Blog Archives

Author Talk - Kiama - A.B.Patterson - 04 March 2017

19/1/2017

And my second scheduled author talk for 2017!

Looking forward to heading down to Kiama Library for my first ever weekend author chat!

It's on Saturday 04 March 2017, in the afternoon, at Kiama Library, Railway Parade, Kiama. The exact time is yet to be advised, so watch this space.

See you there for lots of talking about crime, corruption and writing. And I'll have copies of Harry's World available for purchase and signing.

Cheers,
ABP

0 Comments

My top 10 hard-boiled and noir crime writers, by A.B.Patterson.

16/1/2017

0 Comments

I'm a crime writer, so no surprise I love, really love, reading crime. It's a genre with several sub-genres, but my passion is the hard-boiled and noir style. Purists may well say that hard-boiled and noir are not the same thing, but in my view there is a significant overlap. Pretty well all the good hard-boiled I have read also has elements of noir, sometimes a very great deal of it.
It is also not surprising, therefore, that my Harry's World is similarly hard-boiled and noir.

There are so many great writers to choose from, but I settled on doing my top 10 list, and here they are. It did mean some tough decisions, but here's my gang of ten, with some gratuitous comments from yours truly. There is no real order here - I am starting the list with the 2 real classics for me, and the 2 who have most influenced my crime writing style so far.

1. Raymond Chandler - I've read them all and he is the master of the form.
2. Ross Macdonald - more prolific than Chandler, whom he followed, and I've read a lot. He gets more psychological with human nature - love it!
3. Ken Bruen - I discovered him about 18 months ago, and have read several. A very distinct Irish twist, and very noir.
4. Derek Raymond - known as the father of British noir, and excellent. And did I mention noir? In buckets.
5. Peter Corris - the godfather of Australian crime writing, and beautifully hard-boiled.
6. Christa Faust - another recent discovery, from the US, and fantastic to have a female author excelling in the hard-boiled and noir zone. And she does a seriously kick-arse female protagonist. Have read 2 now.
7. Laurent Guillaume - a French member joins the gang. Only 1 available in English translation so far, but excellent. And a hard-boiled PI in Mali - fascinating.
8. Jim Thompson - an American classic for noir predominantly, but leaves a very lasting impression.
9. Gordon DeMarco - this US left-wing crime writer didn't produce many books before his untimely death, but they are a great hard-boiled read, with politics thrown in.
10. Georges Simenon - not so much hard-boiled, but noir certainly evident. I have loved Simenon since I was a kid - in fact my first crime reads, and I still dabble these days.

So there it is! 5 American, 1 Australian, 1 Irish, 1 British, 1 French, and 1 Belgian. The genre certainly has broad appeal.
And I can strongly recommend them all.
ABP

0 Comments

Author Talk - Cessnock - A.B.Patterson - 14 February 2017

16/1/2017

0 Comments

The first of my author talks for 2017!

Looking forward to heading up to Cessnock Library where I'm featuring as the author talk for national Library Lovers Day!

So, it's on Tuesday 14 February 2017, at 11.30 a.m., at Cessnock Library, Vincent Street, Cessnock.

See you there for lots of talking about crime, corruption and writing. And I'll have copies of Harry's World available for purchase and signing.

Cheers,
ABP

0 Comments

Sun Quotes to share...

7/1/2017

0 Comments

Lake Siutghiol, Mamaia, Romania - 1981

Sydney, Australia - 1982

I love quotes, and I note them down all the time in books I keep. Over recent months I've been highlighting all the beautifully descriptive ones I could find about the sun. Here they are, along with a couple of appropriate photos from my 80s albums - one taken in Romania over Lake Siutghiol at Mamaia in 1981, and the other over Sydney Harbour in 1982.
Enjoy the quotes, I find them beautiful...

ROSS MACDONALD
'The clouds were writhing with red fire, as if the sun had plunged in the invisible sea and set it flaming. Only the mountains stood out dark and firm against the conflagration of the sky.'
The Drowning Pool, p.44.
'The sun, heavy and red, was almost down on the horizon now. Its image floated like spilled fire on the water.'
Black Money, p.46.
'The sun burned like a fire ship on the water, sinking slowly till only a red smoke was left trailing up the sky.'
Black Money, p.52.
'Outside, the sun had just gone down. The sunset spread across the sea like a conflagration so intense that it fed on water.'
The Blue Hammer, p.154.

LAURENT GUILLAUME
'Upriver, the sun was disappearing in a bed of unlikely colours.'
White Leopard, p.33.
'The sun was sinking into the riverbed. It seemed to be drowning in a gleaming sheet of blood.'
White Leopard, p.237.

ELLIOTT CHAZE
'There was the damnedest sunset, smeared like syrup of opals over everything and dripping off the clouds the way the molten metal comes out of the ladle in a steel mill.'
Black Wings has my Angel, p.42.

GORDON DEMARCO
'The sun sprayed lemony rays of warmth through the window and on to my face.'
Frisco Blues, p.123.

W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM
'The colour of the sea. It is deep blue in the open sea, wine-coloured under the setting sun; but in the lagoon of an infinite variety, ranging from pale turquoise to the brightest, clearest green; and there the setting sun will turn it for a short moment to liquid gold.'
A Writer’s Notebook, p.124.

'The sun was setting and the smooth sea was lucid with pale and various colour, blue, green, salmon-pink, and milky purple, and it was like the subtle and tender colour of silence.'
The Narrow Corner, p.45.

MARGARET ATWOOD
(About a sunset...)
'...just a slice of it, tangerine, then flamingo, then watered-down blood, then strawberry ice cream, off to the side of where the sun must be.'
Oryx and Crake, p.276.

DAVID BROOKS
'When I opened my eyes dawn’s rose had coloured your fingers on the pillow.'
Aubade, in The Balcony, p.76.

GRAHAM GREENE
(After machine-gunning a sampan after the bombing raid...)
(Captain Trouin): ' "We will make a little detour. The sunset is wonderful on the calcaire. You must not miss it," he added kindly, like a host who is showing the beauty of his estate, and for a hundred miles we trailed the sunset over the Baie d’Along. The helmeted Martian face looked wistfully out, down the golden groves among the great humps and arches of porous stone, and the wound of murder ceased to bleed.'
The Quiet American, pp.148-149.

GEORGE ORWELL
'The morning sunlight slanted up the maidan and struck, yellow as goldleaf, against the white face of the bungalow.'
Burmese Days, p.70.

(About the morning...)
'At that hour there were beautiful faint colours in everything – tender green of leaves, pinkish-brown of earth and tree trunks – like aquarelle washes that would vanish in the later glare.'
Burmese Days, p.72.

0 Comments

Author Talk - Kiama - A.B.Patterson - 04 March 2017

My top 10 hard-boiled and noir crime writers, by A.B.Patterson.

Author Talk - Cessnock - A.B.Patterson - 14 February 2017

Sun Quotes to share...

A.B.Patterson

Categories

Archives