Due to a series of tech failures too dull to chronicle, I was not able to post my photos from Hamburg
until now. I also added a few more pix to the Berlin Set

Here is an excellent response to my previous post. I wanted to pull it from the comment pile and put it up here where more people will read it.

From krimileser.wordpress.com:

I think it is a bit more complicate.

There is a tradition of crime fiction in Germany, both pulpy and high end but it is not part of the literary or cultural world. Because of that there are a lot of "journalists" who write about crime fiction, who have no deeper understanding of the genre, like the one from the Leipziger Volkszeitung. To gain acceptance by these circles crime fiction has to be as literary as possible, but this has nothing to do with crime fiction. The success of Gerritsen et al. in Germany shows that the great divide is not between serious crime fiction and non-serious crime fiction.

Classical American pulp fiction as it is revived by HCC has no real tradition in Germany and readers cannot contextualize the cover pictures of HCC/Rotbuch. And there was a debate in the German blogosphere because Thomas Wörtche, the most renown German crime fiction reviewer hit real hard on HCC. People like him worked hard to get the attention of the literary world for crime fiction, that is not literary but modern crime fiction to the core (whereas HCC is in his Eyes only retro).

“But the Germans have this idea that crime fiction ought to be much more literary and “serious." Apparently this means no explicit sex or violence, just lots of depressed, angst-ridden (male, of course) detectives brooding and contemplating the meaning of life.”

Sorry, a cliché doesn't get any better just because it is retold by an author who wrote a good book and I associate "angst-ridden brooding male detective" with H. Mankell, and perhaps with Scandinavia. One look on the German bestseller list would show that both assumptions are not true. One pillar of the German crime fiction tradition is Tatort a TV-Series running since 1970. Often the films cover social issues therefore I'd say female protagonists are not quite derniere cri.

Thanks for the much needed perspective. Clearly journalists want to create controversy to make for a more interesting interview, so I can’t take their word as the whole truth for an entire country. I was just so genuinely surprised to be asked again and again how I felt about not being taken seriously, since I’ve never once been asked that question in the US. On the other hand, if I based my opinion of crime fic in the US solely on the questions I’ve been asked in interviews, I’d think there were no other women writing hardboiled or noir.

Interesting to think that someone would knock HCC as “only retro” when my book is about as modern as you can get. So is Guthrie’s KISS HER GOODBYE. I wish I could read German, because I’d be very interested to know what this author defines as “retro” and what he thinks is “modern.” It can’t just be about the cover design…?

A quick post on Frankfurt, before it fades from my dizzy, jet-lagged brain. First and foremost, the book fair. They do NOT fuck around over there. Imagine nine BEAs linked by airport-style moving walkways. More books in more languages than anyone could ever possibly read in a hundred lifetimes. It’s both awe-inspiring and humbling. When I first arrived I felt like a tiny grain of sand on a vast literary beach. Of course, that was before I saw the larger-than-life poster of your not-so-humble narrator capping the Rotbuch Verlag booth. What am I, a rock star? The various camera crews following me around apparently thought so.

I barely had any time to check out the city, but the limited wandering I did took me into a couple of used bookstores. When I was in Mexico City, I found heaps and heaps of Spanish pulps and reprints of classic hardboiled paperbacks but in Germany there were hardly any at all. Just a scant handful of Parker reprints and a few Chandler hardbacks.

It took me several days to wrap my brain around this fact, but apparently in Germany hardboiled pulp (vintage or modern) is basically considered lowbrow trash on the level of supermarket romance. I had several interviewers ask me about how it feels not to be taken seriously, and I honestly didn’t get what they meant at first. After all, hardboiled and noir fiction is taken very seriously in the US. It’s more the cozy or chick-lit writers who get no respect. But the Germans have this idea that crime fiction ought to be much more literary and “serious.” Apparently this means no explicit sex or violence, just lots of depressed, angst-ridden (male, of course) detectives brooding and contemplating the meaning of life. In fact, there was a scathing write-up in the local paper about my reading in Leipzig (published before the reading even took place.) The author was complaining that it was stupid and pointless to feature a trashy hardboiled writer at a venue meant for more serious literary fiction. I really had a blast blowing everyone’s expectations out of the water. I may be a trashy pulp writer, but I have no problem talking about the underlying gender issues and other socially relevant “serious” themes in Money Shot. I hope I did my part as a hardboiled missionary in a land of unbelievers. I’ll bet I opened up a mind or two.

My reading in Frankfurt was at the gorgeous underground Venusberg Bar. Great space and great people. I was thrilled to have my peeps from Jenny Brown Associates in attendance, including the tiny-arsed Kevin Pocklington and Dame Jenny herself but minus my actual agent Al Guthrie. The world’s toughest vegetarian was off teaching some literary wilderness survival workshop out in the sticks somewhere and was sorely missed.

All in all, it was a blast and started off my German tour with a bang.

Here’s a clip of one of the interviews I did for German TV. I have no idea what I’m saying, since I’ve been dubbed into German. The only bit I caught was the quote from Ellroy about the underlying principle of Noir: “You’re fucked.”

I'm home, back in LA. Up too early, still off schedule and lagged to hell and back. Will post for real soon, but meanwhile some pix via Flickr.

A set of Frankfurt, one of Leipzig, and one of Berlin.

More soon...

I'm in Hamburg. There seem to be more sex shops per square foot than any other German city. Sailors, I suppose. The venue was just off the infamous Reeperbahn. Touristy, but still amusing. I keep humming that Tom Waits song.

Serious eurofatigue is begining to set in. The cumulative effect of a million ordinary things that are just slightly off. Toilets. Pillows. Keyboards. Everything. The internet cafe I'm posting of stinks of old cigarette smoke. I love the way the mudane things seem exotic when I'm traveling, but after a while I really miss my own bed.

Berlin seems to be the most dog friendly city on Earth. Dogs ride the underground. I could live here.

Yesterday I was able to explore the city a little. Ate Currywurst at an outdoor thrift/antique market. Another addition to my omnivore's hundred. Lusted after but did not buy several vintage Euro typewriters. Saw what's left of the wall. Berliners love graffiti.

Off to Hamburg...

In Berlin, posting from the apartment of my German fixer Magnus. Today has been mostly free, exploring the city and visiting the HQ of Rotbuch Verlag. Tonight, more TV and then (if I'm not too wiped out) maybe a visit to a fetish club.

It's autumn here. I miss autumn.

Stealing another online minute from my hotel here in Leipzig. The bookfair in Frankfurt was huge and amazing in a million ways. The booth for Rotbuch (my German pub) had this enormous, larger than life poster featuring the Batts photo of me with the typer. I had a TV crew following me around. Quite surreal, really. Kind of like this keyboard. Y and Z are reversed, keys with three or four possible characters each and other weird stuff like (ä) where the apostrophe should be.

Leipzig is gorgeous. I really wish I had more time to explore. I'm trying to remember to take photos, but you'll have to wait till I get home for the Flickr post.

Off to Berlin.

I made it to Frankfurt in one piece (sort of.) Haven't really slept yet since the plane was once again filled with shreiking infants. Today is my day to decompress and try to pull myself together for the book fair tomorrow. Fuck off, browse used books shops, scope the city, take photos and indulge my favorite pastime in foreign lands, visiting the local supermarket. They really like sausage here.

Finished The Mercy Seat. Man, does Waites know how to rock the one word sentences. Terse as a motherfucker. My review/homage:

Brilliant. Read it.

ps - this Euro keyboard is making me nuts!