{"id":1821,"date":"2018-03-19T14:45:13","date_gmt":"2018-03-19T18:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/?p=1821"},"modified":"2018-03-19T14:45:29","modified_gmt":"2018-03-19T18:45:29","slug":"choke-hold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/choke-hold\/","title":{"rendered":"Choke Hold"},"content":{"rendered":"

Choke Hold<\/em><\/a>\u00a0is the 2011 sequel to Christa Faust\u2019s\u00a0Money Shot.<\/em>\u00a0It offers the first-person narrative of former porn actress Angel Dare as she tries to save the mixed martial artist son of a former lover from being murdered by gangsters. Faust offers a fast-paced, gritty, action-packed narrative that offers a more critical, more aware view of violence and rape than you often find in similar noir novels. This is pulp, through and through, but it\u2019s smart and well-written.<\/p>\n

I picked up this novel in part because I was struck by Faust\u2019s vivid, deftly-used descriptions in\u00a0Money Shot<\/em><\/a>, and I wanted to see if she employed the same techniques here. The opening chapter takes place in a diner where Dare is working under an assumed name. We get nearly no details about the diner itself; the descriptive focus is entirely on the people Dare encounters:<\/p>\n

I looked over at the kid Vic was talking about. He was barely eighteen. Broken nose but still way too handsome for his own good. Intense hazel eyes and dark hair buzzed down to the scarred scalp. Lean, athletic build under an expensive white t-shirt printed with trendy rococo designs, silver skulls and wings. His long, sinewy arms were already sleeved in unimaginative tattoos. There was a red and black motorcycle jacket slung over the back of the booth and a brain-bucket style helmet on the table beside him. He was trying a little too hard and wore bad-ass like a brand new pair of boots that hadn\u2019t quite broken in yet. He\u2019d ordered nothing but black coffee and flirted with me every time I came around to fill his cup \u2026 like some hot young gun who thinks he doesn\u2019t need Viagra for his first scene.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Glossing over the diner works, because to Dare it\u2019s a boring, familiar location; she wouldn\u2019t give it much thought, and further describing the location would just slow things down. But Vic\u2019s son is new to her. We know from the description of his broken nose and scarred scalp that he\u2019s a fighter, and probably in training because he\u2019s ordering his coffee black. And we get a good sense of Dare \u2014 her age, her experiences, her mindset \u2014 from the language choices in the narration. She finds his trendy tattoos unimaginative. He\u2019s a just kid to her, not a potentially dangerous man. His helmet is a brain bucket. And we know without being told outright that she used to work in porn.<\/p>\n

Later, we get brief, selective descriptions of new locales:<\/p>\n

Nine Iron Drive was a long swath of stillborn potential, plot after empty plot waiting for homes that would never be built. Down near the dead end of the street stood a single orphan house.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Though these two sentences still lack specific detail, \u201cstillborn potential\u201d is a nicely dark, compact way of describing the kind of failed land developments we\u2019ve all seen. And the orphan house echoes the stillbirth imagery. Both convey the anxiety that the childless Dare is feeling for Vic\u2019s son; she\u2019s wrestling with unfamiliar emotions of feeling responsible for him now that Vic\u2019s been murdered, and also she\u2019s uncomfortably aware that under slightly different circumstances he could have been her own son.<\/p>\n

Faust\u2019s description is a good study for writers of commercial fiction who are looking for ways to keep their narratives tight, focused, and fast-moving while retaining intelligence and style.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Choke Hold\u00a0is the 2011 sequel to Christa Faust\u2019s\u00a0Money Shot.\u00a0It offers the first-person narrative of former porn actress Angel Dare as she tries to save the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31],"tags":[123,114,124,97,125,96],"class_list":["post-1821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","tag-crime-fiction","tag-description","tag-noir","tag-novels","tag-pulp","tag-setting"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/s-l1600.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8qT6f-tn","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1387,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/setting\/","url_meta":{"origin":1821,"position":0},"title":"Setting","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"June 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In fiction, the setting is the location where your story or novel takes place; setting includes elements such as geography, ecology, architecture, culture, and the historical period of the narrative. If the setting is someplace other than modern or historical Earth, world building becomes a major concern. The setting provides\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "science fiction"","block_context":{"text":"science fiction","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/science-fiction\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/writing-e1498846042479.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/writing-e1498846042479.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/writing-e1498846042479.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/writing-e1498846042479.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/writing-e1498846042479.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/writing-e1498846042479.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1486,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/the-fix-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":1821,"position":1},"title":"The Fix-Up","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"July 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Most avid fiction\u00a0fans\u00a0have probably read plenty of fix-ups, but they might not know the term for this type of book.\u00a0A fix-up is a collection of short fiction in which the stories are linked so that the whole thing works as a coherent piece of long fiction. In other words, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "novel"","block_context":{"text":"novel","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/novel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Hearts-in-Atlantis.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Hearts-in-Atlantis.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Hearts-in-Atlantis.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Hearts-in-Atlantis.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Hearts-in-Atlantis.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Hearts-in-Atlantis.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1498,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/the-braided-novel\/","url_meta":{"origin":1821,"position":2},"title":"The Braided Novel","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"July 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It's pretty easy to confuse a braided novel with a fix-up novel. What\u2019s the difference? A braided novel follows multiple viewpoint characters, each of whom has his or her own story, and the stories interweave and converge at or near the climax of the book. If the individual stories are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "novel"","block_context":{"text":"novel","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/novel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/thestand.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/thestand.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/thestand.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/thestand.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/thestand.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/thestand.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1729,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/the-secret-sharer\/","url_meta":{"origin":1821,"position":3},"title":"The Secret Sharer","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"February 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Joseph Conrad\u2019s novella\u00a0The Secret Sharer\u00a0tells the story of a young sea-captain who aids Leggatt, the mate of the Sephora who is a fugitive after killing a sailor. This novella offers a tighter and much faster-paced narrative than Conrad\u2019s\u00a0Heart of Darkness\u00a0and I found it to be the better \u201cread\u201d despite\u00a0HoD\u2019s\u00a0many fine\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book review"","block_context":{"text":"book review","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/book-review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/sharer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/sharer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/sharer.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/sharer.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/sharer.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/sharer.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1335,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/writeshortstories\/","url_meta":{"origin":1821,"position":4},"title":"Why aspiring novelists should write short stories","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"April 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Aspiring Novelist: Sure, we all had to read \"The Lottery\" and stuff\u00a0in high school, but who really reads short fiction these days? Aren't short stories just for\u00a0literary hobbyists? Lucy-S: Oh, Aspiring. Just because you're not reading something doesn't mean that nobody reads it. Go over to Ralan.com and take a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "writing"","block_context":{"text":"writing","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Woman Writing","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/1675077.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/1675077.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/1675077.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/1675077.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/1675077.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/1675077.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2190,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/1959-davis\/","url_meta":{"origin":1821,"position":5},"title":"1959 by Thulani Davis","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"August 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"1959\u00a0is a novel by\u00a0Thulani Davis\u00a0that was published in 2001 by\u00a0Grove Press. It is a first-person\u00a0coming-of-age\u00a0narrative that chronicles a young black girl named Willie Tarrant coping with\u00a0adolescence\u00a0and tensions over\u00a0desegregation\u00a0in Turner, Virginia. It's also a fictional chronicle of how Willie's community is transformed by the\u00a0civil rights movement. 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