I suppose the burglar in question is Bernie Rhodenbarr, and you’ve got something to say about audiobooks.

It’s hard to sneak anything past you, isn’t it? Yes, the larcenous fellow is indeed Bernard Grimes Rhodenbarr, and the forthcoming work of which he’s the titular hero—

You just wanted to use that word, didn’t you?

—is The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown. As most of y’all know, it’s the new full-length novel I’ll be bringing out in October in ebook and paperback, with a deluxe signed-and-limited hardcover to follow from Subterranean Press sometime in 2023.

And now I’m delighted to announce that those of you who read with your ears are in for a treat. Richard Ferrone, renowned as the Voice of Bernie Rhodenbarr, will be narrating the new title for Recorded Books.

I’m really pleased to hear that. In anticipation of the new book, I’ve been listening to some of the early titles—and Richard’s narration is outstanding. You ought to list all the Burglar titles in order, and include links, and—what’s the matter? Am I getting out in front of my skis?

Kind of. In a week or so there’ll be a newsletter furnishing all of that and more, but I’ve got two other subjects to treat today, Subterranean Press and John Warren Wells.

Subterranean is one of the country’s foremost small-press publishers, and JWW was your pen name ages ago for your books on human behavior, and what are the two of them doing in the same sentence?

They’re waiting to be examined in turn. First Subterranean, where I’ve enjoyed an idyllic relationship for decades; just this month they’ve brought out limited editions of three crime novels of mine from the early 1960s, none of which has previously appeared in hardcover. All three began life as pseudonymous paperback originals and have since achieved respectability under the Hard Case Crime imprint.

So these are the books’ first hardcover editions.

They are indeed. Here are the individual titles, each with an advance trade review of the new edition:

A Diet of Treacle (orig. Pads Are For Passion by Sheldon Lord, Beacon Books, 1961):  “A potboiler morality play at its finest. It will give readers the delicious (and all-too-rare) feeling that anything could happen.”  —Publishers Weekly

Killing Castro (orig. Fidel Castro Assassinated! by Lee Duncan, Monarch Books, 1961): “Hard Case Crime continues to resurrect early work by genre stalwart Lawrence Block and this one may be the most interesting find of all. Plenty of blood and bullets and, as always with Block, a fine feel for character.” —Booklist  “Absorbing! An intense, taut thriller.”  —Publishers Weekly

Lucky at Cards (orig. The Sex Shuffle by Sheldon Lord, Beacon Books, 1964): “Block unwinds his plot superbly. Along the way, there is all the teasing sexuality and tongue-in-cheek noir style that a pulp devotee craves. It’s a doozy.” —Booklist

These are physically beautiful books, signed and numbered, and limited to 500 copies of each. Subterranean licensed the original Hard Case art, by Chuck Pyle (Treacle and Cards) and Sharif Tarabay (Castro) to admirable effect. If you’re a collector, these are the editions you want; they’re in stock now and ready to ship.

And they won’t be around forever. While you’re visiting Subterranean’s site, take a moment to search for Lawrence Block titles; they’ve issued quite a few over the years, attractive and well-made books one and all, and you’ll find most of them listed and illustrated. And, in almost every case, you’ll see that they’re long since sold out and destined to remain out of print until the end of time.

Maybe I ought to get my order in now.

I don’t want  to tell you what to do, but what could it hurt? Of course not every reader collects, or wants to shell out fifty bucks for a book. If all you want is to read A Diet of Treacle or Killing Castro or Lucky at Cards—

Or all three of them.

Whatever. They’re all readily available as ebooks or Hard Case paperbacks, on pretty much all platforms.

Let’s move on. John Warren Wells is the name I used for a long shelf’s worth  of books on human sexual behavior published between 1968 and 1974. (The books are listed in Terry Zobeck’s bibliography of my work, A Trawl Among the Shelves, and I reminisce a bit about JWW and his precursors in Afterthoughts 2.0.) If you’d tried to tell me forty years ago that the day would come when I would not only own up to having written the books, but that I’d actually republish the little darlings, well, I’d have told you you were out of your mind.

I guess it goes to show the power of Ego and Avarice.

No question that they’re the two horses that haul my chariot. The JWW books consist mostly of case histories illustrating facets of a common theme, often presented in interview form. They began as fiction in the guise of nonfiction, but a lot of the genuine article found its way into the books, as I entered into correspondence and occasional meetings with readers. And, with appropriate tweaks and name changes, I made use of the life experience of friends and acquaintances of mine—but that happens with fiction as well, doesn’t it?

I don’t suppose the author’s own personal experience ever migrated into print, did it?

What a question. Let’s move right along, shall we? A few years ago I brought out most of the JWW canon as ebooks, and now my indispensable Design & Production genius has tricked them all out with new uniform cover art—and formatted them as well for paperback editions.

I hesitate to urge the JWW books upon y’all, but neither do I see any reason to hide their low-wattage light under a bushel. And just the other day an email arrived from Craig Childs, who had this to say:

“I am reading the last of your John Warren Wells backlist titles on Kindle this afternoon.  My favorite of this series has been Different Strokes, but all of them have in some way showcased your ability to sketch vivid, believable characters through dialogue (even when some of those characters are busy doing some pretty unbelievable things).”

So. If you’re new to JWW’s world, you might want an introduction. Different Strokes, which Craig cites, is atypical—but very likely the most entertaining. Tricks of the Trade was the most successful, going into several paperback printings and, remarkably, a hardcover edition. And I always felt 3 is Not a Crowd came off reasonably well.

John Warren Wells, not content to shoulder his way onto people’s Kindles, is now taking up space on virtual paperback racks. Well, I suppose we should all be grateful that you’ve displayed at least a modicum of restraint. Because it could be worse.

Oh?

You could be bringing out JWW in audio. Hey, I’m just joking. I know you wouldn’t—oh, don’t tell me.

Just two titles. Don Sobczak narrates Wide Open: New Modes of Marriage, and Dolores McDougal and Bill Weeden team up for 3 is Not a Crowd.

Next you’ll be telling me there’s a John Warren Wells movie in the works.

Now there’s an idea. Different Strokes was about the making of a movie which in fact was never made—but maybe its hour has come round at last.

And maybe not. But that reminds me: Getting Off, my novel of sex and violence chronicling the sexy and violent Kit Tolliver, in under option to Travis Mills, the remarkably resourceful and energetic young filmmaker who recently succeeded in turning out a dozen feature-length Western films in a single year. Travis has completed a screenplay for Getting Off, and would be pleased to hear from potential investors and producers. If you think you might be a good fit in either of those categories, just email me at lawbloc@gmail.com,  and my assistant David Trevor will forward your contact information to Travis.

And you know what? That’s all I got. I’ve just approved Jeff Wong‘s outstanding cover for The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown, and I’d love to show it to y’all, but that’ll have to wait for a week or so. Next item on my To-Do List is setting up the new book for preorders, and as soon as I manage that, I’ll get back to you.

Cheers,

PS: As always, please feel free to forward this to anyone you think might find it of interest. And, if you yourself have received the newsletter from a friend and would like your own subscription, that’s easily arranged; an  email to lawbloc@gmail.com with Newsletter in the subject line will get the job done.

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