Not crap
Jedidiah Ayres' Hardboiled Wonderland blog offers If it's not Scottish – It's Crap!, an interview with author/agent/editor Allan Guthrie. By coincidence, the happy resolution of a mix-up at my post office brings a bumper crop of books, among them The Good Son by Dundee's own Russel D. McLean.That novel's lead blurb from Ken Bruen says the novel has all the merits of Jean-Patrick Manchette "with the added bonus of a Scottish sense of wit that is like no other." Not crap, indeed.
Back to Guthrie. Ayres asks good questions, and Guthrie's answers are full of insight, humor and evidence of his knowledge of noir and its history. If he and Megan Abbott ever team-teach a course in noir, I'm going back to college.
© Peter Rozovsky 2009
Labels: Allan Guthrie, blogs, Jedidiah Ayres, Russel D. McLean
posted by Peter Rozovsky at 10:12 PM
9 Comments:
I thought it was cracking interview.
Speaking of Scots, Tony Black did a nice guest blog at my place the other week, talking about Ken Bruen.
http://pdbrazill.blogspot.com/2009/11/guest-blogger-tony-black-storm-bruen.html
Its well attested that "Scotti" means "Irish".
Other well attested Scottish facts can be found here. (Thanks to Big John McFetridge for the link)
Long Live Al Guthrie!
It was one of the more entertaining and enlightening interviews one will read, Paul. I guess I'd always assumed Tony Black was Irish because so many Irish crime writers and bloggers seem to like him. That was a fine piece about Ken Bruen. Like Black, I've noticed the compassion in Bruen's writing, especially in Priest.
OK, Adrian, if it's Irish, it isn't crap either. Shite, maybe, but not crap.
That was an entertaining article, though perhaps a bit weak on Scottish philosopy. My favorite bit: "Scotland is not currently allied with anyone although they do go out drinking and having a good time ... "
But the way folks in Northern Ireland go around saying, "aye" all the time, you'd almost think they had something to do with Scots.
Which reminds me: What is the first recorded instance of the word "aye"?
Lou, perhaps Allan Guthrie could spend a few days of that long life in Philadelphia.
Saint Patrick: I hear you have a snake problem.
Peasant: Aye.
Saint Patrick: Do you want me to get rid of them?
Peasant: Dont put yourself out big man.
Saint Patrick: Its no trouble.
Peasant: Aye ok then.
Last year in Belfast, I had as a fellow guest in the B&B where I stayed a friendly, nervous, talkative Scottish woman. Between her intense burst of speech and the native Belfasters, I heard a fair blizzard of ayes that week. Aye, I did.
But my favorite bit of talk was overheard in Dublin, from a Waterford fan after the 2008 all-Ireland hurling final: "The first two minutes were excitin'. Then it got a bit shite, didn't it?"
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