CAPTAIN FLASHBACK A fanzine composed for the 403rd distribution of the Sleeping the Big Sleep: Turbo-Charged Party-Animal Amateur Press Raymond Chandler’s Hollywood Association, from the joint membership of Andy Hooper and Carrie Root, residing at 11032 30th Ave. Raymond Chandler’s 1939 novel The Big Sleep NE Seattle, WA 98125. E-mail Andy at is one of the most influential works of popular [email protected], and you may reach Carrie at crime fiction of the 20th Century, a status which [email protected]. This is a Drag Bunt Press is significantly enhanced by Howard Hawks’ Production, completed on 1/20/2020. 1946 film noir adaptation starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Chandler infused the CAPTAIN FLASHBACK is devoted to old tough-guy narrative conventions of pulp crime fanzines, monster movies, garage bands and other fiction with a kind of moral hypoxia, leaving the fascinating phenomena of the 20th Century. All better impulses of private detective Philip written material by Andy Hooper unless indicated. Marlowe and the characters which he encounters Contents of Issue #14: suffocating under the weight of secrets, Page 1: Sleeping the Big Sleep: addictions and crime. Although Marlowe Raymond Chandler’s Hollywood shrewdly fathoms the twists of the case, he fails Page 2: Comments on Turbo-Apa #402 to save his clients from scandal, and no one is Page 5: A Key to Interlineations in Issue #13 Page 15: Fanmail from some Flounder: Letters to CF brought to justice through his efforts. He ends up Page 16: Northwest by Northwest: WESTWIND vaguely envious of the dead and sees his own Page 17: I Remember Entropy Department: role as nothing more than part of the “nastiness” Three Articles by Andi Shechter: of life. Although it was Chandler’s first novel, it “I’m Sorry, There IS No Bar” (1978) is a world-weary story, from a writer who had “Folk Art, Let’s Dance!” (1992) seen war and epidemic, and who only took up “Losing Isaac” (1993) fiction at the age of 44, in the wreckage of his previous career. Despite this popular and critical fame, The Big Sleep may be one of the least-understood books in history, at least as far as its convoluted storyline is concerned. Many critics openly admit that the plot baffles them, but this does little to diminish their admiration for both the novel and the film. The plot was rewritten for the screen so that the biggest “bad guy” dies in a hail of bullets, and Lauren Bacall’s character is no longer complicit in the murder of her former husband, so that she and Marlowe can end up together. The changes tend to obscure the details of the complicated blackmail scheme that brings Marlowe into the story, but emphasizing the attraction between Marlowe and Vivian Operator? Get me William Faulkner! [Continued on Page 6] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Issue #14, January 2020 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I work in a volcano. What jobs do you think I’ve ever turned down? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mailing Comments on Turbo-Apa #402: work of mythic animated genius with songs and Cover (Hannes Bok and Carrie Root): I was a talking snowman. really impressed by how well these turned out – The photographs from your European travels of the intersection of the scanning and clarifying the past year were all quite lovely. The shot of technology, the very good quality lithography of the Mogul’s birthday celebration was my the original and the printing work by Lee and his favorite and excited the miniaturist’s eye. staff at UPS turned out something great. It is OCCAM’S WHISKERS, Georgie Schnobrich: always a little scary sending our files off to The research which you presented at Teslacon Madison, and just trusting that they will produce sounded quite wonderful, and the fact that you something that looks right. But they pretty much were not genetically connected with the subject always do – any deficiencies have definitely matter seems like a tenuous reason to deny originated at my end, people your capabilities as a researcher and AN WISCONZINE, Greg Rihn: We both had teacher, so I’m glad no one seems to have the experience of seeing Roland Emmerich’s minded. 800 people would once have been a film of Midway, and also made both of our pretty generous throng for a specialty-interest spouses go. I’m still working on making up for convention like Teslacon. If one were to do a it. It was a weird reversal of most modern World daily fanzine for the con, would one be War II films, in that the script was reasonably compelled to work with linotype? accurate, but the visual effects and design of the The life-size marzipan baby is very much of a movie was about as historical as Flash Gordon piece with the death-cake featuring a or The Muppet Movie. The transformation of representation of the deceased in crust or icing. I the berthing spaces on Battleship Row into the sort of admire the craftsmanship, but like you, I Death Star trench was a bit much, and as you am at a loss to explain it. know, it takes a lot of work to get more than one THINGS THAT BEGIN WTH C, Jim Hudson ship into your field of view in a real naval battle. and Diane Martin: All of the holiday activities Also, having seen this film, one might be you described seemed fun and energizing, so surprised to learn that American aircraft carriers much so that I wonder if we might contrive to be had fighter aircraft deployed on them, and they in Madison when you gather to bake this coming actually shot down more Japanese aircraft than December. Cookies are actually one thing I have SBD tail gunners. The failure of the fighters to successfully baked in my life, going back to rendezvous with the bomber squadrons was the holidays 40 years ago… And that leads me to real reason that so many American torpedo the reviews of the two holiday acapella shows planes and their crews were lost – and you attended, and the notion that people who got Emmerich’s film just does not mention them. together 35 years ago are “getting older.” After There have now been two major motion pictures all, Carrie and I were engaged by the winter of about the battle, and there is still room for a 1985 – and that was just yesterday, wasn’t it? good one. You wrote a comment to me about own mole However, Frozen II seemed to be a far more issues, and thereby opened the door for me to successful representation of whatever world is continue the mole saga into its sixth month. The the home of Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy ground just doesn’t freeze here the way it does tales. We did not take in the picture ourselves, in Wisconsin, so as far as I can see, Seattle’s but our grandchildren more or less frog-marched moles continue to work right through the winter. their parents into taking them during But that also means that the rain continues to Thanksgiving week. The parents were not melt and disperse their mounds, and stuff keeps especially complimentary, but our grandkids growing up through them, even in the middle of were asking whether it was possible that the December. But we also recently noticed the Academy would establish a new award for best 2 baseball field at the high school had a double Roswell incident a bona fide recovery of an line of 15 or 16 molehills running right along the alien craft, it would have taken time for that left field line, not something the field’s information to be evaluated and grudgingly caretakers had ever allowed to happen before. released to people at Forrestal’s level of So perhaps we really did have a particularly government. It seems like forming a committee large movement of moles in 2019. to contain such information would be the surest way of ensuring that it would NOT remain SEASONS GREETINGS, Marilyn Holt: This contained. James Forrestal was never an was a pretty positive summary of the events of acceptable security risk, and if someone wanted 2019 on the farm. You guys have dialed back on him dead, there were a hundred less problematic the farming, but it seems like you keep finding ways to kill him than public defenestration. I’m more creatures to adopt and care for, from bees afraid he is a particularly florid red herring. to a new generation of egg-producers. You’re still farming more than anyone else in Turbo- MADISON FOURSQUARE #38, Scott Custis Apa. I shudder in sympathy at the prospect of & Jeanne Gomoll: Jeanne, I’m really looking rewiring your entire house; we are probably forward to TAFFORENSIC REPORT, and your looking at doing something similar before we let recreation of the far-off year of 1987. Your go of this house, which we don’t plan to do until reprint projects in TURBO have also been a lot decrepitude forces us. By the way, I took a of fun. The report on the stop-motion animation number of the copies of this zine that you left at project is still remarkably vivid, and I can close our party and stuck them into copies of my eyes and see the set-up in Hope’s bedroom. CHUNGA that I sent to some people that know There were a number of elements that I found you; maybe that means some of them got two difficult to credit, such as the fact that my copies, but it seemed better than recycling them! stepson Harlan ever let someone call him “Harlie,” or that my stepdaughter Gwen ever SONOVA QUARK, Steven Vincent Johnson: spoke the phrase “I didn’t know grown-ups Reading about your prostate surgery and knew how to have fun,” or that Hope was concurrent removal of scar tissue was a bit considered a grown-up at the time.