you have to start somewhere, so if you're still hesitating, just do it. You'll find plenty of encouragement - we all started somewhere and what better place to get started than a non-competitive writing event.

Also, there no scores, no placing, and no prizes. This is just writing for fun with a bunch of other people doing the same thing. If you’re not sure about what to do, how to submit your story, or anything at all, just ask here. We’ve all been there, and we’re a bunch of very helpful people, and we like to pass it on.

So without further ado, are you interested in writing for the 2023 “Hammered – an Ode to Mickey Spillane” Story Event? If you are, get started! You've got 6 entire months to get something done! First time writers and veteran Literoticans alike are invited and encouraged to participate. You’ll be in good company

Submission deadline: July 15th-30th (stories submitted & posted)
Event date: final anthology list posted on Monday July 31st 2023

The rules are really simple
1. Stay more or less with the theme.
2. You can write in any category and any length, as long as you keep in mind Rule #1
.3. Please include “Hammered Story Event 2023” in the notes field. Please use this exact wording so Laurel can identify the entries.
4. Please use “Hammered an Ode to Mickey Spillane” as a story tag
5. You can submit anytime from 15th July 2023 on, but all entries need to be submitted by 11:59pm, Sunday 30 July, 2023.
6. All stories will Go Live on Literotica on Monday 31st July 2023.

So what are you waiting for? Next year? Get started now.


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I've never read Spillane, but I am addicted to Damon Runyon - would that count?
 
Same here. I also usually do romantic and sexy, so this might be a real challenge. I'll do some thinkin' on this.
You don't need to have read any Mickey Spillane to do this. Just think LA Noir in the nineteen-forties, and write like this:
"Kittie," she offered. "My name's Kittie." She glanced down at herself, and ran her finger along the top of a name badge, nicely angled on her left breast. Or perhaps it was the curve of her breast that was nice, and the badge went along for the ride.
 
I’ve got one; it got rejected for too much violence with no actual sex, but I should be able to rework it to fit the bill.
 
I can't wait! I'm not the only one who used the moniker Rick Mallet for his private dick the first time around, but my Rick will be up for another case soon.
 
Thanks, Chloe! I’m looking forward to this and am already several thousand words into it. My entry in 2022 took place in 1953 but this one jumps to about 20 years later with the same lead character preparing for retirement from the force and wondering where life will take him next.
 
I just finished reading Spillane‘s first novel I the Jury, and I’m unimpressed. I expected action and thrills but got lots of interviews of suspects instead. Boring. The plot is so contrived that I wonder if Spillane made it up as he went along?

The worst was the interaction between Hammer and his love interest Charlotte. They met just a couple of times before they professed their love and agreed to marry. Really? It’s absurd.

I guess Spillane had to rush the relationship because she was the murderer and the book ended with Hammer shooting her in the gut.

It’s hard to believe that novel made Spillane famous. People must’ve been hard up for entertainment back in 1947.
 
Noir was the thing back then - tense drama, dark rooms with angry men, plots within plots, double crossing, nothing like today's shoot 'em up action, it was more cerebral. He was writing to an audience that was getting their entertainment from very cheaply made movies and the radio.

Keep in mind, the telephone back then was ultra high tech. I heard a 30-minute radio drama that was simply setting up a phone call between a doctor in New York City and a doctor seeing a patient with a mysterious illness in Ecuador. The program was mostly contacting distant operators and setting up telephone relays. It was considered high drama and science fiction. Calling Ecuador from NYC? Impossible!
 
I did not realize it, but 2023 is the 75th anniversary of the publishing of Mickey Spillane's first Mike Hammer book, I The Jury. It's also the 70th anniversary of the film adaptation of I The Jury starring Biff Elliot (who?)

2023 is Mickey Spillane's 105th birthday! Have a cold one on me, sir.

 
I just finished reading Spillane‘s first novel I the Jury, and I’m unimpressed. I expected action and thrills but got lots of interviews of suspects instead. Boring. The plot is so contrived that I wonder if Spillane made it up as he went along?

The worst was the interaction between Hammer and his love interest Charlotte. They met just a couple of times before they professed their love and agreed to marry. Really? It’s absurd.

I guess Spillane had to rush the relationship because she was the murderer and the book ended with Hammer shooting her in the gut.

It’s hard to believe that novel made Spillane famous. People must’ve been hard up for entertainment back in 1947.
Part of it is the shock value. Noir already had a history of sleazy characters doing sleazy things, and lots of hard-boiled talk and femme fatales, by the time Spillane came around, but Spillane pushed everything over the edge. The final scene of that book would have been very salacious for its day. Nowadays, meh, so it's hard for us to put our feet in the shoes of readers back then and imagine what a sleazy thrill it was then to read something like that.

There are far, far better noir writers than Spillane, like Chandler or Hammett, but Spillane, and his main character Mike Hammer, are maybe the purest distillation of the tough-guy detective type, and the easiest to parody, which makes his character Mike Hammer a good namesake for the event.
 
I also read Spillane‘s Vengeance is Mine. It has a character named Juno. “Juno, queen of the lesser gods and goddesses. She was well named.” Mike Hammer goes on and on about how perfectly beautiful she is. He’s dizzy and sweats when near her. “Something about her made me too warm under my clothes. She was beautiful and she was built like a goddess should be built and her eyes said that she was good when she was bad.”

In the end, it turns out that Juno is the villain (a recurring theme that hot women are murderers) and Hammer kills her (women are killed by the truckload in Spillane books). It’s also revealed that Juno was actually a man. So Mike Hammer was dazzled and besotted by a crossdresser.

That certainly opens the door for authors who like to write transgender and crossdressing stories. It’s an authentic Spillane plot type!
 
I also read Spillane‘s Vengeance is Mine. It has a character named Juno. “Juno, queen of the lesser gods and goddesses. She was well named.” Mike Hammer goes on and on about how perfectly beautiful she is. He’s dizzy and sweats when near her. “Something about her made me too warm under my clothes. She was beautiful and she was built like a goddess should be built and her eyes said that she was good when she was bad.”

In the end, it turns out that Juno is the villain (a recurring theme that hot women are murderers) and Hammer kills her (women are killed by the truckload in Spillane books). It’s also revealed that Juno was actually a man. So Mike Hammer was dazzled and besotted by a crossdresser.

That certainly opens the door for authors who like to write transgender and crossdressing stories. It’s an authentic Spillane plot type!
Just goes to show woman hating and blaming them for all the wrongs in the world is timeless.

Maybe its time for some Mike Hammer fan fic where he's beaten senseless then eviscerated by a woman.

If only I knew someone who could put enough venom into it....
 
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