Yesterday I listened to a recent interview on Fresh Air with Charles Ardai , an Edgar Award winning writer and founder of the pulp-fiction publishing house Hard Case Crime . & The interview is really interesting. & Ardai writes under an alias - Richard Aleas - which is an anagram of his name. & Hmmmm, I could start writing steamy romance novels under the alias
In addition to listening to the interview, you should spend time on the Hard Case website. The cover art of their books are done in the old pulp style with lots of cleavage and long-legged dames. They also have hilarious blurbs to go with the titles. For example, prolific crime writer Robert Bloch's book Shooting Star has the blurb: "When murder comes to Hollywood, only a reluctant con man and a one-eyed private eye can deliver justice." Or this one, with Cornell Woolrich's book Fright : "A man. A woman. A kiss in the dark. That is how the nightmare begins. But with who's death will it end?" If that ain't hard boiled enough for ya, try Shephard Rifkin's The Murder Vine : & "In the Deep South, & the days are lovely - but the nights are murder."
