Monday, April 06, 2020

A Trawl Among the Shelves: Lawrence Block Bibliography 1958-2020



I don’t think it’s exaggerating to say that A TRAWL AMONG THE SHELVES: LAWRENCE BLOCK BIBLIOGRAPHY, 1958-2020 is a monumental work. Author and compiler Terry Zobeck has done a fantastic job of documenting and listing the hundreds of novels, anthologies, short stories, and non-fiction produced by Lawrence Block, one of the major authors not only of the Twentieth Century but beyond, still producing excellent work after more than 60 years in the business, including a fine afterword in this volume.

Working with Block himself and other collectors and bibliographers, Zobeck has turned up previously unknown novels and stories, along with the best and most complete list of books Block wrote under the pseudonym Andrew Shaw. Actually, this book is going to cost me money, because Zobeck also provides a list of all of Block’s work that’s currently available as e-books, among them many of those early novels, and I know I don’t have all of them. I’ll be going through that list figuring out what I need to buy!

And if you’re a Lawrence Block fan, you need to buy A TRAWL AMONG THE SHELVES. It’s entertaining, it’s informative, and it gets a very high recommendation from me.

6 comments:

Jeff Meyerson said...

Thanks, James. Like you, there is no way I would NOT be buying this.

Mike Doran said...

James and Livia:

Off-topic, but I'm putting it here so you'll see it.

Back in 2011, I sent you one of my earliest comments about our shared enthusiasm for The Edge Of Night.

This morning, I learn from the 'Net that Forrest Compton, the longest-running Mike Karr (1971-1984), passed on over the weekend, aged 94.

Cause of death was Corona complications.
Last news I wanted to start the week with …

There's a lot of Edge on YouTube, so at least there's that (I'd prefer DVDs, but you can't have everything).

So how was your week?

P.S.: I am ordering the Lawrence Block book, FWIW …

Terry Zobeck said...

Thanks for the kind review, James.

I'm pleased you liked the bibliography and find it useful.

Terry

Adventuresfantastic said...

Ordered. Yeah, this is gonna cost me money, too.

James Reasoner said...

Mike Doran,
Always good to hear from you, though I hate to hear that Forrest Compton has passed away. He was such a solid presence on THE EDGE OF NIGHT for many years, and I remember him from GOMER PYLE, USMC even before that. Every so often when I'm feeling nostalgic, I watch the clip on YouTube that has the EON closing credits with the long, vocal version of the theme song.

Jerry House said...

Ordered. Thanks, James.