judging a book by its cover
A fantastic charity shop find. Pulp Fiction - The Crimefighters. Edited by Otto Penzler, introduction by Harlan Coben. It cost me only 75p, an embarrassingly small amount for such a treasure. It includes stories by such masters of the genre as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, and many other writers that are new to me. The cover alone sold it to me, never mind the promise of the stories it contains. It conjures Bogey and Bacall, James Cagney, Edward G Robinson, Gloria Grahame; all dressed in black, harsh white lighting throwing deep shadows across the walls, snarky dialogue delivered through thick clouds of cigarette smoke, to the soundtrack of squealing tyres, and the sharp crack of gunshots. And then it's edited by a guy called Otto, who in the movie would be played by Sydney Greenstreet. I'm kicking around ideas for short stories at the moment, so reading this is research. Honestly, I am working here.