David Cranmer is probably better known as an author and editor of hard boiled noir and as alter-ego Edward A. Grainger the creator of Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles. So although not unheard of as a poet – he’s had several pieces included in this collection published separately – this is the first full collection of his poems.
It is both bright and light and at times dark, very dark but these are poems written not from the heart but from the soul. These are life experiences that show through the words on the page and show David’s time in the military and civilian employment; his family – wife and daughter and nephew.
Each poem speaks loud with a softly written style, not afraid to experiment with pattern and tone.
This is a brief collection of brilliance, one to be read again and again.
About the Author Poet:
David Cranmer’s poems, short stories, articles, and essays have appeared in publications such as Live Nude Poems, Needle: A Magazine of Noir, The Five-Two: Crime Poetry Weekly, LitReactor, Punk Noir Magazine, Macmillan’s Criminal Element, and Chicken Soup for the Soul. He’s a dedicated Whovian who enjoys jazz and backgammon. He can be found in scenic upstate New York where he lives with his wife and daughter.
Disclosure: Although we’ve never met, I do consider David as a friend. I bought his book with my own money, and so should you.
Jack Laramie is the grandson of legendary US Marshall Cash Laramie (search for this in the sidebar and it should bring up my reviews for those). He is a PI for hire and lives out of the back of his horse trailer.
I’ve read these (long) short stories before on kindle but it is good to get them gathered together for the first time in a real book. It’s sometime since I read them so they felt new to me but familiar.
They pull no punches (quite literally at times) but this is hard boiled noir with a hint of the old west but set after the Second World War.
They are exactly how I imagine the old west would have evolved, and the character of Jack is as alive as his grandfather was.
Recommended.
Disclosure: David Cranmer is a friend of mine, but I bought this book with my own money and I have received no recompense for this review from the authors or publishers. The thoughts are my own.
Twenty years ago today I was working an early shift covering a colleague while he was on holiday. It meant I was in the car driving to work just as Radio 4 was taking over from the World Service on the radio. I was still trying to absorb what had happened the day before. Although we used to have a radio on as background in the harbour office where I was working at the time, I’d been out on the patrol boat as news had started to filter in as to what was happening in New York. At first they made it sound like it was a small light plane, a Cessna or similar that had hit the North Tower. When the news arrived of a second plane it became clearer that this was something more sinister.
By the time I reached home after my shift the horror of what had happened was becoming apparent and the world changed forever.
We’re back “home” again after our brief stay elsewhere. It’s interesting that while we were away my sleep patterns were much better, despite a slightly lumpy bed. I’m not sure whether it was because of all of the extra exercise I was getting or the overall quieter and darker place, here it is all streetlights, traffic and people. It’s certainly made us think and reconsider our surroundings and what we need from life.
Reading
I don’t feel like I’ve had much time for reading since we got back either, nor have I been able to keep my eyes open for long enough of an evening to read more than a page or two. How can I be so tired and yet sleep so badly?
Anyway when I have been reading I’ve been picking up Derek Jarman’s diaries of his time living in a little cottage at Dungeness. The cottage is famous for the garden that Jarman created before he died.
I haven’t read very far yet, but it’s clear from the words that Jarman was very much a creative.
Also if you’re looking for something good to read, can I recommend checking out the Drifter Detective series, now available in this collection:
I’ve been getting a piece of the plot ready for sowing overwintering broad beans. Our allotment shop under it’s new management has declared that it is not doing seeds this year (or onion sets or seed potatoes), so I will have to buy them elsewhere. I won’t go into how this rather pathetic state of affairs has arisen but one of the strengths that I saw in our little shop was the fact that it sold seeds etc. Now it just seems to sell bags of compost and only on a Sunday.
My apples are now mostly ripe and I’ll be picking them all over the next week. I sampled a few yesterday and along with some of the autumn fruiting raspberries made a rather spectacular apple and raspberry strudel. My god it was good, even if it did look a bit like a Hannibal Lecter recipe.
Work
A purchase order arrived from a client for the piece of work we’ve been discussing, work commences tomorrow. I’ve been doing some prep work this week – timesheet templates and other admin stuff. I’m quite looking forward to it because it’s also quite an interesting piece.
Well that’s everything for this week. Next week I’ll be doing quite a bit of paid work, interspersed with some gardening and allotment work if the weather holds. I also hope to receive a roll of film back from the processors that I took partly while we were away. The first half I took some time ago and although I think I know what’s on there I’m not 100% sure, so that should be a bit of a surprise.
Electronic Scrapbook 