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25th Anniversary Issue: Raymond Chandler’s “Requiem”, PLUS Alexander McCall Smith, Jeffery Deaver, Chuck Palahniuk & Bob Odenkirk
Our special holiday issues features a poem by none other than the dean of hard-boiled noir, Raymond Chandler. Written around 1955, “Requiem” shows the softer, sensitive side of the man who gave us the ever brusque, wise-cracking PI Philip Marlowe. Fans of Chandler will enjoy Judith Freeman’s excellent biography of Chandler, The Long Embrace (2007) which also features this poem as well as wonderful insight into Chandler’s private life. Joining Chandler this issue are a number of modern-day writers who need no introduction. In “Mr. Slope, he fall,” Alexander McCall Smith turns the English country-house mystery on its head when a party of backstabbing academics gathers for a weekend in the Scottish Highlands. In “The Usual Suspect,” Jeffery Deaver blends existential dread with humor as he plays on the latest paranoia concerning the power of artificial intelligence. Turning to pastiche, Mike Adamson sends Holmes and Watson on foot into the mean streets of East London in “King of the Rats.” And bringing it home, John Floyd, a Strand stalwart ever since Issue 2, strikes a karmic chord in his perfect getaway tale “The Florida Blues.”
This issue will be a tough act to follow when it comes to interviews. Here we are lucky to feature conversations with three great talents. Bob Odenkirk has mastered all kinds of mediums, from sketch-comedy (think cult-classic Mr. Show) to dramatic acting (Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad) to memoir (Comedy, Comedy, Comedy, Drama). Last month, he and his daughter Erin—a painter and illustrator—joined me for a thoughtful, wide-ranging discussion about the importance of the written word, art, and what it was like to collaborate on Zilot and Other Important Rhymes, recently released by Little, Brown and Company. Also, on the heels of a new book—Not Forever, But For Now, published by Simon and Schuster—Chuck Palahniuk of Fight Club fame dropped in for a chat, offering some of the real-life inspirations for his debut novel and other minimalist postmodern masterpieces.
For more back issues with works by literary legends follow this link!
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