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As everybody, and I mean everybody, is talking about this morning, The Sopranos ended last night. America's most critically-acclaimed television show ended in the middle of an uneventful supper at a greasy spoon diner in New Jersey.

The Washington Post declared that the show's unfinished ending was "a classic now, and one that will live on for years." Salon.com asks, "Is Chase brilliant for so thoroughly subverting our expectations, or... is he just an asshole?"

I don't have cable, so I missed the show. But I love, love, love talking about unexpected endings in pulp fiction novels. Readers come to the end of any book with a huge pile of expectations, and pulp fiction writers came up with some genius methods for subverting those expectations.

Off the top of my head, here are my five favorite endings--narrative tricks and riffs that every writer should study. Don't worry, no spoilers...

1. The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler. The master of the private detective novel ended his career on a sad, lonesome note, letting the title come back and haunt the reader.

2. The Pick Up by Charles Willeford. A last minute twist takes this alcohol-fueled tragedy into the dark heart of race relations.

3. The Getaway by Jim Thompson. This book begins like thousands of other pulp fiction novels, with a daring bank robbery. The twisty plot will take you straight to hell, a hell you've never seen before in any kind of book.

4. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. The first private detective I ever read. The ending taught me volumes about darkness, existential despair, and private detective narration.

5- I, the Jury by Mickey Spillane. The most despicable ending in this list, this crazy writer took revenge and dragged it out to its most ugly forms. Instead of feeling vindicated, you feel like you need a shower.