Thu, 15 February 2007
THE SONG IS YOU deftly blends fiction and fact, cinematic dream and post-war reality, to recreate the charged atmosphere of late-1940's Hollywood. It is a fictional account of events surrounding the real-life disappearance of actress Jean Spangler. In Gil "Hop" Hopkins, tabloid newshound and studio publicity spin-man, Abbott gives us one of the rarest and most rarefied protagonists in the hard-boiled firmament--a man at once entirely in control and savagely desperate, filled with endless hot air but sputtering on fumes. Like the town and era he inhabits, Hop totters on a gossamer thread between fantasy and truth, obsession and release. THE SONG IS YOU is Cain, Chandler, Hughes, and Ellroy, and none of these--something as elusive and ephemeral yet brilliant and timeless as the stars in Hollywood. This podcast is brought to you by Clute and Edwards of www.noircast.net. To leave a comment on this episode, or make a donation to the podcast, please visit "Behind the Black Mask: Mystery Writers Revealed" at btbm.libsyn.com.
Comments[4]
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Slightly off-topic, but...... I`ve almost finished, \"Die A Little\" and somethings been bugging me from the first. To whit, the awesome cover. The blond looks REALLY familiar. My initial reaction was `Charlise Theron as Marilyn Munroe`, but now I`m not so sure. Help me out guys, whose face is this http://www.meganabbott.com/die_a_little.htm Regards, NHT
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Thanks, NH, so much for your comments. Re: Die a Little\'s cover. I\'ve heard comparisons to Marilyn-Charlize before and can definitely see both. To me, she\'s a little Diana Dors and a little Carroll Baker--but definitely more va-va-voomish than I\'d pictured the character....
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Dear Megan, \"The Song Is You\" deserves all the praise it gets. I hope to see it up on the big screen one day. Now that you mention her I can certainly see Diana Dors in the mixture; quizzically pondering her missing millions no doubt. You`ve got one sure sale for \"Queenpin\" here, too! Regards, NHT
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Dear Clute & Edwards, Just finished reading this one. It was fantastic! What a sleazy protagonist! At times I wanted to grab Hop by the lapel, Ralph Meeker style, and slap him around. I loved the imagery of `The Red Lily` and was nauseated by the conversation Hop has with the groundskeeper. Excellent stuff. I`ve since bought her previous novel, \\\"Die A Little\\\" and will probably get \\\"Queenpin\\\" when it comes out. Regards, NHT
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