Engefluenza!

Posted on October 14, 2009 by JE

It’s not a strain of swine flu, and it’s not the dance craze that all the kids are doing. It’s my latest “Babel Clash” post, and it’s here.

About JE

James Enge is the author of the World-Fantasy-Award-nominated novel Blood of Ambrose (Pyr, April 2009). His latest book is The Wide World's End. His short fiction has appeared in Black Gate, Tales from the Magician's Skull, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and elsewhere.
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3 Responses to Engefluenza!

  1. al_zorra says:
    October 14, 2009 at 5:05 pm

    It would be really, really nice if that seemingly irresistible urge to do a Noir / Chandler attitude / voice would be resisted by the so very many who employ it to the irresistible annoyance of many readers — so irresistible is that annoyance that this many times diluted attitude and voice (like a homeopathy remedy) forces us into ending the reading before finishing the book. Such attitude and voice are particularly ridiculous when employed by those who have never missed a meal or run up against a cop in their lives — and among writers these are legion.

    Love, C.

    • JE says:
      October 15, 2009 at 5:16 am

      Hm. Well, I guess everyone is entitled to a genre-allergy. And certainly I get annoyed when writers try to do the full Sam Spade instead of thinking up their own characters and situations. What I like about Chandler is his ability to mix unlike material in one story and make it work.

      I don’t know if the biographical argument is really strong. You never know where someone else has been in their life until you ask them, and sometimes they still won’t tell you.

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