Newsgroups and List
Servs
Man, talk about my favourite waste of time! You could easily spend all your time chatting away on various crime fiction lists. There's something for everyone, it seems, and new lists spring up every day. They range from the ridiculous to the sublime, to the absolutely essential...
Rara
Avis
RECOMMENDED! William Denton's fantastic moderated mailing list concerning all things hard-boiled, including, ahem, private eyes and other detective fiction. For real buffs, although not for everyone, as expressed by Peter Lance, who had this to say:
"I've never seen a list devoted to the ostensible
study of hardboiled mysteries made up of softer people. You're
all a bunch of bloated, self-important, would be-critics. There
isn't a single one of you that I'd want to watch my back down
some dark alley. Why don't you guys just go out and collectively
get a life. Or write your own books instead of living like a
school of cyber guardfish off the works of others."
Evidently, some folks on the list didn't like Peter's book
(I wonder why he needs his back watched?). Anyway, if you like
this site, you'll probably like this list. And spammers, BSPers
and other web parasites beware: Rara-Avis is simply one of the
best-moderated lists on the Net. Bullshit is not tolerated.
DetecToday
RECOMMENDED! A kick-ass mailing
list dedicated to the new wave of mystery writers (male or female,
mid-1980s to present) carrying the P.I. tradition into the future,
manned by our own Gerald
So. Among those frequently discussed are Robert Crais,
Harlan Coben, Dennis Lehane, Katy Munger, Carolina Garcia-Aguilera,
George Pelecanos, Sparkle Hayter, and more. Don't fuck around
like I did. Join this list NOW!
CrimeSeen
Gerald So's rockin'
new forum to "explore the dramatic image of crime in television
and feature films and its impact on crime fiction and the imagination....The
words "dramatic" and "crime fiction" above
set a serious but not exclusively hard-boiled tone for the list.
Lighter shows such as Remington Steele, MacGyver,
and Riptide, are fair game, but we focus on professional
investigators and criminals. Moonlighting novelists and doctors
don't make the cut. Among other topics, we'll discuss so-called
"cinematic" writers, what works or doesn't work onscreen,
and ways film/performance may improve upon print."
4_Mystery_Addicts
Another Yahoo! Group, this one's moderated by Maddy Van. Under the larger umbrella of the mystery genre, the group has a large membership and a lot of traffic, but also regular directed book discussions. The come-on reads: "Be clueless no more! Join your fellow bookaholics and discover new authors, great books, and the latest in mystery happenings. Every month we have a formal discussion of two books selected by the group, as well as daily discussions of what we are reading and what's happening in Mystery Land. Our mystery expertise ranges from very little to quite a lot, but it doesn't matter since everyone enjoys all things mysterious. "
DorothyL
Once upon a time, this was the one and almost only place for mystery discussion on the web, and it still has plenty of moments of greatness, plus it's still THE place for mystery freaks and geeks to hang out. Concocted by a group of women librarians at a July 1991 Washington, D.C. meeting of the Association of Research Libraries and named "in honor of one of the great women mystery writers of the century," it's certainly the longest-running mystery discussion forum in cyberspace,and has the reputation of being the hangout for serious (well, sometimes) mystery readers of all genders and genres, at least theoretically. Let's just say that the off-topics of food, pets, and personal health anecdotes, not to mention personal attacks and name-calling, often pop up, despite the fact this list is allegedly moderated (in fact, some of the choicest name-calling has been provided BY the moderator).And lately it's been been infiltrated by a lot of desperate self-publishers who think they can beat down people's resistance to buying their shoddy, over-priced books by force-feeding them a steady stream of BSP. Still, there's an awful lot of really good stuff in there: questions about writing, opinions and reviews of books, movies, television shows, and a whole lot more. It's a big, mailbox-choking list, so I'd advise subscribing to it in digest form. There's a wonderful resource for past digests, going all the way back to February, 1995, as well. And even though at one point I was told I was been banned for life (a point now evidently in dispute) tell them Kevin sends his love.
Web Sites
ClueLass
AN ESSENTIAL! Webmistress Kate
Derie certainly isn't ClueLess when it comes to mystery, detective
and crime fiction. Her comprehensive, always-current site, with
a guestbook, reviews, links for magazines, publishers, writers,
mystery organizations and everything else is well-produced and
organized, and even features a list of forthcoming mystery books
compiled by Dave Robeson. And she's also responsible for The Deadly Directory,
and helps out with The
Mystery Readers Journal. Does this woman ever sleep?
Crime
Corner
Ekkehard Knoerer's German-language web site spotlights
crime fiction of a hard-boiled nature.
Crimeculture.com
Something for people with too many initials after their names! An ambitious new academic site that its creators, Lee and Katharine Horsley, hope will have something to offer anyone teaching or studying crime fiction, film and graphic art. Their aims are to:
- To explore different critical approaches to the study of
crime literature/film, and to be as entertaining and wide-ranging
as possible. In addition to fiction and film, we will cover,
for example, TV crime series, true crime writing, vintage crime
paperback art work, graphic novels and video games.
- To provide an opportunity for the best undergraduate and
postgraduate students to publish things online, whether first-rate
term-time essays or things written specially for the site: check
out their Call for Papers section.
- To publicize the crime literature/film courses being offered
at American, British, Canadian and Australian universities and
to provide a discussion forum for those involved in teaching
these courses.
- To establish links with the people who run the best crime-related
web sites.
- To provide an extensive bibliography of books and articles.
Crime
Scene
According to this Scottish site's editor and webmaster, Russel McLean, "We're going to try and publish commentary and analysis of crime fiction alongside a small selection of short stories... My own preferences run towards hardboiled/noir crime, but I want to place quite an emphasis on the articles if possible. I'd like to be able to include a fair amount of commetary and opinion on the site." Their banner promises "second hand books, articles, essays and opinions on all aspects of Crime Fiction." Sounds good.
Hardboiled
Heaven
One of the original sites I found on the web dealing
with the genre, Brad Lang's site offers checklists of some of
his all-time favourite hardboiled novels, as well as links to
other sites, an exclusive interview with Chicago hardboiled detective
author Michael Cormany, and some great old detective and crime
paperback covers, etc. In fact, Brad's site is one of the sites
I used as a blueprint for this one.
Brad's also the author of the Crockett
P.I. series, from back in the seventies, so he knows his stuff.
Check it out!
Hard-Boiled Mysteries
Etienne Borgers' ambitious site covers hardboiled
literature, film, and music, as well as an excellent look at
the hardboiled graphic novels and comics scene, both in North
America and Europe. And Etienne will be more than happy to tell
you "We don't care if the butler did it!" Well worth
a visit. Tell him I said "Hey!"
Hard-Boiled Noir Web Ring
A web ring linking all kinds of hardboiled sites, including crime
and mystery fiction. Small, but growing, growing, growing...
A Guide to Classic Mystery and Detection
RECOMMENDED Michael E. Grost's amazingly ambitious attempt to give an in-depth overview of the entire mystery genre. He zeroes in with keen intellectual ferocity on his targets, going as deep as I go wide. he may be even crazier than I am. An absolutely essential site.
.
Krimi-Couch
From Essen, Germany comes Lars Schafft's "Crime Couch," which offers portraits of mystery authors from all over the world and detailed reviews of their work. Users are invited to comment and judge each book. Alas, it's in German. "Krimi" is an acronym for the German term "Kriminalroman" for mystery novels in general. Their motto is "denn lesen ist spannender" which translates as "because reading is more thrilling."
Le récit policiers d'expression française
Contributor Marcel
Bernadac's great new website about French detectives in books, film, and television stories. En français, but the pictures alone are worth it. And be sure to check out Marcel's Bandes dessinées d'inspiration policière, which covers comics.
Matters Criminous
Still very much a work in progress (and a labour of love) but this site, which bills itself as a "critical list with discussions" never fails to enthrall and captivate.Smaet ideas about crime fiction in all its guises? They got it!
Mysterious HomePage
The most comprehensive list of mystery resources on the 'Net,
covering everything from Agatha Christie to James Bond to the
Scandinavian Nero Wolfe Society. Just links, but plenty of 'em...
now part of the ClueLass
empire...
MysteryNet.
Billing itself as "The Place For Everything Mystery," this site is big and wide, if not always very deep. It's got a little something for everyone.
MystNoir
Angela Henry's promising new web site devoted to mystery fiction
featuring African-American amateur sleuths, private eyes, and
police detectives, and their authors. MystNoir will highlight
one mystery novel a month and will feature mystery news, writer
info for you aspiring mystery writers, and a message board.
The
Mystery Place
The official site for Alfred
Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, and Ellery
Queen Mystery Magazine, with links to both and many other
delights worth exploring. Various columns, including reviews,
and excerpts from stories are also posted online.
Mystery
Scene
This site contains information about the magazine
and selected columns and articles. Like the blurb says, "For
almost two decades, Mystery Scene has championed writers and
offered them information, encouragement, entertainment and a
place to blow off steam. Every issue contains interviews of mystery
authors and industry professionals, publishing and bookselling
news, tips on the writer's craft, appreciations, diatribes, criticism,
commentary, and book reviews. Plus the occasional joke, witticism
or anecdote!"
The Mystery Site
BRAND NEW! Straight outta Drummondville, comes Denis Bernicky fledling crime fiction site, offering a variety of reviews, gift ideas and the like. Mrs. Ticehurst would approve. RVR rules.
Noir Originals
Allan Guthrie's
new website is dedicated to in non-fiction about noir. Beatifully
designed, and with some just plain solid writing, although some
of these guys take themselves a little too seriously. C'mon,
guys, it's okay to like cheesy books -- you don't have to intellectualize
them way beyond the call of duty. And the academic name dropping
gets a little precious at times. Still, this is by far the best
site of its kind I've found. The growing list of contributors
includes Lee Horsley, Charlie Williams, Dave Zeltserman, Allan
himself, Michael Robison, Michael S. Chong, Cornelius Lehane,
Ed Lynskey, Gary Lovisi, C.S. Thompson, Jochem Vandersteen and
Raymond Embrack.
The River City Blade
Some eyes chose the Smith&Wesson; some the Smith-Corona.
This is the home of both The River City Blade and The
Frisco Foil, newspapers dedicated to "Truth and Mayhem
and not always in that order." Here you'll find all of retro
hardboiled wordslinger Picasso Smith's adventures, and those
of his pals, as well. An affectionate, well-done tribute to the
hardboiled newshawks of the pulps, and a site definitely worth
bookmarking.
Prisoner's
Dictionary
Want the latest scoop on what the crooks are saying? Try this
out. It seems like a natural for mystery and crime writers.
Sue
Feder's Magical Mystery Tour
Sue Feder's website continues to be updated. Right now, there
are over 900 reviews on the site, and more coming in every day.
Sue, who's been writing reviews since 1988, tends to favour historical
mysteries, and some of the books aren't even mysteries at all,
but the site's definitely worth a look. And, as Sue points out,
"Don't forget to check out the Ring of Review Sites
that you can enter from my site. Even if you don't find my site
helpful, if you enter the Ring you're likely to find one."
Mysterical-e
An E-zine run by mystery lovers for mystery lovers. Here he gives us the nitty gritty on what it's really like to be a P.I.
Twists,
Slugs and Roscoes:
A Glossary of Hardboiled Slang
Recommended for those of you who don't know your gat from your
gunsel. Compiled by "Wild Bill" Denton of Rara-Avis
fame.
Troutworks Mystery Guide: Private Eye
Interesting list of private eye and hardboiled books, mostly
recent, with some really decent reviews, and a book-recommendation
system which links similar books together. Could definitely be
a site to keep an eye on....you can even order the books directly
from the site (they're in bed with Amazon.Com...just like me).
The Watching the Detectives Links Page
Eddie Duggan's list of links is quite entertaining, with many
links you just won't find anywhere else. Separate sections on
Chandler, Hammett, Jim Thompson and a whole lot more make this
an ideal place to kick off a good hardboiled afternoon of web-surfing
(well, it worked for me!). Eddie, of course, is responsible for
The Maltese Falcon
FAQ, which anyone reading this should snatch up real
soon.
Magazines & E-Zines
The
Gumshoe Site
Jiro Kimura of Kanazawa, Japan runs this site. A truly daunting
task, it's like a monthly review of short crime fiction, with
an emphasis on series detectives. Recommended.
You can also write Jiro at:
8-2 Hashiba-cho, #302,
Kanazawa, Ishikawa, JAPAN
Phone: +81-762-63-4482
Fax: +81-762-63-4480
E-mail: jkimura@nsknet.or.jp
Jiro, by the way, is the creator of private eyes Joe
Venice and Sachinosuke Terada.
January
Magazine
A literary web zine, with a pretty damn good crime fiction section,
edited by J. (Jeff) Kingston
Pierce, with a good number of interviews with mystery
novelists and a healthy stock of solid reviews of titles in the
genre.
The
Rap Sheet
Originally an E-mail zine and now a blog, The Rap Sheet is a pet project put out exclusively for January
Magazine by its crime fiction editor J.
(Jeff) Kingston, featuring short reviews. Authors and
publishers are encouraged to e-mail Jeff
with information about new and forthcoming books.
The
Mystery News
Chris "Strong Arm" Aldrich and Lynn "Do I have
to send Chris over?" Kaczmarek's Anthony-winning mystery
newsletter. It comes out in print every two months, but its web
site features regular updates on its What's New pages, plus reviews
that didn't make the printed version.
Over
My Dead Body! The Mystery Magazine Online
It's a web site! It's a print mag! It's both! Cherie Jung is
the editor/publisher of this mag/site which publishes short stories,
author profiles, author interviews, reviews and other articles
of general interest to mystery fans. The site and the quarterly
magazine do not contain the same information. For info on the
print mag, click here.
P.I. Magazine
An online magazine for real-life private investigators.
Really.
The
Strand Magazine
Web site for the American revival of the classic British mag
that introduced Sherlock holmes to the world. As Todd
Mason points out, the print
version itself features "decent Holmes pastiches, good
nonfiction, and HRF Keating, Michael Bond, and other big names
who skirt cozy and Edwardian, (and) is still the most PI-oriented
of the non-hardboiled print 'zines, necessarily as a result of
all the Sherlockiana." The web site has information on the
magazine, of course, as well as short stories, articles, interview
excerpts, and book reviews.
Tangled
Web
The On-line British Crime and Mystery Fiction Journal, featuring
"The Best in Crime and Mystery Fiction." A bit confusing,
with too many frames and winking, blinking animations and frames-within-frames,
but the info's great! Includes a regular column by Val McDermid
and reviews by other well known authors such as Andrew Taylor,
John Baker and Pauline Bell. There's also the Crime Fiction awards,
monthly digests of new releases, weekly TV/radio listings, an
on-line bookshop and more. For those with hearty browsers and
lots of patience...
The Ultimate Mystery Web Guide
There are lots and lots of links at this Magic Dragon Multimedia site edited by Jonathan Vos Post. Including hundreds upon hundreds of uncredited ones back to this site. If you're looking for P.I. stuff, don't waste your time. Stay here. |
