{"id":926,"date":"2009-09-22T22:22:59","date_gmt":"2009-09-23T03:22:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/?p=926"},"modified":"2012-02-25T13:14:14","modified_gmt":"2012-02-25T18:14:14","slug":"lawrence-block-bss-308","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/lawrence-block-bss-308\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawrence Block (BSS #308)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lawrence Block is most recently the author of <i>Step by Step<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/lawrence_block.jpg\" alt=\"lawrence_block\" title=\"lawrence_block\" align=\"center\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_9482\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-926-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo308.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo308.mp3\">http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo308.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\">Listen: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo308.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/?powerpress_pinw=926-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo308.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"segundo308.mp3\">Download<\/a> (Running Time: 40:29 &#8212; 37.1MB)<\/p>\n<p><b>Condition of Mr. Segundo:<\/b> Ruminating upon a life of exquisite indolence.<\/p>\n<p><b>Author:<\/b> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lawrenceblock.com\">Lawrence Block<\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Subjects Discussed:<\/b> <i>Step by Step<\/i> as an anti-memoir, exploring childhood experience in print, randomness and finding connections, writing with a greater degree of freedom, <i>Random Walk<\/i>, concerns about a limited audience, earlier attempts at memoir, attempts by Block to write memoirs in the mid-1990s, the virtues of getting older, being less guarded with age, following up on Block&#8217;s remarks from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmajh.org\/exhibitions\/galut\/block.htm\">Galut<\/a>, avarice as the guiding principle, Evan Hunter, Charles Ardai and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hardcasecrime.com\/\">Hard Case Crime<\/a>, growing less reticent about limited editions, the $479 Kindle, not carrying about work being preserved, genre fiction as a window to a specific world, Raymond Chandler, Agatha Christie never going out of print, Block and Judaism, being a creature of intense and transitory enthusiasms, not having a goal, the lack of commonality between writing and race walking, becoming increasingly drawn to pursuits that don&#8217;t involve leaving the house, writing screenplays, short stories vs. novels, and Alexander McCall Smith&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB123880307592488761.html\"><i>Wall Street Journal<\/i> article<\/a> and reader &#8220;ownership&#8221; of the characters.<\/p>\n<p><b>EXCERPT FROM SHOW:<\/B><\/p>\n<p><B>Correspondent:<\/b> You mentioned that you had attempted memoir before.<\/p>\n<p><b>Block:<\/b>  Right.<\/p>\n<p><b>Correspondent:<\/b> And that memoir, which I presume is still unfinished, that had more to do with the working life of a writer, I suppose?<\/p>\n<p><b>Block:<\/b> That memoir was about the early years.  About the years writing pseudonymous books and getting started in the business.  And I wrote about 50,000 words of it.  And it still exists.  And I went back to it.  It was part of a multiple contract.  It was submitted as part of that. And eventually the day came when I bought it back.  It was a tiny portion of the advance.  And I don&#8217;t think anybody at Morrow was that excited about it.  My agent had just bundled things together.  And because I didn&#8217;t seem inclined to resume it, oddly enough, now I find myself thinking maybe I ought to.  That maybe that&#8217;s what I might want to do next.<\/p>\n<p><b>Correspondent:<\/b> Really?<\/p>\n<p><b>Block:<\/b> Yeah.<\/p>\n<p><b>Correspondent:<\/b> What brought this on?  Was it just from&#8230;?<\/p>\n<p><b>Block:<\/b> The experience of <i>Step by Step<\/i>.  It&#8217;s early days.  I have no idea how it will sell.  But people seem to like it and it seems to be getting a fair amount of attention.  So we&#8217;ll see.<\/p>\n<p><b>Correspondent:<\/b> Well, I think just speaking as one person familiar with your work, the reason I was piqued when you talked about this unfinished memoir was because there&#8217;s almost like a surprising lack of amount of stuff written about that time period where you were writing pseudonymously.  There was a book written by the guy who later went on to do <i>Don&#8217;t Know Much About History<\/i>, who wrote a book published about twenty-five years ago about the paperbacking of America [Kenneth C. Davis&#8217;s <i>Two-Bit Culture<\/i>] and went on about mass market paperbacks as a whole.  But nothing much about the dawn of Gold Medal and Dell and all the other paperback houses.  And the pseudonymous aspect.  So I wonder could this interest also have to do with the fact that, with all due respect, you&#8217;re also one of the few people left who remember.<\/p>\n<p><b>Block:<\/b> Yeah.  That might have something to do with it.  Also, when I wrote &#8212; I think it was about &#8217;95, &#8217;94 or &#8216;5, that I wrote the memoir.  And I hadn&#8217;t been planning to, as I may have mentioned in there.  I was stuck on something else.  I had time booked at Ragdale.  And I had to write something.  And at the time &#8212; that was what, fourteen years ago? &#8212; I was fifty-five, fifty-six years old.  It felt early days to be writing a memoir to me.<\/p>\n<p><b>Correspondent:<\/b> Right.<\/p>\n<p><b>Block:<\/b> And before the memoir genre became something.<\/p>\n<p><b>Correspondent:<\/b> Now you have memoirs by twentysomethings.<\/p>\n<p><b>Block:<\/b> I know.  I know it.  &#8220;I remember the birth canal.&#8221; (<i>laughs<\/i>)<\/p>\n<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_9483\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-926-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo308.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo308.mp3\">http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo308.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\">Listen: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo308.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/?powerpress_pinw=926-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo308.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"segundo308.mp3\">Download<\/a> (Running Time: 40:29 &#8212; 37.1MB)<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lawrence Block is most recently the author of Step by Step. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Ruminating upon a life of exquisite indolence. Author: Lawrence Block Subjects Discussed: Step by Step as an anti-memoir, exploring childhood experience in print, randomness and finding connections, writing with a greater degree of freedom, Random Walk, concerns about a limited [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_9484\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-926-3\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo308.mp3?_=3\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo308.mp3\">http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo308.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\">Listen: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo308.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/?powerpress_pinw=926-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/_mp3\/segundo308.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"segundo308.mp3\">Download<\/a> (Running Time: 40:29 &#8212; 37.1MB)<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1084,1086],"tags":[16,837,121,143,838,95,167,839],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=926"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2152,"href":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926\/revisions\/2152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/segundo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}