I'm a fan of Lawrence Block and I've made a point of
attending most of his Scudder signings. I've found him to be
an amicable, if not tired, author. At the last few signings,
the bookstores have had a rule about signing other books - a
rule which he doesn't mention in this article. One must buy
one new book in order to get two old books signed. I guess
this was designed to weed out the hardcore collectors who
come, buy one book, then ask him to sign ten old books. I
think it's a fair rule.
At the signing for SMALL TOWN, I bought a new book and
brought in two old copies for him to sign. As he was
dutifully signing I leaned over and told Larry that my
favorite book of his was MONA (now being reprinted, as
mentioned on this list) and that I loved it so much, I named
my cat after it. He seemed to think this was quite funny and
signed the book: "To Mark and Mona...")
I don't have any problems with the article he wrote. I think
most of his opinions are written tongue in cheek anyway. Has
anyone seen his funny riff on cat mysteries? Something about
how they should give out two Best Edgars, one for books with
cats, one for books without cats.
I went to a Michael Connelly signing about six years ago. We
had a brief but extremely friendly conversation as he was
scratching his John Hancock onto the title page. When I got
home, I was pleasantly surprised to read his message: "To
Mark, this one comes straight from the heart. Michael
Connelly." I thought it was about the nicest thing anyone had
ever written
- until I realized he probably wrote that in every book. The
title of that tome: BLOOD WORK.
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