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Sin Bum: Collection of Classic Erotica - Book 31
LAWRENCE BLOCK “SIN BUM was published sometime in 1963 as Midnight Reader #472. (Midnight Reader was a sister imprint of Nightstand Books.)“It may have been the final book I wrote as Andrew Shaw, the last title of mine brought out by publisher William Hamling. Or not—it’s impossible to tell. There were other titles by other hands than mine that would be published under my Andrew Shaw pen name, and there would be a stream of retitled books reissued in the 1970s with their prose slightly tweaked to reflect relaxed taboos, but it was sometime in 1963 that I stopped writing as Andrew Shaw.“Before I get into that, a few words about SIN BUM.“The title, I have to say, is one of the worst ever. Someone in Hamling’s employ had to come up with titles every month, and while they didn’t hew strictly to formula, there was a pattern; the typical title consisted of two words, and one of the words was apt to be SIN or SLUT or LUST or PASSION or FLESH. I would hang a title of my own on each manuscript, and some of these appeared on the published books, but whatever I tried to call this one, I know it wasn’t SIN BUM.“But, for all that I dislike the title, I must confess to an unanticipated fondness for the book. I popped it onto my Kindle the other day and read it, not in anticipation of pleasure but so that I could write this book description, and I rather enjoyed the experience. I should say that I have no memory whatsoever of writing this book; while almost every page sports a sentence or extratextual reference that lets me identify it instantly as my work, I can’t actually remember any of it.“I think I must have written it very rapidly, and in such a fashion that the whole episode never made its way into long-term memory. But by the time I’d made it halfway through the text on my Kindle, I found myself wondering if I hadn’t found a way to plagiarize myself seven or eight years later.“Because as I read SIN BUM I kept getting echoes of the first two Chip Harrison novels, No Score and Chip Harrison Scores Again. Not the tone, not the voice, but elements of the plot. I won’t belabor the point, but if you’ve read the Chip Harrison books you’ll probably get my drift. What I do know is that my imitation of self here could only be unconscious; if I’d realized I’d covered this ground before in this fashion, conscience would have kept me from repeating the trip.“Go figure.“Oh, never mind. Back in 1963 all you could say about SIN BUM was that it was a book, and that’s all it is now. A Bildungsroman, a Coming of Age novel—and, by the time it’s finished, a male-viewpoint romance novel. My Goddess of Design & Production, the indispensable woman who has to read each book in order to return it to print and make it eVailable, volunteered that “SIN BUM is my favorite of all the Andrew Shaw books.”“Hmm. A low bar, some might say. And it does appear to have been Andrew Shaw’s last bow. It sometimes seems clear to me that I stayed too long at the fair, but I’m pleased by the thought that the cycle ended well. And if you’re interested in the process, Gentle Reader, and what those early days were like, I’ll refer you to my memoir, A Writer Prepares.”
234 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 14, 2021
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About the author
Lawrence Block
761 books3,001 followersLawrence Block has been writing crime, mystery, and suspense fiction for more than half a century. He has published in excess (oh, wretched excess!) of 100 books, and no end of short stories.
Born in Buffalo, N.Y., LB attended Antioch College, but left before completing his studies; school authorities advised him that they felt he’d be happier elsewhere, and he thought this was remarkably perceptive of them.
His earliest work, published pseudonymously in the late 1950s, was mostly in the field of midcentury erotica, an apprenticeship he shared with Donald E. Westlake and Robert Silverberg. The first time Lawrence Block’s name appeared in print was when his short story “You Can’t Lose” was published in the February 1958 issue of Manhunt. The first book published under his own name was Mona (1961); it was reissued several times over the years, once as Sweet Slow Death. In 2005 it became the first offering from Hard Case Crime, and bore for the first time LB’s original title, Grifter’s Game.
LB is best known for his series characters, including cop-turned-private investigator Matthew Scudder, gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, globe-trotting insomniac Evan Tanner, and introspective assassin Keller.
Because one name is never enough, LB has also published under pseudonyms including Jill Emerson, John Warren Wells, Lesley Evans, and Anne Campbell Clarke.
LB’s magazine appearances include American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Linn’s Stamp News, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and The New York Times. His monthly instructional column ran in Writer’s Digest for 14 years, and led to a string of books for writers, including the classics Telling Lies for Fun & Profit and The Liar’s Bible. He has also written episodic television (Tilt!) and the Wong Kar-wai film, My Blueberry Nights.
Several of LB’s books have been filmed. The latest, A Walk Among the Tombstones, stars Liam Neeson as Matthew Scudder and is scheduled for release in September, 2014.
LB is a Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America, and a past president of MWA and the Private Eye Writers of America. He has won the Edgar and Shamus awards four times each, and the Japanese Maltese Falcon award twice, as well as the Nero Wolfe and Philip Marlowe awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and the Diamond Dagger for Life Achievement from the Crime Writers Association (UK). He’s also been honored with the Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award from Mystery Ink magazine and the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement in the short story. In France, he has been proclaimed a Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has twice been awarded the Societe 813 trophy. He has been a guest of honor at Bouchercon and at book fairs and mystery festivals in France, Germany, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and Taiwan. As if that were not enough, he was also presented with the key to the city of Muncie, Indiana. (But as soon as he left, they changed the locks.)
LB and his wife Lynne are enthusiastic New Yorkers and relentless world travelers; the two are members of the Travelers Century Club, and have visited around 160 countries.
He is a modest and humble fellow, although you would never guess as much from this biographical note.
Born in Buffalo, N.Y., LB attended Antioch College, but left before completing his studies; school authorities advised him that they felt he’d be happier elsewhere, and he thought this was remarkably perceptive of them.
His earliest work, published pseudonymously in the late 1950s, was mostly in the field of midcentury erotica, an apprenticeship he shared with Donald E. Westlake and Robert Silverberg. The first time Lawrence Block’s name appeared in print was when his short story “You Can’t Lose” was published in the February 1958 issue of Manhunt. The first book published under his own name was Mona (1961); it was reissued several times over the years, once as Sweet Slow Death. In 2005 it became the first offering from Hard Case Crime, and bore for the first time LB’s original title, Grifter’s Game.
LB is best known for his series characters, including cop-turned-private investigator Matthew Scudder, gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, globe-trotting insomniac Evan Tanner, and introspective assassin Keller.
Because one name is never enough, LB has also published under pseudonyms including Jill Emerson, John Warren Wells, Lesley Evans, and Anne Campbell Clarke.
LB’s magazine appearances include American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Linn’s Stamp News, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and The New York Times. His monthly instructional column ran in Writer’s Digest for 14 years, and led to a string of books for writers, including the classics Telling Lies for Fun & Profit and The Liar’s Bible. He has also written episodic television (Tilt!) and the Wong Kar-wai film, My Blueberry Nights.
Several of LB’s books have been filmed. The latest, A Walk Among the Tombstones, stars Liam Neeson as Matthew Scudder and is scheduled for release in September, 2014.
LB is a Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America, and a past president of MWA and the Private Eye Writers of America. He has won the Edgar and Shamus awards four times each, and the Japanese Maltese Falcon award twice, as well as the Nero Wolfe and Philip Marlowe awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and the Diamond Dagger for Life Achievement from the Crime Writers Association (UK). He’s also been honored with the Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award from Mystery Ink magazine and the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement in the short story. In France, he has been proclaimed a Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has twice been awarded the Societe 813 trophy. He has been a guest of honor at Bouchercon and at book fairs and mystery festivals in France, Germany, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and Taiwan. As if that were not enough, he was also presented with the key to the city of Muncie, Indiana. (But as soon as he left, they changed the locks.)
LB and his wife Lynne are enthusiastic New Yorkers and relentless world travelers; the two are members of the Travelers Century Club, and have visited around 160 countries.
He is a modest and humble fellow, although you would never guess as much from this biographical note.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 18, 2023
"Shame was a way of life for this -- SIN BUM"
After his parents die in a car wreck, Ted hops on the first bus he can find, willing to go anywhere as long as he gets far away from Philly. He only wants to find some meaning in his life. But it's hard to become a responsible adult when everywhere he goes, wild woman are throwing themselves at him:
He falls in love with first hillbilly girl he meets in the Smoky Mountains: "She didn't know a damn thing outside of cooking and sewing and making beds and getting her behind wet humping somebody in the cold grass."
He knocks around with a drifter named Roy and a redhead hooker: " 'You ever do any selling?' 'No,' I said. It occurred to me that this was not entirely true; after all, I had peddled Saralee Mason's sweet body to a slew of Midwestern yokels. But that didn't seem like the thing to mention in a job interview."
He is seduced by his wino landlord Ginnie Roper: "I did to her as Rin-Tin-Tin would have done to Lassie."
He tries his hand at being a film star in Knoxville. He sells Little Devil Kitchen Tools door to door in Michigan, where he becomes the favorite pet of a daily four-handed housewife bridge game. He narrowly avoids getting a dose of the clap in Iowa…
Finally, his fortunes change for good when he falls for a deli waitress named Jeannie in South Bend, Indiana…
This is the 24th and final novel Lawrence Block wrote under his Andrew Shaw pseudonym. It sports a bad title and a misleading tag line on the cover (Ted feels many emotions, but shame is never one of them!) However, this is one of the best Shaws, especially the first half, although I am still more fond of Cinderella Sims and Gigolo Johnny Wells.
The author's whimsical tone and sardonic voice are fully in place now. In fact, this novel bears more than passing semblance to his 1970 book No Score, which is the also a coming-of-age romp starring Chip Harrison. The difference is Chip spends all his time trying to get laid but learns about life, love, and growing up instead. Ted, on the other hand, roves the country searching for stability, but instead he is constantly diverted by an endless stream of humorous sexcapades.
The back half of the book, once Ted arrives in South Bend, is abruptly different in tone and mood. The steamy scenes dry up, the humor fades away. It becomes a story of two teens weathering a pregnancy scare, finding a professional calling, then settling into life as a married couple. The story becomes strangely mature--but also kind of boring. It just does not mesh easily with the first half.
After his parents die in a car wreck, Ted hops on the first bus he can find, willing to go anywhere as long as he gets far away from Philly. He only wants to find some meaning in his life. But it's hard to become a responsible adult when everywhere he goes, wild woman are throwing themselves at him:
He falls in love with first hillbilly girl he meets in the Smoky Mountains: "She didn't know a damn thing outside of cooking and sewing and making beds and getting her behind wet humping somebody in the cold grass."
He knocks around with a drifter named Roy and a redhead hooker: " 'You ever do any selling?' 'No,' I said. It occurred to me that this was not entirely true; after all, I had peddled Saralee Mason's sweet body to a slew of Midwestern yokels. But that didn't seem like the thing to mention in a job interview."
He is seduced by his wino landlord Ginnie Roper: "I did to her as Rin-Tin-Tin would have done to Lassie."
He tries his hand at being a film star in Knoxville. He sells Little Devil Kitchen Tools door to door in Michigan, where he becomes the favorite pet of a daily four-handed housewife bridge game. He narrowly avoids getting a dose of the clap in Iowa…
Finally, his fortunes change for good when he falls for a deli waitress named Jeannie in South Bend, Indiana…
This is the 24th and final novel Lawrence Block wrote under his Andrew Shaw pseudonym. It sports a bad title and a misleading tag line on the cover (Ted feels many emotions, but shame is never one of them!) However, this is one of the best Shaws, especially the first half, although I am still more fond of Cinderella Sims and Gigolo Johnny Wells.
The author's whimsical tone and sardonic voice are fully in place now. In fact, this novel bears more than passing semblance to his 1970 book No Score, which is the also a coming-of-age romp starring Chip Harrison. The difference is Chip spends all his time trying to get laid but learns about life, love, and growing up instead. Ted, on the other hand, roves the country searching for stability, but instead he is constantly diverted by an endless stream of humorous sexcapades.
The back half of the book, once Ted arrives in South Bend, is abruptly different in tone and mood. The steamy scenes dry up, the humor fades away. It becomes a story of two teens weathering a pregnancy scare, finding a professional calling, then settling into life as a married couple. The story becomes strangely mature--but also kind of boring. It just does not mesh easily with the first half.
Displaying 1 of 1 review