Karen Chisholm
REVIEW
PULP FICTION - THE DAMES edited by Otto Penzler
Reviewed By
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Okay - I confess this book is the point at which I gave up on this series.
Not that there weren't a few reasonable stories within the collection, but mostly because I'm really very very over the idea that all women are either tramps, or manipulators (or both), or victims, or pathetic, or stupid (well smart if they are manipulating)... and so on.
Even allowing for sensibility differences between when these stories were written and now, I just kept wondering if these authors had wives, or daughters, or mothers that they liked much. And I do know the difference between "fiction" and "reality" but this collection was so relentlessly, tediously predictably clichéd that it was a real struggle for me to finish.
BOOK DETAILS
BOOK INFORMATION
BLURB
Wearing a low-cut dress or sweater - usually in tatters - and menaced by a group of muscular thugs or a single, scarred villain, the cliched cover girls of pulp fiction magazines stole the limelight from their rather more spirited sisters concealed within. From the pens of writing legends like Dashiell Hammett, Cornell Woolrich and Raymond Chandler, stories of the greatest grand dames of the pulp genre have been gathered together in this unique volume. Its pages are rich with female jewel thieves of a certain elegance, feisty reporters in pursuit of an exclusive, gun molls with gangster boyfriends, avenging angels, tough broads and out-and-out hoodlums. Tailor-made for pulp novices and hard-boiled fans with a soft spot for the masters, "Pulp Fiction: The Dames" shows that some writing has an edge that time just can't dull.
Contents:
Preface - Otto Penzler
Introduction - Laura Lippman
Angel Face - Cornell Woolrich
Chosen to Die - Leslie T. White
A Pinch of Snuff - Eric Taylor
Killer in the Rain - Raymond Chandler
Sally the Sleuth - Adolphe Barreaux
A Shock for the Countess - C. S. Montanye
Snowbound - C. B. Yorke
The Girl Who Knew Too Much - Randolph Barr
The Corpse in the Crystal - D. B. McCandless
He Got What He Asked For - D. B. McCandless
Gangster's Brand - P. T. Luman
Dance Macabre - Robert Reeves
The Girl with the Silver Eyes - Dashiell Hammett
The Jane from Hell's Kitchen - Perry Paul
The Duchess Pulls a Fast One - Whitman Chambers
Mansion of Death - Roger Torrey
Concealed Weapon - Roger Torrey
The Devil's Bookkeeper - Carlos Martinez
Black Legion - Lars Anderson
Three Wise Men of Babylon - Richard Sale
The Adventure of the Voodoo Moon - Eugene Thomas
Brother Murder - T. T. Flynn
Kindly Omit Flowers - Stewart Sterling
| Review | PULP FICTION - THE DAMES edited by Otto Penzler | Karen Chisholm
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Tuesday, April 5, 2011 |
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