Il Manuale del Contorsionista

July 9, 2005 @ 7:25 pm

No review has ever brought a smile to my face like that from the pen of Mr. John Hood, the now defunct BullyMag’s Convict Book Reviewer. No double-entendre or sly allusion is meant by the title, as Mr. Hood wrote his reviews from within his confines at a federal penetentiary on the East Coast. It remains the most flattering review I’ve received to date, and written with a mastery of language that makes me hang my head in humility. The capper came when Mr. Hood referred to the Handbook as The Contortionist Inside Me, a nod to the late great Big Jim Thompson, godfather of noir and a scribe who casts a big, black shadow over modern crime fiction, and it’s my privilege to stand in that shadow. Word is out that so is John Hood. His story is here, so I’ll refrain from paraphrasing and say welcome back to the outside, Mr. Hood.

In other news, another John, this one surnamed Vincent, just had his passport stamped upon his entrance to Italy, and is probably hanging with one Phineas Poe doing copious shots of flaming absinthe in some dark corner in that land of romantics. Il Manuale del Contorsionista has hit the Italian shelves, and I hope the prophecy of the Baer fan is right, that the Italians “love that noir shit.”

Godspeed, John and John.

-cclev