Comments on Pulp Serenade: Howard Browne on Words and Writing

H. Browne brought first class plots to detective f...

2009-11-20T18:42:06.677-05:00

H. Browne brought first class plots to detective fiction. (I remember a Paul Pine novel where a vital clue was obtained when our hero throws a cigarette pack to the villain who opens up his legs to catch it!)
But, more than Halo books, I think "Thin Air" was his best novel. The disappearance of the wife, so incredible, and yet, so reasonably explained at the end. It was revolutionary at those ages.
Now, all the more amazing, when you learn that Browne had not much formal education.

"Halo in Brass" was the first PI novel I...

2009-11-13T13:45:41.108-05:00

"Halo in Brass" was the first PI novel I read that wasn't authored by Hammett or Chandler. It was good enough for me to seek out as many of Browne's books as I could afford (no "Paper Gun" for me so far). It took me three years to find "The Taste of Ashes" before the days of internet. It's one of the best PI novels ever. And Dennis McMillan was great for bringing him back into print.

LOL. Interesting stuff. I'm not very familia...

2009-11-13T10:42:33.707-05:00

LOL. Interesting stuff. I'm not very familiar with Browne

Howard wrote for Mystery Scene occasionally back w...

2009-11-13T10:28:23.031-05:00

Howard wrote for Mystery Scene occasionally back when I was editing it. We had some fine old conversations. I'd grown up reading Amazing and Fantastic, the two Ziff-Davis magazines he edited before going to Hollywood. Howard hated Amazing; he hated all sf. He was a very generous, decent man and a fine writer who never quite got his due. Our conversations changed after his wife died. He was adrift, at least for the time I knew him then. I said maybe he'd feel better if he worked on a book but he told me that he was through with writing. I lost touch with him the last two years of his life. A talented, warm and amiable man.

Fantstic stuff. Inspiring!

2009-11-13T05:01:49.590-05:00

Fantstic stuff. Inspiring!