A MESSAGE FROM BIG DADDY THUG

Welcome back y’alls.  Big Daddy Thug here, welcoming you to Thuglit – Issue 25 from the GRAAAAAAAAVE!

Well, maybe not.  As your peepers peruse the issue, I’m off a’honeymoonin’ with that divine conflagration of womanly goodness and brutal aggression, Lady Detroit.

I’m assuming I don’t survive.  Neither should you.

Tune in 60 days from now to either to celebrate my survival or find the address to mail the funereal flowers to.

In this issue of THUGLIT:

  • Little thugs gotta start somewhere.
  • You fuck with a Jersey priest, you fuck with Jersey…and some Salvadorians.
  • When the boss’ wife is the town doorknob, don’t open the door.
  • If you’re gonna be a hotel dick, be the biggest dick you can.  Dick dick, dick, dick.  Heh.
  • Oh, the weather outside is frightful…and deadly.
  • Always good to have the whole picture on whom you boost after a jewel heist.
  • No such thing as a bar with no problems, comprende?
  • That stolen cash came from somewhere…and someone…

THUGLIT – ISSUE 25

Degenerates Book Club – May 2008


 

Dogtown/Soultown by Mercedes Lambert

In case you hadn’t noticed, we haven’t featured a whole lot of female writers in the Degenerates Book Club. Or, well…any.  This, however, is a well deserved first.  The re-release of Mercedes Lambert’s first two novels is a look at some of the most masterful early 90’s noir (to accompany the long overdue release of her third book, Ghosttown).  It is the rarest of rare, with the perfect balance between the hardboiled (considered the manliest of the form by critics) and the feminine aspects of the main character, Whitney Logan.  Whitney is a balls-out chick of the highest order, partnered up with her buddy-cum-partner, (sometimes) ex-hooker Lupe.  Unfortunately for us all, Ms. Lambert was taken too soon from her work and her characters.  One can’t help but feel a twinge in the heart while reading her novels when you realize that these are the only ones we’ll ever get.  These novels deserve to be read.  Pour a shot of whiskey while you read ‘em and pour a little out for Mercedes.

 

Shinjuku Shark by Arimasa Ogawa

The most popular Japanese police procedural series gets its first translation in the US. When a sniper begins targeting his fellow cops in the grimy Shinjuku District of Tokyo, hard-edged police detective Samejima takes it upon himself to hunt down a manufacturer of custom guns, whom he believes can lead him to the killer.  Sparse and edgy, the novel is and immensely entertaining take on the old lone-wolf cop character.  This translation alone is worth its weight in gold, simply so we can get to the most unintentionally comically-named second novel in the series, The Poison Ape. Seriously?

Tokyo Year Zero by David Peace

Based on a true serial-killer case in post-WWII Japan , British author David Peace gives us another look at Tokyo at a different place in history.  When the nude body of a young woman turns up in a local park, Inspector Minami of the Tokyo police investigates the murder of a young woman found naked in the park. A city devastated by the war, the police are forced to operate with no real infrastructure, food supply or even decent shoes.  Minami as protagonist, is as messed-up as the city he serves - prone to visiting his mistress and sampling the local prostitutes; he is sleepless, addicted to sedatives and under the thumb of a local mobster.  Written in a back and forth, inner-outer monologue style, Tokyo Year Zero is affecting, disturbing and brilliant a mystery as has come down the pipe in a long time.

As always, the Thug Pick will be featured in Manhattan's coolest indie bookshop, McNally Robinson Booksellers. Visit them.  Buy something.

 

Big Daddy
Big Daddy
Coming, Summer 2008 - Thuglit Presents: HARDCORE HARDBOILED

Hardcore Hardboiled



Read OutsideLeft's interview with Big Daddy Thug!!! They call him a motormouth! They're right!!!!!!