Lawrence Block to speak at World Stamp Show

Award winning author Lawrence Block has written five books -- Hit Man, Hit List, Hit Parade, Hit and Run, and Hit Me-- about Keller -- an “urban lonely guy” who earns a living killing strangers. Contemplating retirement, Keller returns to the stamp collecting hobby that brightened his childhood. But he really gets into it, and it puts enough of a dent in his retirement fund to keep him at his trade.

What some people don’t know is that Larry Block’s knowledge of stamp collecting comes from his own passion for the hobby. As an avid stamp collector, Block will be talking about the joy of finding a treasured stamp and how stamp collecting ties in to his travels, his writing and his life.  He will be a speaker at the upcoming World Stamp Show (May 28th- June 4th in NYC (see below). He'll talk about the lethal philatelist Keller, and explain how Keller is a character readers are genuinely fond of -- even though they don't think they should be.

Block will be speaking at the World Stamp Show at the Javits Center in NYC on May 31 at 4 p.m.

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WORLD STAMP SHOW TO BE HELD AT JAVITS CENTER IN NEW YORK CITY MAY 28-JUNE 4, 2016
International Stamp Exhibition Held Once Every Ten Years

Every ten years, the United States hosts an historic event in which people from around the world come together to honor the postage stamp. This year’s eight-day celebration entitled: World Stamp Show-NY 2016 is scheduled from May 28th to June 4th, 2016, at the Javits Center located at 655 West 34th Street in New York City. In addition to hundreds of thousands stamps from around the world, this year’s exhibition will include the world’s most valuable postage stamp, John Lennon’s childhood stamp album, vintage postal vehicles, and much more.

Visitors from all 50 states and more than 100 countries are expected to attend the free exhibition and retail event at which they can buy from more than 200 of the world’s most notable and respected stamp dealers, bid on rarities through revered auction houses, view nearly 60,000 pages of stamp exhibits, attend seminars, or just “Take a Walk Around the World” through the 60+ country post offices participating in the exhibition.

On display will be very valuable and rare stamps, including the British Guiana One-Cent Black on Magenta stamp, produced in 1856, sold in 2014 for $9.5 million, and considered to be the world’s most valuable object by weight.

Those new to the hobby of stamp collecting will receive complimentary stamps and guidance from “stamp buddies” on how to begin collecting in the “Beginner’s Area,” with planned activities for those attendees from six years of age to 96. “For more than 150 years, postage stamps have connected people from all over the world,” says Wade Saadi, President of World Stamp Show-NY 2016. “Just as Passport stamps show where people have traveled to in the world, postage stamps are a unique way of learning about history, geography and even pop culture.

Collectors are able to tell stories of the past, such as who was the president of the US in any given year; what cars were popular when; or when the world was at war, as well as to commemorate a wide variety of themes, including artwork, inventions, animals, sports, and world leaders.”

Throughout the ages, stamp collecting has been a passionate hobby of some very famous people from all walks of life including: Pope Francis (boyhood collector), Queen Elizabeth, Patrick Dempsey, Warren Buffet, Maria Sharapova, Nicolas Sarkozy, John Lennon, Freddie Mercury, Ronnie Wood, Bill Gross, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jacques Costeau, and George Bernard Shaw, among others. 

“For generations, letters have delivered news of events, both happy and sad occasions, business, politics, discoveries, and family history. By the same token, postage stamps reflect the times and teach us about people, places and events, reflecting on the talk of the day,” continued Mr. Saadi. “Stamp collecting is a great way to connect with the past and present, obtaining valuable knowledge that requires being mindful -- without the need for technology.”

The World Stamp Show-NY 2016 opens on Saturday, May 28th from 10:30 am to 6:00 pm (the opening ceremony begins at 9am). From Sunday, May 29th through Friday, June 3rd, show hours are from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM and on Saturday, June 4th the hours are 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Admission is free. For more information, visit: www.ny2016.org.

Lawrence Block: Hit Me

Today I welcome back Lawrence Block, one of the most widely recognized names in the mystery genre. Larry has been a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America and is a four-time winner of the Edgar and Shamus Awards, as well as a recipient of prizes in France, Germany, and Japan. He received the Diamond Dagger from the British Crime Writers' Association—only the third American to be given this award. He is a prolific author, having written more than fifty books and numerous short stories, and is a devoted New Yorker and an enthusiastic global traveler.

Lawrence Block: HIT ME 

It all started with a short story…

 “Answers to Soldier,” I called it. Keller, a hit man, flies from New York to Oregon, where the Witness Protection Plan has someone tucked away, running a Quick-Print shop. He makes the mistake of getting to know the guy, sympathizes with him, and has fantasies about giving up his trade and living a similar life, perhaps in that very town. He spends a few days bonding with the man, and even gets a realtor to show him houses.

Then one morning he comes to his senses, strangles the guy, and goes home.

The story worked nicely, but it was the character who lodged firmly in my imagination. I found more stories to tell about him, until I had ten of them; together, they amounted to an episodic novel, published by William Morrow as Hit Man.

The last chapter finds Keller ready to retire, and prepared to enliven his retirement by returning to stamp collecting, his boyhood pastime. But by the time the book ends, his hobby has made serious inroads upon his retirement fund, so it looks as though he may not be retiring after all.

 (“Retiring?” says Dot. “I can’t see it, Keller. Shy, maybe. But not retiring.”)

A second book, Hit List, has more of an ongoing arc to it, as Keller finds himself the unwitting target of another assassin. But it’s essentially episodic, because when you kill people for a living, well, you’re apt to be leading an episodic life. Hit List, too, was well received, and Keller was beginning to emerge as a guilty pleasure for a number of readers. “I found myself looking off into the middle distance,” a woman in Marin County told me at a reading, “and I actually said out loud, ‘Well, so he kills people. What’s so bad about that?’”

He killed some more people in Hit Parade. And then, in Hit and Run, he’s set up as the fall guy in a political assassination. His whole world falls apart, and the life he’s enjoyed for all these years is over. He winds up in New Orleans, with a new name (Nicholas Edwards), a new wife (the former Julia Roussard), a new profession (rehabbing houses in the wake of Katrina), and a baby on the way.

So he’s retired, right?

You’d think so. But stamps can be expensive, and Keller’s collection is quite advanced. (He collects worldwide issues from 1840 to 1940. So, as it happens, do I. How’s that for coincidence?)

And the economic meltdown has stomped the rehab trade flat as a fritter, and one day the phone rings, and it’s Dot.

Well.

Thus Hit Me. In it, Keller begins in Dallas, taking care of business between sessions at a stamp auction. Another assignment involving a felonious monk leads him to risk a return to New York, where someone recognizes him within hours of his arrival. Julia joins him on a Caribbean cruise, but he’s on his own when he flies to Cheyenne to look at a stamp collection—with side trips to Denver, where there’s a bit of business to sort out. And by the time he gets back home, he’s ready to retire for good.

Until one more call from Dot sends him shuffling off to Buffalo…

The advance reviews have been uniformly enthusiastic, and only false modesty prevents me from quoting them at length. Playboy, where most of Hit Man appeared initially as short stories, will run an excerpt of Hit Me in their January issue. Advance orders are strong, and we’ve had brisk sales for Mysterious Bookshop’s 500-copy limited Philatelic Edition http://tinyurl.com/d4nwt44.

All of this is gratifying, but while preparing this piece I’ve been struck by a theme that’s been a constant ever since that first story.

The poor bastard. All he’s ever wanted to do is retire, and he can’t stick with it.

Damn. I wonder what that’s like…

Lawrence Block with Ann Bannon, legendary author of 50s-era lesbian fiction