iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

alissa m. @alissadmc.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

One essay I wanna write for Tough Business once I'm done with the piece I'm currently working on (which is sadly not for Tough Business) is about Parker as a neurodivergent character vs the common reading of him as sociopathic/inhuman in some manner.

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SvenThe @sventhe.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Style! Errol Flynn in Bravo for Adventures by Alex Toth #FilmSky #ComicSky #FilmSky

Errol Flynn in Bravo for Adventures
Alex Toth

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alissa m. @alissadmc.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

absolutely delighted reading an actual academic essay about alain delon's brand of cinematic femininity. and his feline quality

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alissa m. @alissadmc.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Very, very fun little story about the inspiration behind Jimmy the Kid!

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

New on Tough Business: a story from the 1978 anthology I, Witness: Personal Encounters with Crime by Members of the Mystery Writers of America, in which Westlake writes about how the third Dortmunder novel Jimmy the Kid came to be. Check it out here: toughbusiness.neocities.org/jimmythekid

Most longtime fans of Donald Westlake know the story of how Dortmunder came into existence by heart, the classic tale of a would-be Parker novel turning out to be much too funny, but the origin of the third Dortmunder book — Jimmy the Kid - seems to have faded into obscurity. It involves a great deal of real life crime, some of it committed by Westlake himself, as he'd humorously confessed back in the 1978 anthology I, Witness: Personal Encounters with Crime by Members of the Mystery Writers of America.

"Tell me," she said, "Where do you get your ideas?"
"I am a Crime Novelist, madam," I said. "I steal them."
She laughed, but didn't go away. "Surely not," she said.
"Surely so," I insisted. The rippled chip was very dry and very salty. I sipped vermouth and said, "Tom Lehrer defined it for us all." And, in my loud tone-deaf voice, I sang, "Plagiarize! That's why the Good Lord made your eyes!"

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alissa m. @alissadmc.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Have you ever written something about Richard Stark's Parker and had nowhere to share it, or do you have ideas you'd like to write about? Tough Business is now open for guest essays and pieces. If you're interested, please reach out to me or @lilyslabo.bsky.social or toughbusiness@mail.com

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alissa m. @alissadmc.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

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La Cinémathèque française @cinemathequefr.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

La billetterie de l'exposition « Jean-Paul Belmondo, le magnifique » est ouverte ! 📣

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Robert Duvall by Katsu Yoshida (1939 - 2011) Unused painting from 1983, captioned “Surfing isn’t my only hobby.” From High Coup, published 1985 in English by Kodansha.

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

“Even if he had, it’s not like he’s ever coming back.” New York, January 1978

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alissa m. @alissadmc.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

This little preview (?!) of exciting things coming in the world of Richard Stark's Parker zines is just the most delightful thing to me... Parker's sheer fondness & Grofield's delight while still coming across as totally entirely in character is an accomplishment of the highest degree

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

zine preview (?!)

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

his fella

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alissa m. @alissadmc.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Thinking about this interview with the lovely Paul Westlake again, definitely one of my favorite interviews we've ever done.

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alissa m. @alissadmc.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

nobody loves the Grofields but as the one person in the world to count The Dame among their absolute favorite novels, I personally think it's a genuine career highlight for Westlake's prose & style. he captures the very essence of hardboiled noir of the Chandler (in lit) or Lang (in film) variety

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alissa m. @alissadmc.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

my dream is to one day own an Arrow Video tote bag

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alissa m. @alissadmc.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

So proud and honored to be part of this!!! Here's hoping there's more to come 💗

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Hooray!! So proud to be on Arrow’s release of The Outfit with my wonderful partner @alissadmc.bsky.social, and I can’t wait to watch and read everybody’s contributions! Thank you again @neilsnowdon.bsky.social for the opportunity!! 😇🎉

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Levi Stahl @levistahl.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

A few months back I wrote in my newsletter about The Outfit (1973), the most faithful adaptation of a Parker novel. At the time, I had just watched it again ahead of being interviewed for the extras on this new @arrowvideo.bsky.social blu-ray. My copy just arrived, and it’s a great package.

A blu-ray of the film, with old-style painted cover art.

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

proud that tough business got one impression from this search query

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alissa m. @alissadmc.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

The series of portraits @lilyslabo.bsky.social has been doing lately keeps leaving me completely stunned... the way you captured the dark intensity of her eyes that makes her role in Leopard so unbelievably captivating. what a striking & magnificent piece!!! MY GOD

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Portrait of Claudia Cardinale in The Leopard

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alissa m. @alissadmc.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

the holy grail of camp & scandal. I've finally acquired the Leyendecker style cover of The Big Love

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

my stance: lee marvin “there’s not enough violence on tv!” quote but add sex and nudity

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Something I find fascinating is how Burt Lancaster’s characters in The Leopard and Conversation Piece both serve as a proxy for Visconti himself— not only through their roles in each narrative but also as a reflection of Visconti’s desires. But by no means is he, too, exempt from being eroticized.

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Bath scenes in Luchino Visconti’s films

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alissa m. @alissadmc.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

An unbelievable honor to get to do such an in-depth and personal interview with Paul Westlake! He was so kind and gracious and shared so much with us. I guarantee there's a lot here you wouldn't have ever heard before even if you're a Donald Westlake expert!

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alissa m. @alissadmc.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

This interview blew both of us away, and we’re so thankful we had the opportunity to talk to Paul, who has been incredibly kind and generous! It’s such an unimaginable opportunity and we’re amazed not only that we’ve learned what we did from this interview, but that we get to share it with everyone.

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

New on Tough Business is an exclusive interview with Donald Westlake’s son, Paul, who was gracious enough to chat with us not only about Parker, but about his own life and Mr. Westlake’s. Check it out at the link below: toughbusiness.neocities.org/paulwestlake...

Tough Business recently had the incredible opportunity to sit down for an in-depth and intimate chat with Paul Westlake, Donald Westlake's son and one-time caretaker of his official website. We're delighted to have gotten the chance to talk to Paul about his early life, his favorite Parker adaptations, Mr. Westlake's personality, his writing process, his influences, and more.

Paul also kindly shared a number of family photos that we have the honor of publishing here for the first time.

1) There used to be a post about Levi Stahl's The Getaway Car on the Donald Westlake website where you mentioned not really appreciating his career until adulthood, what's the first Westlake book you remember really enjoying?

Why Me? was the first one that made me laugh out loud and appreciate my father's clever plotting. I was probably in my mid-to late-teens. Dortmunder is a good entry to Westlake for younger readers. Don had a habit of giving us signed copies of his latest book every Christmas, and most of us put them on the shelf and forgot. Two or three of my older brothers would start reading them on the spot, but for the younger ones, it was like getting another deck of cards in the stocking every year. I would often dutifully start reading them at some point and invariably trail off because my head was in fantasy and science fiction at the time. Then I got a hard copy of Why Me? and finished it in an afternoon. It still wasn't my preferred genre, but I got it. When Don figured out I was into sci-fi some, he offered up Anarchaos and his collection of sci-fi shorts. The deeper I read into his style, the more I realized the setting could be anywhere. New York City or a mining operation in the asteroid belt are just backdrops to him. The story is about the people and their machinations. They could happen almost anywhere.

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

i’ve never once felt patriotic but i imagine it’s similar to how i feel as a homosexual watching a visconti film

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alissa m. @alissadmc.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

beautiful exciting things coming to the world of tough business

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

went to barnes and noble to admire tough business on the outfit blu-ray in the wild

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

i love grofield’s emotions and him thinking about kissing all of these men out of pure relief and children’s book character al bear so much

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alissa m. @alissadmc.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

I love the Grofield novels more than anyone else has ever loved the Grofield novels & I think the kidnapping sequence from The Blackbird is still one of the most exciting things Mr. Stark ever wrote. I was cleaning out my phone gallery & came across it again:

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thaycraft.bsky.social @thaycraft.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

@lilyslabo.bsky.social ...my copy arrived yesterday!!! Great job with your special feature!!!

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

watched the night caller tonight what a totally insane amazing film. couldn’t expect anything less from henri verneuil

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

We just posted some news about the new French illustrated edition of The Handle and the French graphic novel adaptation of Deadly Edge, with a translation and script by Doug Headline and illustrated by Kieran. Check it out at the link below! toughbusiness.neocities.org/handlenews

Back in 2016, IDW Publishing and Darwyn Cooke released a hardcover, gorgeously illustrated edition of The Hunter as the first of what was supposed to be a series of illustrated Stark novels. Unfortunately, the project never did get completed but luckily for Parker fans everywhere, it looks like the creative team behind the brilliant new French graphic novel Parker 1969 - La Proie is picking up where Cooke left off once again - this time with an illustrated edition of The Handle (1966) and a graphic novel adaptation of Deadly Edge (1970)!

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priscilla page @priscillapage.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

Raymond Chandler on what people really care about in a story

"A long time ago, when I was writing for the pulps I put into a story a line like ‘he got out of the car and walked across the sun-drenched sidewalk until the shadow of the awning over the entrance fell across his face like the touch of cool water.’ They took it out when they published the story. Their readers didn’t appreciate this sort of thing: just held up the action. And I set out to prove them wrong. My theory was that they just thought they cared nothing about anything but the action; that really, although they didn’t know it, they cared very little about the action. The things they really cared about, and that I cared about, were the creation of emotion through dialogue and description; the things they remembered, that haunted them, were not for example that a man got killed, but that in the moment of death he was trying to pick a paper clip up off the polished surface of a desk, and it kept slipping away from him, so that there was a look of strain on his face and his mouth was half opened in a kind of tormented grin, and the last thing in the world he thought about was death. He didn’t even"

"hear death knock on the door. That damn paper clip kept slipping away from his fingers and he just wouldn’t push it to the edge of the desk and catch it as it fell."

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Neil Snowdon @neilsnowdon.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Copies are getting out there and busting down doors... Pleased with how this turned out and glad we could go some way to doing it justice. :-)

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

So proud of this!!! What an incredible opportunity to be part of a wonderful group of contributors!

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alissa m. @alissadmc.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

I just got my copy of @arrowvideo.bsky.social 's new blu-ray of The Outfit (1973) and I couldn't be more proud to be a part of this incredible group of contributors, it's such an honor to have a featurette with @lilyslabo.bsky.social on here & to see how far out little Parker site has made it!

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

this is what we’ve got so far. it’ll be more by the end

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

and grofield is there

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alissa m. @alissadmc.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

I'm always in favor of starting a book series with the first book but for the specific purpose of communicating the pleasures of these novels in a sort of standalone story I'd say The Score!

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