Hard-Boiled is an excellent anthology. You can see why just by looking at the table of contents down below. Most of the writers are probably well known to fans of hard-boiled fiction, so you know what a treat the stories are. A good many of them haven't been reprinted often, so it was especially good to be reading them for the first time. There were a couple of writers I wasn't familiar with (James Hannah and William Cole) and one I knew under another name (Michael Kerr, who's also Robert Hoskins, a name I was familiar with from science fiction).The introduction to the volume is excellent, as are all the introductions to the stories, whether by Pronzini or Adrian. This is a book that anyone interested in the history of crime-fiction fan should own, and since it's from Oxford University Press, it's probably still in print. It's over 500 pages, but the stories are so much fun that I read it in a couple of days. You can't go wrong with this one.
UPDATE: Some people (including one of the editors) have mentioned in the comments that the book isn't in print and that there's no e-edtion. But the Oxford University Press site is selling the book at this link, and they mention that an e-edition is available. I don't know if you can actually get the book if you order it, but it might be worth a try.
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Scorched Face
By Dashiell Hammett
Round Trip
By W. R. Burnett
Mistral
By Raoul Whitfield
Backwash
By Frederick Nebel
Trouble-Chaser
By Paul Cain
Fruit Tramp
By Daniel Mainwaring
Brush Fire
By James M. Cain
Human Interest Stuff
By Brett Halliday
Waiting for Rusty
By William Cole
I'll Be Waiting
By Raymond Chandler
Marijuana and a Pistol
By Chester Himes
Who Said I Was Dead?
By Norbert Davis
Nor Iron Bars
By John D. MacDonald
Dock Walloper
By Benjamin Appel
Three-Ten to Yuma
By Elmore Leonard
The Bobby-Soxer
By Jonathan Craig
Black Pudding
By David Goodis
Guilt-Edged Blonde
By Ross Macdonald
Mama's Boy
By David Alexander
The Screen Test of Mike Hammer
By Mickey Spillane
Home
By Gil Brewer
So Pale, So Cold, So Fair
By Leigh Brackett
A Piece of Ground
By Helen Nielsen
The Merry, Merry Christmas
By Evan Hunter
Forever After
By Jim Thompson
The Old Pro
By H. A. DeRosso
The Saturday Night Deaths
By Michael Kerr
Graveyard Shift
By James M. Reasoner
Deadhead Coming Down
By Margaret Maron
To Florida
By Robert Sampson
It's a Hard World
By Andrew Vachss
Junior Jackson's Parable
By James Hannah
Bonding
By Faye Kellerman
Gravy Train
By James Ellroy
Batman's Helpers
By Lawrence Block
The Long Silence After
By Ed Gorman
11 comments:
This was one of the first fat Pronzini anthologies I purchased, as opposed to those I'd read in library copies when younger, and you can see why...hadn't heard of Adrian before this, and his great reputation among noir/hb fans. (If I knew why he used that pseudonym, I've forgotten since, and should refresh my memory). Have you read it for the first time recently, Bill, or is this dipping in again, and how many of the stories were familiar? I'd run across a few, including the then-recent Block and the hard to miss (at least if you read the collections or anthologies I had) Brackett and Macdonald (if I remember correctly).
Hard to go wrong. I remember the introduction and notes being as good as one might expect, too.
I checked my records and read this one (can it be?) 21 years ago. Good book. Jack Adrian was a good friend and collaborator with (my late, very good friend) Bob Adey on some locked room anthologies too.
Todd, I'd dipped into this one before, but this time I read it straight through. There are a few familiar stories, but most of them were new to me when I bought the book. That must have been 21 years ago, but it still looks new.
I read this at the tail end of the great wave of private eye and noir anthologies that came out in the late 80s and early 90s. I thought this was better than any except maybe the Mammoth Book of Private Eye Stories (also edited by Pronzini). Some familiar stories here but also a lot of overlooked one, including the only other story featuring Paul Cain's character "Black".
It's a good one alright. I think I got it from the library, as I don't have a copy in my catalog. I wonder if the library here has it?
Very nice review, Bill. Thanks to you and to the others who praised the anthology. It was a labor of love on my part and that of Jack Adrian (real name Christopher Lowder); remuneration for us, given the amount of work we put into it, was less than modest. It was also a long-range collaboration, since Chris lived in England and I in CA and selections were considered, discussed and agreed upon or rejected strictly by snail mail. Incidentally, the book is not still in print from Oxford. We were promised that it would remain so indefinitely, but it was in fact remaindered less than a year after publication.
I just ordered a copy of HARD-BOILED. I thought I had a copy, but I can't find it so buying a copy online is the next best option. I admire Bill Pronzini's writing ability, but he's a terrific editor of first-class anthologies, too!
Just checked at Amazon, and no Kindle version. I hope one is in the works!
Oxford still owes me twenty bucks.
Well, that's news to me that Oxford is still selling the book and that an ebook edition is available. We were told twenty years ago that it was being remaindered and in fact were offered copies of both the hardcover and trade ppbk editions at the reduced remainder price at that time. Non-bestselling authors/editors are always the last to find out anything publishers are or are not doing with or to their works.
I know if the book's really for sale, but it does appear to be. It's a paperback edition, which is selling for $29.95, more than the cost of the original hardback. Very interesting.
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