Quirk Books to release Tolstoy's "Android Karenina"

[WillAdams]

Another series along these lines which I thought was quite well done was Steven Brust's Khaavren romances:

The Phoenix Guards == The Three Musketeers
Five Hundred Years After == Five Years After
&c.

William

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by omk3

Speaking about Marlowe, has anyone read (and liked) Poodle Springs? It's supposed to be an unfinished book by Chandler, and Robert Parker completed it. I tried (with a lot of apprehension), but I couldn't get past the first few pages. That was not Marlowe as I knew and loved him.

I've read both (shame on me) Poodle Springs, that's the one he completed from Chandler's unfinished manuscript and Perchance to Dream. You're right, they're not that good, and they take place after the original Marlowe canon. What's most interesting about Marlowe as seen through Parker's eyes is that Spenser, Parker's original creation, was directly based upon Marlowe. There's an interview somewhere where Parker says (paraphrasing)

I just thought of what Marlowe would do and I had Spenser do it.

If you want somehing fun and original, not parody or imitation, then William F. Nolan's "The Black Mask Boys" series is worth a look. In the series, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammet and Erle Stanely Gardner are amateur sleuths solving crimes.

http://www.thrillingdetective.com/ey...mask_boys.html

Also, the TV movie of Poodle Springs isn't half bad, with James Caan playing the aging Marlowe.

[omk3]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

What's most interesting about Marlowe as seen through Parker's eyes is that Spenser, Parker's original creation, was directly based upon Marlowe. There's an interview somewhere where Parker says (paraphrasing)

I just thought of what Marlowe would do and I had Spenser do it.

Yes, that' what made me read Parker in the first place. Fun, light and entertaining, but lacking any Marlowe substance. I grew tired of Spencer after a few books,and especially of his obsession with this Susan of his (why do I even still remember her name?)...

Originally Posted by Moejoe

If you want somehing fun and original, not parody or imitation, then William F. Nolan's "The Black Mask Boys" series is worth a look. In the series, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammet and Erle Stanely Gardner are amateur sleuths solving crimes.

http://www.thrillingdetective.com/ey...mask_boys.html

Sounds worth trying, are these available as ebooks?

[basschick]

i like spenser, and i like marlowe, but i definitely agree with you. i felt that in poodle springs, marlowe had sort of morphed into spenser. robert b. parker is very profilic, and i really enjoy his work, but he doesn't like chandler. sort of reminded me of the "new" peter wimseys - just didn't hit the mark for me.

Originally Posted by omk3

Speaking about Marlowe, has anyone read (and liked) Poodle Springs? It's supposed to be an unfinished book by Chandler, and Robert Parker completed it. I tried (with a lot of apprehension), but I couldn't get past the first few pages. That was not Marlowe as I knew and loved him.

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by omk3

Yes, that' what made me read Parker in the first place. Fun, light and entertaining, but lacking any Marlowe substance. I grew tired of Spencer after a few books,and especially of his obsession with this Susan of his (why do I even still remember her name?)...



Sounds worth trying, are these available as ebooks?

Ahhh, Susan Silverman, the annoying embodiment and conscience of Spenser (and also mirroring the therapy that Parker himself was going through at the time). The best Spenser novels are Spenser/Hawk teamups - even though Hawk is a ridiculous black stereotype.

The problem with Spenser, I find, is that there are plots in them, whereas Chandler really didn't have any plots. He just wrote about an interesting character muddling through from one event to another, and described in a great way too. I'm still not 100% sure what the Big Sleep is about (neither was Chandler when he was asked).

I've not seen the Black Mask Boys available anywhere, not even on the darknet, which is a shame.

[omk3]

I can think of a lot of things that Big Sleep is about. But I see what you mean. I've never thought that plot could be a bad thing, but in Chandler's books the characters, the setting, even the language had more significance than the plot itself, and that's probably why I relished every sentence of them. Too plot-driven and you just want to see what happens in the end. Never saw it that way before, but it makes sense!

Pity about the Black Mask Boys, I may try the paper books if I come across them.

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by omk3

I can think of a lot of things that Big Sleep is about. But I see what you mean. I've never thought that plot could be a bad thing, but in Chandler's books the characters, the setting, even the language had more significance than the plot itself, and that's probably why I relished every sentence of them. Too plot-driven and you just want to see what happens in the end. Never saw it that way before, but it makes sense!

Pity about the Black Mask Boys, I may try the paper books if I come across them.

You know the famous Big Sleep movie anecdote, don't you? If not, I'll repost it here for anybody who deoesn't know.

The film version of The Big Sleep is remembered for its convoluted plot. During filming, allegedly neither the director nor the screenwriters knew by whom chauffeur Owen Taylor was murdered or if he had killed himself. They sent a cable to Chandler, who told a friend in a later letter: "They sent me a wire... asking me, and dammit I didn't know either"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big...281946_film%29

[omk3]

No, I didn't know, thanks!

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

For all who bought Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith but haven't yet read it, I have good news.

I have even better news for all those who haven't bought it but are curious!

I bought the book and read it so you don't have to! I read it so that you can save your print processing neurons for the original Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin and no one but Jane Austin. Trust me, the original is better.

The addition of the undead to the mix does nothing to improve Ms. Austin's story, though as I said in an earlier thread, the scene where Mr. Darcy first proposes marriage to Elizabeth and is promptly kung-fu kicked into the fireplace is amusing.

thanks for your dedication Tom ! i for one appreciate your sacrifice.

Originally Posted by Moejoe

I've read both (shame on me) Poodle Springs, that's the one he completed from Chandler's unfinished manuscript and Perchance to Dream. You're right, they're not that good, and they take place after the original Marlowe canon. What's most interesting about Marlowe as seen through Parker's eyes is that Spenser, Parker's original creation, was directly based upon Marlowe. There's an interview somewhere where Parker says (paraphrasing)

I just thought of what Marlowe would do and I had Spenser do it.

If you want somehing fun and original, not parody or imitation, then William F. Nolan's "The Black Mask Boys" series is worth a look. In the series, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammet and Erle Stanely Gardner are amateur sleuths solving crimes.

http://www.thrillingdetective.com/ey...mask_boys.html

Also, the TV movie of Poodle Springs isn't half bad, with James Caan playing the aging Marlowe.

hm, the black mask boys series sounds good. i'll keep my eyes open for it.

Originally Posted by basschick

i like spenser, and i like marlowe, but i definitely agree with you. i felt that in poodle springs, marlowe had sort of morphed into spenser. robert b. parker is very profilic, and i really enjoy his work, but he doesn't like chandler. sort of reminded me of the "new" peter wimseys - just didn't hit the mark for me.

i was disappointed by the "new" peter wimseys" as well (well, i only read one of them, i think it was thrones and dominations maybe), so now i'm convinced, i won't read poodle springs. i've yet to find an unfinished book completed by someone else that i really liked. i'm not sure why they keep doing it.

Originally Posted by Moejoe

The problem with Spenser, I find, is that there are plots in them, whereas Chandler really didn't have any plots. He just wrote about an interesting character muddling through from one event to another, and described in a great way too. I'm still not 100% sure what the Big Sleep is about (neither was Chandler when he was asked).

I've not seen the Black Mask Boys available anywhere, not even on the darknet, which is a shame.

that's one of the things i love best about chandler. it's really all about the ambiance, and the writing, and the details.

Originally Posted by Moejoe

You know the famous Big Sleep movie anecdote, don't you? If not, I'll repost it here for anybody who deoesn't know.

The film version of The Big Sleep is remembered for its convoluted plot. During filming, allegedly neither the director nor the screenwriters knew by whom chauffeur Owen Taylor was murdered or if he had killed himself. They sent a cable to Chandler, who told a friend in a later letter: "They sent me a wire... asking me, and dammit I didn't know either"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big...281946_film%29

heh. i was about to post that exact story. although i heard a different version : the screenwriters sent a wire to chandler asking who killed the chauffeur because they had no idea, and he wrote back saying "it was X" (i can't remember who he said). they wrote back saying "it couldn't have been X, he was [in prison] at the time" (in prison, or something... i'm not good with details). so chandler replied "well then i don't know who it was either." i love that story. and the film with Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart is possibly my favourite film ever. definitely in the top 5.

[astrodad]

I've never even heard of him, the trilobite that is me. Where should I start reading? Armageddon? Brentford?

[omk3]

Any of these two series is fine to start with, not that it really makes any difference. There are a lot, and I mean a lot, of running gags throughout all the books, and a lot of recurring characters, which is why he gets funnier the more you read him - that's the only reason to start at the beginning. The Antipope, first of the Brentford trilogy (which is definitely not three books) is the first written, and you'll get to meet Pooley and O'Malley in exotic Brentford

[NightGeometry]

Originally Posted by omk3

Any of these two series is fine to start with, not that it really makes any difference. There are a lot, and I mean a lot, of running gags throughout all the books, and a lot of recurring characters, which is why he gets funnier the more you read him - that's the only reason to start at the beginning. The Antipope, first of the Brentford trilogy (which is definitely not three books) is the first written, and you'll get to meet Pooley and O'Malley in exotic Brentford

Well, I was half way home and my readers battery ran out (knew i should have charged it sometime this week). So I popped in to Waterstones and got The Antipope in pbook. So far so good.

Off to read some more.

[wayrad]

You know, I can't help thinking it would be interesting (and not all that unreasonable ) if Karenin turned out to be an android... And it would help explain Anna's motivations, too.