<p>Lawrence Block&#39;s new collection assembles seven works of fiction written over a period of sixty years.<br />
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'Hard Sell,' a story ghost-written under Craig Rice&#39;s name, appeared in the first issue of Ed McBain&#39;s Mystery Magazinein 1960, and features Rice&#39;s hard-drinking yet clear-thinking lawyer, John J.Malone.<br />
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'Dead to the World,' which appeared under a one-shot pen name in Alfred Hitchcock&#39;s Mystery Magazine, has been lost for years, and the story of how it was lost and found is as interesting as the story itself.<br />
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The same is true of 'Whatever It Takes,' written over a quarter of a century ago and never submitted anywhere, because the author filed it away and forgot about it; he came upon it, dusted it off, and sent it to AHMM where it was published.<br />
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'I Know How to Pick &#39;Em' was written for&nbsp;<em>Dangerous Women,</em>&nbsp;the George R. R.Martin and Gardner Dozois anthology, and a holdback clause in the contract kept it out of LB&#39;s previous collections.<br />
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'Autumn at the Automat' was also written for an anthology, LB&#39;s own&nbsp;<em>In Sunlight or in Shadow,&nbsp;</em>and won an Edgar Allan Poe award as Best Story of the Year.</p><p>'Gym Rat' has never appeared in print; it was ePublished as part of a Center for Fiction project. While readers have suggested the protagonist might return for further appearances, LB is doubtful. Still, he&#39;s been mistaken before.</p><p>'Resume Speed,' the title novella, was published in hardcover (by the stellar Subterranean Press) and as a Kindle Single (by the author). Subterranean&#39;s edition is out of print and hard to come by, and the story now appears in paperback for the first time. While it was written only a couple of years ago, it has its roots in a story the author overheard perhaps 40 years ago.</p><p>All of the circumstances of its origin, and a good deal more about each of these stories, may be found in LB&#39;s foreword.&nbsp;</p>