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From YouTube: Lawrence Block - Grand Master of Noir
Description
As part of the Arlington Reads series, "Why Fiction Matters", best-selling author Lawrence Block discusses his 60-year career writing crime, mystery and suspense fiction. Recorded at the Arlington Public Library on October 18 2017.
A
We
have
Sadie
Smith
more
on
that
later,
we
chose
why
fiction
matters
as
our
Arlington
reads
theme,
because
we
can
all
agree
that
over
the
past
year,
truth
and
those
whose
job
it
is
to
unearth
it,
have
taken
and
continued
to
take
a
bashing.
So
there's
a
certain
irony
and
are
looking
to
fiction
writers
for
the
illumination
of
what
is
real
tonight.
It's
an
honor
to
welcome
Lawrence
Bloch,
who
has
been
writing
crime,
mystery
and
suspense
fiction
for
more
than
half
a
century
known
as
a
writer's
writer.
A
B
A
Joined
by
one
more
page
this
evening,
they've
got
plenty
of
books,
including
this
one
for
sale
again,
they've
been
a
terrific
partner
from
mr.
blocks
website
I
learned
that
he
was
born
in
Buffalo,
New
York
and
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
pseudonymous
Lee
in
the
late
1950s,
was
mostly
in
the
field
of
mid-century
erotica,
an
apprenticeship
he
shared
with
writers,
Donald,
Westlake
and
Robert
Silverberg
blocks
awards
are
many.
A
He
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
Seamus
awards
four
times
each
and
the
japanese
maltese
falcon
award
twice,
as
well
as
the
neuro
wolf
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
associations.
A
He
was
also
presented
with
the
key
to
the
city
of
Muncie
Indiana,
but
according
to
his
website,
as
soon
as
he
left,
they
changed.
The
locks
I
first
became
acquainted
with
the
work
of
Lawrence
law
block
about
25
years
ago,
when
a
friend,
knowing
of
my
affection
for
the
hard-boiled
detective
fiction
of
Dashiell,
Hammett,
Raymond,
Chandler,
Mickey
Spillane,
and
the
late
Elmore
Leonard
pressed
a
novel
into
my
hands
and
demanded
that
I
read
it.
That
book
was
when
the
sacred
gin
mill
closes
and
it
was
unlike
any
detective
story.
A
I
had
ever
read,
replete
with
betrayals,
burglaries
and
booze
the
novel.
The
sixth
in
a
series
is
a
flashback
story
of
ex-cop
Matthew
Scudder,
who
spends
his
day
doing
favors
for
friends
and
drinking
coffee,
laced
with
bourbon
in
the
seedy
Irish
bars
of
New
York
City's
West
Side.
The
dialogue
was
pitch
perfect.
The
setting
gritty
the
plot
tangled,
but
not
too
much
so.
What
hooked
me,
however,
was
the
character
of
Matthew
Scudder
himself.
I
expected
deeply
flawed,
someone
somewhere
between
a
good
guy
and
a
bad
guy.
A
What
I
didn't
expect
was
the
lost
soul,
the
romantic
who
knows
things
went
south,
but
doesn't
exactly
know
when
or
how
the
lonely
guy
who
knows
he's
in
trouble
and
puts
money
in
the
church
collection
box,
perhaps
to
hedge
his
bets
and
every
man
searching
for
the
same
things.
We
all
search
for
love,
Redemption
and
most
of
all
forgiveness,
especially
of
ourselves.
I,
won't
spoil
it
by
telling
you
the
ending.
Suffice
it
to
say
it's
a
book
that
should
be
on
everyone's
to
read
list
anyone
that
is
who
calls
himself
or
herself
a
serious
reader.
C
C
And
as
as
far
as
topic
is
concerned,
I
stopped
worrying
about
that
a
long
time
ago,
when
I
heard
the
words
of
the
Reverend
Ike,
a
legendary
preacher
in
New
York
City,
who
said
that
he
never
he
made
it
a
point,
never
to
let
his
his
topic
get
in
the
way
of
what
he
had
to
say.
So
what
will
be
guided
by
that
I
was
thinking.
I
was
thinking
earlier.
B
C
An
event
I
was
at
and
I
think
it
was
the
signing.
I
think
the
book
I
was
signing
was
when
the
sacred
general
closes,
because
it
wouldn't
have
been
about
1985
or
86,
and
it
was
a
dual
appearance
that
I
was
making
with
someone.
I've
never
met
before
at
a
mystery
book.
Shop
called
scene
of
the
crime
which
was
in
somewhere
in
Southern
California
somewhere
in
the
LA
area.
It's
long
gone
and
the
person
I
was
appearing
with
was
Sue
Grafton.
Who
was
there
with
her
second
book?
B
is
for
burglar
and
we
were
talking.
C
You
know
how
can
she
know
that
she'll
be
able
to?
How
can
she
know
that
you'll
want
to?
But
she
did
know
and
her
vision
was
very
clear,
and
she
indeed
most
recently
published
I,
think
I
believe
Y
is
for
yesterday,
and
the
next
book
will
be
C
and
then
maybe
she'll.
Think
of
something
else
to
do.
I
don't
know,
but
I
found
I
found
that
remarkable
and
it
wasn't
that
she
just
decided.
C
This
was
the
right
way
to
get
rich
and
make
a
name
for
herself,
because
sue
has
always
been
characterized
by
absolute
integrity,
artistic
integrity,
she's
always
written
what
she's
wanted
to
write
and
in
fact
it
was
just
as
she
knew
she
was
going
to
do
these
26
books.
She
also
knew
that
they
were
not
to
be
adapted
for
stage
or
screen
or
anything
else
that
they
were
posed
works
and
only
that
and
she
has
never
entertained
any
offers
for
dramatic
rights.
You
know
she
knew.
C
B
C
Letting
the
sacred
general
closes,
which
Dan
mentioned,
was
the
sixth
book
in
a
series
of
which
there
have
been
about
12
since
then,
and
the
books
been
written.
The
character
involves
in
real
time,
so
the
first
book
was
written
in
the
mid
seventies
and
Matthew.
Scudder
was
40
years
older
now
than
he
is
then,
because
I
made
the
decision
to
let
him
age
in
real
time.
C
It's
a
terrible
idea
in
one's
own
life.
You
know
why
I
so
arranged
things
that
I'm
now
40
years
older
than
I
was
40
years
ago,
is
something
I
could
not
begin
to
explain
the
state,
but
people
have
asked
in
the
course
of
us.
Of
course,
Scudders
life
has
changed,
he's
an
enormous,
a
heavy
drinker
he
drinking
alcoholic
ly
in
the
early
books
in
the
fifth
book
he
stops
drinking
and
his
life
continues
and
goes
on
and
on
as
and
goes
through
changes
as
human
lives
do,
and
people
have
said
we're
not.
C
When
did
you
when
you
started
writing
in
the
series?
Did
you
know
of
what
the
arc
of
it
was
going
to
be?
Well,
I,
never
know
what
what
the
next
book
is
going
to
be.
In
fact,
I
rarely
know
what
the
book
I'm
writing
is
going
to
be.
Yes,
I
certainly
didn't
have
an
vision
of
that
when
I
started
writing
the
books,
I
thought
Scotty
would
sit
on
the
same
chair
and
I
Armstrong's
forever
until
he
fell
off
it,
and
that
would
be
the
end.
C
Part
of
the
reason
I
write
is
to
find
out
what's
going
to
happen
next
I
think
that's
probably
true
for
most
charities,
but
the
Matthew
Scudder
series
was
at
least
conceived
as
a
series.
I
wrote
the
first
book,
knowing
I
was
going
to
write
at
least
two
more.
It
was
proposed
as
a
series
and
I
had
that
in
mind
at
the
beginning.
C
C
Ex-Green
Berets
or
war
veterans
of
one
sort
or
another
who
in
civilian
life,
are
assembled
periodically
to
pull
crimes
against
bad
guys
of
one
sort
or
another,
and
if
this
has
all
a
familiar
ring
to
it
and
reminds
you
at
all
of
the
a-team,
it
was
a
terrible
act
of
plagiarism
on
my
part,
because
I
not
only
stole
the
idea
from
them
that
but
I
stole
it
about
five
years
before
they
had.
It.
C
I
decided
life
is
too
short
for
litigation,
and
I
didn't
bother
pursuing
that.
But
there
were
some
interesting
parallels
anyway.
I
had
the
idea
in
mind
and
I
talked
it
over
with
my
agent,
I
wrote
the
first
book
in
which
the
various
participants
and
their
one-legged
Colonel
worked
it
all
out
and
Oh
Rob
a
mafia
bank
in
an
effective
way,
but
everything
worked
out
and
I
sent
it.
I
delivered
it
to
my
agent.
He
delivered
it
to
a
publisher
who
was
interested
and
the
deal
was
made.
My
agent
called
me
up
and
said.
C
And
he
said,
but
I
thought
this
was
the
first
book
of
a
series
and
I
said
well
I
thought
that
too
he
said.
Well,
it
turned
out
pretty
well.
Why
don't
you
want
to
do
another
I
said?
Well,
it
turned
out
to
be
a
kind
of
book
that
I
like
to
read,
but
it
did
not
turn
out
to
be
a
kind
of
book
that
I
really
liked
to
write
and
I.
Don't
want
to
write
any
more
of
these.
C
C
So
so
that's
that's
the
second
series
that
I
did,
but
others
just
others
happened
of
their
own
accord,
because
I
wrote
something
and
I
found
myself
sufficiently
charmed
by
the
characters
that
I
wanted
to
do
more
with
them.
That
was
true
with
the
series
that
I
write
about
a
burglar,
the
burning,
Rhodenbarr
books
and
I
wrote.
The
first
book
called
burglars,
can't
be
choosers
and.
C
C
C
Was
just
writing
it
and
it
was
a
first-person
book
and
the
voice
was
saying
sort
of
funny
things
and
when
he's
racing
to
get
away
from
the
cops-
and
he
goes
out
and
the
doorman
pulls
the
door
open
at
burning,
runs
out
and
says:
I'll
take
care
of
you
at
Christmas.
You
know
and
I
rely
thought
no
I
can't
bet.
That's
funny
and
I
thought
you
know
just
let
it
be
let
it
go
the
way
it
goes.
C
C
Another
series
happened:
Oh
quite
by
accident,
I
wrote
a
short
story
called
answers:
the
soldier
about
a
hit
man,
who's
dispatched
to
Roseburg
Oregon,
to
kill
someone
in
the
witness
protection
program
he's
been
identified
by
somebody
and
word
comes
down
and
he
sent
out
there
and
he
makes
the
great
mistake
of
getting
to
know
the
guy.
You
know
he
has
a
conversation
with
him
and
everything,
and
this
is
not
what
he
usually
does
and
meanwhile,
while
he's
there,
the
guy
has
opened
a
print
shop.
C
Anyway,
our
fellow
Keller
starts
having
fantasies
of
living
a
similar
life
himself
in
a
town
like
this.
He
could
retire.
He
could
do
that.
He
starts
making
plans
in
this
area
and
stalling
the
people
back
in
New
York,
who
wonder
why
the
job
isn't
done
and
gets
pretty
friendly
with
the
the
guy
running
the
print
shop
and
then
one
day,
teller
comes
to
his
senses,
kills
the
guy
and
goes
home.
C
Which
came
as
a
surprise,
I
think
to
some
readers,
whatever
came
surprised
to
kill
her
and
then,
and
that
was
a
story
and
I
sent
it
off
to
do
playboy
and
they
bought
it
and
it
that
was
good
and
I
think
it
got
an
Edgar
nomination,
but
I
didn't
you
know
that
was
it.
That
was
all
I
had
to
say
about
Keller.
C
C
That
could
be
interesting
and
it
was.
It
was
very
interesting
for
me,
and
in
Keller,
did
get
involved
with
the
therapists
and
therapists
who,
whose
ex-wife
had
a
dog
that
their
therapist
liked
and
liked
a
lot
more
than
he
liked
the
ex-wife
and
he
manipulated
Keller.
He
had
the
intention
of
manipulating
Keller
into
killing
the
wife
and
all
well
at
the
end
of
the
book.
The
end
of
the
story
I
hate
to
ruin
it
for
you,
but
the
therapist
was
dead
and
Keller
had
a
dog.
C
And
I
thought:
well,
that's
that's
kind
of
interesting,
but
heat
travels
all
the
time.
What's
a
hitman
gonna
do
with
a
dog
he's
gonna
have
to
find
someone
to
walk
it.
C
If
flakey,
dog,
water,
Walker
and
then
one
day
she
left
and
took
the
dog
you
know,
and
but
there
were
there
kept
being
other
things
that
that
Keller
could
do
next
and
I
realized
at
one
point
about
seven
or
eight
stories
into
it.
That
I
was
essentially
writing
a
novel
on
the
installment
plan
and
in
fact,
when
I
had
ten
stories-
and
it
was
time
to
stitch
them
together,
there
was
not
even
any
editing
to
do
between
stories.
It
was
as
if.
C
Unconsciously,
perhaps
I'd
known
all
along
I
was
writing
a
book,
and
then
there
were
there
have
been
several
more
books
about
Keller
since
then,
and
all
because
of
one
story
that
I
thought
was
as
much
as
I
had
to
say
about.
The
fellow
I've
evidently
found
him
endlessly
fascinating,
I
hope
other
people
have
too
perhaps
for
and
perhaps
some
have.
B
C
C
You
know
and
some
of
the
the
the
stories
don't
the
settings
you
don't
think
of
in
the
same
breath
with
noir
you
know,
I
I
was
waiting
for
their
Westchester
collection
to
be
entitled
pleasant,
film
noir,
but
it's
worked
very
well.
It's
been
an
enormous
ly,
successful
operation
for
them,
predicated
on
the
notion
that
people
like
to
read
work
set
in
their
own
backyard.
C
It's
far
easier
to
identify,
and
the
result
of
this
is
but
has
that
no
end
of
writers
have
gotten
a
start-
writing
short
stories
for
very
smart
collections.
It's
that's
worked
very,
very
well,
and
it's
been
good
for
Akasha
anyway.
I
was
asked
to
do
Manhattan
noir
and
had
to
write
a
story
for
it,
and
one
of
the
gimmicks
of
the
these
books
is
that
each
story
is
set
in
a
different
neighborhood
and
I
picked
Ellis
kitchen,
because
that
was
no.
D
C
Else
had
and
I
said,
a
story
there
in
which
a
young
woman
is
drinking
in
a
bar
and
a
guy
picks
her
up
and
takes
her
home
and
we're
looking
for
something
bad
to
happen
to
her.
But
it
doesn't
something.
Bad
indeed
happens
to
him
and
she
takes
off
with
his
money
and
leaving
his
corpse
in
his
apartment,
and
that
was
that,
and
it
was
a
sadist.
It
was
a
satisfactory
story.
It
was
there
was
something
I
liked
about
the
girl,
I
guess:
I
didn't
want
to
meet
her.
C
C
Well,
unfortunately,
one
has
to,
and
so
I
haven't
been
getting
out
and
in
fact,
I
didn't
know.
If
I
was
going
to
to
be
able
to
keep
this
gig
but
as
it
turns
out,
I
got
past
the
walker
it's
a
couple
of
about
ten
days
ago
and
I'm
using
the
cane
and
it
seems
to
be
working
out
so
but
if
I'm
a
little
less
than
that,
like
one,
that's
that's
part
of
the
explanation.
C
The
other
I
think
is
that
sort
of
brain
damage
that
comes
with
advancing
age,
but
with
you
we
needn't
talk
about
that
anyway.
I'd
written
the
story
about
this
girl
and
then
my
friend
SJ
Roseanne,
was
commissioned
to
do
a
book
called
bon
soir
and-
and
she
asked
me
to
do
a
story
just
as
I
had
asked
her
to
do
a
story
for
Manhattan
waar.
C
I'd
sort
of
forgotten
that
I'd
written
a
story
about
her
already
I
mean
it
was
I,
knew
about
the
story,
but
I
didn't
quite
realize
to
what
extent
I
was
writing
about
her
again,
but
the
story
worked
out
and
then
another
friend
mine
was
Martinez
had
been
commissioned
to
write
to
front
an
anthology
called
Indian
country.
New
are.
C
C
It
was
edited
affronted
anyway
by
Gardner
Dozois
and
george
RR
martin,
and
my
story
was
about
this
girl
again,
except
now.
We
got
her
whole
backstory
and
found
out
what
she
was
about
and
everything
and
it
was
a
longer
story
than
usual
and
once
again,
I
found
myself
writing
a
novel,
and
the
book
wound
up
being
called
getting
off
and
it
was
I
think
the
publishers
caption
and
it
was
the
subtitle-
was
a
novel
of
sex
and
violence
which
which
was
warranted,
and
it
was
enormous
fun
to
write.
C
C
C
Let's
use
the
accident
I
would
I
I
wanted
to
leave
abundant
time
for
Q&A,
because
I
think
I
can
speak
probably
more
effectively
in
response
to
your
questions
and
that
that
way,
there's
the
chance
that
every
time
I
do
I
might
say
something
of
interest,
at
least
to
the
person
who
answered
the
question.
If
to
no
one
else,
so
so,
why
don't
we?
Why
don't
we
do
that?
Thank
you
very,
very
much.
E
It's
a
pleasure
to
hear
you
speak
today:
I'm
a
longtime
fan
in
1997
I'm.
Sorry
in
1997,
Richard,
stark
who's,
an
acquaintance
of
the
late
Donald
Westlake
returned
from
his
23-year
I
guess
they
awoke
from
his
23
years
slumber
and
he
treated
me
and
a
lot
of
us
by
resurrecting
Parker
in
the
novel.
Come
back.
E
To
pen
another
thriller,
I
stumbled
across
a
beat-up
old
paperback
by
Cavanaugh,
entitled
the
triumph
of
evil
back
in
the
90s
I
had
no
idea
that
that
you
met
you
that
you
may
know
him.
I
had
read
some
of
yourself
beforehand
and
the
three
books
in
that
series
are
incredible
and
I
would
love
to
see
another
one,
and
maybe
you
could
talk
about
how
that
became
a
series.
Thank
you.
C
Well
well,
thank
you.
Thank
you.
So
much
the
three
books
written
under
the
name,
Paul
Kevin,
are
not
really
a
series
in
any.
In
any
sense,
they
were
just
all
they
have
in
common
as
the
pen
name
on
them.
The
first
book
of
the
group,
such
men
are
dangerous,
that
the
name
of
the
protagonist
was
Paul.
Kavanaugh
and
I
used
that
as
the
name
on
the
book,
and
there
was
the
fiction
that
it
was
written
by
the
protagonist
himself
and
then
two
other
books,
the
triumph
of
evil
and
not
coming
home
to
you.
C
C
C
So
I
don't
well.
I
certainly
appreciate
the
notion
that
I
might
do
more
along
those
lines.
I've
reached
a
point
in
my
life
and
career
when,
where
I'm
not
that
certain
that
I'm
going
to
write
anything
from
that
from
now
on
I
think
you
know
if
something
happens,
that's
fine,
but
I.
Think
of
myself
as
unlikely
to
to
write
novels
from
now
on.
If,
as
I
said,
if
it
happens,
that's
fine
but
I'm
not
really
thinking
it
much
in
those
terms.
Yes,.
F
F
These
are
been
rather
tumultuous
times
from
the
time
you
started
writing
to
today,
and
one
of
the
things
that
we
have
seen
over
that
period
of
time
as
a
decline
of
the
printed
word,
the
decline
of
newspapers,
the
decline
of
books
until
very
recently,
they
seem
to
be
making
a
comeback
and
I'm
just
wondering
over
the
over
the
years.
Whether
that
these
times
and
and
and
sort
of
the
decline
of
interest
in
books
has
affected
your
writing
at
all
or
whether,
as
I
think
might
be.
The
case.
C
Yeah
I've
affected,
particularly
by
changes
in
the
publishing
world
that
way
or
are
the
culture
books
of
there's
never
been
a
time
in
my
lifetime
when
books
have
not
been
published
and
had
an
opportunity
to
find
an
audience
so
and
I've
never
felt
constrained
from
writing
anything
for
reasons
like
that.
So.
C
I,
don't
it's,
you
know
one
could
talk
at
length
about
the
various
changes
going
on
in
the
world
of
self-publishing
and
ebooks
and
all
of
that,
but
that
was
just
for
us
all
half
to
death
and
I'm,
not
sure
it
would
be
germane,
I've
always
written
whatever
I
felt,
as
though
I
might
be
able
to
write
it
reasonably.
Well.
Yes,
I
think.
G
C
And
there's
never
been
an
absolute,
oh
way,
I've
gone
about
it,
but
over
the
years,
more
often
than
not
I've
gone
away
to
work,
either
to
a
writer's
colony
of
one
sort
or
another,
or
simply
to
a
hotel
room
in
another
city
and
I've
found
that
sort
of
purposeful
isolation
to
be
very
useful.
For
me,
George
seminal,
the
Belgian
was
most
famous
for
doing
this
sort
of
thing,
and
yet
he
had
a
highly
ritualized
manner
of
going
about
it
and
he
would
contrive
to
write
a
book
generally
and
around
a
dozen
days
and.
C
C
Man
was
has
never
been
that
at
ritualized,
but
that
has
worked
well
for
me
to
to
get
away
with
the
work
and
also
another
thing
that
has
been
a
constant
for
quite
a
few
years.
Is
that
I
generally,
when
I'm
working
would
make
writing
the
first
thing
that
I
do
in
the
day
you
know
shortly
after
a
rising
I
would
I
would
sit
down
once
at
a
typewriter
than
at
a
computer
and
so
on.
But
that's
that's
about
all
yeah.
C
C
C
It
was
in
the
11th
grade.
That's
right
and
high
school
and
I
got
some
kind
of
encouragement
from
my
English
teacher
I
and
it
was
an
earned
encouragement.
I
was
writing
compositions
on
that
that
were
that
I
was
enjoying
writing
and
doing
my
best
dad
and
I
I
wrote
one
on
career
plans
or
whatever
the
topic
was
and
I
concluded.
It
I
remember
this
vividly
enough.
C
I
concluded
it
with
the
line,
one
thing
and
reading
over
what
I've
written
one
thing
does
become
unclear
about
my
future
career
and
that's
that
I
can
never
be
a
writer
and,
and
she
wrote
on
the
bottom
I'm
not
so
sure
about
that
and
I
looked
at
that
and
I
had
never
thought
of
being
a
writer
before
that
moment
and
I
never
seriously
considered
anything
else
after
that
moment.
You
know
that
was
it,
that's
it
suddenly
had
been
revealed
to
me
and
I
knew
I
didn't
want
to
I.
C
C
I
know
I
know
that
one
principle
of
the
science
fiction,
writer,
theater
Sturgeon,
was
to
my
mind
the
the
first
to
enunciate.
It
was
that
if
the
writer
doesn't
know
what's
going
to
happen
next,
he
needn't
worry
that
the
reader
will
know.
What's
going
to
happen
now,
that's
not
invariably
true
I
found
there
was
at
least
one
occasion
where
I
wrote
a
book,
and
someone
said,
oh,
you
know,
reading
it
on
such-and-such
a
page.
I
knew
that
and
I
thought
well
I
wish
to
hell.
C
Happened
frequently
with
with
the
the
burglar
books,
because
they
were
they're,
complicated,
deductive,
mysteries
and
at
least
have
the
illusion
of
a
carefully
crafted
plot
and
typically,
at
the
end,
burning
Rhodenbarr
gathers
all
the
suspects
together
into
a
room
and
says
I.
Suppose
you're
wondering
why
I
summoned
you
all
here,
a
sentence:
I've,
never
tired
of
I
use
it
and
more
often
than
not
I'm
wondering
at
least
as
much
as
the
suspects,
maybe
because
I
I
don't
have
to
I,
don't
have
an
idea
of
how
I'm
gonna
work
it
out.
C
C
Well,
in
its
subtle
way,
my
phone-
let
me
know
what
time
that
we've
tried
to.
Let
me
know
what
time
would
and
let
you
know
what
type
of
anyway,
a
very
truly
surprising
proportion
of
the
writers
that
I
invited
responded
immediately
and
suggest,
and
they
were
very
much
hopper
fans
and
I.
Think
I
talked
a
little
in
the
introduction
about
why
this
might
be
the
case,
and
it's
certainly
not
that
hopper
is.
C
An
illustrative
painter
and
in
any
respect,
I,
don't
think
a
rather
he
is
not
a
narrative
painter
in
any
sense,
the
paintings
don't
tell
stories
the
paintings,
to
my
mind,
suggest
that
there's
a
story
to
be
told
it's
very
different
and
which
elicited
some
terrific
stories
out
of
a
batch
of
fine
writers.
So
it
was
a
pleasure
to
do,
and
you
know
writing
stories
for
anthologies
is
a
labor
of
love.
It
has
to
be
a
labor
of
love
because
there's
not
much
other
return
for
it
and
editing.
An
anthology
is
not
all
that
different.
C
J
K
C
My
experience
there
was
was
not
bad,
but
the
thing
is
I
was
there.
For
two
years,
then
I
I
went
and
took
an
own
plans,
co-op
job
at
a
literary
agency
in
New,
York
and
realized
right
away.
That
I
wasn't
gonna,
leave
that
after
two
or
three
months
and
so
I
dropped
out
for
and
stayed
there
for
about
a
year,
then
I
did
return
to
Antioch.
But
by
that
time
I
was
writing
professionally
and.
C
C
L
Hi,
thank
you
so
much
for
for
your
wonderful
writing.
I
I
really
have
enjoyed
it
and
you're
very
welcome.
One
of
the
many
things
I
like
most
is
that
you
have
so
many
different
characters
and
they
are
all
they
really
are
quite
different.
They're
not
they
seem
like
they're,
very
unique
each
one
and
I
wonder
if
they
ever.
L
If,
if
you
ever
are
find
yourself
writing
a
Matthew,
Scudder,
novel
and
Bertie
Rhodenbarr
comes
into
your
mind
if
they
ever
have
any
interaction
and
I.
Also
wonder
if
you've
ever
thought
of
having
the
meet
I
know
that
a
couple
of
other
writers,
Robert,
Parker
and
Jay
a
chance,
for
example,
have
had
their
have
several
different
characters
that
they're
write
about
and
have
actually
had
them
meet
in
yep.
C
L
Their
no.
C
C
It's
been
suggested
many
times
over
the
years
and
each
of
my
characters
lives
in
his
own
fictional
universe
and
I
want
to
kind
of
keep
it
that
way
and
as
far
as
something
from
one
character
percolating
into
another
book
when
I
am
writing
in
know.
If,
if,
if
I'm,
concentrating
and
in
a
particular
voice,
it's
it
takes
no
effort
to
stay
there.
K
K
There's
there's
something
in
all
of
your
books
that
makes
them
feel
very
character-driven.
There
are
two
schools
of
people
who
write
the
people
who
are
clot
driven
and
the
people
who
are
character,
driven
and
I
was
wondering
if
you
could
talk
about
how
you
developed
Tanner
and
where
the
whole
idea
for
the
the
thief
who
couldn't
sleep
and
the
secret
agency
yeah
yeah.
C
C
C
It
came
from
two
things
that
I
happened
to
learn,
but
from
a
reading
at
about
the
same
time,
and
the
synchronicity
of
this
has
a
lot
to
do
with
the
evolution
of
the
character.
First
of
all,
I
read
something
in
Time
magazine
in
probably
sixty
three
or
four
that
there
were.
It
was
a
whole
article
about
sleep
and
at
the
time
it
said
we
don't
really
know
why
people
sleep
well.
C
That
of
course,
was
quite
a
few
years
ago,
and
we
still
don't
know
really
why
people
sleep,
there's
been
a
lot
of
progress
and
sleep
science,
but
there's
still
things
that
are
unfathomable
at
present,
but
it
also
confided
that
there
seemed
to
be
a
handful
of
people
documented
cases
in
the
world
of
people
who
literally
did
not
sleep
at
all.
I
thought.
Well.
That
was
interesting
and
then
I
read
another
thing,
I
think
browsing
the
encyclopedia.
C
This
it
came
to
my
attention
that
there
was
still
in
existence,
an
official
Pretender
to
the
house,
inglis
a
Stuart
Pretender
to
the
English
throne.
Now
the
House
of
Stuart,
the
last
Stuart
monarch,
was
an
who
died
in
1714
and
there
was
James
the
elder
pretender,
and
then
there
was
the
young
pretender
Bonnie
Prince
Charlie,
and
when
his
his
forces
were
defeated
at
the
Battle
of
Culloden
and
1745,
that
was
essentially
the
end
of
the
Jacobin
movement.
C
C
Anyway,
there
to
still
seem
to
be
in
the
mid
twentieth
century,
a
Stewart
heir
to
the
throne,
though
he
didn't
make
too
much
about
it
is
he
was
not
gathering
up
forces
to
invade
the
Isle
of
Skye
or
anything
and
I
thought
suppose
there
was
like
a
plot
to
restore
the
House
of
Stuart
now
and
in
a
book
and
I
thought
suppose
at
the
heart
of
it
was
this
guy
I
was
thinking
about
who
couldn't
sleep
because
I'd
thought
about
him.
Some
thought
what
would
he
do
during
all
those
extra
hours?
C
Well,
if
he
were
anything
like
me,
he'd
probably
squander
that
extra
eight
hours
a
day
the
same
as
he
did
with
the
other.
Sixteen
but
III
thought
well,
he
could
learn
languages.
He
could
learn
just
about
every
language
there
is
and
he
could
and
and
so
on,
and
so
on.
Anyway,
I
had
a
character
in
mind
and
I
had
sort
of
a
cause
in
mind
and
that
didn't
add
up
to
a
book.
C
You
don't
need
to
know
any
of
this,
and
anyway,
I
woke
up,
and
we
had
him
over
to
the
house
in
Racine,
and
he
told
me
this
story,
while
the
two
of
us
made
great
indentations
in
a
bottle
of
Bushmills
as
I
best
recall
and
what's
remarkable,
is
that
I
remembered
this
the
next
day
and
I
suddenly
thought
that's
what
that
guy?
Who
can't
sleep
anymore,
can
do?
M
I'm
also
wondering
what
do
you
like
to
read,
obviously,
if
you're
not
going
to
write
any
more
novels
unless
they
just
happen,
you're
going
to
have
more
time
on
your
hands
and
I'm
wondering
what
you'd
like
to
pick
up
when
you've
got
time?
Who
are
some
of
your
favorite
authors?
And
do
you
stick
with
the
the
hardcore
crime
whodunits
or
do
you
hit?
You
know,
branch
out.
I
guess
is
that
you
branch
out
because
you
seem
to
know
a
lot
about
the
tutors
and
the
Stewart's
and
those
people.
C
Thank
you
well,
in
addition
to
not
writing
that
much
these
days,
I
have
also
have
been
finding
myself
reading
a
lot
less
in
recent
years,
and
so,
but
you
don't
care
about
that.
What
you
want
me
to
do
is
tell
you
something
that
you
might
like
to
read:
right:
yeah,
okay
and
I
generally.
Try
to
avoid
that
because
of
a
long-standing
policy
against
ever
saying
anything
nice
about
another
living
writer.