Andrew NetteRezensionen

The second Gary Chance novel, ORPHAN ROAD, sees Chance move his centre of activities to Victoria, all because of an old friend and former employer, the once notorious Melbourne social identity, Vera Leigh. Owner of a struggling S&M club being circled by property developers, knower of decidedly dodgy characters, it all starts with Chance and another contact of Leigh's in Byron, shaking down a peace and love cult front for a major drug smuggling ring. Which turns into another one of those jobs that could be described by the quote in the blurb:

"The heist always goes wrong and the consequences, even half a century later, can be deadly."

Of course that particular line is referring primarily to the job that Chance finds himself embroiled in on his return to Melbourne, new woman in tow, to find Leigh and contacts of hers looking to share some previously unknown information about the notorious 1970s Great Bookie Robbery - a heist that has gone down in Melbourne folklore. It seems that there was something at the Melbourne bookmakers club that day that was never mentioned in dispatches. Sure the three million dollars stolen has never been recovered, no-one has ever been charged, and just about everybody believed to be connected to the crime has since died - natural causes or not. But it seems that the thing that wasn't particularly well known was the stash of uncut South African diamonds that went missing on the day. And Leigh's pretty sure she knows who had them. Only problem is, it turns out Leigh isn't the only one who had an inkling, and Chance turns out to not be the only one looking.

When the first Gary Chance novel GUNSHINE STATE was released in 2018, my review included:

"When approaching such well sculpted and highly stylised ground as this, there can be a lack of fresh perspective. Not so in GUNSHINE STATE which uses many of the well-known elements of noir (the bad boy central character, dark settings, shabby dives, surrounded by a very dodgy group of potential back stabbers), lifting it somewhere different with the predominantly Queensland "Gunshine" setting, establishing a character like Gary Chance who is part hardman, part hair trigger, part lover, all of whatever it takes."

In this outing, so much of that still applies. Granted the location is less "shine" and more grey Melbourne and Western Victoria, and Chance is less lone wolf and more surrounded by people who share his affection for diamonds and, for want of a better description, regard for Leigh - not necessarily in that order. To that end, he finds himself on the trail of an old gangster, a family torn apart by the fallout from the Robbery and, what should come as a surprise to no-one, the disaster that was Catholic peodophilia in Western Victoria.

All of which combined with Chance's affection for Leigh, and regard for his companions in the final pursuit - Eva and Loomis, serves as a hint of grey at the dark centre at the heart of Gary Chance's noir world. Not much mind you, but at one point it kind of looked like the lone wolf might have picked up a thorn in his paw. Which was quickly removed, problems were solved, lives were lost, others were saved, and the past was revealed. To a select few on a need to know basis.

Whether or not the diamonds surfaced, the neo-Nazi's were dealt with, the crooked cops done for and the dodgy property developers buried in their own foundations, you'll have to read ORPHAN ROAD to find out. But fans of noir styled caper and heist novels, and anything that says a lot about humanity in a few well-placed words, should do exactly that. Read ORPHAN ROAD, and if you've not read GUNSHINE STATE then get to that as well.

This is a seriously good, noir-styled novel. Machine guns, Ford XB GS Falcon (mustard coloured), inner city Melbourne rabbit warren buildings, Byron Bay cults, protofacists and all.

https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/orphan-road-andrew-nette

This anthology of essays covers "radical science fiction" from 1950 to 1985. The definition of "radical" is seemingly broad: it takes in sf radical in form, in content, and in politics. Some essays thematically cover certain ideas (e.g., apocalypse, sex, nuclear war, homosexuality, animals), others focus on specific authors or even texts (e.g., Judith Merril, R. A. Lafferty, the Strugatsky brothers, Philip K. Dick). Despite its seemingly broad mandate, it actually feels very coherent: one gets an impression of sf responding in a variety of way to a time of social change, and that it was a time when almost anything was possible in the genre. It does a great job of creating a coherent portrait without feeling repetitive; I never would have thought of putting some of this stuff together, but it really does fit. The essays are also generally of a very high quality, in-depth and analytical without feeling too academic. There were really just two I didn't like (one felt too much like a journal article, another a summary), and there were some obvious errors occasionally. I have some new works to seek out, and I think it would be fun to teach a course using this to organize.

"Beat to A Pulp 3" is a 2013 collection of stories in a variety of styles and genres ranging from noir and neo-noir to hardboiled to western by a group of authors, many of whom have already made a name for themselves in the modern writing world. There stories here are incredibly varied and take you to gangsters in the Far East ("One Ashore In Singapore"by Andrew Nette) to the backwoods of the upper Midwest ("Doe in the Headlights" by Patti Abbott), where a woman named Doe has an unusual and constantly changing job description. "Gunpoint" by Fred Blosser takes the reader to a shootout in the wild west of, well, West Virginia. If you get tired of all that countryside, then "Fair Warning" by Hilary Davidson takes the reader back to the modern computer age and the dangers of the big city. Chris Holm's "Follow-Through" is all about remembering the lessons your father taught you and getting along with the neighbors.

The two gems of this collection are "There You Are" by Keith Rawson and "The Blow Jobs" by Josh Stallings. Both of these stories are similar in the sense that they focus on teenagers left to fend for themselves in this desperate world. Rawson's "There You Are" is about a kid who is dragged from state to state and, when they finally ended up in Arizona, the woman "finally got tired of the road and left [him] in a Buckeye motel room and [he] never saw her again." Left to his own devices, the kid gets a job in the motel, but ends up digging in the desert for places to plant corpses. It is a smoothly written story with a believable voice. Stallings' piece is reminiscent of his longer work, "All The Wild Children," in that it focuses on a pair of siblings left to run amock after dad got crushed to death by a poorly stacked forklift. They grew up in Glendale, California, "in the golden dawn of glitter rock" and thankfully dad hadn't lived to see them in their "skintight jeans and feather boas." His brother Caleb was the toughest dude around and perhaps handy with an icepick. Making their living selling plants and robbing tourists. Somehow Stallings managed to capture the teenage angst and the dead-end world and the brotherly love.

In an age where it is easier than ever to find a collection of short pieces, this group is a stand-out.

GUNSHINE STATE has been compared to Garry Disher's Wyatt series for a very good reason. The anti-hero characterisation here is as crisp and clear as you'd want, with Gary Chance the sort of loner survivor that has stepped straight from the pages of classic noir into the bright lights and dodgy business of Queensland's high-roller world.

When approaching such well sculpted and highly stylised ground as this, there can be a lack of fresh perspective. Not so in GUNSHINE STATE which uses many of the well-known elements of noir (the bad boy central character, dark settings, shabby dives, surrounded by a very dodgy group of potential back stabbers), lifting it somewhere different with the predominantly Queensland "Gunshine" setting, establishing a character like Gary Chance who is part hardman, part hair trigger, part lover, all of whatever it takes.

Chance is the sort of bloke that you know will get himself out of all the trouble that his choice of occupation (thief / standover man / enforcer / whatever pays) gets him into. You will, however, always be guessing just how much clinical violence will be employed to achieve that. Having said that, just about everybody he surrounds himself with here has an element of questionable character about them (even the victim) so there's something nicely contained about the entire situation.

There are many high-points in GUNSHINE STATE. Written in beautifully crisp prose, lean and pointed, there is still sufficient room for nuance in character development. The main characters here all have their good and bad points, they are believable, without overt clichés and extremely easy to connect with. The setting is perfect, with the high-rise anonymity of a tourism focused location, and excesses of the Surfer's "reputation" combined with the image some have of sun and surf to create a very effective contrast. Even the title - GUNSHINE STATE - with its spin on the well known tourist slogan, fits exactly with what for many, is a much more sleazy underground vibe.

What GUNSHINE STATE does as well is avoid the trap of style over substance. For all the lean and mean styling and strong characterisations, there is also a very solid plot. Believability again being the key here. There are all twists and turns you'd expect when the people on your side are as bad as the ones you're up against, and there's a certain type of person that does not take being screwed over - literally or figuratively - quietly.

It is evident that much of Nette's work (and interest) centres around noir and pulp styled fiction. His deep knowledge of the style and cadences of that sub-genre have been evident in earlier works, but in GUNSHINE STATE it's pitched just about as perfectly as you can get it.

There's room in Australian crime fiction for two lone-wolf anti-hero types, and Wyatt's got some serious competition now.

https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-gunshine-state-andrew-nette

Loved this idea when I first heard about it - a set of fictional adventures for a real-life movie star. And one that even I've heard of!

Making a man like Lee Marvin star in these adventures obviously means that these are going to be noir stories, hard-boiled as a rock, with a dark sense of humour in some cases. Based, it seems, on events from his real life, the stories range through a varied set of scenarios, timeframes and locations, although there is a propensity for hard-drinking and dedicated womanising to show up frequently.

A collection that is obviously going to work better for fans of Marvin, it also worked well for this reader - whose knowledge of the man himself is sketchy at best. Alternatively, if you are a fan of darker, noir styled story telling, this is a clever concept that's executed very elegantly.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-lee-crime-factory

“’Just the luck of the draw, “Caleb would say, “sometimes you pull aces and sometimes two’s, and one times you pull an ace when what you really need is that two to make a straight.’” (Page 85, “The Blow Jobs” by Josh Stallings)

That attitude towards life very well sums up the situation for all the characters in Beat to a Pulp: Hardboiled 3. The characters in these nine pieces are folks that almost always have losing hands. Sometimes they know it from the get go and other times they figure it out at just about the same second their light goes out. The nine works here pull no punches and one would not expect anything different in this series from publisher Beat To A Pulp. If you want sweetness and light and happy endings you should be reading elsewhere. Reality sucks and this is it.

“One Ashore In Singapore” by Andrew Nettle stars the book off with a man named “Chance” who is to be the courier for a very important package. He is supposed to bring it back to a restaurant named the “Jade Dragon” located in the small city of Yass which in turned is located a little north of Canberra, Australia’s capital city. The package isn’t ready yet according to Mr. Tan and it will be ready when it is. In the meantime Chance must wait for developments.

Doe is also a courier and sometimes more in “Doe In Headlights” by Patti Abbott. Doe has been sent out to an isolated cabin by her boss Feck. She does whatever he says and gets paid for it. At least there is variety in the work instead of just being a waitress in a bunch of crummy places. Now she is out in the woods 150 miles northwest of Detroit and waiting for the call and instructions. She is really good at waiting.

1915 in West Virginia is the setting with Jace Russell, Danville Fuller, and John Torrio gathered together to restore a little order their regarding local beer sales. They are not the only ones involved in “Gunpoint” by Fred Blosser where scores and a business dispute will be settled one way or another.

Senior Editor Emily Eldridge at Bridal Beauty Magazine has a problem. Based on the threats she is getting in “Fair Warning” by Hilary Davidson somebody thinks she is dating her husband. She swears she isn’t, but has her boyfriend Jason told her everything? And if he isn’t the issue, what does she do?

According to his drunkard father, Matt, had no follow through on anything. There might be some truth to that, but in “The Follow-Through” by Chris F. Holm Matt might just be ready to do that while settling the past as well.

The size XXL granny panties have a lot of meaning in the story titled “Granny Panties” by Sophie Littlefield. That meaning can be transferred to others in this very short two page tale.

Keith Rawson comes next with “There You Are” featuring a guy doing what he has to do to survive. At least Arizona has a lot of desert to bury bodies in. But, the soil is hard to dig through thanks to the rocks, clay, and tangled roots.

Life was rough from the get go for twins Caleb and Seth in “The Blow Jobs” by Josh Stallings. As they grew older the scams and the stakes got bigger until everything is now on the line because the latest deal went way too far.

Last up is a play titled “The Speed Date” by Kieran Shea. Secrets are important in Washington, DC whether they be on a national security level or a personal relationship level. Those who observe Peter and Claire at the Mexican restaurant would have no idea how important this speed date truly is for both of them.

Three pages of short author bios which include other titles they are involved with bring the book to a close.

As one would expect from this series as well as this publisher, these are not tales designed to make you think happy thoughts about others. No, these tales are often about the unfairness of the life you were born into or the despair you created for yourself on this mortal coil through a series of bad choices. The results are nine good pieces that contain mystery, lots of violence and action, and the occasional obscenity as the works describe a hard reality.

Beat To A Pulp: Hardboiled Three
Edited by David Cranmer & Else Wright
Beat To A Pulp
http://www.beattoapulp.com
November 2013
ISBN 978-0-9912039-0-1
Paperback (also available in e-book)
114 Pages
$7.99

Material supplied by publisher and editor David Cranmer for my objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2014

The thing that struck me most about GHOST MONEY was the feeling of authenticity and detail about a period in Cambodian/Vietnamese history that I have lived through but am sadly ignorant about, despite Australia's involvement in the so-called Vietnam War. Andrew Nette uses his principal characters and those whom they meet, to deliver a series of mini-history lessons, starting with Australian/Vietnamese Max Quinlan's own background.

In a strange way, Quinlan and Cambodia had history. Memories of his father shouting at their black and white television, on the screen, Asian soldiers, terrified faces under steel helmets too large for their heads, running from an invisible enemy, the sky behind them full of fire and smoke.

It was 1975; Max was nine years old. Phnom Penh was about to fall to the Khmer Rouge. His father Lester Quinlan was stationed in neighbouring Vietnam as an Australian army advisor in the mid-sixties and images of the war had been commonplace in the lounge room of their house in North Melbourne.

The images fascinated Quinlan as a child, only becoming menacing with his father’s growing agitation over the course of the conflict. When Saigon had fallen a month earlier, Lester Quinlan had yelled at the newsreader like an irate football fan castigating an umpire for a bad decision. Maxwell Quinlan had been born in the port town of Vung Tau in 1965. Three months later his Vietnamese mother was killed when a bomb exploded in the local market where she was shopping. Lester brought the boy home – his last act of bravery before drink and bitterness consumed him.

Quinlan's search for missing businessman Charles Avery takes him, and the reader of course, from Thailand to Phnom Penh. Despite the slabs of historical detail, or maybe because of the vividness of it, we remain engaged in the realism of the search for Avery and an understanding of what he is up to.

An impressive debut novel hardly surprising given Nette's own journalistic experience, and interest in pulp fiction.½

Start out reading GHOST MONEY and you're quickly immersed in a tight, tough, noir story set mostly in Cambodia. But don't be surprised if at some point, you also find yourself right smack bang in the middle of a history lesson and a subtle exploration of racial politics.

Knowing a little of Nette's interest in pulp fiction, I confess that the taut, noir stylings of GHOST MONEY didn't come as any surprise whatsoever, so for this reader, what was most rewarding about the book was the unexpected complexity of the central character, Max Quinlan. As well as one hell of a plot that just does ... not ... let ... go.

In a testament to the power of the storytelling there's something very matter-of-fact about the son of a Vietnamese woman and an Australian Vietnam vet as an ex-cop, a specialist in finding people who would rather stay lost. It also seems to go without saying that Quinlan, despite his lack of extensive PI experience, and his own misgivings, would find himself in SE Asia looking for the once successful Melbourne lawyer Charles Avery. Who is now a missing, dodgy gems trader whose sister wants to know what happened to her brother. It doesn't come as any surprise at all that Quinlan would follow the clues to post Khmer Rouge Cambodia and right smack bang into the madness of a country still recovering from the extremes of that regime.

What's also frighteningly matter-of-fact and at the same time very revealing, is the nature of the world in which Quinlan moves. The tension between Cambodian and Vietnamese, the vulnerability of people in a society that's been so brutalised, the casual way in which life is regarded as dispensable, and the greed and self-interest. Quinlan survives because of his own background, because he can read people, because he can see things and people for exactly what they are. And because he's careful about who he allows to get close.

It's one thing to know the theoretical history of a place, it's another completely to see the outcomes from within, to experience the result from the point of view of a direct observer or participant. That is part of what's so clever about GHOST MONEY. In the character of Quinlan, Nette has created a very realistic dichotomy. A man with an Asian look, yet his knowledge of his Vietnamese mother is non-existent. Australian raised, by a man who was profoundly damaged. Thai speaking, but looking enough Vietnamese to be regarded as suspicious by the Cambodians, there's so much about this man that demonstrates perfectly the complexities of the Vietnamese / Cambodian / Australian experience. Pairing him with Sarin, a Cambodian who has had direct and devastating experience of the Khmer Rouge, who remains in his damaged and difficult country, desperately trying to find a way to continue to survive, he's realistic and considered. He's all too aware of the difference between the reality and western perception of Cambodia, he's not an observer, he is the experience.

Great characters are one thing, but stick them into a plot that is not just realistic, but tight and fast moving, and frankly, nerve-racking, and something else starts to happen. Again, there was something so matter-of-fact about the lows that people will sink too when it comes to greed and self-interest, the way that loyalties shift and personal gain remains paramount that was chilling, especially when you match that up with the extreme violence of whatever it takes to win attitudes. Fingers crossed GHOST MONEY is the start of a new series.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/ghost-money-andrew-nette