"Chalk Whispers" by Paul Bishop
by windchime (Member) - published: August 30, 2007
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Category - Book Reviews
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The last thing Mr. Bishop needs is another book review, especially since his books are reviewed by outfits such as the Chicago Tribune. And especially since book reviews ought to be reserved for new books, and not seven-year-old ones. And especially since I'm nowhere near qualified for reviewing Mr. Bishop's books.

But so what, eh? Never mind the "especiallys". Paul Bishop is now bish8 and visits lit.org, and I've been windchime for awhile and so, why don't I just review "Chalk Whispers" for us? As a lit.org thing...

It's crime fiction, and you read it on the train to work, so chapters are short and characters come in early, are named, identified, differentiated, nicknamed, anecdoted, all seamlessly within the unfolding of plot and subplot. The reader need make no effort to keep in mind what these characters are all up to, as they are never less than intimate with story. I do have to say that I found there to be a rather long "Luther Flynn-less" stretch in the book, but I didn't really miss the presence of this character that much, in that particular time frame. There's chases on foot, in cars, a helicopter. There's "jump-the-bones" kind of sex, which fits nicely with the rapid pace of a crime novel.

And there's funny!!! Get this: "Shoot the asshole"..."What good will shooting his asshole do? There's already a hole there."

First one of you to PM me with your mailing address gets the paperback! You're gonna love it, I promise!

Mr. Bishop, I promise I won't do this again, even if I read all your books. "Tequila Mockingbird" is next, and I got it in hardcover, so I won't be giving it away... And I very much look forward to reading your latest, when it's out.

(And Lena, if you're reading this, there will never be enough thanks to you for inviting Paul Bishop here!)

Lucie

------
Of all known institutions, I attend only two: church, in my heart, and school, in yours. Both are subject to demolition. - Lucie Adams, 2007
It is only for poetry to know how many stanzas fit into one caress. - Lucie Adams, 2008

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Comments

The following comments are for ""Chalk Whispers" by Paul Bishop"
by windchime

Lucie's book review: Paul Bishop's "Chalk Whispers"
Thanks for your review, Lucie. Thanks for being generous with your time too.

Bish8 aka Paul Bishop is a very cool person I think, considering he is in the midst of writing his new book and getting back full swing into his writing career, this person, Paul Bishop, who has been called by some critics as the new Joseph Wambaugh, is taking the occasional time out to come and participate here in the Lit.Org because he says"

"it is important that writers support each other"

And if anyone is curious, Paul Bishop has a site on myspace.com called:

http://www.myspace.com/bish8

Check it out!

Blessings to you, Lucie, and Paul Bishop.

( Posted by: TheRealKarmaTseringLhamo [Admin] On: August 31, 2007 )

Chalk Whispers
Thanks so much for the kind words in your review. A writer can never get reviewed enough, even for older books -- you never know when some Hollywood type with money to burn will read a new review of an old book and decide they just have to aquire the property.

Chalk Whispers was the culmination of a four book character arc I had planned out for the main character, Fey Croaker, before even the first book in the series was written, let alone sold.

I've since done a couple of short stories featuring the character, but in essence she has run her course for me.

This is one of the difficulties I face in my writing -- I have a tendency to put a character through so much in the course of a novel that they change fundamentally before the last page is written. It is then difficult to come back and tell another story with this changed character and put them through another series of hoops to change again.

While I like to read about characters who are consistent (Robert Parker's Spenser comes to mind), I don't find them as interesting to write about.

When you read Tequilla Mockingbird, you will see it is a book in which the secondary characters are the ones who do the most changing (Hammer and Nails in particular).

Thanks again.

Paul

( Posted by: bish8 [Member] On: August 31, 2007 )

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