Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 07:33:22 -0500
From: E J M Duggan <106156.565-AT-compuserve.com>
Subject: Announce: RARA-AVIS, new hardboiled fiction list
Subject: Announce: RARA-AVIS, mailing list for hardboiled fiction 


 [NOTE:  Spoon-Announcements is not a list; it's a mechanism for distributing
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 Collective's mailing lists without bombarding them with cross-postings.]

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Moderators: Please forward the following announcement to your List, if you
deem it appropriate.

Academics: Please note the following, and direct the attention of students
and colleagues to it.


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It's a brand new list!  Here's the introductory message sent to all new
subscribers. To join, send mail to majordomo-AT-icomm.ca and say

        subscribe rara-avis

in the body of the message.

#####

[Last updated: Sun Jan  5 21:26:51 EST 1997]

Welcome to rara-avis, the mailing list devoted to the discussion of
hardboiled fiction.

Two important rules:
        - No flames.
        - No binaries.

If you want to insult someone, do it in private e-mail.  If you have a
photograph, drawing, sound clip or video clip you'd like to share, please
put it in an FTP site or on a web page, and announce it.  If you can't do
this, either offer to send it to people upon private request, or ask if
someone would be kind enough to make it publicly available.  These rules
will be enforced.  

Possible topics for discussion include:
        - just what is hardboiled fiction?
        - how does it relate to film noir and/or the pulps?
        - who's better, Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett?
        - who are the best modern practitioners?  Do they in fact exist?
        - are there any truly hardboiled women writers?
        - how does the genre fit into modern literature?
        - etc., etc.

There is no FAQ for the list yet, but one will be built as questions are
frequently asked and answered.  We hope this will include brief
biographical sketches about major hardboiled writers, lists of classic
hardboiled books, bibliographic references, results of votes upon
favourite writers, lists of recommended books newcomers to the genre
should read, related Internet resources, and so on. 

Everyone is welcome to join, no matter what their specific interest in the
topic: fans, academics, collectors, film noir buffs and people searching
for the Maltese Falcon.  It would be nice if you sent out a brief message
saying hello, introducing yourself and perhaps outlining your interest in
hardboiled fiction.

The web page for the list can be found at

        http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/

----------

        It was about eleven o'clock in the morning, mid October, with the
sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the
foothills.  I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie
and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue
clocks on them.  I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn't care
who knew it.  I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to
be.  I was calling on four million dollars.
        - opening lines to _The Big Sleep_, by Raymond Chandler

        "How c-could you?" she gasped.
        I only had a moment before talking to a corpse, but I got it in.
        "It was easy," I said.
        - closing lines to _I, The Jury_, by Mickey Spillane

----------

--
-- 
William Denton : buff-AT-vex.net     <-- Please note new address.
Toronto, Canada                   <-- I'm not at io.org any more.
http://www.vex.net/~buff/         Caveat lector.