Showing results by author "Lawrence Block" in All Categories

Young David Forrester is a sex-obsessed freshman student at Upper Manhattan’s Columbia University, although the institution remains unnamed in the book. An upperclassman shepherds him through the loss his virginity, then steers him into a club of libertines. And, you know, one thing leads to another. But as far as I’m concerned, the most striking aspect of COLLEGE FOR SINNERS is that it seems to have been the occasion for some unwitting plagiarism on my part. The dramatist Moliere has a character who’s astonished, and not half-chuffed, to discover that all his life he’s been ...

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to Born to Be Bad and experience the compelling world of erotica.

in Doing It!, John Warren Wells collects the popular correspondence columns he wrote for Swank Magazine, and gives his readers free rein to post their reports from the barricades of the Sexual Revolution. You'll hear from Alfred, who wants to watch his wife make it with another man. You'll meet Beatrice,always looking for new ways to please her husband. Dean is a dedicated rubber fetishist, CNH is partial to fur. Margaret gave up sex ten years ago...for her mother. Chester wants a spanking. And Ted wants to know how much is too much. And here's a fellow who signs himself Electro-Freak: "I ...

Lawrence Block on Lust Weekend: “LUST WEEKEND was written in 1962 and published that same year by Nightstand Books. The title’s an obvious play on THE LOST WEEKEND, Charles Jackson’s groundbreaking novel of alcoholism. The book was a sensation, as was the film adaptation starring Ray Milland. “The people at Nightstand generally changed the titles on my manuscripts. But LUST WEEKEND made the cut, and I’m sure I came up with the title first and wrote the book to fit. ‘Lust’ was a favorite word at Nightstand, where they wanted to excite the readers withoutd alarming the censors. ...

Is he an out-and-out mincing homosexual? Or a closet queen? A transvestite masquerading in full make-up and dress as a woman? A muscle-bound stud? Or is he just your normal American boy who happens to be in the business for himself, selling desirable merchandise--his body--at prices the market will bear? In THE MALE HUSTLER John Warren Wells talks frankly and at length to seven male prostitutes. They tell exactly what they do for a living; how they find their clients, what they think about their clients--and themselves; they talk about money, about men, about women. This book is a ...

Lawrence Block on GIRLS ON THE PROWL: “GIRLS ON THE PROWL was first published by Nightstand Books in 1961, with Andrew Shaw credited as author. Harold W. McCauley provided the cover art. The principal characters—one hesitates to characterize them as titular—are Saundra, Marilyn, and Joan. (Joan is the lesbian.) “A mere forty-three years later, THE BURGLAR ON THE PROWL was first published by William Morrow in 2004, with Lawrence Block credited as author. Amy King provided the jacket design, Paul Oakley the jacket illustration, while the author photograph was the work of Athena ...

Lawrence Block remembers: "Well, in point of fact, I don't remember much. SINTIME was an Andrew Shaw title for Nightstand Books. The book opens at a resort in or around Vergennes VT, a setting that was certainly inspired by a visit my then-wife and I made to friends of ours who were summering in or around Vergennes. It was a pleasant few days, as I recall, and the friends we were visiting were Hal and Marcia Dresner. Hal was a writer, writing the same sort of books as I, and for the same publishers; he moved on sooner than I did, went out to Los Angeles, had a fine career as a screenwriter,...

"You Can Call Me Lucky" first appeared in Indian Country Noir, edited by Liz "Bootsie" Martinez and Sarah Cortez, and published by Akashic Books as part of their Noir series. Bootsie is a good friend of mine, and I had a hard time saying no when she beseeched me for a story. I felt unqualified, having minimal acquaintance with American Indians and their habitat. Then I thought of Indian casinos. And I remembered my nameless girlfriend, who'd thus far brightened Hell's Kitchen and Riverdale with her presence. No reason why she had to stay in the five boroughs of New York. Suppose she turned ...

In 2006, the estimable S J Rozan invited me to contribute a story to Bronx Noir, an anthology she'd been commissioned to edit for Akashic Books. As she'd been obliging enough to write a story for my own Manhattan Noir, I felt honor-bound to return the favor. To do so, I enlisted the homicidal services of a young woman who'd starred in "If You Can't Stand the Heat," my Hell's Kitchen story for Manhattan Noir. Although she seemed quite capable of standing the heat, I figured it was nevertheless time for her to get out of the Kitchen, so I sent her up to the Riverdale section of the Bronx. My ...

O Rose thou art sick. /The invisible worm, /That flies in the night /In the howling storm: /Has found out thy bed /Of crimson joy: /And his dark secret love / Does thy life destroy. Those eight lines constitute the complete text of “The Sick Rose,” published by William Blake in Songs of Experience in 1794. I took to Blake early on, and thought Of Crimson Joy would make a dandy title. I accordingly fastened it on this novel when I sent the manuscript to Harry Shorten at Midwood.

TRAMP was first published in 1961 by Nightstand Books, under the pen name of Andrew Shaw. Here's a taste of the text: "IT WAS PRECISELY ten o’clock when the alarm went off. The clock, purchased years ago at a drugstore for not much money, made up in volume what it lacked in melody. It did not ring, exactly; it jangled. Schoenberg would have been delighted with the twelve-tone discordance of the clock. "For perhaps ten seconds the clock rang without eliciting any response whatsoever. Then, dreamily, a hand worked its way out from under the bedcovers. The hand pawed its way through warm and...

Lawrence Block remembers: “Back in the 1960s, when I was writing erotic novels for several publishers, I trauned and employed several ghostwriters. The first, William Coons, was recruited by my friend Donald Westlake; MAN FOR RENT is half his work and half mine, and here’s what wrote about it in my memoir of those early years, A Writer Prepares…” This happened fairly early in Bill’s ghosting career, when he was living with his wife and daughter in Washington Heights—but not too early, because it was after Nightstand had upped their order to two Andrew Shaw titles a month. I’d ...

In the third installment of his acclaimed anthology series, master of crime fiction Lawrence Block has gathered together the best talent from popular fiction to produce an anthology of short stories based on masterpieces of American art. Among the star-studded lineup of writers you'll find Jerome Charyn, Jane Hamilton, Christa Faust, John Sandford, Sara Paretsky, Walter Mosley, Charles Ardai, Barry Malzberg, and Janice Eidus.

Hard Case Crime, die außergewöhnliche Krimi-Reihe als exklusive und ungekürzte Hörbuchproduktionen: Willkommen in einer Welt, in der die Sonne nur scheint, um tiefe Schatten zu werfen und in den Augen verkaterter, übernächtigter Männer zu brennen. Einer düsteren, brutalen Welt der Ganoven und Huren, in der die scheinbar ehrbaren Bürger moralisch verkommen sind, die Polizisten sowieso.

Lawrence Block on PASSION NIGHTMARE: “In July of 1959 I left Yellow Springs, Ohio, where I had just put in a third year at Antioch College. I’d spent one trimester editing the school’s weekly newspaper, with mixed results, and the other two largely neglecting some academic courses. “It did not go well. I’d dropped out of school a year previously, to keep and extend a summer job at a New York literary agency. By the time I got back to Antioch I’d written and sold a dozen stories and a couple of novels, and that’s what I was interested in, along with strong drink and illegal ...

When Guthrie leaves his job, his car, and his apartment behind and starts walking, he has no plan. But day by day, he finds direction, company, and a vision that gets clearer with each passing mile. Lawrence Block is widely known for his best-selling mysteries. Here, in an early work that is now reissued, the Edgar and Shamus Award-winning author offers a provocative fantasy that has changed the lives of many readers.

In A Woman Must Love, Barbara, a young widow, has vowed to be true to her husband’s memory (even though he’d wished otherwise). She’s courted, and she has a couple of adventures.

Can a one-woman crime wave settle down and find contentment and happiness in the arms of a nice surburban lady in Kirkland, Washington? That’s what Kit Tolliver’s going to have to find out for herself. She’s become closer to Rita than she’s ever been to another human being, and the phone conversations the two women have are more exciting than the times she spends in bed with men. But there’s a lot Rita doesn’t know about her. Like what she’s done to every man shes been with, starting with her own father. What’ll happen if she tells her? What’ll happen if she doesn’t? All...

Keller ist ein Killer. Durch und durch Profi, cool, selbstsicher, kompetent, zuverlässig. Aber er ist auch eine vielschichtige Persönlichkeit: in sich gekehrt und zurückgezogen, eiskalt und gnadenlos effizient, aber zugleich anfällig für Selbstzweifel und Einsamkeit, Albträume und Zukunftssorgen. Seinem Therapeuten gegenüber gibt er sich als "Troubleshooter" eines großen Unternehmens aus, aber sein eigentliches Metier ist Mord.

The author of dozens of acclaimed novels including those in the Scudder and Keller series, Lawrence Block has long been recognized as one of the premier crime writers of our time. Now, the breathtaking skill, power, and versatility of this grand master are brilliantly displayed once again in a mesmerizing new thriller set on the streets of the city he knows and loves so well.