David Goodis

Once upon a time Eddie played concert piano to reverent audiences at Carnegie Hall. Now he bangs out honky-tonk for drunks in a dive in Philadelphia. But then two people walk into Eddie's life--the first promising Eddie a future, the other dragging him back into a treacherous past. Shoot the Piano Player is a bittersweet and nerve-racking exploration of different kinds of loyalty: the kind a man owes his family, no matter how bad that family is; the kind a man owes a woman; and, ultimately, the loyalty he owes himself. The result is a moody thriller that, like the best hard-boiled fiction, carries a moral depth charge.

Shoot the Piano Player

Street of No Return

a novel

Nightfall

Eddie Webster Lynn, aferrado a su viejo piano, malvive tocando en un local de mala muerte de Filadelfia. Tras de sí ha dejado una prometedora carrera como concertista, una preciosa esposa y una vida llena de proyectos e ilusiones. Los sucios callejones de la ciudad le han convertido en un ser vacío, mientras aún intenta huir de algo que truncó una existencia que jamás volverá. Pero el destino es cruel y, a menudo, concede segundas oportunidades. Un viernes por la noche, el hermano de Eddie acude a él pidiéndole auxilio: dos matones le persiguen para acabar con su vida. Por qué Eddie es la única persona que le puede ayudar? Será por quién ha sido realmente y jamás se ha atrevido a confesar? Debido al gran éxito cosechado por la novela, el prestigioso director francés François Truffaut la llevó a la gran pantalla en 1960. Disparen sobre el pianista, aun habiendo pasado más de cincuenta años desde su primera edición, sigue siendo un indiscutible referente de la novela negra norteamericana del siglo XX.

Disparen sobre el pianista

Collects five crime novels of David Goodis all dealing with unfortunate people and dark doomed settings.

Five novels of the 1940s & 50s

The Wounded and the Slain

It's winter in Philadelphia. January cold coming in off two rivers. Hart is broke, freezing, looking for a place to lay low from the cops. If he can't find somewhere soon he might do something rash ? like steal an overcoat and accept a wallet containing $11,000 from a man dying from gunshot wounds in the street. Whoever killed him might have a bed, though, even if that means hanging out with a bunch of thieves and drifters while the heat blows over. Lucky for Hart he's handy with his fists. And if he can use his looks and smarts to get in with the gang, maybe he can ride this out and score big on his own. Originally published in 1954, Black Friday is one of David Goodis's leanest, meanest melancholy thrillers. In the character of Hart, it features one of his classic, tortured romantic heroes, a man who becomes mired in circumstances from which there is no escape. In this edition, Black Friday is combined short stories, unpublished since they were first written for pulp magazines in America over 50 years ago.

Black Friday and Other Stories

For the first time, the best work of a distinctive master of American noir is available in authoritative e-book editions from The Library of America. David Goodis experienced a brief celebrity when his novel Dark Passage (1946) became the basis for a popular movie starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. The story of a man railroaded for his wife’s murder and forced to assume a different identity after escaping from prison becomes in Goodis’s hands a lyrical evocation of urban fear and loneliness. Other David Goodis novels available as Library of America E-Book Classics include: Nightfall, The Burglar, The Moon in the Gutter, and Street of No Return.

A Library of America eBook Classic

Dark Passage

Dark Passage (Film Ink)

William Burton McCormick

Hal Charles

Tom Marcinko

Shannon Taft

Arthur Leo Zagat 

Stephen Marlowe 

E.E. “Doc” Smith

Welcome to Black Cat Weekly #52. This week, our acquiring editors have outdone themselves—Michael Bracken has an original story by William Burton McCormick, “House of Tigers,” which was a Black Orchid Novella Award finalist. Though it didn’t win, it’s a great story. (Competition is fierce for this particular award, since it judged by Linda Landrigan, editor of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. I won the first Black Orchid for my story “Horse Pit,” and I haven’t dared enter since—I try to read all the winners, and they keep getting better and better. These days I probably wouldn’t stand a chance!) Barb Goffman also has an original, “It’s Not Tennis” by Shannon Taft, another good one. And Cynthia Ward has selected the modern classic “Whiter Teeth, Fresher Breath” by Tom Marcinko, which proves aliens do have it all. Even better oral hygiene! Plus we have a mystery novel by David Goodis (author of Dark Passage and Shoot the Piano Player), a space opera by E.E. “Doc” Smith, and science fiction from Arthur Leo Zagat and Stephen Marlowe! Here’s the complete lineup: Mysteries / Suspense / Adventure: “House of Tigers,” by William Burton McCormick [Michael Bracken Presents, Novella] “Mailed It,” by Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery] “It’s Not Tennis,” by Shannon Taft [Barb Goffman Presents short story] Cassidy’s Girl, by David Goodis [novel] Science Fiction & Fantasy: “Whiter Teeth, Fresher Breath,” by Tom Marcinko [Cynthia Ward Presents short story] “Picnic,” by Stephen Marlowe [short story] “The Cavern of the Shining Pool,” by Arthur Leo Zagat [novella] Galactic Patrol, by E.E. “Doc” Smith [novel]

Black Cat Weekly #52

Street of the Lost

The book that gave Goodis his greatest success. James Vanning, artist, suffers through blackouts and hallucinations. He's not sure if he's even committed robbery and murder. A police psychologist says he's there to help, but only wants to entrap Vanning. Meanwhile, a bunch of crooks are after Vanning for the proceeds of that robbery he might have done. First published 1947 as "Nightfall." Also published as "Convicted," and "Missing: Believed-Murdered."

The Dark Chase

Voici l'histoire d'un ancien soliste de Carnegie Hall qui échoue dans les bas-fonds new-yorkais après le suicide de sa femme. Après avoir affronté l'adversité et retrouvé sa dignité grâce à l'amour d'une femme patiente, il ira se réfugier dans l'oubli procuré par l'alcool... Un film de François Truffaut (1960) avec Charles Aznavour, Marie Dubois, Nicole Berger, Michèle Mercier, Daniel Boulanger et Alice Sapritch.

Tirez sur le pianiste !

THEIR VACATION IN PARADISE BECAME A DESCENT INTO HELL Their marriage on the rocks, James and Cora Bevan flew to Jamaica for a last chance at patching things up. But in the slums of Kingston James found himself fighting for his life – while Cora found her own path to destruction, in the arms of another man. Available for the first time in more than 50 years, this lost novel by legendary pulp author David Goodis is a stunning, shocking tale of cruelty, danger, desperation…and the possibility of redemption.

From the author of Dark Passage and Shoot the Piano Player, a thriller about the dark ethics of crime, and the man unlucky enough to violate them. With its chilling portrait of a doomed man sorting his way among the perverse loyalties of a criminal "family," Black Friday has all the earmarks of David Goodis's classics, Dark Passage and Shoot the Piano Player. It is a haunting and often devastating foray into a world where no one has anything left to lose and survival itself is an act of malice.

Black Friday

For the first time, the best work of a distinctive master of American noir is available in authoritative e-book editions from The Library of America. In Nightfall (1947), David Goodis explores the theme of the innocent pursued, as artist Jim Vanning becomes accidentally embroiled in a violent robbery and must evade criminals and police alike. Other David Goodis novels available as Library of America E-Book Classics include: Dark Passage, The Burglar, The Moon in the Gutter, and Street of No Return.

Three noir classics, the stories of hard-luck losers looking for their last chance at redemption- unlikely gin-joint heroes of the shadowlands.

Nightfall / Cassidy's Girl / Night Squad

Paranoia and criminal greed, by the writer who turned the crime novel into bitter poetry.

James Vanning est poursuivi jusque dans son sommeil par la vision obsessionnelle d'un revolver d'un " noir lugubre, d'un noir total ", de scènes de violence et d'un meurtre qu'il aurait commis. S'il n'arrive pas à oublier cet épisode angoissant, il ne parvient pas non plus à le relier à un moment de sa vie. Dessinateur dans une agence de publicité, il n'a rien d'un tueur et n'aspire qu'à se marier et à se consacrer à sa vie de famille. C'est le hasard qui a mis sur sa route une sacoche contenant trois cent mille dollars, des gangsters endurcis et ce revolver qui le hante. Dès lors, il est pris au piège d'un engrenage fatal... Nightfall est le quatrième roman de David Goodis. ce " grand classique " de la série blême est republié dans une traduction nouvelle et intégrale. par l'auteur de rue barbare, obsession, beauté bleue et la fille au coin de la rue, parus dans la collection rivages/noir.

David Goodis

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