Looking for novels with first-person narrators, in the style of Conrad's
Heart of Darkness (specifically Marlow), E.L. Doctorow's
Homer & Langley, Sandor Marai's
Embers, etc.
[more inside]
posted by scody
on Jan 27, 2012 -
37 answers
I'm a pretty dedicated reader, but one of the genres I haven't explored much is classic crime/noir fiction. (I do love James Ellroy, but that's about all I've read.) I know that the big guns are Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Jim Thompson. Any suggestions as to which titles to start with (
The Maltese Falcon,
The Thin Man, and
The Grifters all come to mind first, of course, because of the films), as well as other authors to consider? I'd also be happy to entertain suggestions of really high quality true crime, though my hunch is that
In Cold Blood is probably unbeatable.
posted by scody
on Mar 30, 2005 -
42 answers
GoofyFactCheckFilter: do jail guards (specifically not prison guards) ever carry firearms? I published a short story online recently in which a guard in a county jail is carrying a gun and the person being held for questioning grabs it, chaos ensues, etc. I just received an email (from a guy I know slightly) insisting that "jail guards
never carry firearms for the very reason you give -- high risk of someone grabbing it."
Now, I've never been to jail, but I've visited inmates in a maximum security prison (long story), and of course
all the guards were carrying guns. So is there really some universal distinction between prison guards and jail guards regarding firearms, or was this person just being a know-it-all (and an ill-informed one at that)?
I, of course, am only asking for the sake of accuracy, and not because I'm irritated.
posted by scody
on Sep 3, 2004 -
8 answers
