Bill Hagen (billha@ionet.net)
Mon, 6 Sep 1999 21:53:38 -0500 (CDT)
Caught Lawrence Block on the road, as he promoted his latest
Bernie Rhodenbarr book, The Burglar in the Rye. As several
have previously noted, Larry Block is a very personable
author, with his newsletter and online updates, and sure
enough some folks who just "stopped by" to hear him read--B
& N placed him in the main aisle--ended up buying. He
looked quite alert, not travel weary at all, amazing since
he's traveling by auto from point to point--this week is
Mississippi and Alabama; next is Florida.
I gather that he and his wife travel quite a bit. There is a
rather unusual dedication to Burglar in the Rye, in which
Block expresses gratitude to the "crew and passengers of the
clipper ship Star Flyer" for letting him finish most of the
book between Phuket and Athens. (!)
The Scudder series, which I'm currently reading through, is
sufficiently hard boiled for readers of this list. From the
beginning, I really liked the mix of personal problems,
professional fixing, and unprofessional or personal
involvement with some of the characters. As the series goes
on, some of the personal problems (alcohol, for one) are
resolved, and I asked Block whether he didn't reach some kind
of creative crisis at that point--which basically occurs with
8 Million Ways to Die. He responded that, indeed, he was in
some doubt as to whether the series would continue. When the
Sacred Ginmill Closes was set in the past. What Scudder's
been able "to do," in my opinion, is develop new interests
that are personal, new relationships, without the
incapacitating hangovers. Although I liked the sense of a
personal edge that Scudder's addiction brought into the
character, it might have become too formulaic--or not a
dynamic part of character development. (Those who have read
the early Scudders should look up his After the First Death,
about an alcoholic who may have killed someone; it strikes me
as a variation on the theme.)
My wife and I bought a couple of books and got six others
signed, in keeping with Block's rules. He had a bunch of
copies of The Specialists, shrink wrapped, a reprint from a
publisher who went insolvent and sent him his payment in
copies. It apparently is an "A-Team" sort of book, Vietnam
vets who do jobs. His publisher originally wanted a series,
but he had lost interest, so there was never a second. Anyone
read it?
Bill Hagen
<billha@ionet.net>
-- # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Mon 06 Sep 1999 - 22:56:00 EDT