Today would be a lovely day to sit and read in warm winter sunlight. Unlikely I will be getting much of that done however. Or rather, what reading of fiction I might do is by vast degree most likely to be skimming of Hard-Boiled to get caught up on the rating writing backlog.

I'll Be Waiting by Raymond Chandler

Originally published 1939 in the Saturday Evening Post; this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

PG

(L, D, V)

Minor Coarse Language (G)

Mild Drug Use (PG) {Tobacco}

Violence (PG) {Off-screen, allusive, but emotional}

Representations

Gender:

Waiting for Rusty by William Cole

Originally published October 1939 in Black Mask; this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

PG

(D, V)

Drug Use {PG} {Smoking}

Violence {PG}

Representations

Gender:

Human Interest Stuff by Brett Halliday

Originally published September 1938 in Adventure; this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

PG

(D, V, L)

Drug Use {PG}

Some Violence {PG}

Coarse Language {PG}

Representations

Gender:

A single reference to the existence of women, off-screen.

Sex:

Brush Fire by James M. Cain

Originally published 1936; this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

M

(S, D, V)

Minor Sexual Activity {G} {Kissing}

Drug Use {PG}

Violence {M}

Representations

Gender:

Most characters including viewpoint male. Some women as visitors.

Sex:

Fruit Tramp by Daniel Mainwaring

Originally published July 1934 in Harper's; this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

M

(D, V, L)

Drug references (PG) {Suggestion someone's sons may have been smoking; Cigarette-rolling + smoking}

Violence (M) {Sibling tussling; people showing up with black eyes; a brawl}

Mild Coarse Language (PG)

Trouble-Chaser by Paul Cain

Originally published 1934 in Black Mask; this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

M

(D, S, V, L)

Drug Use (PG) {Characters drink, off-screen heroin use plays a role in the plot}

Sexual References (PG) {No specifics, nothing on screen, just relationships, affairs, jealousy and fears of perceived impropriety}

Backwash by Frederick Nebel

Originally published May 1932 in Black Mask; this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

PG

(D, L, V)

Drug Use (??) {Character is an alcoholic; other characters alcohol and tobacco}

Coarse Language (PG) {Not much}

Violence (PG) {Again not much}

Representations

Gender:

Mistral by Raoul Whitfield

Originally published December 15, 1931 in Adventure; this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

PG

(L, D, V)

Coarse Language (PG)

Drug Use (PG) {Tobacco, alcohol}

Violence (PG) {Only one incident toward the end, dramatic and tense but not graphic}

Representations

Gender:

Round Trip by W. R. Burnett

Originally published 1929 in Harper's; this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

PG

(D, L)

Drug Use (PG) {Tobacco and alcohol}

Coarse Language (PG) {Not strong, I suppose not too frequent for so short a story}

Representations

Gender: