- Mass Market Paperback: 216 pages
- Publisher: Uglytown Productions; Unabridged edition (Jan 1 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0966347307
- ISBN-13: 978-0966347302
- Product Dimensions: 16 x 10.6 x 0.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 122 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,885,623 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon.com
Packaged like a pulp detective novel from the '30s, this pocket-sized mystery is packed with the kind of dialogue that makes gumshoe fiction so ripe for parody: "One false step and it's curtains for the floozy!" "There's nothing like a mourning widow ... and Suzi Biggs was nothing like a mourning widow." "Consider this an advance on a beating to come." Every cup of coffee, sleazy witness, and see-through negligee is critiqued in hard-bitten style by detective Benjamin Drake in this doubly amusing book, which works as both straight whodunit fiction and a winking satire of all things Hammettesque. Not to be missed by fans of the genre, fans of genre, or any genre of fans. --James DiGiovanna
Alan Wieder, APB Online, 01/99
Packaged in a vintage crime format modeled after the Dell "keyhole" mysteries of the 1940s, and cram-full of dime-novel derring-do, By the Balls bears proudly its ligatures to the hard-boiled genre. Its spotty dialogue and drunken plotting; its dubious heroics and jaundiced idealism; its "romantic realism," in Ellery Queen's phrase, and fantastically cold-blooded denouement -- By the Balls has it all, and suitably moody illustrations by the critically acclaimed Paul Pope thrown in for good measure.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
IT WAS A MISERABLE DAY in Testacy City. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
IT WAS A MISERABLE DAY in Testacy City. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Irresistible package surrounds inadequate story.,
By Doghouse King "eddie_denman" (Omaha, NE United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: By the Balls (Mass Market Paperback)
If only as much effort and thought had gone into the writing of this book as into the design, Ugly Town might really have had something. The covers and illustrations, the intro pages- heck, even the size and weight- are darn near perfect in exactly the retro way they intended. But the writers have a background which includes scripting comics for Dark Horse, and that's how this reads.It's a meatless tribute to all things hard-boiled, featuring prose written in a spare (much too spare) style. Descriptions are sorely lacking, and the dialogue, while it talks "tough," is un-creative. There is really only a couple of instances of good dialogue. Here is one: "There's nothing like a mourning widow. And [she] was nothing like a mourning widow. More like a morning window, and I could see right through her." Not classic stuff, but if the rest had at least attempted this style the book could have attained a kind of punny vitality. But no. It doesn't attempt real spoofery, and it certainly is not authentic. It's like boys playing in sandbox much too vast for them. Descriptions of drinks and cigars give the impression that the authors just wanted to feel naughty, while a scene where the hero talks his way out of being killed by a thug is especially contrived, obvious and amateurish. Other aspects detract as well, but suffice it to say, Red Harvest this is not. I really can't see true pulp fans being fooled by this, but give it a try... after you've read Chandler and Hammett and James Cain and Paul Cain and Whitfield and Burnett and Daly and Browne and Brown and Huggins and Brackett and Cave and Whittington and Fischer and Ballard and Bellem and Latimer and Martin and MacDonald and Gault and Spicer and Miller and Dewey and Woolrich and Nebel and Gardner and Adams and Davis and Spillane and Kane and Chase and Albert and Halliday and... you see? There are much better out there. Lots of 'em. Then check back with the authors of this book after they've gotten some practice. Maybe they should check the above list, too.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow - Naugahide, bakelite and bourbon pack less stink,
By Joe Wilmot (Maui, Hawaii) - See all my reviews
This review is from: By the Balls (Mass Market Paperback)
Superb. This book makes me wanna head to the nearest dive bar, sink a few stiff ones and hop into my time machine -- destination: 1942. The only reason I don't is, well, time travel and booze don't mix. So I make due with By The Balls.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Grabs you so hard, it hurts,
This review is from: By the Balls (Mass Market Paperback)
For men, this book literally grabs you by the balls from the first page and never lets go (for women, this book figurativly grabs you by the balls, etc.). The character of Ben Drake is the kind of hard drinking, hard talking, hard detecting detective you just don't see anymore but really should. The mystery is pure old school P.I. with a nice dash of modernism mixed in for a concoction that sure packs a wallop. Please, I beg of you, read this book.
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