Posts Tagged: Lawrence Block

The Laborers of Work-for-Hire Crime Fiction Writing

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There are scores of professional writers out there who sell huge numbers of crime novels, tie-ins and westerns, and yet are virtually unknown...because they toil as work-for-hire authors. One of those writers is Robert Vaughan, who has sold 40 million books, mostly westerns. He was interviewed about his under-the-radar career recently and he's pretty frank about his lack of celebrity. I have written well over 400 books. If I had written every one of those books under my own name, Robert Vaughan would be a name that is immediately recognized. I would have established something of value that my survivors could capitalize on after I die…In my life time, I have probably sold 40 million... more

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The Owl Packs a Punch

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Justice Never Sleeps by author Bob Forward

The premise is right there on the cover: "Justice Never Sleeps." The Owl is a man who can't fall asleep. Sounds a bit like the the idea Lawrence Block used in his series about Evan Tanner, but the execution is entirely different in this series of thriller books. While Block's books are breezy and funny, The Owl is deadly serious but great fun. It's also very much in the style of pulp novels about The Spider and The Shadow. The Owl "wanders the streets stalking his prey, hangs out in all-night diners, and never stays in one place long enough to cast a shadow." What the Owl does is get revenge for the people who pay for it. Two years of their salary, whatever that might be, is what he... more

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