http://faerye.net/tag/hard-boiled Posts tagged with "hard-boiled" - Faerye Net 2007-01-01T23:40:50+00:00 Felicity Shoulders http://faerye.net/ http://faerye.net/post/its-all-gone-wrong It's all gone wrong 2007-01-01T23:40:50+00:00 2008-06-08T12:22:06+00:00 <p>I should never have agreed to it. But you get stupid when you have a stiff to unload, and the guys have a reputation. A reputation for lighting fires, but also for being prepared. The price was high, but nothing I couldn&#8217;t afford. So I stripped the body and left it where they said. But I eyeballed the drop again tonight and there it still is, large as death. Either the reputation is the bunk, or I&#8217;ve been played for a patsy.</p> <p>Never trust a Boy Scout, and dispose of dead trees yourself.</p> http://faerye.net/post/whats-in-a-hat What's in a hat? 2005-11-10T23:11:25+00:00 2008-06-08T16:37:30+00:00 <p>As some of you may have noticed with disapprobation, Saul Jordan, the hero of my <a href="http://faerye.net/bogg" target="links">NaNoWriMo pulp novel</a>, remains vaguely defined. In part this is because all the world knows the features of Saul Jordan&#8217;s face from his previous adventures (sorry, I do love my own pulp pretensions); in part it is because the combined clich&mdash; I mean, <em>power</em>&mdash; of Saul&#8217;s description might bust your noggins; and in part this is because I figure it is unnecessary. However, one piece of his description IS necessary. It shades his firm jaw and sets off his gunmetal grey eyes. However, I cannot bring myself to define it.</P> <p>Perhaps the problem is that Saul Jordan wears many <em>metaphorical</em> chapeaux. He is a cynical, world-weary private detective; an international man of mystery; a decorated war hero. These roles cannot be subsumed into one hat. Moreover, what hat can I use? Given Saul Jordan&#8217;s true-blue history as an ace fighter pilot, I <em>had</em> to have his non-PI wear include a flight jacket. Therefore, he absolutely cannot wear the hat which his PI role would imply: a fedora. Saul Jordan is not a cheap Indiana Jones knockoff! Saul Jordan is a cheap Sam Spade/Indiana Jones/Jack Colton/Flash Gordon/Lucky Starr/Richard Seaton knockoff. (I&#8217;m keeping my options open.)</p> <p>The fedora ruled out, what is a girl to do? He can&#8217;t wear a pilot&#8217;s helmet to match his flight jacket. That would just be <em>weird</em>, and besides, <em>Sky Captain</em> was too disappointing for any part of it that didn&#8217;t involve Angelina Jolie kicking ass to influence my hero. </p><p>He cannot wear a cap, as styled by news boys, Eponine, Bertram Wooster and myself. Not only would it be below his dignity, but on Planet Hard-Boiled, only the most coffee-and-doughnut loogan wears a cap. It&#8217;s a symbol of the lowliest thug, not the loftiest hero. </p><p>So what then? Every other felt dress hat is too wimpy or too evil. Pith helmet? <span class="caps">PLEASE</span>. Aussie hat? I do not plan on putting velociraptors in my story (though I keep my options open.) Cowboy hat? Urgh. We are from <em>Chicago</em>, people. We are not <em>every</em> steely-eyed American stereotype. I&#8217;m sorry, Johnny Ringo, but that even goes for <a href="http://faerye.net/img/articles/johnnyringo.jpg" target="pics">the best evil cowboy hat evar</a>. (The best good cowgirl hat, incidentally, was worn by <a href="http://www.charmed-pictures.com/cgallery/details.php?image_id=20324" target="pics">Prue on <em>Charmed</em></a>. I want this hat as I have never wanted a cowboy hat before.)</p> <p>All this nattering aside, where am I left? Is Saul Jordan, besides being the greatest hero of his generation, the only man in that generation not to wear a hat? In sunny, high-altitude Peru? Would a hero be that stupid?</p>