Book Description
Complete in one volume, the five books that created the modern American crime novel
In a few years of extraordinary creative energy, Dashiell Hammett invented the modern American crime novel. In the words of Raymond Chandler, "Hammett gave murder back to the kind of people that commit it for reasons, not just to provide a corpse.... He put these people down on paper as they were, and he made them talk and think in the language they customarily used for these purposes."
The five novels that Hammett published between 1929 and 1934, collected here in one volume, have become part of modern American culture, creating archetypal characters and establishing the ground rules and characteristic tone for a whole tradition of hardboiled writing. Drawing on his own experiences as a Pinkerton detective, Hammett gave a harshly realistic edge to novels that were at the same time infused with a spirit of romantic adventure. His lean and deliberately simplified prose won admiration from such contemporaries as Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, and William Faulkner.
Each novel is distinct in mood and structure. Red Harvest (1929) epitomizes the violence and momentum of his Black Mask stories about the anonymous detective the Continental Op, in a raucous and nightmarish evocation of political corruption and gang warfare in a western mining town. In The Dain Curse (1929) the Op returns in a more melodramatic tale involving jewel theft, drugs, and a religious cult. With The Maltese Falcon (1930) and its protagonist Sam Spade, Hammett achieved his most enduring popular success, a tightly constructed quest story shot through with a sense of disillusionment and the arbitrariness of personal destiny. The Glass Key (1931) is a further exploration of city politics at their most scurrilous. His last novel was The Thin Man (1934), a ruefully comic tale paying homage to the traditional mystery form and featuring Nick and Nora Charles, the sophisticated inebriates who would enjoy a long afterlife in the movies.
Customer Reviews:
The Maltese Falcon.......2006-11-07
An intriguing plot with just the right blend of wry humor, sex and secrets.
Very exciting and convenient.......2006-06-19
I do like these stories, though they are so rough! It is very helpful to be able to have them all together in this one good volume, I think. But it is dangerous to read them late at night, because you either get too excited to sleep, or you dream of bad men with their car headlamps switched off in the dark!
The first benchmark.......2005-08-19
Very nice edition of the master's novels. In addition to my love of Hammett's prose, I am fascinated by the subtle political aspects of his work: he was the first crime writer to question the status quo so frankly. K. C. Constantine said, "The crime writer is society's stoolie", and Hammett is still a reliable informant.
A classic.......2004-08-26
"A Classic"
What makes a classic? In the case of a detective novel, it is a book that can be read and reread and that gives pleasure on each reading. The Maltese Falcon is now seventy-five years old, yet it continues to amaze, to amuse, to engage.
You may know the plot, but you still can't remember every twist and turn of the unfolding story, and you are surprised by details here and there you did not previously notice, or had forgotten. You may know the principal characters-the cynical detective Sam Spade, the seductive adventuress Brigid O'Shaughnessy, the exotic Joel Cairo, the crafty Caspar Gutman. But they are so expertly drawn, so powerfully realized, that you learn more about them on each reading.
You may already have committed some of the most famous lines of dialog to heart ("The cheaper the crook the gaudier the patter"-- "You're good. You're very good. It's chiefly your eyes, I think, and that throb you get into your voice when you say things like `Be generous, Mr. Spade'"). Yet you continue to discover more, and you continue on each reading to relish the bite, the humor, the intelligence of Hammett's prose.
It's practically impossible to read this book without thinking of the motion picture starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet. Don't try. John Huston's script departs here and there from the story line of the novel, but not in any serious way. Most of the changes are efforts to streamline the story and make it fit the standard (for 1941) length of a screenplay. And the best lines spoken by Bogart, Astor, Lorre, and Greenstreet are pure Hammett. The movie is true to the spirit of the book, and if you are familiar with both you can love them both.
At age seventy-five, The Maltese Falcon is a classic, and there is good reason to believe that in another seventy-five years it will still be one.
Well worth the time........2004-07-28
I have read all five novels at least twice. Will go for three times when winter arrives.
Average customer rating:
- Forget the book... watch the movie
- Well written book makes excellent listen.
- The Thin Man
- The Thin Man
- The Thin Man
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The Thin Man
Dashiell Hammett
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0679722637
Release Date: 1989-07-17 |
Amazon.com
The Thin Man, Dashiell Hammett's classic tale of murder in Manhattan, became the popular movie series with William Powell and Myrna Loy, and both the movies and the novel continue to captivate new generations of fans.
Nick and Nora Charles, accompanied by their schnauzer, Asta, are lounging in their suite at the Normandie in New York City for the Christmas holiday, enjoying the prerogatives of wealth: meals delivered at any hour, theater openings, taxi rides at dawn, rubbing elbows with the gangster element in speakeasies. They should be annoyingly affected, but they charm. Mad about each other, sardonic, observant, kind to those in need, and cool in a fight, Nick and Nora are graceful together, and their home life provides a sanctuary from the rough world of gangsters, hoodlums, and police investigations into which Nick is immediately plunged.
A lawyer-friend asks Nick to help find a killer and reintroduces him to the family of Richard Wynant, a more-than-eccentric inventor who disappeared from society 10 years before. His former wife, the lush and manipulative Mimi, has remarried a European fortune hunter who turns out to be a vindictive former associate of her first husband and is bent on the ruin of Wynant's family fortune. Wynant's children, Dorothy and Gilbert, seem to have inherited the family aversion to straight talk. Dorothy, who has matured into a beautiful young woman, has a crush on Nick, and so, in a hero-worshipping way, does mama's boy Gilbert. Nick and Nora respond kindly to their neediness as Nick tries to make sense of misinformation, false identities, far-fetched alibis, and, at the center of the confusion, the mystery of The Thin Man, Richard Wynant. Is he mad? Is he a killer? Or is he really an eccentric inventor protecting his discovery from intellectual theft?
The dialogue is spare, the locales lively, and Nick, the narrator, shows us the players as they are, while giving away little of his own thoughts. No one is telling the whole truth, but Nick remains mostly patient as he doggedly tries to backtrack the lies. Hammett's New York is a cross between Damon Runyon and Scott Fitzgerald--more glamorous than real, but compelling when visited in the company of these two charmers. The lives of the rich and famous don't get any better than this! --Barbara Schlieper
Book Description
Nick and Nora Charles are Hammett's most enchanting creations, a rich, glamorous couple who solve homicides in between wisecracks and martinis. At once knowing and unabashedly romantic,
The Thin Man is a murder mystery that doubles as a sophisticated comedy of manners.
Customer Reviews:
Forget the book... watch the movie.......2007-08-09
If you ever saw the movie The Thin Man starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, then you already know the basic story. It's the worst part of the Depression and Nick and Nora are a fabulously wealthy couple living in San Francisco. For business reasons, they are spending Christmas in New York City where Nick was once a first-class detective. Clyde Wynant, a man that Nick once helped, is missing and his daughter Dorothy (played by Maureen O'Sullivan in the movie) asks Nick to help find him. Nick isn't anxious to get back in the detective game (although Nora wants to see him in action) but when Clyde Wynant's secretary (who is also his lover) is killed and Wynant is suspected, Nick is dragged into the investigation.
All the players are here, Mimi Jorgenson, Wynat's ex-wife who is desperately in need of money; Chris Jorgenson, Mimi's current husband; Dorothy and Gilbert Wynant, Wynant's two grown-up children; John Guild, the police detective stuck with this baffling case; Herbert MacCaulay, Wynant's lawyer; Nick Morelli the gangster and speakeasy owner; and Arthur Nunheim, the police stool pigeon and blackmailer. The problem is that none of these characters are in the least bit likable which makes it hard to care about them or even care if Wynant is found. Unlike the movie, Dorothy is a floozy who drinks too much, Mimi beats her children, and Gilbert is beyond eccentric and is simply unbelievable. And the book drags on with side steps into discussions of cannibalism, for example, that really have no point nor do they move the story along.
But the main failure of the book is in failing to do what the movie does best... make a couple of Nick and Nora. There is no Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson feel in the book. Nora mostly hangs around comforting Dorothy and keeping Mimi from smacking poor Dorothy around. When the killer is revealed and the case solved, Nora isn't even around... she's back at the hotel. Rarely is a movie better than the book it is based on (Jaws come to mind) but this is one book that is poor compared to the movie. I should add that the book has a gratuitous use of the n-word and stereotypes lesbians as man-haters which made me like the book even less. Yes, I know the book was written in the 30's but still it grates on the modern reader and probably quite a few readers even back in the 30's.
Well written book makes excellent listen........2007-07-20
A 2007 Summer reading list mini review.
I just finished listening to Dashiell Hammett's The Thin Man read by William Dufris. If I had actually read it, I would certainly call it a page turner. Hammett turns a phrase with the best of them, and Dufris does an excellent job embodying the narrator: sleuth sophisticate Nick Charles and the rest of the assundry characters that populate Hammet's world.
I think listening rather than reading helped me to catch the atmosphere of this detective novel. And what atmosphere there is! There's lies and there's sex on this audiotape. There is so much drinking in this book, that I will probably wake up with a hangover, and I never touch the stuff. But besides the whiskey, there is also the wry sensibility of Nick Charles. Hammett never lets Nick lose control of the caper and that makes for an enjoyable read or listen for the audience.
The Thin Man.......2006-10-26
The Thin Man is a mystery solving the case of Julia Wolf's murder. Nick Charles, a retired detective, and his wife Nora find clues while helping a young girl named Dorothy through problems with her abusive mother and crazy suspect of a dad. As the story unfolds the situation turns out to be more complex than a single murder. There are many twists involving many characters that make the murder hard to solve.
The characters are well-developed with depth and realistic personalities. Detective Charles sarcastic wit makes him a fun character through which to sift through all the information to solve the murder.
Nevertheless the detail of information sifted through in the book can also make parts of the book a slow read. The author goes on large tangents that seem to detract from the story. For example at a party at the beginning of the book Nick is asked about cannibalism in America by a suspects child, Nick hands him a book which is then quoted at great length. Perhaps the author includes this to keep the reader guessing as to its relevance or as a device to show what people may do under extreme circumstances. Either way these side stories make the book drag at parts.
Despite being slow in certain sections the character development and the way the author highlights the relevant pieces of information to solve the mystery is satisfying. If the mystery is like walking through a forest to identify which trees are needed to guide the reader through to the far side of the forest, the author describes in detail too many of the trees. Yet, at the end, it is fun when the detective highlights and connects the facts that are part of the mystery.
The Thin Man.......2006-10-26
The Thin Man is a mystery solving the case of Julia Wolf's murder. Nick Charles, a retired detective, and his wife Nora find clues while helping a young girl named Dorothy through problems with her abusive mother and crazy suspect of a dad. As the story unfolds the situation turns out to be more complex than a single murder. There are many twists involving many characters that make the murder hard to solve.
The characters are well-developed with depth and realistic personalities. Detective Charles sarcastic wit makes him a fun character through which to sift through all the information to solve the murder.
Nevertheless the detail of information sifted through in the book can also make parts of the book a slow read. The author goes on large tangents that seem to detract from the story. For example at a party at the beginning of the book Nick is asked about cannibalism in America by a suspects child, Nick hands him a book which is then quoted at great length. Perhaps the author includes this to keep the reader guessing as to its relevance or as a device to show what people may do under extreme circumstances. Either way these side stories make the book drag at parts.
Despite being slow in certain sections the character development and the way the author highlights the relevant pieces of information to solve the mystery is satisfying. If the mystery is like walking through a forest to identify which trees are needed to guide the reader through to the far side of the forest, the author describes in detail too many of the trees. Yet, at the end, it is fun when the detective highlights and connects the facts that are part of the mystery.
The Thin Man.......2006-10-26
The Thin Man is a mystery solving the case of Julia Wolf's murder. Nick Charles, a retired detective, and his wife Nora find clues while helping a young girl named Dorothy through problems with her abusive mother and crazy suspect of a dad. As the story unfolds the situation turns out to be more complex than a single murder. There are many twists involving many characters that make the murder hard to solve.
The characters are well-developed with depth and realistic personalities. Detective Charles sarcastic wit makes him a fun character through which to sift through all the information to solve the murder.
Nevertheless the detail of information sifted through in the book can also make parts of the book a slow read. The author goes on large tangents that seem to detract from the story. For example at a party at the beginning of the book Nick is asked about cannibalism in America by a suspects child, Nick hands him a book which is then quoted at great length. Perhaps the author includes this to keep the reader guessing as to its relevance or as a device to show what people may do under extreme circumstances. Either way these side stories make the book drag at parts.
Despite being slow in certain sections the character development and the way the author highlights the relevant pieces of information to solve the mystery is satisfying. If the mystery is like walking through a forest to identify which trees are needed to guide the reader through to the far side of the forest, the author describes in detail too many of the trees. Yet, at the end, it is fun when the detective highlights and connects the facts that are part of the mystery.
Average customer rating:
- a great collection
- Classic Hammett
- A classic for every home library
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The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man, Red Harvest (Everyman's Library)
Dashiell Hammett , and
Robert Polito
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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The Big Sleep; Farewell, My Lovely; The High Window (Everyman's Library)
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Raymond Chandler: Collected Stories (Everyman's Library)
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The Long Goodbye
ASIN: 0375411259
Release Date: 2000-12-05 |
Book Description
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)
The three classic novels published here in one volume are rich with the crisp prose, subtle characters, and intricate plots that made Dashiell Hammett one of the most admired writers of the twentieth century.
A one-time detective and a master of deft understatement, Hammett virtually invented the hard-boiled crime novel. In The Maltese Falcon, Sam Spade, a private eye with his own solitary code of ethics, tangles with a beautiful and treacherous woman whose loyalties shift at the drop of a dime. The Thin Man introduces Hammett's wittiest creations, Nick and Nora Charles, who solve homicides in between wisecracks and martinis. And in Red Harvest, Hammett's anonymous tough-guy detective, the Continental Op, takes on the entire town of Poisonville in a deadly war against corruption.
"Dashiell Hammett is a master of the detective novel, yes, but also one hell of a writer."—Boston Globe
”Hammett was spare, hard-boiled, but he did over and over what only the best writers can ever do. He wrote scenes that seemed never to have been written before.”—Raymond Chandler
”Hammett’s prose was clean and entirely unique. His characters were as sharply and economically defined as any in American fiction.”—The New York Times
”As a novelist of realistic intrigue, Hammett was unsurpassed in his own or any time.”—Ross Macdonald
”Dashiell Hammett’s dialogues can be compared only with the best in Hemingway.”—André Gide
”Hammett is one of the best contemporary American writers.”—Gertrude Stein
Customer Reviews:
a great collection.......2005-01-02
The Maltese Falcon is a masterpiece. I love Red Harvest as well. The Thin Man isn't quite as good, but it's a lot of fun. All in all, reading this collection is a great way to spend a rainy weekend as I discovered.
Classic Hammett.......2004-01-23
Dashiell Hammett is best known as the man who wrote "Maltese Falcon," the classic noir mystery behind the classic noir film. That book is included here, along with the confusing "Red Harvest" and magnificent, polished "Thin Man," two other crime novels by Hammett.
The mysterious "Maltese Falcon" is at the center of international intrigue -- and murder. Cynical Sam Spade and his partner Miles Archer are hired by a beautiful, seemingly helpless woman to find a man who she says has run off with her sister. Not only is the woman lying, but someone kills Archer. A slimy fop, a cultured gangster, and a breathy femme fatale are all in the same web of crime and murder, centered on a bejewelled bird called the Maltese Falcon.
"Red Harvest" is the full-length novel introduction of the cool-as-ice Continental Op. He travels to Personville (or "Poisonville," depending on your accent) to meet a client. Except the client has just been murdered. Rather than go home to San Francisco, the Continental Op meets the dead man's wealthy father, and begins a one-man battle against the vicious gangsters who control Personville. But the death and mayhem draw him in, threatening his life as he struggles to stay afloat.
"The Thin Man" was Hammett's last and lightest novel. Nick and Nora Charles are a wealthy couple who have a weird kind of compatibility, but ex-private-eye Nick is through with crime solving. Or so he thinks. One day when Nick is out drinking, he encounters young Dorothy Wynant, daughter of peculiar inventor Clyde Wynant. Her dad has vanished, and soon his secretary/mistress is found dead. Nick finds himself sucked unwillingly into a sordid, messy crime that will leave more murdered bodies behind it.
This collection shows the unevenness of Hammett's writing at times. "Maltese Falcon" and "Thin Man" are complicated and polished, while "Red Harvest" is a dense mass of shootings, conspiracies and mysterious crimes. What they all have in common is tense, sparse writing, and hardened, cynical anti-heroes who are surrounded by other ambiguous characters.
The three-pack of "The Maltese Falcon," "The Thin Man," and "Red Harvest" is a good way to introduce yourself to Hammett's gritty, engrossing crime novels. Highly recommended.
A classic for every home library.......2000-12-30
My two favorites in this collection are The Thin Man and The Maltese Falcon. I love these hard-boiled detective novels doubly for their sheer entertainment and their place in history. If you want a fascinating read to go allong with this collection, get The Perfect Murder: A Study In Detection by David Lehman. It will clue you into these novels and life. These classic American Novels by Hammett are about to explode in historical research as these novels create an important link in America from WWII to our morality.
Customer Reviews:
Fascinating Mysteries.......2001-03-16
Dashiell Hammett's novels have fascinating mystery plots and the essential elements of film noir: dangerous dames, wise-cracking "ops" (= operative = P.I.), cagey crime orgasnisers, and trigger-happy "muggs".
Hammett's novels include The Maltese Falcon (#3) and The Thin Man(#5), which are great films but they are missing some of the intrigue of the real stories. For instance, there's another angle of Sam Spade involving Iva Archer that doesn't quite make it to the film version . . . .
The Red Harvest (#1) reveals shocking corruption in city politics as the Continental Op (literally) wades through bootleg liquor and tries to keep track of the soaring body count.
The Dain Curse (#2) is a confusing compound of drug use, a religious cult, and a family's vicious criminal record. It isn't a neat, fictionalised detective story, but rather the slough of deceit Hammett must have seen while working for Pinkerton.
The Glass Key (#4) also deals with city-level political corruption, but there's another message: think of trying to use a glass key . . . .
When fortifying myself for a six hour layover and a trans-Atlantic flight, I stumbled upon this book quite by accident, but I couldn't have made a better choice. Hammett's novels make excellent reading: interesting plots, clever wording and some of those "lines" film noir can't do without. I can't resist giving an example "line" (from The Glass Key):
"'A copper found you crawling on all fours up the middle of Colman Street at three in the morning leaving a trail of blood behind you.'
'I think of funny things to do,' Ned Beaumont said."
Average customer rating:
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The Thin Man
Manufacturer: Pocket Books, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000CQXXBK |
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Investigating Couples: A Critical Analysis of the Thin Man, the Avengers, and the X-Files
Tom Soter
Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
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Binding: Paperback
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The Thin Man
Dashiell Hammett
Manufacturer: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NPVK9M |
Book Description
From 1965 to 1988, Andy Milligan made an astounding 29 exploitation movies, including Gutter Trash, Torture Dungeon, The Ghastly Ones, Seeds, Bloodthirsty Butchers, and Fleshpot on 42nd Street. For most of the shlockmeisters, exploitation was a joke. But for Milligan-a sadist, a misogynist, a maniac-this was his own private reality. The Fassbinder of 42nd Street, Milligan brought a crazed intensity to his work, making films of the heart in a milieu where the only art was the con. Based on hundreds of interviews, excerpts from lost movies and plays, and ranting narratives from Milligan himself, this is a story of how one unrelenting soul attempted to escape his demons and create his own twisted universe, a universe peopled by abortion-clinic bombers, undercover transsexuals, disgruntled hustlers, and bestiality-loving exhibitionists. This is a tale of violence-physical, sexual, and psychological. Even the author himself got sucked in, appearing in one of Milligan's last gore-fests and nearly getting killed in the process. The sick secrets revealed in this book will unnerve even hard-core grind house fans. But The Ghastly One-profusely illustrated with rare and strange stills shot by Milligan himself-isn't just about a lone lunatic with a movie camera. It's a funny, unbelievable, and oddly moving history of exploitation films as well as a vivid portrait of New York's infamous Caffé Cino, the Warhol crowd, and the vibrant but malevolent place called Times Square and what got lost when it sold its soul to Mickey Mouse.
Customer Reviews:
THE ABYSS GAZES ALSO - AMAZING BOOK.......2007-10-08
Not for the prudish or faint of heart, this is one of the most incredible film director bio's ever. The 'Raging Bull' of grindhouse biographies. It's a tribute to the skills and passion of author McDonough that he makes an unattractive subject matter such a compelling read.
Milligan really is a pretty hideous character, but McDonough finds humanity, charm and the eternal quest for love and acceptance in this often seedy story, all the while casting a honest unblinking eye on his bitterly angry subject and his horrendously dysfunctional family.
McDonough cleverly structures the book with two streams, one is the straight ahead bio of the events, people and environments that shaped Milligan and the other is Milligan's own first person account. This drips with anger and cynicism as well as trenchant, intelligent observations on the human condition.
Love 'em or Hate 'em.......2007-02-17
andy milligan made the kinds of movies that leave the watcher scratching his head and wondering 'what the hell...?' movies made in the most primitive of 'do it yourself on whatever you can find' equipment and on ridiculous budgets- that a good 30% of them are lost should come as no surprise- the surprise is that ANY of it was saved- and that is thanks to film buffs and historians.
sooner or later people will recognize that the value in these 'guerilla' film makers lies in the documentation of urban locales that would be lost if not for the denizens who frequented them and documented them so well. there will always be those who call bukowski a genius and fail to see people like andy milligan as anything more than a hack. the irony.
i personally found this book a treat- though it's subject matter was unsettling most of the time- and jimmy mcdonough's treatment of cafe cino and the deuce is worth ther read on it's own just for it's historical value alone. reading the book didn't make me stronger, and i still can't wash some of it off- but it was a dynamite read, and definitely worth the time i put into reading it.
if the merit of a biography is to interest the passive reader into delving further into it's subject matter, then jimmy mcdonough has succeeded where other biographers fail.
Bad Filmmaker, Crummy Book.......2005-08-18
As John Waters wrote in his first book, "Shock Value," 'there's GOOD bad taste...and there's BAD bad taste.' Author Jimmy McDonough may have been wise to consider this before choosing to write an entire book about exploitation flick bottom-feeder Andy Milligan.
Not that a decent book can't be written about a bad filmmaker. Rudolph Grey's bio on Ed Wood is a pretty entertaining, informative read, after all. But, as presented by the author, Milligan's world of pervs, pederasts and theater rejects becomes more ho-hum than hair-raising. We're supposed to be shocked (I think) by the depravity of these people. Instead, just as in any Milligan film, the characters are too void of life to be very interesting.
Almost worse, as this book grinds on, it almost feels as if McDonough has lost sight of the fact that Andy Milligan made really, really, REALLY bad movies. Unlike the best films of, say, Herschell Gordon Lewis, there's no spark, no wit, no fun of any sort in a Milligan flick. Milligan's defenders will use words such as "gritty" and "merciless" to describe his work, thus placing it on a higher shelf than it deserves. Well, his films may indeed be gritty, but does that really excuse the fact that they're also unwatchable? And if they're so 'merciless,' does that make it okay that they're mercilessly boring too?
The long and short of it is that if Andy Milligan had any talent at all, he sure didn't show it in any of his movies. McDonough, in writing this book, seems to have gotten too close to his subject to see this. And in the author's hands, the story of Andy Milligan and his band of misfits just never catches fire. "The Ghastly One" might be a little better than an actual Milligan movie, but that's not exactly high praise.
Oh Please!.......2004-12-29
Oh Please! I was a lead actress in Monstrosity. There is not much to write about Andy. He was as basic as peanut butter and jelly. Not complex. Not dark. He paid us on time and was nice to be around. His movies were awful. He was well intentioned. Doing a Milligan film was a memorable "Hello to Hollywood" for us young upstarts who were new to town and short on cash -- and the competition to get into one was tough. (As ridiculous as that sounds.) We could act -- but he directed us in a way that made us look and sound -- AWFUL -- and we were embarrassed when we saw the end result. However, there was No mystique. No need for book about Andy.
haunting/brutal/honest.......2003-05-23
As a straight male I could have done without some of the gay passages, I could have also done without some of Milligan's stepbrother's sick and twisted admissions--and yet, having said that, what was the author supposed to do? Cover up the less than pleasant parts of his subject's background? I think not. It's a facinating tale that will haunt you long after you have finished the book. Extremely well done; unputdownable. If you're interested in low-budget filmmaking and appreciate what these filmmakers have to go through to make their dreams happen on zero budgets...this is the book for you. The other would be on Al Adamson, and, of course, Ed Wood.
Customer Reviews:
picture book.......2001-09-12
this book is more amusing than accurate more of a picture book you'd read when you were little only with a twist
great for novilty porpouses but thats about all
Hell is for horrible.......2001-09-04
I rarely feel compelled to write reviews for Amazon, but this book is so awful that if I can persuade someone not to purchase it, this review will have been worth writing.
Craze's short text is horrible, with a capital H. The author gets a lot of his facts mixed up, but that's not the worst of it. Craze is at his most hellish when he gets preachy. The books is horrendously sarcastic of non-eurocentric religions. In addition, Craze condescendingly suggests that "drug addicts and schizophrenics probably claim to have a more intimate knowlege of hell." But there's worse still. Craze's naive personal
philosophies culminiate in his suggestion that, in order to avoid hell, we should all strive to emulate the Nietzchean "superman" and "seize power when we choose." What in hell does seizing power have to do with getting into heaven?
Craze is at his most accurate when he catalogs lists of hellish torments. But one of the most severe torments in hell is curiously excluded from Craze's list: reading this book.
some misinformation.......2000-10-04
I can't speak to the entire volume (which is well produced, by the way), but when it comes to the mythology of the ancient near eastern world, he gets many, many things confused, mixing up parts of myths and giving wrong information.
Hell for curious people........2000-04-12
This book talk about Hell in a non-religious form. It shows the visions of Hell from Lands, cultures, and people from yesterday and today. For those interested in the concept of Hell in the minds of people from other places/other ages, this book is fun and fascinating.
Average customer rating:
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A Glimpse of the Netherworld (The Adventures of J. C. Van Winkler)
Jan Frazier
Manufacturer: SterlingHouse Publisher
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Spine-Chilling Horror | Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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Similar Items:
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Ghost of a Chance: The Adventures of J.C. Van Winkler, Vol. 2 (Adventures of J.C. Van Winkler)
ASIN: 1563153742
Release Date: 2005-09-30 |
Product Description
J. C. goes way, way, way undercover! Imagine being forced to visit the lord of the Underworld and watch him at work! Thats just what happens to J. C. van Winkler when she tries to save her cousin Jacob from being hit by a car. Both are transported to the Underworld, where J. C. encounters pure evil in the form of Wicker, the ruler of darkness
and truth in the form of King Arthur. The Netherworld is the pits, but Wicker has plans to keep J. C. underground
forever. Glimpse of the Netherworld may be J. C.s most exciting voyage yet!
Customer Reviews:
Excellent!.......2005-08-14
Some little-known history. A must to fill out your Chicago history collection.
Chicago's Dark Underbelly circa 1900.......2004-11-19
This is a well documented expose on the underbelly of Chicago, that 'big shouldered' metropolis. Deliciously lurid, fascinating and infuriating accounts of the birth of the labor and socialist movements, lots of police and political scandal and corruption, murder and mayhem - including a gruesome chapter on the notorious HH Holmes, racial tensions, assorted vice (drugs, prostitution, gambling) and a whole lot more. Lots of colorful pre-Capone thugs and characters.
Valuable and Informative.......2004-01-31
Richard Lindberg has written one of the best resouces available and comes highly recommended. I bought this book as research material for a novel and found it extremely helpful. A valuable and informative guide for anyone interested in this fascinating period in Chicago's history.
Book Description
LEVEL FOUR: HARDWARE, PET SUPPLIES, SPORTING GOODS
Time moves in a line, but not a straight line. In the Inner Kingdom, time is as hopelessly snarled as a child's scribble. Nomads and refugees from two millenia cross paths, purposes and swords over access to the past, present and future. They reside in the trash of a thousand collapsed timelines, far from the prying eyes of ordinary folks.
LEVEL THREE: SALE ITEMS, FOOD COURT
If the Netherworld is the dustbin of history, it's crawling with roaches. Psychopaths from the future roam with guns the size of totem poles. Shaolin monks mix it up with giant firebreathing infants. Four deposed sovreign sorcerers scheme with and against one another, while speed freak hitmen and homeless robots just try to get by from day to day.
LEVEL TWO: REAL ESTATE, ORGAN DONATION
Need to stage a live-ammo war exercise on a recreation of Catherine the Great's beside table, scaled up to a thousand times its actual size? Talk to Thurston White -- or, at least, talk to his head. And don't miss the Inner Kingdom's suspiciously useful jungle, the hotel where the decor is fabulous but the gravity's unreliable, and the forest haunted by the ghosts of every war ever fought -- and every war that could have been fought.
LEVEL ONE: THE GATEWAY TO HELL
Watch out -- the Inner Kingdom can turn into a free-fire zone without warning. After all, it's the key to time travel, and time travel is the key to the Secret War.
GOING DOWN?
Customer Reviews:
Fifth Floor: Housewares, Lingerie, Portals To Other Time Junctures!.......2007-08-24
This book in the Feng Shui collection is a rarity: there's no new archetypes, shticks, or rules. This is strictly a tour guide to that nebuluous realm known as the Netherworld. It breaks down all the hot spots, along with a few weird spots and some of the more colorful inhabitants, notably the Four Monarchs.
Unless you plan on running adventures in there, it's not an essential book to get, but nevertheless good to have in order to get a view of the big picture of the world of Feng Shui.
Average customer rating:
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Necromancies and Netherworlds: Uncanny Stories
Darrell Schweitzer , and
Jason Van Hollander
Manufacturer: Wildside Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Anthologies | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Hollander, Jason Van | ( H ) | Authors, A-Z | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Schweitzer, Darrel | ( S ) | Authors, A-Z | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Dark Fantasy | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Anthologies | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1880448661 |
Book Description
Darrell Schweitzer, author of The Mask of the Sorcerer and editor of Weird Tales collaborates with macabre artist-writer Jason Van Hollander on a series of remarkable fantasies, variously grotesque, horrific, ethereal, and darkly comic. Several of these form a cycle set in as-yet undiscovered countries where the common men have thrown down the gods and decadent nobles reach new heights of ecstasy and terror with the drug hanquil. You'll also encounter a wrenching yet romantic ghost story set in the American Southwest, an intimately personal tale of the Cthulhu Mythos and the lingering legacy of Dunwich; plus a dance of death; and a house haunted by the terror of eternal life. Here are all the stories Schweitzer and Van Hollander have written together, a unique blending which makes these two the most successful collaborative team since Burke and Hare.
Average customer rating:
- Better than most gaming fiction
- My five year old has better writting skills...
- Very good intriging story
- Amazing..
- Excellent, enjoyable.
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Netherworld (World of Darkness Vampire)
Richard Lee Byers
Manufacturer: Harpercollins (Mm)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Vampires | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Byers, Richard Lee | ( B ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books | Adventure | Alternate History | Anthologies | General | Graphic Novels | High Tech | History & Criticism | Series | Short Stories | Space Opera
Similar Items:
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Dark Prince (The World of Darkness : Vampire)
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On a Darkling Plain (The World of Darkness)
ASIN: 0061054739 |
Customer Reviews:
Better than most gaming fiction.......2006-06-28
If your five-year-old has better writing skills, maybe he should be doing the reviews! I don't know what is up some "reviewer"s' butts around here, but we are not talking about "War And Peace", we are talking about gaming-related fiction. Yes, most of it exists to sell games. Most of it also sucks. But not this. "Netherworld" is an original work of horror fiction. While set in the World Of Darkness(fictional setting for the roleplaying game in which this book is set), one needn't have played Vampire, or any other roleplaying game, to enjoy it. It is genuinely suspenseful in many places, and does not make the common mistake of revealing too much too soon about the evils within, thereby mitigating the terror. The plot concerns a man named Zane, a man leading a humdrum, unfulfilled existence. That is, until he meets Rose, a free(basically homeless) spirit, and the two fall quickly and madly in love. Then, as quickly as she entered his life, she is gone-murdered. When Zane returns with the police, her body has completely disappeared, leaving Zane(as well as the cops) in doubt of his sanity.Though Zane did not see Rose's killer, he becomes obsessed with solving the mystery of her death. During this quest, he crosses paths with Sartak, an ancient Mongolian vampire. Sartak agrees to help Zane, if only out of te boredom that comes with living for centuries. From there, it just gets weirder. Check it out, it really isn't bad. Sure, there are some weak points, but the flaws don't overcome the book, and it really is better than most gaming fiction. If you like Vampire:The Masquerade, or just want to read a unique supernaturally themed book, you could do a lot worse for a buck or two. And, yes, I know this review is horribly written, but I don't have a 5-year-old to proofread it for me. Just kidding. I'm tired and I don't care.
My five year old has better writting skills..........2005-06-22
This book was the worst written piece of tripe I have ever had the displeasure of reading. I love vampire books, but this had plot holes big enough to drive a Mac truck through. The character depth was as shallow as a puddle. I would recommend this book to anyone who had a fascination with torturing themselves.
Very good intriging story.......1998-08-24
I loved this book. It was a very good read, and it kept me turning the pages. I liked the way the WoD line of books used to be, like this one, for they were good short reads. (Comparitively speaking to the common three-part sages White-Wolf is currently publishing.) It had many good plot twists and superb character developments. I do hope that the author, as he said in his own review, can get around to bringing the vampire hero back once again for another story.
Amazing.........1998-01-19
I love this novel...usually, I am into reading vampire romance novels, but this book was a pleasent surprise, I mainly read it to have something to do. I am very happy to have read it, I certainly recommend it.
Excellent, enjoyable........1997-11-19
Again, very well written. I wondered if the other book were a fluke (On a Darkling Main), but this also proved a pleasant surprise. If anything, it was better than its predecessor. The character development was stronger and the plot remained good. SUMMARY: Zane's lover is brutally murdered. To find out what is behind the whole thing, he hooks up with a bored vampire elder . His story intrigues Sartak and he agrees to help. They find out that Rose was a doppleganger of a powerful psychotic and all of her "sisters" aren't dead. The hunter turns out to be a human psychiatrist / psychic that has power over the Prince of Tampa. Some of the characters return from On a Darkling Main to be shown in a different light. Very enjoyable.
Book Description
THIS 11 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE BOOK: Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East: Babylonia and Assyria, by Charles F. Horne. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 0766100138.
Average customer rating:
- A first rate series.
- Escape from the Netherworld (Fred and Anthony)
- Fred & Anthony Escape from the Netherworld
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Fred & Anthony's Escape from the Netherworld (Fred and Anthony)
Esile Arevamirp
Manufacturer: Hyperion
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Humorous | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic | Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0786836784
Release Date: 2007-08-07 |
Customer Reviews:
A first rate series........2007-09-29
Absolutely hilarious! I laughed out loud. Fred and Anthony are delightfully demented, pals and Primavera whips up a story in a way that only an experienced master of the craft can. It's zany and clever and is spot on for the young and silly set. I think this series is destined to be a classic. Bravo, Elise!
Escape from the Netherworld (Fred and Anthony).......2007-09-25
Arevamirp, Esile with Elise Primavera, Escape from the Netherworld (Fred & Anthony), Hyperion Books for Children, 2007.
A mixture of text and pictures tells the story of two ten-year-old boys named Fred and Anthony. Each one is introduced in a one- page chapter. Both love "goofing off and watching horror movies." Fred's favorite word is barfbreath, and Anthony prefers doggie-doo. Fred loves to eat Pez and Anthony loves to eat chex mix. They hang out together: and here the pictures show them watching TV and eating their favorite foods. Neither of them likes to work so they often pay younger siblings or acquaintances to do their work for them. One day they are assigned a "horrible, hideous history project" to build "a replica of the Alamo out of popsicle sticks" but they have no money so they brainstorm ideas to earn some: first they decide to write a book but can't advance beyond a title, then they decide to help old people by "making them coffee or bringing them their slippers, or fluffing up their pillows" but no one wants their help since their disruptive behavior is already widely known. Instead, they end up entering the "House of the Gooey Death and here the graphics take off with the boys meeting ghosts and Dr. Frankenstein: balloon bubbles surround their dialogue. Fortunately, Esile Arevamirp who is a ghostwriter has chronicled this first zany adventure and on the back cover, a ghost says, "Never Fear - The Boys will survive their fall to write the next book in the series: Fred and Anthony Meet the Demented Super-Degerm-O Zombie. This book is a wild humorous story in the style of the Captain Underpants series that will attract the same or possibly an even younger audience.
Fred & Anthony Escape from the Netherworld.......2007-08-23
This book and its sequel, Fred & Anthony Meet the Demented Super-Degerm-O Zombie, are enchanting and ingenious - the best chapter books I've seen.
Average customer rating:
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The Image of the Netherworld in the Sumerian Sources
Dina Katz
Manufacturer: CDL Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Assyria, Babylonia & Sumer | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books
General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Comparative Religion | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Mythology | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 1883053773 |
Books:
- Creativity: Theories and Themes: Research, Development, and Practice
- Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930s and 40s: The Postman Always Rings Twice / They Shoot Horses, Don't They? / Thieves Like Us / The Big Clock / Nightmare ... / I Married a Dead Man (Library of America)
- Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s: The Killer Inside Me / The Talented Mr. Ripley / Pick-up / Down There / The Real Cool Killers (Library of America)
- Darker than Night: The True Story of a Brutal Double Homicide and an 18-Year Long Quest for Justice (St. Martin's True Crime Library)
- Death of an Addict (Hamish Macbeth Mysteries)
- Deep Pockets (Carlotta Carlyle Mysteries)
- Desert Heat
- Dress Her in Indigo
- Elusive Mrs. Pollifax
- Everyone Dies
Books Index
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Stories and Early Novels: Pulp Stories / The Big Sleep / Farewell, My Lovely / The High Window (Library of America)
Crime Stories and Other Writings (Library of America)
Later Novels and Other Writings: The Lady in the Lake / The Little Sister / The Long Goodbye / Playback /Double Indemnity / Selected Essays and Letters (Library of America)
Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930s and 40s: The Postman Always Rings Twice / They Shoot Horses, Don't They? / Thieves Like Us / The Big Clock / Nightmare ... / I Married a Dead Man (Library of America)
Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s: The Killer Inside Me / The Talented Mr. Ripley / Pick-up / Down There / The Real Cool Killers (Library of America)
