tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736891887729249983.post5290803958353808843..comments2023-12-06T00:30:01.898-08:00Comments on Brian Drake At Large!: The Abominable Thirty-Nine StepsBrian Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01233187184688491057noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736891887729249983.post-25311273841191149922013-09-13T15:56:21.467-07:002013-09-13T15:56:21.467-07:00I will for sure check out Buchan's other work....I will for sure check out Buchan's other work. As I said, 39 Steps is written well, I'm just not a fan of the way the story plays out.Brian Drakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01233187184688491057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736891887729249983.post-83901362130306141952013-09-13T13:27:09.745-07:002013-09-13T13:27:09.745-07:00Kingsley Amis wrote that historians tend to be eit...Kingsley Amis wrote that historians tend to be either like H G Wells or Edward Gibbon--Onwards and upwards or Decline and Fall. I personally think that our modern thriller are neither better or worse than the classics. They are just different. 39 STEPS is probably not the best introduction to Buchan. He wrote much better stuff, but because of Hitchcock it's the one that immediately springs to mind. MR STANDFAST, which really counts as a direct sequel to it, is a far better written book. It's worth trying out a lot of his non-Hannay stuff like HUNTINGTOWER or THE FREE FISHERS. One of my favourites is JOHN MCNAB, which is a rather light-hearted adventure story. It's not a thriller in the popular sense, but it's a real pleasure to read.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736891887729249983.post-79342055103243825932013-09-10T19:09:11.515-07:002013-09-10T19:09:11.515-07:00Well in spite of my above remarks, I'm glad fo...Well in spite of my above remarks, I'm glad for any Spillane material, any time. I need to catch up with Complex 90 and I'm looking forward to the future efforts.Brian Drakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01233187184688491057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736891887729249983.post-51623132282769011932013-09-10T07:32:26.314-07:002013-09-10T07:32:26.314-07:00No. the rejection of THE TWISTED THING had to do w...No. the rejection of THE TWISTED THING had to do with the poor showing the hardcover of I, THE JURY made. When the paperback of JURY went through the roof, editor Victor Weybright at Signet desperately wanted THE TWISTED THING (originally titled FOR WHOM THE GODS WOULD DESTROY). For whatever reason, Mickey held the book back and did MY GUN IS QUICK (a revenge novel) next. He did not turn in THE TWISTED THING till the '60s when he missed the deadline on THE BIG BANG (which he set aside unfinished...until I finally finished it a while back). Confusing? You bet. The religious conversion definitely was a major part of the multiple reasons he went silent in the novel field (other factors: dissatisfaction with his contract with Dutton/Signet and getting battered so badly by critics and social commentators).Max Allan Collinshttp://www.maxallancollins.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736891887729249983.post-83697559060765316482013-09-09T11:58:03.613-07:002013-09-09T11:58:03.613-07:00Max, If somebody who moved as many units as Mickey...Max, If somebody who moved as many units as Mickey was forced down a certain road by his publisher, with others books turned down despite their similar or superior quality (The Twisted Thing is a favorite of mine), could that have been part of his motivation to take a break after Kiss Me, Deadly? The break has always been credited to his religious conversion and how he didn't "need the money", but perhaps he'd had enough of his editor's nonsense too, and he kept his lips zipped on that in because eventually he'd want to write some more?Brian Drakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01233187184688491057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736891887729249983.post-38954578208220705372013-09-09T08:29:02.933-07:002013-09-09T08:29:02.933-07:00I appreciate your very flattering comments about m...I appreciate your very flattering comments about my work. I was quite consciously building on Mickey (and Hammett and Chandler) with Nathan Heller, combining the genre they perfected with the historical novel. Since they were contemporary authors, they can't be faulted for not doing more with it (Chandler did in THE LONG GOODBYE). As for Mickey, I think he felt limited by the vengeance/friend-murdered road he was forced down by I, THE JURY's huge success. His initial two follow-ups (the abandoned LADY, GO DIE!, which I finished, and THE TWISTED THING, rejected at the time and not pubbed till twenty years later) were not revenge tales, and indicated a different direction for Hammer. I think the limitations of his success had something to do with the relatively small number of Hammers he published. Interestingly (at least to me) is that some of his most ambitious Hammer novels were ones he did not complete, and I've had the honor of doing so myself. THE GOLIATH BONE, THE BIG BANG, LADY, GO DIE!, COMPLEX 90 and KING OF THE WEEDS are not revenge tales, and KISS HER GOODBYE is only marginally one. Mickey's non-Hammer bigger-landscape novels, THE ERECTION SET and THE LAST COP OUT, indicate where he might have gone had he not been pulled back into the restrictive Jehavoah's Witness church. There remain numerous fragmentary non-Hammer manuscripts in the Spillane files that support this notion. Max Allan Collinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00867456003618637948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736891887729249983.post-87948361302238387362013-09-04T12:05:17.271-07:002013-09-04T12:05:17.271-07:00One positive thing I will say, and should have alr...One positive thing I will say, and should have already mentioned, is that his writing style, the sense of time and place (the political war-wrangling stuff in the chat with Scudder was terrific) and storytelling skill is good enough that I would like to read his other books to see how they compare. I will put the two you mentioned at the top of the list. And for all of my complaining, I wanted to keep reading "39" to see how it all came out. That's the first time I've finished a book I didn't like, so there *is* something there.... Brian Drakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01233187184688491057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736891887729249983.post-21869227477634275662013-09-04T07:40:21.868-07:002013-09-04T07:40:21.868-07:00I'm afraid I disagree. The 39 Steps is flawed...I'm afraid I disagree. The 39 Steps is flawed by some of your points, however, I've reread it several times and am always enamored by the tale. I've also read my way through the sequel Hannay books, each one building on the one before, and have thoroughly enjoyed the series (Greenmantle is a particular favorite). But for me the blessing of The 39 Steps was it led me directly to John McNab and Prestor John, which I consider to be quintessential Buchan novels.Paul Bishophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02102723351945251883noreply@blogger.com