"Scenarios" by Lawrence Block

From: The Dark End of the Street: New Stories of Sex and Crime by Today's Top Authors, ed. Jonathan Santlofer and S.J. Rozan. Bloomsbury, 2010.

Block's contribution to this anthology of literary and crime fiction authors begins with a sexual predator looking for his next victim at a bar. Just when I began to guess where the story was going, Block broke the "fourth wall", offering three different ways the story could turn out, one of which was "true".

If you don't mind Block breaking the fourth wall, this story is a fine show of the writer's imagination at work and how many different tales can be spun from the same starting point.

"Ten Gallons of Infected Saliva, or, The Cuckold, Avenged" by Scott Phillips

From: Uncage Me ed. Jen Jordan. Bleak House Books, 2009.

Leading off an anthology on the many forms of transgression, this story follows Amos, a college kid willing to work at a porno theater to accumulate the hours he needs to join the projectionist's union. Amos's wry narration reminded me of Lawrence Block's Chip Harrison, his voice so engaging as to almost make smut palatable.

One of Amos's friends, Tad, works at a funeral parlor and carries on an affair with his boss's wife, Beth. One night, Tad takes Beth to the theater, followed shortly by a man with a gun. Flustered, Amos lets the armed man into the theater, and he proceeds to shoot himself. Though the man's name is never mentioned, it's implied he is Beth's husband, Tad's boss. That this shooting is the only act I considered a crime in this story testifies to the persuasive power of Phillips's writing.

You can also hear Phillips read this story at Seth Harwood's CrimeWAV.

A nasty, brutish, short Christmas

In honor of Christmas 2008, our past reviews of Christmas stories:

Gerald So reviews "Dreaming of a Spite Christmas" by BV Lawson

Steven Torres reviews "Hidden Gifts" by Steve Hockensmith

Gerald So reviews "Sanity Clause" by Steve Brewer

Gerald So reviews "As Dark as Christmas Gets" by Lawrence Block

Gerald So reviews "Silent Night" by Marcia Muller

Gerald So reviews "Here Comes Santa Claus" by Bill Pronzini

Keller the Dogkiller by Lawrence Block

The May 2008 issue of Ellery Queen has this nifty short story. If you've read some of Mr. Block's novels you may know that Keller normally works killing humans. As this story begins, however, Dot (who seems to work pretty much as Keller's agent) explains that he's been hired to kill a dog. The money isn't great, but then the risks aren't so big either.

I can't say much about who hires him without spoiling the plot, but I will say that by the time it's all over, it isn't just Fluffy the pit bull that needs killing.

The best part of the story as far as I'm concerned was the dialogue between Keller and Dot which kind of provided a running commentary on the twists in the plot (of which there are plenty). I've never read one of the novels, so I don't know if it is common for the series.

A very enjoyable read.

"Rude Awakening" by Lawrence Block

From: Bronx Noir ed. S.J. Rozan. Akashic Books, 2007.

A young woman wakes up after a night of binge drinking with no idea where she is or how she got there. Slowly her senses, the last of which is sight, help her deduce she is in the Bronx. Finally the man beside her stirs awake, and she goes through the awkward, ominous process of getting to know him again.

As changeable as Block's voice is, it's distinctly New York, and his facility with prose made me want to keep reading about the characters and forget this was a noir story. The twist here might be predictable if not well covered in the uncertainty of a morning after.

"Freddie Prinze is My Guardian Angel" by Liz Martínez

From: Manhattan Noir ed. Lawrence Block. Akashic Books, 2006.

Freddie Prinze first appears to the narrator while she's praying the Rosary on the fourth anniversary of his death. "You're supposed to join the NYPD," he says.

Already infatuated with Prinze, the narrator follows his cryptic, counterintuitive advice in smaller things, persisting even when it turns out badly for her. Prinze appears unpredictably throughout her teens and early twenties, and finally she agrees to apply to the NYPD.

A morbidly funny story highlighted by the narrator's engaging voice and blind faith in Prinze.

"Change of Life" by Lawrence Block

Available in: Enough Rope. William Morrow, 2002.

Royce Arnsletter believes he'll live to 76. On the eve of his thirty-eigth birthday, his frustration boils over at having done "not a damned thing" in half his life. The next day he plans to hold up the local bank with a shotgun, but the bank manager believes he's going hunting. When Royce asks for "every damned cent," the manager thinks he wants to withdraw all his own money. Royce backs off his plans, not even withdrawing all his own money.

The following day, even more frustrated, he decides to give himself no recourse but to rob the bank. So single-minded, he shoots his wife and shoots a bank teller to prove he is serious. Not having the foresight to bring extra shells, however, he is arrested and sentenced to 33 years in prison. What will he do with the five years after he gets out?

This story's noir undertones are somewhat lightened by Block's first-person parenthetical comments.

"As Dark as Christmas Gets" by Lawrence Block

Available in Enough Rope by Lawrence Block, William Morrow, 2002.

On Christmas Day, New York PIs Chip Harrison and Leo Haig are hired by the owner of a mystery bookshop on West 56th Street to find an unfinished Cornell Woolrich manuscript missing from the owner's personal collection since a party the night before. Nero Wolfe fanatic Haig has Harrison bring seven suspects to the shop, and he proceeds to interview them as a group.

Longtime mystery fans will recognize the shop owner as Otto Penzler. In the voices of his characters, Block pokes fun at Penzler, himself (Block completed Woolrich's Into the Night), and literary pretense in general.