Country: USA
Genre: Crime
Pages: 215 kb (eOriginal)
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Dad had loomed over my life like an evil moon since I was a small boy.
I'm a sucker for unique and original things. My friends all think I'm deranged for preferring Monica Raymund to Kim Kardashian, but here's the thinking behind that. I prefer a girl that's beautiful in her own way and who looks like nobody else I know, rather than a patchwork of plastic surgeries. I know it's a shoddy metaphor, but it's the best way I can describe the work of Pearce Hansen. He's a guy who does his own thing. He writes with the manic passion of a 19th century author. In some stories, I could see glimpses of Alexandre Dumas' tattered heroes, walking the dangerous streets of America. GUN SEX is old school literature, like the ghost of another era that haunts our streets. While not all the stories hit the right notes, when Hansen does get the words right, you're in for some of the most peculiar and seducing fiction.
I have this theory about reading, that every writer has a core. A reason why they write, that directs their stories into a particular direction. It's not always evident where Pearce Hansen is going while reading GUN SEX, but it is there. He does show his core in the Speedy and Reseda stories. There are four of them. GIRL CRAZY, I WAS A PSYCHIC FRIEND (NO REALLY, I WAS), THE DAY HE RAISED and CARNY LOVE. These stories are all tied to his subsequent novel STREET RAISED and the beauty of those is the world that Pearce Hansen created. This Picaresque vision of America where freedom is a double edged blade, where trouble is always riding coattails to pleasure. You have to be strong and fearless to survive in Pearce Hansen's world.
I've been in enough hospitals and emergency rooms to know most people find it preferable not to be there. Pain and fear seem to hang in the air like a cloud, almost overwhelming the reek of medicine - I always imagine illness glued to the walls by the industrial paint, or hovering invisible in the air waiting for prey. There's usually blood too, but I haven't let that bother me much in a long time.
My favorite story in the collection was THE DAY HE RAISED, which is also the first chapter of STREET RAISED, where Speedy is released from jail into the gloomy streets of the neighborhood. It's a surreal vision that somehow reminded me the stories of Lovecraft and yet this is a realistic story. I would go as far as calling THE DAY HE RAISED masterful. Not all the stories are, though. The horror stories (most of them are at the beginning) don't quite fit the bill in GUN SEX and except for one (THE STORM GIANTS). I thought they weren't on par with the crime stories. Kudos for Pearce Hansen for writing outside of his comfort zone, but horror is not his thing. This unique blend of crime and classic adventure fiction is. Hansen is most comfortable when he's most unique and different.
There are other stories worth mention here. TOM RIPLEY: A SPECTRE PROFILE, while not being serious, was a nice wink to Patricia Highsmith and shows a very good understanding or the character. PARAPLEGIC KILLER CHIMP is a very cool bizarro piece that will leave you scarred for a little while. GREATER THAN THE SUM also, while being hard to categorize, is quite the charmer. Pearce Hansen is a writer that does things his own way and GUN SEX reflects just that. His voice is unique and while it won't please everybody, I thought his classic literature approach to crime fiction was a fresh way to look at the genre. I liked GUN SEX, but it didn't sold me to Pearce Hansen completely. If anything though, it hinted that STREET RAISED might just do that. It is next in line in my Kindle queue and it's looking at me with dirty eyes right now. Should you check out GUN SEX? Absolutely. If you need a change of pace, a unique voice. It's only 99 cents and it has some scorching stories for you.