iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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

I'm invested in this for personal reasons but also all that more interested to explore the subject after our interview with Donald Westlake's son in which he spoke about Westlake's own possible ADHD/autism, which must have surely influenced his writing. toughbusiness.neocities.org/paulwestlake...

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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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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

This is not a paid opportunity, as our site is completely nonprofit, but we would love to hear from any Richard Stark/Donald Westlake fans. No reviews of the books, please. toughbusiness.neocities.org

toughbusiness.neocities.org

tough business: a parker site

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

proudly going there with my wife. when we saw the announcement we screamed and cheered

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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 · 07/09/2026

watched two men in town. somebody kill me

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

believe it or not that isn’t remotely the craziest painting in there, i’ll post more over the next few days

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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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DishonoredLady @dishonoredlady.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

The “Sweet Smell of Success” is in the air for tonight’s opening of #noircitychicago Publicist Tony Curtis sucks up to columnist Burt Lancaster. In return, the newspaper man wants a nasty favor. The fest runs thru 9/10. UA MGM. #FilmNoir @musicboxtheatre.bsky.social @noirfoundation.bsky.social

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Luke West @lukecinemawest.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

François Truffaut, Catherine Deneuve & Jean-Paul Belmondo during the filming of Mississippi Mermaid (1969) Photo © unknown photographer (Maybe Alain Dejean, but not sure) #FrançoisTruffaut #CatherineDeneuve #JeanPaulBelmondo #MississippiMermaid

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

posted prompted by us watching no way to treat a lady, another entry in the sorely underrated and underappreciated rod steiger gay films canon

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

my pet peeve is when i look at the lists a movie on letterboxd is in there’s always the same 50 on top and i have to scroll for 10 quadrillion years to see anything worthwhile. nobody cares about your Every Film Ever Made list and you should delete your account NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

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

i still laugh about the “sexually suggestive without nudity label” well one of them is totally nude and one is fully clothed so it cancels out i suppose… we do math here

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

reposting our second richard stark’s parker zine from last year in full since bluesky is allowing 10 images in a post now. yay! script and afterword by @alissadmc.bsky.social and art/colors/lettering by me! takes place immediately after the handle’s perfect ending

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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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Dark Entries Records @darkentries.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

There will never be another Dolly Parton 🕊️ 🎥 Dolly Parton and Patti LaBelle playing “Shortnin’ Bread” using just their acrylic nails in 1987.

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

proud that tough business got one impression from this search query

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

Portrait of Claudia Cardinale in The Leopard

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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

everyone on letterboxd is way too religious for me. which sounds totally insane but it’s true

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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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Rob Delaney @robdelaney.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Just saw a thing where a director talked about taking out sex/nudity because audiences don’t want to see it. Here’s an idea: fuck the audience. I’m the chef & they’ll eat what I serve them and like it. *The audience* knows what they want? Why don’t you let a toddler drive a car next?

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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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TCMFanatics @tcmfans.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Remembering Robert Mitchum, born on this day, 1917. Pictured here as Max Cady in 'Cape Fear', directed by J. Lee Thompson (1962).

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

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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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shay dennis @lilyslabo.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

county library book sale haul from earlier today

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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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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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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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NANCY COMICS BY ERNIE BUSHMILLER @nancycomics.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Nancy By Ernie Bushmiller July 22,1957

P1- NANCY IS WATCHING A STORM FROM A WINDOW
NANCY: AUNT FRITZI ---
IT'S RAINING ---
IT'S RAINING ---

P2-
NANCY: IT'S LIGHTNING ---
IT'S LIGHTNING ---

P3-
FRITZI: NANCY ---PLEASE STOP SAYING EVERYTHING TWICE

THIS PERTURBED NANCY
NANCY:O.K.

P4- NANCY IS PLAYING WITH HER
YO-YO AND TELLS FRITZI
NANCY: I'M PLAYING WITH MY YO

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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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