Hard Guy

Howard BrowneProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 5.9K words
Chapters: 1

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Hard Guy by Howard BrowneAuthor: Browne, Howard, 1907-1999,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Oct 9, 2008

Editor's review

Howard Browne was a skilled craftsman of twentieth-century American pulp and genre fiction. Hard Guy carries on the hard-boiled tradition with its cool, unsentimental tone: characters make choices under pressure, the prose is crisp, and the pacing never drags. The value of such work lies not in deep social analysis but in its clean, efficient handling of tension and moral ambiguity, giving readers a complete emotional push-and-pull within a short span. It works as a sample of mid-twentieth-century American genre fiction and as a quick hit of reading pleasure for a commute or before bed. Note that the character relationships and violence carry the marks of their era; readers should approach them on genre-fiction terms, not as realistic social reportage. If you are studying the syntax and dialogue technique of hard-boiled prose, this book offers plenty of examples to take apart.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers of hard-boiled crime and tough, unsentimental genre fiction
Fans of twentieth-century American popular fiction
Writers studying dialogue rhythm and short-sentence craft
Commuters looking for a short, entertaining read

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer warm, healing, slow-paced narratives
Readers sensitive to violence and morally grey situations
Academic readers seeking literary depth and social critique

Reading tips

Read it in one sitting to keep the tension intact; don't interleave other books.
Notice how dialogue replaces description in moving the plot; excerpt short sentences as writing reference.
After reading, compare it with other hard-boiled works of the period, looking at characterization and moral handling.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What genre is this book?

It belongs to the tradition of twentieth-century American hard-boiled popular fiction, focused on characters' predicaments and tense plots, written in spare prose and not long. It is best understood within genre fiction, not as a serious social novel.

Is the content suitable for young readers?

The book contains violence and morally grey situations and bears clear marks of its era's writing. Suitability for young readers depends on their age and guidance; parents should skim it first before deciding to read or discuss it together.

Why read an old-fashioned popular novel?

Old popular fiction is a window onto a era's mass tastes and narrative techniques. It stirs emotion with very few words, still offers lessons for today's writers, and lets readers experience a story at a different pace.

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About the author

Howard Browne Author · American · 1908–1999

Howard Browne (1908–1999) was an American science fiction editor and mystery writer, born in Omaha, Nebraska. Public information about his early education and private life is limited; his reputation rests chiefly on his achievements as an editor and a writer. In the 1940s and 1950s he edited magazines such as Amazing Stories, helping to shift the publication from pulp format to digest size and bringing the Shaver Mystery serial to an end, leaving his mark on the history of genre magazine publishing. He later moved into television, writing for series such as Maverick while continuing to write fiction. His work spans science fiction and mystery; representative titles include Twelve Times Zero and Warrior of the Dawn. His plots are tight and suspenseful, combining the popular readability of the pulp era with the imaginative energy of genre fiction.