Mickey Spillane has died at age 88!

[Pilgrim]

One of the great stylistic authors of the hard-boiled detective. I just heard a news story on NPR's All Things Considered saying that he had passed on.

You could open any book he ever wrote, and within one page you'd know who wrote it. Wonderful, hard-hitting writing style - and by all accounts, a pretty good gent. I'd absolutely love to be able to write in similar style. If I ever do write a detective novel, I will dedicate the book to him and try to emulate his style.

http://www.thrillingdetective.com/trivia/spillane.html

Rest easy, Mickey. Your writing will live on.

 

[Strider]

I liked Mike Danger. RIP: MS!

 

[Tomasso]

He Looked And Talked Like He Wrote, Too.

He was quite entertaining on the talk show circuit, Carson, Cavett and such.

 

[Story]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,204038,00.html

As a stylist Spillane was no innovator; the prose was hard-boiled boilerplate. In a typical scene, from "The Big Kill," Hammer slugs out a little punk with "pig eyes."

"I snapped the side of the rod across his jaw and laid the flesh open to the bone," Spillane wrote. "I pounded his teeth back into his mouth with the end of the barrel ... and I took my own damn time about kicking him in the face. He smashed into the door and lay there bubbling. So I kicked him again and he stopped bubbling."

:eusa_clap
And for your listening pleasure, http://www.earlehagen.net/id14.htm

 

[Pilgrim]

I'd respectfully differ. Having read my share of Hammett and Chandler - generally regarded as the two leaders in the "hard-boiled" genre, I always found Spillane's phrasing and word usage highly distinctive. As I mentioned in my original post, I always felt that I could open any Spillane book to a random page, read it, and know I was reading Spillane. I couldn't say that about Hammett or Chandler.

The overall plot lines were similar, and the "hard-boiled" school certainly took their methods from the same place, but the distinctive, individual style of each writer is part of the pleasure of reading them.

 

[jake_fink]

Oops.



http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=10284

 

[Nathan Dodge]

It's almost odd to think that Spillane sold over 100 million books and is practically forgotten today...fickle public!

R.I.P.

 

[Pilgrim]

Beat you by about 15 hours, Jake. Your turn next!

And yes, isn't it really odd that Spillane isn't better remembered today? He had a tremendous impact on popular fiction in the 50's and 60's.

Then again, Kipling isn't well remembered today, and his epic poetry and writings deserve much better.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

I'd respectfully differ. Having read my share of Hammett and Chandler - generally regarded as the two leaders in the "hard-boiled" genre, I always found Spillane's phrasing and word usage highly distinctive. As I mentioned in my original post, I always felt that I could open any Spillane book to a random page, read it, and know I was reading Spillane. I couldn't say that about Hammett or Chandler.

The overall plot lines were similar, and the "hard-boiled" school certainly took their methods from the same place, but the distinctive, individual style of each writer is part of the pleasure of reading them.

Great post!