The focus and subject matter of mid-century men’s adventure magazines (MAMs) were wide-ranging, and versatile storytellers able to confidently navigate genres, approaches, and authorial voices found regular, lucrative work in their pages. Among those talented writers was a notable newcomer: Lawrence Block—though his initial pieces would see print under various pseudonyms.
Not the Lawrence Block you know, who is among the most widely read, respected, and celebrated writers of crime and mystery fiction in the world. Internationally read and internationally honored, upon whom The Mystery Writers of America bestowed the title of Grand Master. A storyteller with over 65 years of professional experience in damn near every mode of written expression, whose essays, magazine columns, and non-fiction books focused on the art, craft, and business of writing have endured to inform generations.
Not that Lawrence Block.
Not yet…
The Men's Adventure Library announces the release of one of the most anticipated books in the series: The Naked and the Deadly: Lawrence Block in Men's Adventure Magazines. Collecting Block's early work for MAMs, with stories ranging from dramatic non-fiction to hard-boiled crime, detective stories, and international intrigue, The Naked and the Deadly is at once a look at a legendary writer's earliest work and swift development as well as a representative selection of the types of stories that made MAMs famous -- and infamous.
In this latest release from The Men’s Adventure Library, series editors Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle restore the early work of Lawrence Block for their new collection, reissuing these long lost early stories in their original, unexpurgated versions for the first time since their original publication, and presented with the full cooperation of the Author.
To welcome Block to the Men’s Adventure Library, The Naked and the Deadly will be issued in four distinct, handsome editions:
1. An expanded 396-page, 6” x 9” color hardcover that adds over 60 pages to the contents of the paperback and ebook editions. Includes dozens of supplementary color and monochrome illustrations, further context and background by the Editors, and an entire additional 8,000-word story by Block that is exclusive to the hardcover. Get it here: https://amzn.to/3ORiKBV
2. A 12-story, 444-page, 4.370” x 7.000” collectible mass market paperback edition, created to honor Block’s many successes in paperbacks. Get it here: https://amzn.to/43fdIDy
3. A 12-story ebook, duplicating the contents of the mass market paperback. Get it here: https://amzn.to/3N5U6ev
4. A strictly limited, 200-copy edition of the expanded hardcover that includes a custom bookplate signed by Lawrence Block and the Editors, tipped-in by hand. Available exclusively at www.BlockNaked.com while copies remain. Get it here: www.BlockNaked.com
All editions include a scene-setting preface by the Editors and a brand new introduction written for this collection by Block.
This is the summer to get Naked!
Below is an early review video from Paperback Parade's Gary Lovisi that offers a peek inside both print editions:
