Hardboiled crime fiction came of age in Black Mask magazine during the Twenties and Thirties. Writers like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler learnt their craft and developed a distinct literary style and attitude toward the modern world.

I had never taken creative writing classes. Hadn't even considered it.

Surely it is a sin to reject the few gifts we are given. Be happy in the flash of time granted to us or hurt forever.

All I can say is that we are mistaken to gouge such a deep rift in history that the things old men and old women know have become so useless as to be not worth passing on to grandchildren.

It always helps me connect with characters, to think about what music they respond to

There was a redemption of some kind, he believed, in such complete fulfillment of a desire so long deferred.

My opinion was that if hogs are biting you so often that you have to stop and make up a specific word for it, maybe lack of vocabulary is not your most pressing problem.