Over the years, I’ve made much of my work available through Kindle Unlimited. Very simply, this is how it works: Members who subscribe to Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program have genuinely unlimited access to a vast body of material; while as a member you can only have ten KU titles at a time downloaded to your device, a click is all it takes to return one title and select another—and you can do this as frequently as you wish.
If you’re not already a Kindle Unlimited member, just click here to check it out…
In order for me to make a particular work available on Kindle Unlimited, I have to forego publishing an electronic version on any platform other than Amazon’s Kindle. In return for this exclusivity, the title is included in KU. (While the reader pays nothing to read it, the author does get compensated, earning a fraction of a cent for every page read. That doesn’t sound like much—and, frankly, it’s not. But it’s enough so that readers with a conscience need not feel they are exploiting the authors whose books they read for free.)
Here are the various titles of mine you can read for free via Kindle Unlimited. (I’ll update the list as I add additional titles, so you might want to bookmark this page for future reference.) I’ll also note how and where you can obtain these titles if you’re not a KU subscriber.
KELLER STORIES in chronological order:
Keller’s Fedora (a novella)
Please note: All of the listed Keller stories have appeared as portions of episodic Keller novels; if you have the books (Hit Man, Hit List, Hit Parade, Hit and Run, and Hit Me) you already have the stories. The novella, Keller’s Fedora, is electronically exclusive to Kindle, but is widely available as a hardcover or paperback book.
KIT TOLLIVER STORIES in chronological order:
Please note: Kit Tolliver is the homicidal heroine of Getting Off, and if you’re a KU subscriber you can read her complete adventures for free; if you’re not, you could buy the individual stories for $2.99 apiece—but you’d be much better off buying the Hard Case Crime volume, as either a printed book or an ebook.
MATTHEW SCUDDER SHORT STORIES in chronological order:
Please note: There have been eleven Matthew Scudder short stories, but only these five are accessible through Kindle Unlimited. As an alternative, they’re all collected and widely available in The Night and the Music, along with an appreciation by Brian Koppelman.
MIDCENTURY EROTIC NOVELS in alphabetical order:
Please note: These titles were all originally published in the early 1960s by Nightstand Books, under the pen name “Andrew Shaw.” That whole chapter in my career gets a lot of attention in my memoir, A Writer Prepares. I’ve reissued quite a few others, but only these six are Kindle Unlimited titles at present. To see the others, just search for Lawrence Block Collection of Classic Erotica.
EHRENGRAF STORIES in chronological order:
Please note: These are eleven of the twelve stories which comprise Defender of the Innocent: The Casebook of Martin Ehrengraf. (#11, “The Ehrengraf Settlement,” is unaccountably missing, an oversight I’ll correct when time permits.) Again, these stories are free for the reading with Kindle Unlimited; for nonsubscribers, you’re much better off buying the complete ebook or printed book.
BOOKS BY JOHN WARREN WELLS in no particular order:
Please note: I used the pen name “John Warren Wells” for an extended series of nonfiction works dealing with sexual behavior, much of it presented in the form of case histories and interviews. Several JWW titles are not available via Kindle Unlimited; a search for “Lawrence Block John Warren Wells” should turn them up.
VARIOUS SHORT STORIES in alphabetical order:
As Dark as Christmas Gets (Chip Harrison)
Death of the Mallory Queen (Chip Harrison)
How Far (a one-act play)
Like a Thief in the Night (Bernie Rhodenbarr)
Nothing Short of Highway Robbery
Resume Speed (a novella)
Please Note: These stories, and many more as well, can be found in the several collections of my short fiction: Enough Rope, Catch and Release, One Night Stands and Lost Weekends, and Resume Speed and Other Stories. I may make additional stories KU-available; if and when I do, I’ll add them to this list.
SUMMING UP: If you’re already a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, you know how it works—and now you know what titles of mine are available to you under that program. Have at it, and I hope you find something you can read with pleasure.
If you have a Kindle but haven’t taken advantage of Kindle Unlimited, you might want to check it out. There’s a huge library of free reading out there for you, and if reading’s a substantial part of your life, you come out way ahead.
If you don’t have a Kindle, and really don’t want to buy one, you can still join Kindle Unlimited and enjoy all its benefits. Just download a free Kindle app and you can read any Kindle ebooks on just about any device—your phone, your pad, your computer, your pop-up toaster, your microwave oven…
Well, maybe not the toaster or the microwave. Not yet, but who’s to say what the future holds?
This is brilliant. Much appreciated.
Thanks, Julian!
Always enjoyable to have a favorite author reach out to his readers; the email and this blog are pleasant and re-assuring, considering how well worn my own copies and the library’s become. Oh, and Happy Birthday!