Biće neobično nastupiti bez kompletnog benda.

Tu su zato Goran Skrobonja, Ilija Bakić i domaćin, Đorđe Pisarev. Pričamo o fantastici.

Subota, 26. februar, 15 časova, Salon knjige na Novosadskom sajmu.

Mark “Kick-Ass” Millar tvrdi da TV serija nema sezonu-dve da zavede, već samo 15 minuta. Ali, onda nikad ne bih saznao u šta je izrastao FRINGE.

“Bless them all, the forlorn little rabbits. They are the displaced persons of our emotional culture. They are ravenous for romance, yet settle for what they call making out. Their fu­tile, acne-pitted men drift out of high school into a world so surfeited with unskilled labor there is competition for bag-boy jobs in the su­permarkets. They yearn for security but all they can have is what they make for them­selves, chittering little flocks of them in the restaurants and stores, talking of style and adornment, dreaming of the terribly sincere stranger who will come along and lift them out of the gypsy life of the two-bit tip and the un­employment, cut a tall cake with them, swell them up with sassy babies, and guide them masterfully into the shoal water of the electri­fied house where everybody brushes after ev­ery meal. But most of the wistful rabbits marry their unskilled men, and keep right on work­ing. And discover the end of the dream. They have been taught that if you are sunny, cheery, sincere, group-adjusted, popular, the world is yours, including barbecue pits, charge plates, diaper service, percale sheets, friends for din­ner, washer-dryer combinations, color slides of the kiddies on the home projector, and eter­nal whimsical romance-with crinkly smiles and Rock Hudson dialogue. So they all come smiling and confident and unskilled into a technician’s world, and in a few years they learn that it is all going to be grinding and brutal and hateful and precarious. These are the slums of the heart. Bless the bunnies. These are the new people, and we are making no place for them. We hold the dream in front of them like a carrot, and finally say sorry you can’t have any. And the schools where we teach them non-survival are gloriously archi­tectured. They will never live in places so fine, unless they contract something incurable.”

(The Deep Blue Good-By, John D. MacDonald, 1960)

Of course. You hated death because you were involved with life. Life was. And dammit, life would be, when you weren’t. That’s why you hated death. It’s unfairness.

Never again, the exquisite moment of sliding into a woman.

And never again the joy of a page dragged up dripping from your guts. Never again realizing that there were ten pages of fresh manuscript stacked beside the typewriter that hadn’t been there before.

(Joe Gores, Hammett)

Pisao je ogoljenim, hladnim, objektivnim stilom. Njegovim pričama nisu nedostajala uzbuđenja, ali su uvek bile realističnije od drugih.

Nije ni čudo. Pre nego što se proslavio kao pisac, Gores je desetak godina radio kao privatni detektiv. Kada je pisao o njima, dakle, znao je o čemu piše. Na stranu što se radilo o neobičnoj kombinaciji: instinkti pisca i istražitelja direktno su suprotstavljeni; posvećeni lovac ne može sebi da priušti saosećanje i razumevanje koji su neophodni uslov za profesiju spisatelja. Ali, pisac je očigledno prevagnuo.

Gores je počeo da zarađuje od pisanja radeći scenarije za slavne kriminalističke serije kao što su Kojak, Columbo, Remington Steele i Magnum, P.I. Usledili su romani.

Kao klinac, sredinom osamdesetih, pukim slučajem čitao sam FINAL NOTICE (1973) u zagrebačkoj ediciji krimića Trag (preveden kao POSLEDNJA OPOMENA) i od tada nisam sreo ništa slično: privatna detektivska agencija puna zanimljivih istražitelja koji to nisu, jer su u stvari ripomeni: plene automobile koje njihovi vlasnici nisu uspeli da otplate na vreme. DKA (po Daniel Kerney Associates) je vrsni serijal od šest romana i pregršt kratkih priča, pisanih između 1972. i 2001.

INTERFACE (1974) je grubi krimić o pravom pravcatom privatnom detektivu i praotac svih knjiga ili filmova sa šokantnim obrtom na kraju. Neki danas slavni primeri skinuli su foru odavde.

HAMMETT (1975) je istovremeno tajna biografija oca modernog krimića, Dashiella Hammetta, minuciozna rekonstrukcija San Franciska s početka prošlog veka i krimić koji, po sadržaju i stilu, kao da je pisao sâm Hammett (opširniji prikaz – skroluj dole).

Ovo remek-delo Gores je možda nadmašio 2009. godine, romanom SPADE & ARCHER, prikvelom MALTEŠKOG SOKOLA, koji je napisao uz blagoslov Hammettove zadužbine. Prema jednoglasnoj oceni kritičara, on je plod ljubavi a ne puki najamnički rad, gotova nemoguća misija koju je verovatno samo Gores mogao dostojanstveno da sprovede do kraja. Ne sećam se kada su poslednji put sva četiri velika glasila američkog izdavaštva (Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus i Booklist) s takvom lakoćom nekom romanu dali zvezdicu – svoju najveću preporuku.

Stari  je bio majstor do samog kraja.