Posts Tagged ‘Ross Thomas’
“Poetry is emotion put into measure”*…
Concrete poem
From Petrarchian through Cinquain to Sestina, Adam Bertocci offers 22 variations on Shakespeare’s most famous poem: “Alternate Forms for Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18.”
* Thomas Hardy
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As we match content to form, we might send craftily-constructed birthday greetings to Ross Thomas; he was born on this date in 1928. A thriller writer considered by many to be America’s answer to Len Deighton or John Le Carre– only funnier– he wrote The Cold War Swap, his first novel, in six weeks– and won the 1967 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. He went on to write 19 other novels under his own name and 5 as “Oliver Bleeck.” His 1984 novel, Briarpatch, won the Edgar for Best Novel. In 2002, he was awarded the Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award— with Ed McBain, one of only two posthumous recipients.
“If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered”*…
Perhaps understandably, most people tend to ignore scraps of paper they see lying on the ground. But Sydney-based artist Laura Sullivan has always found herself intrigued by the promise of scrawled handwriting, and has been picking up stray to-do lists, IOUs, poems, and angry letters for the past twelve years.Now, a selection of the 400 notes she has collected in public spaces around the world will be exhibited in a gallery show that puts the intimate concerns of anonymous strangers on display for all to see…
The serendipitous story in full at “Turns out, Other People’s Shopping Lists Are Oddly Poignant.”
* Edgar Allan Poe
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As we celebrate chance, we might send thrilling birthday greetings to Ross Thomas; he was born on this date in 1926. The author of 20 novels under his own name, and another six as “Oliver Bleeck,” Thomas specialized in building yarns around the machinations of professional politics and the intrigues of global corporations– so successfully that he is considered by many to be the Len Deighton or John Le Carre of the U.S.– only funnier. As the Village Voice put it, “what Elmore Leonard does for crime in the streets, Ross Thomas does for crime in the suites.” His debut novel, The Cold War Swap, won the 1967 Edgar Award for Best First Novel; Briarpatch earned the 1985 Edgar for Best Novel; and in 2002, he was honored with the inaugural Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award, one of only two authors to earn the award posthumously (the other was 87th Precinct author Ed McBain in 2006).
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