Where To Start: Mysteries
I've decided to start a series of posts about where to start. This could be where to start almost anything--books, movies, collecting, clothing, style, food, etc.
I'm starting with a literary genre today: Mystery
A few years back I took a short story workshop, and then last year took a mystery workshop taught by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (if you want to kickstart your writing, or want to be tossed into the deep end with writing, I highly recommend traveling to the Oregon coast and take one of Kris's, or her husband Dean Wesley Smith's writing workshops).
Why do I bring up the workshop? Well, apparently I had some notion that most mysteries were simply Agatha Christie cozies and hadn't given much thought to sub-genres. There are many, many sub-genres.
So back to where to start: This is a broad overview of mysteries and ultimately, you're going to have to sample the sub-genres to determine what works for you as a reader. I loved cozies growing up, but now I enjoy hardboiled, noir, detective, and police procedurals more.
Cozy: Cozy mysteries are usually not bloody or graphic and typically take place in more confined settings. They typically have an amateur detective working toward solving the crime with the occasional cameo by some sort of law enforcement - often they're of the bumbling or not-quite-with-it variety.
Cozies are a pretty popular sub-genre right now and they have a definite look to them on the shelf. Bright colors, titles that are puns, sometimes cats on the cover as well. Also, cozies are the shortest of the genres, so they're a quick and fun read.
But where should you start? Go ahead and start with a Christie--any old Miss Marple will do, though on television and movies I'm partial to Hercule Poirot. Try A Murder Is Announced: A bunch of people are summoned to a house and someone is murdered right under everyone's noses.
Detective: Detective stories can be private detectives/investigators or law enforcement detectives. These range from light, near cozy style to dark mystery, noir and beyond--pretty much a catch-all category. These are not police procedurals --that is a separate sub-genre. These stories focus on the detective. Honestly, even cozies fit into this category since many of them are using amateur detectives. TV version of the standard detective story would be: Magnum P.I. for example.
But where to start? I'd say go for Michael Connelly and his Harry Bosch series, beginning with The Black Echo. I'd characterize the series as a standard detective series that is squarely in the middle of the light to dark spectrum (cozy being light, noir being dark).
Police Procedural: The main character works for the police, or is an attorney, or is a federal law enforcement officer, etc. These stories focus on the procedures in solving a crime.
Hill Street Blues is a great TV example of the procedural--in fact, the series was based off Ed McBain's 87th Precinct novels which I'm going to recommend here. There were also plenty of TV movies based on these novels. But if you enjoy seeing how the justice system works or how police go about solving crimes, then procedurals are for you.
Where to start? Ed McBain--he wrote a ton of books based around the fictional 87th Precinct. They are great reads and pretty fast. You can start almost anywhere with them despite them having recurring characters. McBain wrote these from the mid 1950's all the way until around 2005--so, there's quite a bit of material there.
Hardboiled: I think these are my favorites. Character driven and a lot of attitude. You feel the world, see everything from the character's point of view. The main character is cynical, but has a moral code. The world the character inhabits is visceral, gritty, and typically urban.
There are modern examples of hardboiled, but I love the classics: Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Mickey Spillane. If you enjoy tough, gritty guys slapping people around, but have a need to make things right, this is the genre for you.
Where to start? Here you could go with The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, or I, The Jury. The movie versions of Sleep and Falcon are great since you get to watch Humphrey Bogart. For the Mickey Spillane I recommend Kiss Me Deadly. I wrote about the film here.
Noir: I hadn't read too much noir before taking the Mystery Workshop. For the class we read The Ghosts Of Belfast by Stuart Neville. We were also assigned Fatherland by Robert Harris which I had read before. Fatherland can also double as a detective genre as well as alternate history. Ghosts is straight noir. If you enjoy dark, hopeless stories and people who are really screwed up, and everything sucks, well--maybe you should seek counseling. These aren't light books, or light reading: be prepared for an ending that isn't likely to be pretty.
Where to start? For really dark, try The Ghosts of Belfast. If you prefer a little detective and alternate history involving Nazis then try Fatherland. Batman can be noir by the way and science fiction has quite a bit of noir.
There is another type of crime novel--which is really what the mystery genre should be called by the way. Thriller. I'm not going to get into this sub-genre since it's really the least pure of the crime novels. Though, I do enjoy a good heist movie or novel--but heists aren't always Thrillers since they can be paced slower and thrillers are definitely quickly paced with hardly a rest.
Hopefully this was a decent primer on reading the various genres of mystery--many thanks to Kris Rusch for teaching me what is required to be able to write in the sub-genres.
Moving Picture Monday: Writing Films
Writers have featured in so many films over the years, but I have a few favorites I can watch over and over, and not all of them are critical or commercially successful.
Oh sure, we have Sunset Boulevard, The Lost Weekend, Finding Forrester, Misery, Capote, and Adaptation among others--they are all wonderful films that I've seen more than once.
Spoiler Alert - sort of. These movies have all been out for awhile, even Midnight In Paris.
1. Throw Momma From The Train: a comedy version of Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train starring Danny DeVito, Billy Crystal, and Anne Ramsay. And for you Star Trek fans out there, Captain Janeway makes an appearance as Billy Crystal's ex-wife. This movie tickles me for some reason--but there are some great moments about writing and plotting and procrastination.
2. Midnight In Paris: This is one of my all-time favorite movies. Owen Wilson plays a Hollywood screenwriter who wants to be a novelist and finds inspiration during his midnight walks in Paris. I won't go into the details, but he meets some fascinating people that many writers would love to meet and hobnob with. There is so much more to the movie than I'm writing here--a must see.
3. Funny Farm: no heavy lifting with this movie, but this is back when Chevy Chase was kind of funny, well on the way to being boring. You have to admit Fletch was pretty good (probably his last decent role). Anyway, Funny Farm is about a newspaper sports writer who quits and moves to the country to write a heist novel.
4. Gentlemen Broncos: brought to you by the director of Napolean Dynamite--but nowhere near as funny. It's strange, really strange, but enjoyable for all the writerly bits. Basically, it's about a kid who writes a novel, submits it to a contest and a sort of washed-up writer he idolizes steals his idea.
If you were going to watch just one of these, I'd say Midnight In Paris. Throw Momma From The Train would be a decent second choice. The other two you can skip, but they're fun background type movies for me.
My wife and I watch Midnight In Paris quite a bit and dream of being in Paris in the 1920s.
One more guilty pleasure: Her Alibi --I'm a huge Tom Selleck fan, and while she can't act, looking at Paulina Porizkova for an hour and a half is pretty easy on the eyes.
What are your favorite movies about writing or have a writer as a protagonist?
Happy 30th Anniversary, Big Trouble In Little China!
I wrote this a couple of years ago, but had to repost given the 30th Anniversary of the film's release on July 2nd!
This movie is one of my all-time favorites.
How can you not like a movie starring Kurt Russell directed by John Carpenter? Kurt Russell is also wonderful in The Thing and Escape from New York, but Big Trouble In Little China is a masterpiece--a genre mash-up before that was considered a thing.
What is this movie? It's a comedy, martial arts, fantasy, drama, action movie with some romance. Kurt Russell stars as Jack Burton, a truck driver drawn into the search for a missing Chinese girl. Doesn't sound all that interesting when put like that, but the missing girl is the fiancee of Jack's friend, Wang Chi, and she's in the clutches of an ancient and powerful Chinese sorcerer, Lo Pan. Their adventures take them beneath San Francisco Chinatown and into a world of Chinese myth and superstition with the fate of the universe at stake.
What makes Jack Burton great is that he can take his lumps physically and verbally, and keep coming back for more. He's a mixture of John Wayne and Indiana Jones (in his mind perhaps), but in many situations he's on his butt or out of the action. Kurt Russell is great in this film, and has a great supporting cast to include Kim Cattrall. The exchanges between Russell and Cattrall are reminiscent of the classic movies I adore. I could drop a bunch of quotes here, but there are so many great jokes and one-liners that you really need to experience the movie for yourself.
There are some over the top fight scenes, and even during the most serious of moments there are wisecracks and jokes to lighten it up. When I saw this movie back in the mid-eighties when it was released, I couldn't believe one movie could contain so much and make such a crazy idea work. And even now, 30 years later, I think it holds up well. You even forget Kurt Russell's mullet once the movie gets going--but if anyone can pull off a mullet, it's him. ;)
The Blu-ray version is nicely done and contains all the special features found on the 2 disc DVD version. There are deleted scenes, an extended ending, trailers, a 1986 featurette, and a Kurt Russell and John Carpenter commentary.
So, if you've seen the movie before, you know what I'm talking about. But if you haven't watched it in a long time, or have not seen it at all, check it out. I'm pretty sure if you give it a chance, you won't be disappointed. And do me a favor: don't multitask while watching this, the film deserves your full attention.
Travel In Style
I have strong opinions regarding travel and how to dress for travel. I don't care how someone dresses if they're in their own vehicle, but for corn's sake, if you're on a plane or even a train, at least try not to look like you just rolled out of bed.
I understand that traveling by air has lost the allure it was once commanded. Travel used to be an event and people dressed and acted appropriately. I'm going to take this a step further and say that if you're in a nice hotel you should dress appropriately.
Okay, I get it, the airlines have made travel unattractive, but why cater to the lowest common denominator?
Hotels: A few years back, my wife and I were in New York City and stayed at the Waldorf-Astoria for one night. We went down to the lobby and ate a light dinner at the restaurant inside the hotel that provides a great view of the entire lobby area. Now, most people were dressed casual, but neat casual. I have no problem with that, but what I do have a problem with is people coming into a nice hotel and restaurant wearing football jerseys and long shorts (you know the kind of shorts I'm talking about: the type heavier set (okay, fat, there I said it) guys wear that go almost all the way down their legs and might as well just be pants).
Well, these two clowns come into a nice restaurant wearing their jerseys and shorts and high top sneakers. Classy. I was not expecting that at the Waldorf-Astoria, and I have to say, both my wife and I were disappointed by that. There really are times when a dress code should be enforced. You want to go to McDonald's or a sports bar wearing that crap be my guest, but don't do it at nice restaurant in a nice hotel.
Air travel: First off, I believe in dressing comfortably for travel, but so many people look like hobos on the plane that it feels like I'm in that movie with Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine, what was it, Emperor of the North? ***I know that was a movie with trains, but it doesn't change the point I'm making: hobos.
The plane is not your bedroom or living room or bathroom. Don't act like you own the place and you can kick back. Have some pride in your appearance and in the way you carry yourself. Don't sit in the seat and let your legs flop open. No one wants to see your crotch display.
Here is what not to wear on the plane:
- track suit
- sweat pants
- anything that has the word "juicy" on the backside
- slippers
- pajamas
- stained t-shirts
- spandex (or any variation of stretchy material)
- halter top, bikini top, etc. (I don't care if you have a rockin' body and can pull it off--by the way, you're probably not pulling it off)
- belly shirt (see above)
- a shirt that is too small that creeps up and displays a hairy midsection with a giant belly button in the middle that may or may not have a lint inhabitant ( just plain gross)
- open-toed shoes (women yes, men NO). **guys: no one, and I mean no one wants to see your hairy, disgusting feet with jagged, yellow toe nails (again--gross)
- sneakers that smell like you've run ten marathons without socks. I've nearly succumbed to the toxic fumes from some jackwagon that decided to take off his nasty running shoes on a long flight to wiggle his toes and rub them into the plane's bacteria-ridden carpeting adding athlete's foot to the mix
There are probably more exmples of what not to wear on the plane, but you get the idea.
Now, what should you wear?
I'm not a fan of jeans on a plane. Why? Well, it has nothing to do with how they look, but if they're ratty looking, or have more holes and rips than fabric, well, don't wear them on the plane. I don't like wearing jeans on the plane because they are restrictive and not at all forgiving. Go ahead and wear them, but you can make jeans look nice with the right shirt and shoes.
I believe in dressing like I belong in Business or First Class. You don't need to wear a suit to achieve this, but there is an art to dressing for travel. For men: think about how Cary Grant would dress to get on a plane. Too much of a stretch for you? Then consider how someone like George Clooney would attire himself for air travel. For women: think of Grace Kelly, and if you can't imagine that, well, try Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, or Jennifer Aniston. If you're younger maybe look to Emma Watson. I'm pretty sure they know how to dress appropriately.
I wear trousers and dress shirts. Why? Because they fit in all the right ways. The trousers provide room in the legs and overall breathability. With the dress shirt you don't have to wear a tie, and underneath the dress shirt you wear a t-shirt. Why? The t-shirt acts as a barrier for your nice shirt so you don't stain it with sweat. Who doesn't sweat a little either trying to get through security and then just trying to get to the gate? And then on the plane it can get warm and then cold, and then hot, and cold. Wear a t-shirt under the dress shirt. One other bonus for everyone else if you wear a t-shirt beneath: we can't see all that matted body hair of yours.
For shoes I'd recommend loafers. They're comfortable--but you better be wearing socks or I'll beat you with that once nice loafer turned rancid from your sockless feet.
This is all simple stuff here. It isn't rocket science, but so many people hop on a plane and become twice as gross and rude as they normally are.
And don't just hop out of bed and then roll onto the plane. Take a shower. Use deodorant. Brush your teeth. Carry breath mints. Don't just dump cologne or perfume on your fuming body thinking that'll do the trick--all that does is dump a layer of a nice scent on top of a body odor scent that we can still smell. Yes we can.
I could go on and on, but it's really easy to travel in style. I'm not asking you to be a supermodel or Cary Grant, but attempt some decorum. Don't be like all the others. Don't be a lemming. Be polite and have a sense of personal space and stay within it. And don't you want to look nice while traveling?
Air travel used to be an event, why not help in taking that back? For crying out loud people used to dress in nice clothing to go to a ballgame back in the day. We can't manage it to get on an airplane?
Moving Picture Monday: Kiss Me Deadly
I like to discuss film almost as much as I enjoy watching them. I (big shock) particularly enjoy classic movies, but future post won't be limited to old silent pictures and talkies. ;)
This is from Criterion's website:
Kiss Me Deadly
"In this atomic adaptation of Mickey Spillane’s novel, directed by Robert Aldrich, the good manners of the 1950s are blown to smithereens. Ralph Meeker stars as snarling private dick Mike Hammer, whose decision one dark, lonely night to pick up a hitchhiking woman sends him down some terrifying byways. Brazen and bleak, Kiss Me Deadly is a film noir masterwork as well as an essential piece of cold war paranoia, and it features as nervy an ending as has ever been seen in American cinema."
I re-watched Kiss Me Deadly last night. The film was based on the Mickey Spillane novel of the same name, only Spillane's is Kiss Me, Deadly. The comma is an important subtraction as it changes the meaning of the title. While watching an interview with Mickey Spillane, this was something that bothered him quite a bit (as it would any writer who had that comma in there for a reason). I believe that even when he first turned in the book, the comma was taken out by an editor.
And as mentioned in Criterion's description, the movie (unlike the novel) is more about Cold War paranoia and hysteria. The movie can also be classified as science fiction, based on the addition of a mostly unexplained nuclear device that doubles as a type of Pandora's Box.
I highly recommend picking up this Criterion release, which also includes some nice extras, including an alternate ending. Criterion does an outstanding job on the transfers and sound, so I won't even go into that here.
Why do I love this movie? Well, I'm a big fan of classic detective and noir films. This one goes beyond the familiar detective tropes. I particularly enjoy Ralph Meeker's take on Mike Hammer.
Two scenes in particular I'll point out:
Hammer is being followed by a thug. The thug has a switchblade which Hammer hears being flicked open. He spins and disarms the thug and repeatedly pounds the man into a wall. Hammer walks away, but the thug gets up and Hammer tosses him down a long, long flight of stairs. Here is the best part: Hammer watches the man roll down the steps with great interest and has the beginnings of a smile on his face. I love it.
Next: He goes to a doctor's office looking for information. He pays the doctor, but being greedy, the doctor wants more. As the doctor goes to put an item Hammer wants in his desk drawer, Hammer slams the doctor's hand in the drawer, making him squeal. Hammer grins as he inflicts pain on the greedy doctor.
There are more examples of this type of behavior, and despite his sadistic tendencies, I love the way Hammer is portrayed in this film. He's a badass in the novels, but in this film, it's another level.
It's a very bold movie for 1955. I think it holds up well today and is worth your time if you're at all interested in noir or private investigator films. Also, notice how people dress in this movie. Even though he can be quite the thug himself, Hammer knows how to dress himself.