Yeah, I liked Motherless Brooklyn a LOT.

my Evil Corporate bookstore seems to prefer StrangeNQuinn to the Greeks.)

America seems to, apparently. I can see it -- that's a much more straightforward series.

In other book news, I am currently deciding if I should take with me tonight the purse a friend gave me (who I'm seeing) or a purse that can hold my book. It's a toss-up, but I think the friend-gift will win, leading to near-death of boredom on the train ride.

I think they're both FG. But, hey, I'm a Buffista and a Wirehead. Swimming against cultural tides r me. Half. com will help me find the rest of the Stefanos books.

But somebody got to "crip noir" a little ahead of me.

Doll, I hate to break it to you but "the defective detective" has been a sub-genre forever.

Look there's a whole book on the phenomenon: The Defective Detective in the Pulps Edited by Gary Hoppenstand & Ray B. Browne

Here's another one: Calvin Kane

CALVIN KANE was a pulp-era private eye whose "severely deformed body made him look like a refugee from a side-show attraction," according to Don hutchison, pulp historian. This "defective detective," with his withered and useless right leg, and twisted and deformed body, was forced to crawl along the floor, using his extremely powerful arms, thus earning him the nickname of "The Crab Detective."

And...

Quest, Peter. Peter Quest was created by John Kobler and debuted in the October 1938 issue of Detective Mystery Magazine. Quest was a "defective detective," one of those crime-solving characters (like Seekay, the first of the breed) who had some extreme form of physical deformity. In Quest's case it was glaucoma. "He was heading inescapably for etenal darkness...nothing could save him." The attacks of blindness came at the worst possible time for Quest, leading him to have a death wish; he feared blindness above all else, and "the reckless, world-weary, embittered man whose name is already a legend among the annals of New York crime," faced with encroaching blindness, acted recklessly, solving crimes and emerging unscathed despite his approach.

And, perhaps weirdest...

Seekay. Seekay was created by Paul Ernst and debuted in Strange Detective in October 1937. Seekay was the first deformed/”defective” detective characters--that is, those crime-solvers who had some form of physical defect or deformity. The most notable thing about Seekay is that he "had no face. Where a face should have been there was a blank curve of something pink and softly shining, like celluloid, extending from the hairline down to a point just under where a chin should be…through this half cylinder of plastic substance that shielded Seekay, stared black eyes that were like jet with little fires in them. Over the gruesome shield was thick, virile black hair shot with gray streaks. Under it was a tall, powerful body immaculately clad in gray spring flannels."

But let's not forget...

Perry, Nat. Nat Perry was created by Edith & Ejler Jacobson and debuted in the January 1939 issue of Dime Mystery Magazine. Perry, like Seekay and a few other characters on this site, was a "defective detective." Perry's defect was that he was a hemophiliac, so that "the slightest scratch could bring death." He was well-known as "the Bleeder," a detective par excellance, but few knew that Nat Perry was The Bleeder, and Perry was assiduous in avoiding publicity for that reason.

Look! A sequel, More Tales of Defective Detectives

Is today's Micole's birthday? If so - very happy birthday to Micole.

Huh. Well, mine will still be different..."overcoming" being sort of out of fashion for hip crips nowadays.(It's a lot to carry, you know. Having all of the responsibililty for your level of accomplishment. Reminds me of "ownership society", kinda.) Wow, Hec, do you like, hope for me to happen by to spring these cool-but-exotic links on me?

Wow, Hec, do you like, hope for me to happen by to spring these cool-but-exotic links on me?

Actually, I was just thinking you'd be uniquely qualified to write an article about the genre.

Wow. I suppose so. I was just wondering if *I* should make a note in *your* file. It'd be interesting at that, because I would say there's been some evolution in the concept of disability since those books have come out...more of a perception of us as a minority community, as opposed to being a few unlucky souls who are "fate's bitches" It's still small right now...I wouldn't say we're at "Crip is Beautiful" yet, but... Oh, this is probably incredibly boring. I'm sorry. ETA: One day, I will accept such information without first thinking "Oh, great. He thinks I'm an idiot." But apparently, not today. Inferiority complex, much? Dag.I'm sorry, Hec, and I guess me, too, but apologizing to oneself feels like one step from rice pudding on the Haldol Express.

"overcoming" being sort of out of fashion for hip crips nowadays.

Less overcoming, more being? Kind of like the "When I am X, I shall do Y," when you can be doing Y all along?

I wouldn't be surprised if Hec' examples of "crip noir" comes from the confluence of pulp detective novels and the vaudeville/circus sideshow fascination with all things funnylooking(*). You've got your various forms of "low" entertainment, mashing themselves together.

Like modern romance novels having military action plots -- instant crossover!

(*) I found out in the notes of a Dickens novel the other day that the sideshow "pig-faced lady", in the 1840s at least, was in fact not a lady at all, but a bear, shaved, dressed in women's clothes, and strapped down into a chair. And while I might enjoy a novel about a circus bear detective, I can't imagine the bear would enjoy being shaved hairless.

Not exactly. More like because "overcoming" is more of a thing for a special person. Kind of a "credit to your people" thing. Very individual and about the effort of will. Movement people don't like it because if everyone thinks a crip can make it if she's strong enough, then it takes away from the civil-rights aspect. Also, what if you can't mentally transcend your limitations?ETA: Overcoming, like presidenting, is hard Dang, poor bear...that's so weird.