Ep. 139 Aground & Dead Calm

All episodes are made available to Patreon subscribers, the most tender and violent of all audiences, one week before their general release. Support our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke Hosts Christopher Funderburg & John Cribbs are joined by filmmaker & pulp paperback aficionado Steven Sheil to discuss semi-legendary, semi-forgotten crime fiction author Charles K. Williams. The group looks at a pair of nautical thrillers, Aground & its sequel Dead Calm (most famously adapted into the Billy Zane/Sam Neil classic (& also unsuccessfully adapted in yet another Orson Welles production debacle.)) Following the story of a no-nonsense charter boat captain & the charming, irrepressible widow he falls for, the aesthetic/philosophical difference between the books represents the shift happening in pulp crime in fiction of the era: the move from classic hardboiled, masculine stories to psychological thrillers concerned with the inner lives of criminals. It's a fantastic conversation about one of the most successful crime writers of his era, an author undeserving of his slow fade into obscurity. The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Steven Sheil on X: https://twitter.com/SSheil The Pink Smoke on X: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on X: twitter.com/cfunderburg Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"