Magnus-How do you feel about Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet? Or Dumas in general, for that matter?

I was just debating with myself whether or not to add Burke; I'm glad someone else thought of him too. I see what you mean about trying too hard, but anybodywho can keep doing a job like that and see the things he's seen without totally losing his mind gets a bit of leeway. Not that you really have to oversell a…

Hear, Hear! Great American Novel, though? The rest of America can keep their hands off my Great New Orleans Novel, thanks very much. They can love it hate it as they wish, but we own that mother.
Seriously great book, though.
Ignatius Lives!

That was an awesome silly movie. Tia Carrere had the worst body double ever though.

Two different things; renouncing god and renouncing god's existance altogether. Renouncing one's allegience to god like Solieri in Amadeus, that's where you'ld start rooting for the other team. But losing or denying belief in the whole construct makes you an atheist.
Basically if God doesn't exist, neither does The…

No shit, that would be awesome! But Daniel Day lewis could probably play a good Holly Golightly if he set his mind to it.

"I consider myself a ten of all trades."
"Don't you mean a jack of all trades?"
"Nah, I'm not that good."
I can't remember where I heard that (Abbott & Costello, Maybe?) but it seems to me it's a pretty good example of a dilettante; someone who dabbles in a subject but doesn't really take the time to study it.

Rationalist-I never noticed that either, the partner/friend thing. Huh.
And yeah, thanks for the reccomendations from everyone, and one more of my own: Joe R. Lansdale. I mentioned Hap and Leonard further up the thread, those books are currently being reprinted by Black Lizard and a new one is coming out later this…

Seems the episodes that seem to stick with people are the quieter, more emotional ones more than the swashbucklers; almost the opposite of the movies. Inner Light is my favorite TNG episode too, and TCOTEOF for the original series. For DS9, one that sticks out in my memory is an episode where Sisko goes Billy Pilgrim…

One of the biggest problems with ST:TMP was that is WAS an episode of the original show; they just rehashed Nomad into Vger and streeeetched it out way too long. Apparently that plotline was one of Gene Roddenberry's pet themes, it showed up a lot: Enterprise finds some sort of god-like being and it turns out to be…

But III had Reverend Jim from taxi as the Klingon captain! That's gold right there.

Miller-I don't think Chandler's definition is the be-all and end-all of the genre; It's just that it bears so much weight because he's one of the few straight "genre" authors that the capitol-L-Literature guys seem to let in their playhouse. But there is definitely room for alternative ideas.

I think Martin Greenberg has edited more anthologies tha anyone in history. It's entirely possible.

Wow, the birth of a movement. My idea for an inventory I mentioned above was basically which characters fit Chandler's definition -the 4 mentioned above-and who took the ball and ran with it; say maybe Easy
Rollins or Pelecanos heroes. Also guys who totally break the mold yet still somehow fit the catagory. Hoke…

Cool, now we're a club!
The article I would love to see is an Inventory of fictional detectives based on Raymond Chandler's description of the proper detective hero from The Gentle Art of Murder (the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world…etc). The biggies would be there of course, Marlowe and…

He'd make a good sidekick for that Mystery guy on vh1

How about The Renegade? That guy killed enough people to depopulate a small country and got laid enough to fill it back up again.

Great minds think alike; I mention this one in another thread. And I like titties too. I'm a cracker though.

@Matt Martinez: is Rogue Angel one of those Anita Blake-esque also-rans?
Any good? The only of those I've even been able to finish are the Harry Dresden books; they're actually really good.

@Lovecraft: Moorcock's Eternal Champion? Not even close, quality wise.
The premise is Casca is Longinus (as in Spear of..) He's the Roman soldier who stabs Jesus in the side at the cruxifiction. Christ decides not to turn the other cheek and curses Casca to wander the earth as a soldier until they meet again.