This week I read "A Good Clean, A Harsh Clean" by Brian Martinez.
Here's a descripty:
"A man walks into a bar, his hands smelling of bleach. All he wants is a drink and an alibi, but what he gets is an encounter with a loud, old man. As they talk he realizes they share a very personal and very dangerous link.
A short story for fans of Dark, edgy and Noir fiction."
I don't know why he capitalized Dark but other than that it sounds like an okay hook. I have to admit though, I have read like zero Noir fiction. That's why I liked this story. You read right: I liked this story.
The Noir thing might be too cliche for fans of the genre, but then again if you're a fan of the genre you are into that sort of thing. For me it read exactly like Noir sounds like it would. Everything is grungy, the dude has drinking and women problems, and everything is in black and white (except the blood).
This dude used a lot of stuff that sounds like it might be overused (again, if I read any Noir) but that I have personally never seen before. For example: "I grabbed a swig, phrased it like a question." That sounds so utterly Noir that it has to be stolen, right? Or how 'bout this: "I nodded to him because it was all I could think to say." Yeah, he's definitely walking the line between clever and forcing it, but I don't think he crosses that line too much.
Except with this line: "...putting blood in his spittle, which, by the way, is a word I hate. Probably why I use it so much." No, now you have broken the fourth wall, sir. That isn't Noir, that is just something you don't do unless it's that kind of story.
The ending of this thing wasn't great, but that's not really the point of reading something like this. It's more the ride along the way. The guy pretty much tells you what is going to happen in the description, it's how he gets there that's interesting.
And thus without a single joke in this post so far, let's go to ratings.
Noir: 5 out of 5. If I can know this story hits the Noir mark without any reference to the genre other than Prairie Home Companion, it's good enough for me. (That isn't to say PHC isn't a genius work of satire for our times. And that man's voice is SO smooth!)
Plot: 2 out of 5. "What!? But I thought you said you liked it." Shut up! I already told you the plot doesn't really matter since the voice was so good.
Depressing Events Having an Ironically Sort of Not Depressing Outcome: 3 out of 5. Of course it still had to be depressing and grungy and all Sin City and shit, but I can appreciate when there is a sort of blessing in disguise message or end result. But he did come close to breaking the fourth wall again pointing out that's what he had just done, so minus points there. See what I did though? Now you have to read it to find out what I'm talking about.
Overall: 4 out of 5. Yeah, like I said, I liked it. Sorry, I'll try to read something shittier next time so my post will be more entertaining.
Read something shitty right now at amazon.com/author/a.c.blackhall.
No comments:
Post a Comment