Show Notes
Megan Abbott is the Gen X queenpin of literary noir crime fiction, and not enough appreciative readers know it. Abbott writes smoldering, classic noir New York suits foolishly package as everything from YA adjacent high school angst to wine-soaked mom drama. BUY THE BOOK: Queenpin by Megan Abbott Be A Friend, Share This Episode!
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Our rotund raconteur accepted a $50 cash bribe from shady new pulp fiction author Frank Kidd (Once Upon A Time in Argentina) to read bestselling chick thriller Brain Damage by Freida McFadden aka Dr. Sara Cohen. Hear all about it! Come for the sadistic voyeurism, stay for the misogyny, misandry, and money-grab!
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Philip “Big Philly” Smith took time away from talking smack about bad books to deeply diving into good books about smack! It’s 1952 and New York native Salvatore Lombino is a 26-year-old short story stud in the nadir of the pulp fiction magazine market. So what does he do? He legally changes his name to Evan Hunter and publishes his first crime novel, The Evil Sleep! from Falcon Books. Eventually, it was reissued as So Nude, So Dead (2015) by Ed McBain thanks to Charles Ardai and his temple to mid-century classics, Hard Case Crime. Listen now to learn how McBain’s debut transcended its modest prose and window dressing thanks the author’s eagle eye for targeting popular subgenre expectations to subvert. So Nude, So Dead is heroin, hoes, and prose—all a pulp writer knows. Other books mentioned in this episode: The Blackboard Jungle by Evan Hunter Roots Down to Hell by Matthew Louis The Wrong Man by Matthew Louis Frenzy by Jonathan Craig - Not specifically mentioned, but this is the other junkie amateur sleuth novel I was referring to. As promised in the episode, here is a picture of a street from my neighborhood.
For over 30 years John M. Floyd, a writer you’ve never heard of, has published over 1,000 short stories—mostly in crime fiction—in over 600 publications. Here we analyze his career and extrapolate effective craft and process rules. Further, Big Philly recalls his correspondence with Mr. Floyd and shares some insider tips on how to up your short fiction game. You can find Mr. Floyd’s short story collections for purchase HERE.
Philip “Big Philly” Smith reflects on the potential deleterious effects of entering his adolescence at the exact moment Kurt Cobain and his ilk commandeered the culture. The ethos of Nirvana was toxic garbage that destroyed rock music forever—rock is dead.