Friday, November 27, 2015

Borderline by Lawrence Block


 


Early effort by Block (late fifties). Well crafted and very hard edged. The violence is graphic, the sex graphic and, for the time, taboo pushing. Like Westlake and Ellison, Block had been paying the bills writing porn and if the ratio of sex to plot were a bit higher, I might assume that was the original market. From a Twentieth Century perspective, the most interesting plot thread is probably the account of a young divorcee discovering her pan-sexuality in a border town bordello. Block scholars will want to take a look at the well-developed character of the serial killer who, in a true sign of the times, initially tried to satisfy his murderous appetites through a diet of horror comics.

Monday, November 16, 2015

"Little Nemo Meets Lieutenant Kijé"

I recently decided to have some fun with two of my favorites...