Max Allan Collins finished this manuscript of a Mike Hammer novel. If you’re a fan of Mickey Spillane and Mike Hammer, this is a must-buy. Somehow Max Allan Collins manages to channel Spillane. The writing of both authors is seamless in this book. Lady, Go Die! was lost in the 1940s. It’s the Mike Hammer novel Spillane wrote between I, the Jury and My Gun Is Quick. But it was never published. Yes, it’s a relic of the past, but I enjoyed reading every page!
FORGOTTEN BOOKS #167: LADY, GO DIE! By Mickey Spillane & Max Allan Collins
8 Replies
I found reading John Leonard a little like eating chocolate cake. A little is great, a lot is too much. Partly because of Leonard’s almost beatnik writing style, partly because Leonard’s sentences meandered all over the place, and finally because no one else wrote like him, I grew to be a fan of John Leonard. I believe the New York Times Book Review was at its best when Leonard was the Editor. When the New York Times ran a column in the Arts & Leasure section written by “Deep Eyes” (a variation of “Deep Throat”) I knew immediately it was John Leonard. For 16 years, Leonard appeared on CBS SUNDY MORNING with movie reviews and social commentary. Reading For My Life collects a sampling of Leonard’s work: essays, book reviews, film reviews, thought pieces, and political analysis. Just reading Leonard’s scintillating prose again brought back how much I miss him. John Leonard was one-of-a-kind. GRADE: A
If you’re in the mood for some snarky British social commentary, Edward St. Aubyn’s The Patrick Melrose Novels delivers some very black humor. The four novels in this omnibus volume, Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, and Mother’s Milk tell the life story of Patrick Melrose whose father is abusive and whose mother concerns herself with saving the world rather than taking care of her son. In Bad News, Edward St. Aubyn creates the frighteningly real world of a drug addict. Patrick Melrose spends most of the novel chasing around New York City trying to score some drugs. Yes, there’s humor but it’s pretty grim. Bad News is the most convincing depiction of addiction that I’ve ever read. St. Aubyn cleverly develops the arc of Patrick Melrose’s life from childhood to middle age. The books are filled with witty conversations and shocking scandals. Edward St. Aubyn captures life in this segment of the British class system perfectly. If you put P. G. Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh in a blender, the result would be Edward St. Aubyn. GRADES: Never Mind, B; Bad News, A; Some Hope, B; Mother’s Milk, B+
Tonight, the updated Sherlock Holmes series begins its second season with A Scandal in Belgravia. Next week, it’s The Hounds of the Baskervilles, and Season 2 finishes up with The Reichenbach Fall. Some Sherlockians might object to bringing Sherlock into the 21st Century, but I find these programs great fun. PBS has been rebroadcasting Season One and Season One is available on DVD and Blu-ray. Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays the quirky Holmes, is also going to star in the next Star Trek movie.
Robert Sheckley was one of my favorite writers when I was a teenager. It seemed that every issue of Galaxy and If had a Sheckley story in it. I preferred Sheckley’s humorous stories, but he could also write gritty, hard-hitting fiction. This newly published New York Review of Books edition of 26 Sheckley stories has plenty of great stories in it. I hope this is the first of a series!
Nobel Prize Winner Paul Krugman says that improving the economy has an easy economic solution: stimulus. Drawing on data from the Great Depression and the 14 recessions we’ve had since, Krugman argues that Government spending is the key factor to improving the economy. Of course, the Forces of Darkness (aka, the Koch brothers, the Tea Party, the Republican Party, Grover Norquist, etc.) have spent the last 50 years demonizing Government and spreading the erroneous idea that Government can do nothing right. What’s holding back the U.S. economy is politics. John Maynard Keynes was right: in times of depression and recession when private capital is frozen, only Government spending can reinvigorate the economy. Diane and I have done our best in these troubled times to stimulate the economy, but that’s not enough. Krugman insists that until Government pitches in, the U.S. economy will continue to flounder. Read End This Depression Now! and you’ll be convinced Krugman is right! GRADE: A