CVB

Mr. Block,

I think it's great you're on this board!

Do you know if the GETTING OFF hardcover will be the same size as the new softcovers?

Also, did you ever write for any of those "pulp" magazines?

I'm actually looking forward to the new size HCC books. The new size reminds me of those mags.

When I was young, I purchased a big box full of men's "pulps". That was back in the early 1980's ( it was only a few dollars ).

I got them at one of the weekend "swap-meets" held at various Southern California "drive-ins" ( Simi Valley, San Buenaventura, Santa Fe Springs, and others ).

I really regret not having them now.

Most of those "drive-ins" - if not all - are gone, but I still have VERY fond memories of them.

Most of the art on those "pulp's" reminded me of the "grindhouse" era movie posters.

In my opinion, the HCC books - both the stories and artwork - have a strong cinematic flavor to them, and I really love that.

Lawrence Block

Hi, CVB, and thanks. I believe the Getting Off hardcover will be identical in size to the new softcovers.
Re pulps, that term traditionally referred to magazines substantially larger than digest-size, published for a couple of decades and mostly gone by the early fifties, though some of the Western pulps hung on a few years longer. I wrote stories in the late fifties for Manhunt and its imitators—Trapped, Guilty, Off-beat, and a batch of others. These were digest-size publications, but nowadays, as the term "pulp fiction" has expanded beyond its origins, they sometimes get called pulps. Those early stories of mine have been recently collected in One Night Stands & Lost Weekends, presently available in trade paperback or eBook form. They're very much the work of my youth, and I don't know that they've got much to recommend them, but I've decided not to judge my work and let readers like them or not, as they see fit.

LB

Hard Case Crime

All right, all right - if Larry's made the leap, I guess I ought to as well. Just don't want the excellent conversation to cease just because we're here! Feel free to carry on as before, including frank criticism of the books and the decisions we make in publishing them. We're big boys and can take it.

And while I'm here, I can answer the size question as relates to getting off (oops, I mean "as relates to GETTING OFF"...): the hardcover will be slightly larger than the trade pb, something like 6x9" rather than 5x8". In other words, it will be standard hardcover size rather than smaller than normal. This will be true of the hardcover of Donald Westlake's THE COMEDY IS FINISHED next year as well.

One extra inch may not seem like much, but it might help GETTING OFF---

4am humor. Nothing quite like it.

--CA

DJLinus

I'd also like to welcome Mr. Block and Mr. Ardai to our little corner.

Mr. Block, the ending of Grifter's Game absolutely floored me. I can only imagine how shocking it was in 1961, when sensibilities were just a tad different. What kind of reaction did you get from it then?

Mr. Ardai, THANK YOU for starting up Hard Case Crime. It opened up my eyes to a whole new genre and I've been hooked since I first read Money Shot (tied with the aforementioned Grifter's Game as my favorite). To be totally honest, I came for the lurid cover art, but I stayed for the engaging stories.

dgmayor

Well I'm certainly glad I checked the thread! I'll add a late welcome to you both! Very cool! Mr. Block's books have been some of my favorite of the HCC releases!

For what it's worth, Hard Case Crime books (and in particular The Colorado Kid since it was the first one I picked up) got me back into reading after many years. I happened to be walking through B&N with my wife and saw this thin little Stephen King book so I picked it up. I had never heard of HCC books before, but noticed B&N had a few others, so I picked up the three of them and loved them, and now I always have a book going. I still don't have the time to read as much as I'd like to, but I try to make it a point to at least read a chapter or two of something every day!

CVB

Mr. Ardai joins the party!... Quick, we need more booze and strippers!... ha-ha-ha....

As the great philosopher Homer Simpson once said... WOO-HOO!...

Now all we need is for Max Allan Collins, Christa Faust and everybody else - including some artists - to hop aboard.

BUTT seriously, I can not wait to get the new books ( and I'm still adding older books to my collection since they went back on sale ).

xmiyux

Weirdly enough Colorado Kid was one of my least favorite of all the ones I read.

dgmayor

I didn't say it was one of the best, but it intrigued me enough to read more. The second HCC book I read was The Girl With the Long Green Heart.

Lawrence Block

@DJL-I don't recall that Grifter's Game got any reaction back in '61. Don Marquis wrote somewhere that publishing a volume of poetry was like dropping a rose petal into the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo. Publishing a PBO back then was pretty much the same.

@DGM—So you read Long Green Heart and stayed w/HCC? Good man!

LB

Hard Case Crime

Thanks, guys, for sticking with us through thick and thin. It's been thin indeed over the past year, but good things are on the horizon. And not a very distant horizon either -- September 20 isn't far off at all.

GETTING OFF, in particular, is a book I'm proud of, not just because it's the first brand new book Larry has been kind enough to let us publish, and not just because it's a great read (though it is), but also because it may be the single *dirtiest* novel pubished in America in the last 40 years. That's not an easy thing to accomplish. But Larry pulls it off with a master's touch. (Stop that -- I see you smirking out there...)

CA

dgmayor

I'll be the first to admit I'm not always the fastest reader, and like I mentioned previously, I don't always have the time to read as much as I'd like, so this past years "thin" has allowed me to catch up on reading some books, so no worries for me lol.

Lawrence Block

Wait a minute. CA thinks GO is dirty? DIRTY?? I have to say I'm shocked. Like, way more shocked than Claude Rains in Casablanca.

Oh, I'll be the first to admit it's a hot book. And, while y'all will certainly want to own the hardcover edition, with that amazing cover, you may want the eBook as well. Because, as someone pointed out, there's something to be said for being able to turn the pages with one hand.

But dirty? No, I don't think so...

LB

Jason Bovberg

Hey, is everybody a fan of Hard Case Crime on Facebook? If not, I recommend you become one, because you've GOT to see the just-posted pic titled "Members of New York's Co-Ed Outdoor Topless Pulp Fiction Fan Club enjoying GETTING OFF in Central Park."

dgmayor

Took me a while to find the books in the picture.

Just don't let Facebook management see it, or they'll pull the picture. They're so uptight that they've pulled pictures of women breastfeeding.

Hard Case Crime

You were wiser than I -- sure enough, Facebook deleted the photo. I've replaced with a tamer, G-rated version, and put the original up on my Twitter account...

Sean O'Hara

Is there going to be a new book club, or should I just order through Amazon?

Crow331

Hey great to see Mr. Block on here! And Hard Case Crime. I haven't been to the boards in a good long time, but I stumbled over to amazon tonight and there was the new Hard Case Crime book as a recommendation to me on the front page. I'm sorry to admit that during the HCC hiatus I forgot all about them until I ran across them tonight! Then it reminded me of this board and so here I am to discover Mr. Block and HCC have joined the forum! This is great.

Mr. Block, Grifter's Game was the first book I have read from you and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Your descriptions, mood and atmosphere are just great. Thanks to HCC for introducing me! Can't wait to read some more. Welcome to the boards!

Lawrence Block

Thanks, Crow. Good to be here. And I hope you enjoy the new one, Getting Off.

Hard Case Crime

> Is there going to be a new book club, or should
> I just order through Amazon?

Just order through Amazon. Or BN.com. Or your favorite local bookstore, if you're lucky enough to live in an area where you still have a local bookstore.

Titan has told us they would like, at some point, to offer a book club similar to the one Dorchester offered, but for various operational reasons it's not a simple thing to do. (Dorchester was already in the business of selling and shipping individual copies of their books to individual readers and had been doing so for years; most publishers only sell books in quantity to booksellers, which is a very different sort of activity.) I wouldn't rule out the possibility that Titan might find a way to launch a book club eventually, but it's not going to happen between now and September 20th, and it may never happen -- so yes, just order through Amazon.

--Charles

Hard Case Crime

Those scamps at the Outdoor Co-Ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society as are at it again, so for those of you who enjoy such things, you'll find some new posts at coedtoplesspulpfiction.wordpress.com.

Oh, and -- our new books hit stores in just 24 days.

Charles

djmont

What's this about a book? I'm still looking at the pictures.

wmermine

I'm a huge HCC fan and it is great to have you both posting here! I remember the bn.com crime forum a few years ago, but that never seemed to have enough traffic. I'm certain your presence on this forum will work out much better.

Like many others, I had never read any pulp crime novels prior to getting into HCC, so thank you for introducing me to a wealth of great authors. (Oh, and thank you for the Gabriel Hunt books, too. I loved those as well!)

I can't wait for the new books, although I've just about run out of shelf space housing the other ones. It is quite simply a grave injustice to your excellent artwork to purchase these books on my Kindle!

Sorry, I'm a bit star struck here...

Sean O'Hara

I'm going to be very disappointed if my copy of Getting Off doesn't come with a topless woman.

Hard Case Crime

> I'm going to be very disappointed if my copy of Getting Off
> doesn't come with a topless woman.

It comes with two, right there on the cover. And several more are described inside.

Oh, you mean a *live* topless woman? We're saving that for the special collectors edition.

--Charles

bishop2knight

Charles, I just read Liar's Kiss (a graphic novel published by Top Shelf for those who haven't seen it). I noticed your quote on the back cover and thought I'd ask for your impression on the current state of crime storytelling in the comic world, especially now that the Vertigo Crime imprint has (apparently) been cancelled. Do you think noir is working in comics these days?