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alissadmc.bsky.social
alissa m.
@alissadmc.bsky.social
38 followers 50 following 120 posts
she/her | freelance writer | 🏳️‍🌈 | my partner everywhere @lilyslabo.bsky.social

our richard stark's parker site: https://toughbusiness.neocities.org/
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alissadmc.bsky.social
alissa m. @alissadmc.bsky.social · Jul 3
We've got a new interview with Eisner-winning artist @seanphillips.bsky.social over on our website, discussing all things Richard Stark's Parker & sharing an exclusive look at the Grofield story from the second collection of Darwyn Cooke's Parker comics! toughbusiness.neocities.org/seanphillips...
alissadmc.bsky.social
Deeply saddened to hear the news about Robert Duvall. To us Richard Stark fans, he'll certainly be best remembered for his turn as Parker/Earl Macklin in John Flynn's The Outfit (1973) -- a tightrope walker's performance, balanced between cold determination and heartbreaking humanity.
February 16, 2026 at 9:07 PM
Reposted by alissa m.
rollingstone.com
Robert Duvall, the legendary character actor who specialized in playing rugged, complicated men, has died. He was 95. 🕊️

www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv...
February 16, 2026 at 6:40 PM
alissadmc.bsky.social
Happy Valentine's Day to my love @lilyslabo.bsky.social & also to Parker enthusiasts worldwide 💗
lilyslabo.bsky.social shay d. @lilyslabo.bsky.social · Feb 8
parker and grofield valentines for the love of your life and partner everywhere
February 14, 2026 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by alissa m.
lilyslabo.bsky.social
happy valentine’s day!!!!! 💖😊
lilyslabo.bsky.social shay d. @lilyslabo.bsky.social · Feb 8
parker and grofield valentines for the love of your life and partner everywhere
February 14, 2026 at 3:51 PM
Reposted by alissa m.
lilyslabo.bsky.social
i think we should start making them mandatory reading worldwide
February 13, 2026 at 3:19 PM
alissadmc.bsky.social
it's always fascinating to me that Lemons Never Lie is the most popular of the Grofield novels & quite a number of people don't seem to have read the first three at all. it does explain quite a lot of misconceptions about Grofield though, I hope to dive into this in a longer piece some time soon
February 13, 2026 at 1:48 PM
alissadmc.bsky.social
thinking about this again.
February 12, 2026 at 11:56 PM
alissadmc.bsky.social
One of life's great pleasures is co-writing with my lovely & always insightful partner everywhere @lilyslabo.bsky.social 💗
lilyslabo.bsky.social shay d. @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 7d
We just posted our review of Slayground by Richard Stark on Tough Business! Check out our thoughts on the novel’s rarely-discussed themes at the link below, as well as our cover gallery of international editions!

toughbusiness.neocities.org/slayground
In 1969, Richard Stark wrote The Blackbird, a twist-filled novel of international spy intrigue, told from the viewpoint of Parker's frequent partner in crime, Alan Grofield. Two years later, out of The Blackbird came Slayground, the 17th novel in the series. The two share a first chapter: a job goes wrong, one man ends up dead, and our two protagonists are separated. Slayground lays out the other side of the story: Parker ends up trapped in an amusement park with the Outfit trying to track him down. Like the majority of Parker novels, Slayground deals most heavily in subtext. Stark's output had always had an undercurrent of experimentation, the books remain so tight and exciting to this very day for this exact reason, but the nature of his literary experiments had changed over time. The early half of the series tends towards genre changes (The Jugger features Parker trying to solve a mystery, The Seventh is a revenge thriller, The Handle plays with notions of James Bond-esque espionage), while the latter half constructs a relatively simple premise around one central theme (The Green Eagle Score is about psychology, The Sour Lemon Score explores identity, and so on). Slayground's central theme is aging, and the passing of time. The narrative is punctuated by deep melancholy notes of nostalgia, unlike its less claustrophobic companion The Blackbird or the other Parker stories Stark had previously written. If anything, it's not Hammett's unsentimental approach that comes to mind but the solitude and sadness of Raymond Chandler's work - as much as Westlake had repeatedly denied any influence on Parker from the latter author. This characteristic comes into play right away in the second chapter, when were treated to the classic Stark rewind as Parker recalls buying the heist plan from Dent, a retired old man who'd once been in this line of work.
February 10, 2026 at 10:49 PM
Reposted by alissa m.
lilyslabo.bsky.social
We just posted our review of Slayground by Richard Stark on Tough Business! Check out our thoughts on the novel’s rarely-discussed themes at the link below, as well as our cover gallery of international editions!

toughbusiness.neocities.org/slayground
In 1969, Richard Stark wrote The Blackbird, a twist-filled novel of international spy intrigue, told from the viewpoint of Parker's frequent partner in crime, Alan Grofield. Two years later, out of The Blackbird came Slayground, the 17th novel in the series. The two share a first chapter: a job goes wrong, one man ends up dead, and our two protagonists are separated. Slayground lays out the other side of the story: Parker ends up trapped in an amusement park with the Outfit trying to track him down. Like the majority of Parker novels, Slayground deals most heavily in subtext. Stark's output had always had an undercurrent of experimentation, the books remain so tight and exciting to this very day for this exact reason, but the nature of his literary experiments had changed over time. The early half of the series tends towards genre changes (The Jugger features Parker trying to solve a mystery, The Seventh is a revenge thriller, The Handle plays with notions of James Bond-esque espionage), while the latter half constructs a relatively simple premise around one central theme (The Green Eagle Score is about psychology, The Sour Lemon Score explores identity, and so on). Slayground's central theme is aging, and the passing of time. The narrative is punctuated by deep melancholy notes of nostalgia, unlike its less claustrophobic companion The Blackbird or the other Parker stories Stark had previously written. If anything, it's not Hammett's unsentimental approach that comes to mind but the solitude and sadness of Raymond Chandler's work - as much as Westlake had repeatedly denied any influence on Parker from the latter author. This characteristic comes into play right away in the second chapter, when were treated to the classic Stark rewind as Parker recalls buying the heist plan from Dent, a retired old man who'd once been in this line of work.
February 10, 2026 at 10:46 PM
alissadmc.bsky.social
Stunning, magnificent art from my wife & my favorite artist in the world. The way you always capture this amazing intimacy & closeness never fails to blow me away. Wow!
lilyslabo.bsky.social shay d. @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 12d
one quiet evening in 1975
February 5, 2026 at 3:37 PM
Reposted by alissa m.
lilyslabo.bsky.social
one quiet evening in 1975
February 5, 2026 at 3:34 PM
alissadmc.bsky.social
currently reading
February 5, 2026 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by alissa m.
lilyslabo.bsky.social
since everyone’s talking about westerns i would like to suggest gunman’s walk be part of the conversation
February 5, 2026 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by alissa m.
screenmedia.bsky.social
“THE BIG KNIFE” (1955) dir. Robert Aldrich

Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Jean Hagen, Rod Steiger, Shelley Winters, Ilka Chase, Everett Sloane

🎬 United Artists
February 4, 2026 at 9:54 AM
Reposted by alissa m.
lilyslabo.bsky.social
the big knife is required viewing for being a reader of tough business by the way
February 4, 2026 at 2:31 PM
alissadmc.bsky.social
the little quiet moment at the end of slayground is one of my favorite moments in the entire series
February 4, 2026 at 1:54 AM
alissadmc.bsky.social
Such a pleasure getting to chat with Mr. Brubaker about Parker & Grofield, and the fantastic little story appearing in the Martini Edition!
lilyslabo.bsky.social shay d. @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 16d
Our first interview of the year is up on Tough Business— this time featuring Eisner-winning comic writer Ed Brubaker!

This one’s a companion piece to last year’s interview with @seanphillips.bsky.social, and we’re so excited about it!

Read it here: toughbusiness.neocities.org/edbrubakerin...
"I feel such admiration for Westlake and Darwyn's work" - An Exclusive Interview with Ed Brubaker For our first interview of the year, the team at Tough Business had the distinct pleasure of chatting with Eisner Award-winning comic book writer Ed Brubaker about crime fiction, his friendship with Darwyn Cooke, and all things Parker. We spoke to Ed's frequent collaborator, Sean Phillips, a while back about their Alan Grofield story appearing in Richard Stark's Parker: The Martini Edition - Last Call — and Ed kindly filled in some of the blanks for us. Check out the full interview below for a look behind the scenes of the first original Parker story, as well as a hint at what's in store in Five Gears in Reverse, the latest installment of the acclaimed Criminal comic book series. 1) How were you first introduced to Richard Stark's Parker novels? Was the Grofield solo series a later discovery? My dad had some of the Parker books when I was a kid. He collected a lot of different kinds of books including old pulp paperbacks, mostly detective or spy fiction but he also had a few Parkers. I think I loved the covers and they were very easy to read, and Parker is such a fun character. But other than when Point Blank came out on video and people finally wrote about that movie and how amazing it is, I hadn't really thought about the books until I was doing Catwoman with Darwyn Cooke. Darwyn was really into them, among other old books and movies and comics we talked about all the time. After that I started hunting them all down and got addicted. I even managed to find a hardback of Butcher's Moon.
February 1, 2026 at 11:08 PM
Reposted by alissa m.
lilyslabo.bsky.social
Our first interview of the year is up on Tough Business— this time featuring Eisner-winning comic writer Ed Brubaker!

This one’s a companion piece to last year’s interview with @seanphillips.bsky.social, and we’re so excited about it!

Read it here: toughbusiness.neocities.org/edbrubakerin...
"I feel such admiration for Westlake and Darwyn's work" - An Exclusive Interview with Ed Brubaker For our first interview of the year, the team at Tough Business had the distinct pleasure of chatting with Eisner Award-winning comic book writer Ed Brubaker about crime fiction, his friendship with Darwyn Cooke, and all things Parker. We spoke to Ed's frequent collaborator, Sean Phillips, a while back about their Alan Grofield story appearing in Richard Stark's Parker: The Martini Edition - Last Call — and Ed kindly filled in some of the blanks for us. Check out the full interview below for a look behind the scenes of the first original Parker story, as well as a hint at what's in store in Five Gears in Reverse, the latest installment of the acclaimed Criminal comic book series. 1) How were you first introduced to Richard Stark's Parker novels? Was the Grofield solo series a later discovery? My dad had some of the Parker books when I was a kid. He collected a lot of different kinds of books including old pulp paperbacks, mostly detective or spy fiction but he also had a few Parkers. I think I loved the covers and they were very easy to read, and Parker is such a fun character. But other than when Point Blank came out on video and people finally wrote about that movie and how amazing it is, I hadn't really thought about the books until I was doing Catwoman with Darwyn Cooke. Darwyn was really into them, among other old books and movies and comics we talked about all the time. After that I started hunting them all down and got addicted. I even managed to find a hardback of Butcher's Moon.
February 1, 2026 at 11:03 PM
alissadmc.bsky.social
raymond chandler's the long goodbye is the second most romantic book I've ever read. after butcher's moon
January 31, 2026 at 1:08 PM
Reposted by alissa m.
lilyslabo.bsky.social
i’ve been reading slayground with the wife and i had a thought that may or may not make it into our eventual review so i wanted to share it here.
January 27, 2026 at 5:06 PM
alissadmc.bsky.social
Fantastic little thread here from my wife re Slayground leading into Butcher's Moon. Genius!!
lilyslabo.bsky.social shay d. @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 21d
i’ve been reading slayground with the wife and i had a thought that may or may not make it into our eventual review so i wanted to share it here.
January 27, 2026 at 5:11 PM
Reposted by alissa m.
lilyslabo.bsky.social
We just posted some highlights from the Point Blank press book on Tough Business… featuring Lee Marvin as a romantic lead? Take a look at some interesting promotional materials and marketing tactics used back in the day here: toughbusiness.neocities.org/pointblankpr...
Point Blank (1967) has certainly found its place in film history in the decades since its release. These days, it's looked at as one of the earliest neo-noirs in Hollywood, as quite possibly the best-known adaptation of Richard Stark's Parker novels, and as something of a star-making turn for both Lee Marvin and director John Boorman - so, it's almost hard to believe that there was ever a time when a big-name studio like MGM didn't quite know how to handle it. The film takes a lot of cues from the French New Wave style of filmmaking, both visually and in terms of narrative flow. For audiences raised on the Bogie-and-Bacall variety of noir, it would have been downright avant garde. On top of that, the film's protagonist is cold, traumatized, increasingly disconnected from society and human emotion; he's a criminal, and an outsider. It's a revenge story, and any hint of romance or redemption is quickly derailed in favor of obsession and greed. It's no wonder the studio couldn't quite figure it, but looking at Point Blank's promotional campaign from a modern perspective can be downright startling. Fashion shoots on Alcatraz, partnerships with local discotheques, and fan contests are certainly not the first words that come to mind when one thinks of John Boorman's thriller. In the weeks leading up to Point Blank's release, the press books presented here were distributed to theaters in order to provide materials for marketing the film to audiences, from print ads to radio ads and contests, to name a few. Theaters ordered promotional materials through the National Screen Service — materials that are still valuable, as they were unable to be purchased by anyone but the theaters. These press books also contained a wealth of information about the film, including quotes from the actors involved and behind-the-scenes looks at production.
January 17, 2026 at 2:07 AM
Reposted by alissa m.
lilyslabo.bsky.social
the year of sugar cubes made him think of horses
January 16, 2026 at 7:46 PM
Reposted by alissa m.
maybejed.bsky.social
January 15, 2026 at 9:32 PM