By the Balls: A Novel by Dashiell Loveless

by Dashiell Loveless

Book Overview

Packaged like a pulp detective novel from the '30s, this pocket-sized mystery is packed with the kind of dialogue that makes gumshoe fiction so ripe for parody: "One false step and it's curtains for... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0966347307
• Release Date: July 1998
• Publisher: Uglytown Productions
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 0.5" x 4.5"

Customer Reviews

Wow - Naugahide, bakelite and bourbon pack less stink

Superb. This book makes me wanna head to the nearest dive bar, sink a few stiff ones and hop into my time machine -- destination: 1942. The only reason I don't is, well, time travel and booze don't mix. So I make due with By The Balls.

Grabs you so hard, it hurts

For men, this book literally grabs you by the balls from the first page and never lets go (for women, this book figurativly grabs you by the balls, etc.). The character of Ben Drake is the kind of hard drinking, hard talking, hard detecting detective you just don't see anymore but really should. The mystery is pure old school P.I. with a nice dash of modernism mixed in for a concoction that sure packs a wallop. Please, I beg of you, read this book.

TITTILATING AND THOROUGHLY ENGROSSING!

Tom Fassbender and Jim Pascoe (alias Dashiell Loveless), have invented the worlds first time-travel conveyance out of paper and ink, and heavily fueled by Ketel One Vodka! (read this books' "About the Authors" page to decode that statement) Would you like to know more? Grab "By The Balls", their first collaborative publication from UGLY TOWN PRESS. This short, tittilating, and thoroughly engrossing trip to the world of Testacy City will grab you by the you-know-whats, and squeeze until it hurts! The shady denizens of this crime-noir fiction evokes black and white images of Turner and Harlow, Cagney and Bogart, with a nice touch of 90's Pulp Fiction thrown in to sweeten the kitty! The dialogue sings, the imagery lurks, and the whole kit-and-kaboodle works magically to revive a genre not seen since the 1940's. By the time I finished it, I swear my clothes smelled like cigarettes, and my breath like cheap whiskey! Can't wait for more!

TRUE Pulp Fiction IS BACK!

This is the kind of book that gets many people hooked on reading in the first place. Calling it a page turner might sound cliche, but a well timed cliche is right at home amongst its pages. With characters that show up in your imagination in black and white, By the Balls makes you check the inside cover to see when it was 'really' written. Lets hope there are more like it on the way!

Very enjoyable read.

I didn't know whether to expect a satirical detective mystery or a good mystery book. Fortunately I got both.Filled with many good gumshoe detective lines the story also holds its own with a good plot and twists and turns.I enjoyed it, if you don't, call me a rude name. "Rude names I could handle. At least they weren't carrying guns."--Brian