blogs i follow
essential references
posts of the past
- April 2019 (1)
- March 2019 (8)
- February 2019 (1)
- November 2018 (1)
- September 2018 (6)
- August 2018 (5)
- July 2018 (8)
- June 2018 (5)
- May 2018 (4)
- April 2018 (6)
- March 2018 (12)
- February 2018 (7)
- January 2018 (10)
- December 2017 (11)
- November 2017 (13)
- October 2017 (7)
- September 2017 (6)
- August 2017 (6)
- July 2017 (3)
point and click
- alan dean foster
- alcoholism
- arthur c clarke
- banned books week
- barrington bayley
- books about games
- brian aldiss
- brian stableford
- charles ardai
- charles williams
- chris anderson (economist)
- clifford simak
- cyberpunk
- daniel boyd
- david schow
- disowned
- donald westlake
- drugs
- economics
- ed mcbain
- frank herbert
- frederik pohl
- freebie
- fritz leiber
- george alec effinger
- guns
- h.g. wells
- hard case crime
- intelligence
- jack london
- jack vance
- james branch cabell
- james m cain
- james patrick kelly
- jason starr
- john brunner
- john kessel
- jung
- ken bruen
- kris neville
- larry niven
- lawrence block
- library of america
- malcolm gladwell
- manly wade wellman
- margery allingham
- max allan collins
- michael bishop
- mordecai roshwald
- nietzsche
- nuclear war
- octavia butler
- olaf stapledon
- parker
- philip jose farmer
- philip k dick
- phil knight
- poul anderson
- primer
- psychotechnic league
- quarry
- richard stark
- robert bloch
- robert bo. parker
- robert heinlein
- robert silverberg
- roger zelazny
- russell atwood
- skeleton
- terrorism
- timescape
- william marshall
- william sleator
- william styron
- yellowthread street
Tag Archives: lawrence block
Killing Castro, by Lawrence Block
A large piece of the Hard Case Crime series has been reprints of older, “lost” stories written by famous authors. They have almost always been entertaining reads, even if the quality hasn’t been consistent with the writers’ better-known works. The … Continue reading
The Girl With the Long Green Heart, by Lawrence Block
Discovering the Hard Case Crime imprint has led me toward the early work of a few widely-known crime authors, including those of Lawrence Block. I’ve found the early Block novels variable in quality, but usually interesting for the characters and … Continue reading
Sinner Man, by Lawrence Block
The last book I reviewed reached a sort of philosophical climax when the two major protagonists, father and son, confronted each other about their willingness, as Emperors of their people, to commit evil acts in service of the greater good. The … Continue reading
After the First Death, by Lawrence Block
One of the two famous repeating characters in Lawrence Block’s fiction, the detective Matthew Scudder, is featured in eighteen books. He is a character enriched by a collection of evolving strengths and faults, not the least being his alcoholism. Block … Continue reading
October reads – a list
I stocked up on some quick-to-read crime fiction this month, with plenty of Hard Case Crime volumes and a couple books out of the Parker series. It seems I stumbled across some below-average examples of both: Westlake definitely created a … Continue reading
A Diet of Treacle by Lawrence Block
For the most part, reading the early books of famed crime writer Lawrence Block have been low-risk, entertaining tasks. I often see prototypes of characters later written into the Matthew Scudder series, but the plots have been consistently clear and … Continue reading
Two unpleasant titles from Hard Case Crime
No sooner do I praise Hard Case Crime for being having consistently entertaining titles in their back-catalog than I come across a pair of books overstuffed with gratuitous violence. I understand that the genre has its lurid side – steeped … Continue reading
Posted in books, crime fiction, list
Tagged david schow, guns, hard case crime, lawrence block
6 Comments
September reads – a list
This is a list of the month’s reading experiences, with a sentence or two about each.
Five More Books from Hard Case Crime
Continuing the tour into the Hard Case Crime catalogue, we have five more crime novels, including two from Lawrence Block that almost bookend his entire career:
Posted in books, crime fiction, list
Tagged daniel boyd, hard case crime, james m cain, lawrence block, robert silverberg
7 Comments
Five Books from Hard Case Crime
Over the past couple of years, I’ve been dipping into the genre of crime fiction – the blanket term I’ll use to cover noir, mystery, and police procedural stories. I started with a few Jim Thompson paperbacks and the two fantastic … Continue reading
Posted in books, crime fiction, list
Tagged books about games, hard case crime, lawrence block, robert bloch, russell atwood
12 Comments
gaping blackbird 