Bill Crider's Posts - CrimeSpace2024-03-28T14:11:47ZBill Criderhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/macavityabchttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/60985217?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://crimespace.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=macavityabc&xn_auth=noLucky at Cards -- Lawrence Blocktag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-03-08:537324:BlogPost:25242007-03-08T00:48:46.000ZBill Criderhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/macavityabc
<b><font size="3">This is cross-posted from my <a href="http://billcrider.blogspot.com">regular blog</a><font size="4">.</font></font></b><font size="3"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br></br>
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The other day I commented on Lawrence Block's</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">$20 Lust</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">, reprinted as</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Cinderella Sims</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">. Block started…</span></font>
<b><font size="3">This is cross-posted from my <a href="http://billcrider.blogspot.com">regular blog</a><font size="4">.</font></font></b><font size="3"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br/>
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The other day I commented on Lawrence Block's</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">$20 Lust</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">, reprinted as</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Cinderella Sims</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">. Block started out to write a Gold Medal crime novel, figured this one didn't quite cut the mustard, and published it as soft-core porn. Now Hard Case Crime has reprinted another of Block's old soft-core novels,</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Lucky at Cards</span> (aka <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Sex Shuffle</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">). This one comes a lot closer to being a Gold Medal book, I think, than</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Cinderella Sims</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">.<br/>
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For one thing, there's a lot less sex.</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Cinderella Sims</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">has a</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">lot</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">of sex, and the scenes are considerably longer and more explicit than those in</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Lucky at Cards</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">. Another thing is that the background in</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Lucky</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">is a lot more carefully worked out and believable than the one in</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Cinderella</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">. All the stuff about poker and gin sounds exactly right, and the setting is as convincing as in anything Block has done.<br/>
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With a little tweaking, especially toward the end, this book would have fit right into the Gold Medal line. I wonder if Block tried it there and it just didn't fly for some reason. At any rate, it's great to have this new edition on the shelves. Check it out.</span></font><br/>