Yes, this is the time of year when you’re filling your closet with gifts for other people–but in case you want to drop a hint about what Santa could bring you, here’s an image for your Facebook page. Because someone you know may be wondering what to get the writer in their life.
CrimeReads have published an article linking to a 1958 BBC recording of two friends talking about writing crime. The friends are Raymond Chandler and Ian Fleming.
Fleming: I think it is, yes. I don’t like to get too serious. This so-called hero of mine has a good time. He beats the villain in the end and gets the girl and he serves his government well. But in the process of that he’s got to suffer something in return for this success. I mean, what do you do, dock him something on his income tax? I really tire of the fact that the hero in other people’s thrillers gets a bang on the head with a revolver butt and he’s perfectly happy afterwards—just a bump on his head.
Chandler: That’s one of my faults—they recover too quickly. I know what it is to be banged on the head with a revolver butt. The first thing you do is vomit.
The conversation is divided into four parts on YouTube. The one below is part 4, and the rest can be found here on CrimeReads.
Mystery Week, 2019: a solemn contemplation of the writer’s craft, one night after the next.
Alan Jacobson, Laurie R. King, Peggy Townsend, Leslie Karst.