Customer Reviews (1)

I Wish I'd Known...
I wish I'd known when I first owned this short collection that it would someday be selling for such a price!! I'd have bought five copies and retired rich!Vachss and Lansdale collaborated on a few Hap and Leonard short stories... Leonard was finally forced to go to court for burning down the crack house next door (a running joke in some of the Hap and Leonard novels).Vachss, a lawyer in real life, obviously ran with the courtroom proceedings in this humorous venture.

Also included was an excerpt from "Captains Outrageous" and an "interview" with some of the characters from the H & L novels.This was a very short collection, a sideline in the Hap and Leonard series.I would recommend it to fans, but not at such a high price... Where are the reprints?Writers make no royalties from the sales of used books... bring this back into print, please! One of these stories was reprinted in "Mad Dog Summer and Other Stories." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Strega, Blue Belle, and Hard Candy in one handy package.
The Burke series of novels by Andrew Vachss comprises 18 books ([...]), of which these three titles are numbers 2, 3 and 4. For detailed reviews, look to the many good reviews of "Strega", "Blue Belle" and "Hard Candy" on their respective pages. They were originally published in 1987 - 1989 following the success of the series opener "Flood" in 1985. Note that the first five in the series are titled with the name of the woman with whom Burke is involved at the time: Stega is another survivor of a difficult childhood like Burke. Blue Belle is the standup girl who leaves a big hole in his heart for many years afterwards. Candy may be as hard as the character Wesley who reappears out of Burke's past and is given his fullest treatment outside of the 1973 prequel "A Bomb Built in Hell" (available as pdf download: [...]). Fiction this biting could only be based on some inner truth.

This sturdy trade size paperback (Quality Paperback Book Club, 2000) collects what turns out to be a trilogy within the larger series, as the events and characters of the three books are related and given new perspective and depth. Those who have read most of the whole series remark that the first five or six are the strongest and best written, with a few individual standouts in the later dozen. I tend to agree and was glad to get this core trilogy in one handy volume. This trilogy makes an excellent introduction to the remarkable crew with whom Burke works and breathes his noirish New York environment. You couldn't do better than to begin reading Vachss here, or to pick up some background if you've read some of the later novels (which is where I started, with a copy of "Blossom" [#5] discovered at a library book sale; not to worry as the whole series is still circulating, but these three are keepers).

A note on the title for this three-in-one volume, "Down Here" was recycled in 2004 for the 15th book in the series, and is not to be confused with it. Finally, on Vachss' web site you'll find excerpts from the novels, his other books, short stories, dog photos and stories, Burke's playlists, as well as the serious non-fiction on which the events depicted in the fiction are based. ([...]) ... Read more

Product Description
Andrew Vachss's writing has been described as "red-hot and serious as apunctured lung" (Playboy), "hypnotically violent ... made up of equal partsbroken concrete block and razor wire" (Chicago Sun-Times), and "short andchoppy, like the ticking of a time bomb" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer).

In this audiobook, Burt Reynolds brings to life 27 of Vachss's trademarklife-at-ground-zero stories. In "Dope Fiend," a woman suffering from bothterminal cancer and a drug-withholding doctor finds the hard answer toeach. "Dead Game" illustrates the horrible consequences of misplaced loyalty. And an ex-con finds that, sometimes in life, payback is a beautiful thing, inthe story "Proving It." After you hear these 27 stories--and the bonustrack of David Joe Wirth reprising his stage performance of "Placebo"--you'llunderstand why The Washington Post declared Vachss "Lord of the AsphaltJungle."

Andrew Vachss is the author of the Burke series of novels, the 13th ofwhich, Pain Management, will be released Fall 2001 by Alfred A. Knopf.Vachss has been a federal investigator in sexually transmitted diseases, asocial services caseworker, and a labor organizer, and has directed amaximum-security prison for violent youth. Now a lawyer in privatepractice, he represents children and youths exclusively. He lives andworks both in New York City and the Pacific Northwest. More information aboutAndrew Vachss and his work is available at www.vachss.com. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

PROVING IT proves worthy of a listen
I just listened to Andrew Vachss' audiobook PROVING IT performed by Burt Reynolds with a bonus track "Placebo" performed by David Joe Wirth.WOW!What great material! 28 of Andrew Vachss' short stories filled with surprising and sometimes terrifying twists.Mr. Reynolds does a wonderful job.You can feel the love and pain behind the material.He also commendably varies his voice to give a suggestion of character, helping to illuminate the stories as well as entertain the listener.However, I do think the audiobook would be better if more actors were involved.Although Mr. Reynolds is excellent on some stories, he seems to run out of steam in places, and lapses into a delivery that unfortunately does not serve the material as well as it could.Due to the enormous volume and constantly changing nature of the stories, it might have been more effective if the stories were read by a number of actors, rather than just one.David Joe Wirth's "bonus" track reading of PLACEBO is a perfect example of a welcome change of voice and delivery style.PLACEBO is truly a bonus because, as it says on the inside cover, Mr. Wirth has been closely involved in Mr. Vachss' work for the past ten years, and it shows.The reading not only demonstrates a deep understanding of the material; it is clear, direct, and extremely well paced.Bravo to David Joe Wirth, I hope to get the opportunity to see him on stage or in films soon!Bravo to Burt Reynolds for doing this audiobook!Bravo to Publishing Mills for producing a tape of Andrew Vachss' short fiction!

"Proving It" does just that!
Being a long-time fan of Vachss' work, even I was skeptical that Burt Reynolds could bring the right voice to his short fiction. But "Proving It" proves that the combination of Vachss' hard-hitting truth and Burt Reynolds' range makes this a winner. This isn't the Reynolds of his comic capers, think hard-boiled like "Sharky's Machine," reading some of the best written and honest short fiction around.

This 27 story collection includes a chilling portrait of a family gone horribly wrong ("Anytime I Want"), a loyal warrior sacrificing it all to honor the life he couldn't save and protect the ones he can ("Mission"), and the frightening result of an abused child who isn't heard ("Witch Hunt"). But my all time favorite has got to be the title track, "Proving It." Burt Reynolds brings a haunting and beautiful voice to a story of true love and loyalty that only Vachss could write.

And finally, don't miss the bonus track of David Joe Wirth reprising his stage role of "Placebo." The liner notes say he's been involved with Vachss for a long time and his performance here shows his knowledge and feeling for the material and the message. Mr. Wirth should certainly be a name we all know, hopefully this brilliant performance will make that happen for him.

There are so many more, too many to list in fact, but all winners. Everyone who hears this collection will find something that speaks to them.

Burt Reynolds brings Vachss to life!
I don't normally get audiobooks. I like reading more than listening. But I'm a longtime fan of Vachss's work, so I made an exception--and I'm glad I did. I don't know what other audiobooks are like, but what Burt Reynolds did here feels more like a performance to me than a reading. His range of voices is terrific, and he really taps into the themes in Vachss's writing. And the bonus track, "Placebo," is not to be missed. Never heard of the actor before, and I haven't found any other audiobooks by him, but I'll be looking. ... Read more

Product Description
Contents: Give Me Liberty; Concrete: Objects of Value; Aliens; The American; Roachmill; Placebo; Black Cross; The Aerialist, Part 3; Heartbreakers, Prologue; Aliens vs. Predator; Sin City, Part 1 ... Read more

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ANDREW VACHSS' DYSTOPIAN FUTURE ANTHOLOGY SERIES!Date: November 1993 to May 1994*** Contains Issue #'s 1-4 ***COMPLETE 4-ISSUE SERIES! ... Read more

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Chapters: Frank Schmalleger, Jerome Herbert Skolnick, Ronald Weitzer, Andrew Vachss, Lawrence W. Sherman, Katharine Bement Davis, Robert E. Park, Nick Pastore, Orlando Winfield Wilson, Paul L. Kirk, Jack Olsen, James Q. Wilson, Edwin Sutherland, Donald Cressey, Gary Kleck, Michael Maltz, Alfred Blumstein, Philip J. Cook, Robert D. Keppel, James Fyfe, Mark A.r. Kleiman, Gary Lafree, Roger Graef, Matthew Barnett Robinson, Albert K. Cohen, Thorsten Sellin, Richard Felson, Don Kates, George Thorndike Angell, Christopher S. Koper, Dayle Hinman, George L. Kelling, Arthur Koehler, Sheldon Glueck, Jeffrey A. Roth, John Hagedorn. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 134. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Ronald Weitzer (born 1952) is a sociologist specializing in criminology and a professor at George Washington University, known for his publications on police-minority relations and on the sex industry. Weitzer has authored a number of papers on the sex industry, with a focus on American policies toward prostitution laws and sex trafficking. He recently completed a study on the prostitution policy from Western Australia, which attempted to legalize brothel and escort prostitution in 2008. See prostitution in Western Australia. Regarding American domestic prostitution policy, he advocates what he calls a "two-track" policy toward enforcement of prostitution laws. One "track" involves intensified law enforcement toward street prostitution (targeting both street prostitutes and their customers), arguing that street prostitution victimizes host communities and leaves the prostitutes themselves open to victimization. The second "track" involves what he calls "de facto decriminalization" of indoor prostitution, that is, the non-enforcement by police departments of laws against various forms of indoor...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=11934246 ... Read more

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Word count: 3455. ... Read more