One Night Stands and Lost Weekends
by: Lawrence Block
Published by: Harper (division of Harper Collins Publishers)
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Reviewed by Julie Failla Earhart
Lawrence Block’s first publication was the story “You Can’t Lose” in a February 1958 issue of “Manhunt” magazine. Fifty-plus years later, it’s still good. One Night Stands and Lost Weekends is a compilation of one of America’s leading crime writer’s earliest works.
Written between 1958 and 1962, with a contemporary flair, these twenty-five stories and three novellas’ capture the world of crime writing as it was back then. It’s fun to read an American icon’s early stuff and to see his progression over the years. While mostly predictable–goes with the genre–the stories evoke the writing of Block’s later years.
The stories had almost been lost to long-gone pulp rags when Crippen & Landru published a limited edition in a meager print-run of four hundred and fifty in 1999. They sold out immediately. Two year later, the novellas, “The Lost Cases of Ed London,” were released in the same short-run and again sold out. Block’s popularity is not in doubt.
Now in 2008, Harper has released One Night Stands and Lost Weekends. Even more interesting is a brand-new Introduction to the set and re-prints of the original Introductions. Block makes it pretty plain that he thinks the work is sub-par, but if readers want them, who is he to stop their publication, and he might even make a buck or two. The title was given to the stories because as Block vaguely recalls, the majority were written in one sitting or over a weekend. Equally fascinating is Block’s explanation of how private eye Ed London was created.
Another interesting tidbit I gleaned–I have probably overanalyzed these stories–was Block’s penchant with blond-haired women. Almost to a one, all the women featured in these stories are blond, blue-eyed, and stacked like a brick outhouse. But then, what private dick wants to chase overweight and homely women? For a fun read, pick up a copy and journey back to a time when life was easier and crime didn’t pay.
Armchair Interview agrees:
Author’s Web site: http://www.LawrenceBlock.com
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