What do you think?
Rate this book
College for Sinners
"Take me, Dave!" Betty Stacey begged him, and the young college student Dave Forrestor took her, advancing one more lust-drenched step toward moral destruction. It was all part of the initiation, though . . . an initiation dreamed up by the passion-mad members of the The Libertines, a sex club that perverted every concept of deceny and love Dave Forrestor had ever believed. From his first numbing night of passion in a stinking hotel with a mechanical eighteen dollar prostitute, to the nights of insane abandon with three of the sex club's beautiful members, Dave Forrestor explored back alleys of lust only hinted at by a Kinsey report. It was an orgy of sin shaping their lives with - moral decay.
190 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1960
4 people are currently reading
11 people want to read
About the author
Lawrence Block
755 books3,022 followersLawrence Block has been writing crime, mystery, and suspense fiction for more than half a century. He has published in excess (oh, wretched excess!) of 100 books, and no end of short stories.
Born in Buffalo, N.Y., LB attended Antioch College, but left before completing his studies; school authorities advised him that they felt he’d be happier elsewhere, and he thought this was remarkably perceptive of them.
His earliest work, published pseudonymously in the late 1950s, was mostly in the field of midcentury erotica, an apprenticeship he shared with Donald E. Westlake and Robert Silverberg. The first time Lawrence Block’s name appeared in print was when his short story “You Can’t Lose” was published in the February 1958 issue of Manhunt. The first book published under his own name was Mona (1961); it was reissued several times over the years, once as Sweet Slow Death. In 2005 it became the first offering from Hard Case Crime, and bore for the first time LB’s original title, Grifter’s Game.
LB is best known for his series characters, including cop-turned-private investigator Matthew Scudder, gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, globe-trotting insomniac Evan Tanner, and introspective assassin Keller.
Because one name is never enough, LB has also published under pseudonyms including Jill Emerson, John Warren Wells, Lesley Evans, and Anne Campbell Clarke.
LB’s magazine appearances include American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Linn’s Stamp News, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and The New York Times. His monthly instructional column ran in Writer’s Digest for 14 years, and led to a string of books for writers, including the classics Telling Lies for Fun & Profit and The Liar’s Bible. He has also written episodic television (Tilt!) and the Wong Kar-wai film, My Blueberry Nights.
Several of LB’s books have been filmed. The latest, A Walk Among the Tombstones, stars Liam Neeson as Matthew Scudder and is scheduled for release in September, 2014.
LB is a Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America, and a past president of MWA and the Private Eye Writers of America. He has won the Edgar and Shamus awards four times each, and the Japanese Maltese Falcon award twice, as well as the Nero Wolfe and Philip Marlowe awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and the Diamond Dagger for Life Achievement from the Crime Writers Association (UK). He’s also been honored with the Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award from Mystery Ink magazine and the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement in the short story. In France, he has been proclaimed a Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has twice been awarded the Societe 813 trophy. He has been a guest of honor at Bouchercon and at book fairs and mystery festivals in France, Germany, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and Taiwan. As if that were not enough, he was also presented with the key to the city of Muncie, Indiana. (But as soon as he left, they changed the locks.)
LB and his wife Lynne are enthusiastic New Yorkers and relentless world travelers; the two are members of the Travelers Century Club, and have visited around 160 countries.
He is a modest and humble fellow, although you would never guess as much from this biographical note.
Born in Buffalo, N.Y., LB attended Antioch College, but left before completing his studies; school authorities advised him that they felt he’d be happier elsewhere, and he thought this was remarkably perceptive of them.
His earliest work, published pseudonymously in the late 1950s, was mostly in the field of midcentury erotica, an apprenticeship he shared with Donald E. Westlake and Robert Silverberg. The first time Lawrence Block’s name appeared in print was when his short story “You Can’t Lose” was published in the February 1958 issue of Manhunt. The first book published under his own name was Mona (1961); it was reissued several times over the years, once as Sweet Slow Death. In 2005 it became the first offering from Hard Case Crime, and bore for the first time LB’s original title, Grifter’s Game.
LB is best known for his series characters, including cop-turned-private investigator Matthew Scudder, gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, globe-trotting insomniac Evan Tanner, and introspective assassin Keller.
Because one name is never enough, LB has also published under pseudonyms including Jill Emerson, John Warren Wells, Lesley Evans, and Anne Campbell Clarke.
LB’s magazine appearances include American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Linn’s Stamp News, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and The New York Times. His monthly instructional column ran in Writer’s Digest for 14 years, and led to a string of books for writers, including the classics Telling Lies for Fun & Profit and The Liar’s Bible. He has also written episodic television (Tilt!) and the Wong Kar-wai film, My Blueberry Nights.
Several of LB’s books have been filmed. The latest, A Walk Among the Tombstones, stars Liam Neeson as Matthew Scudder and is scheduled for release in September, 2014.
LB is a Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America, and a past president of MWA and the Private Eye Writers of America. He has won the Edgar and Shamus awards four times each, and the Japanese Maltese Falcon award twice, as well as the Nero Wolfe and Philip Marlowe awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and the Diamond Dagger for Life Achievement from the Crime Writers Association (UK). He’s also been honored with the Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award from Mystery Ink magazine and the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement in the short story. In France, he has been proclaimed a Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has twice been awarded the Societe 813 trophy. He has been a guest of honor at Bouchercon and at book fairs and mystery festivals in France, Germany, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and Taiwan. As if that were not enough, he was also presented with the key to the city of Muncie, Indiana. (But as soon as he left, they changed the locks.)
LB and his wife Lynne are enthusiastic New Yorkers and relentless world travelers; the two are members of the Travelers Century Club, and have visited around 160 countries.
He is a modest and humble fellow, although you would never guess as much from this biographical note.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 4, 2020
Another one of the sleaze books Lawrence Block wrote under the Andrew Shaw byline for Nightstand Books. The plot - yes, there is one - follows David Forrestor (Trevor in the Nightstand edition, but Forrestor in the eBook edition Block released as part of his Classic Erotica series) from the start of his sophomore year at college until he suddenly drops out following a period during which he questioned just about every aspect of his life. In the meantime, there's a parallel plot following David's experience with The Libertines - a small campus sex club; he traverses a path from recruitment to initiation to eager participant, from awkwardness to abandon to disgust, and finally, resignation. The latter plot reveals the real purpose of the book: sex scenes, lots of them. Although this was published in 1960 during the censorship era, it leans more explicit, with a caveat: it has long realistic descriptions of foreplay, but once the activity goes further, the language becomes euphemistic, or worse, as description is replaced with phrases such as "it got better and better and better." Block delivers on all the sex scenes as required, but give him credit for also layering in some significant character development. Perhaps in some way it parallels Block's college experience at Antioch. In any case, he does capture the typical tumult when thoughts of certainty and uncertainty about one's life are commingled. That's probably more depth than the typical Nightstand reader wanted to absorb.
February 29, 2020
Dave Forrester is a sophomore more interested in finding a woman than studying for his classes. His prospects improve when he starts dating Jan Chatterton, an attractive shy small-town girl, but that relationship gets threatened as soon as he is inducted into a secretive society of libertines. It is an underground club that has operated for forty years and grants him unfettered sexual liberties with some of the prettiest women on campus.
How does Dave find romance with a good girl like Jan while indulging his basest desires on a nightly basis with six other women?
First things first, this is not one of Lawrence Block's early novels that has been recognized as a fledgling crime novel, renamed, and reissued by a reputable publishing house (ala Borderline, Lucky at Cards, and Cinderella Sims).
No, this is a typical Nightstand offering--ten chapters of 20 pages apiece, one sex scene per chapter, with no bad words and no descriptions of body parts that fall below the waist and above the knee.
It's beset with clunky metaphors and awkward scene transitions. The ending is rushed and tacked-on.
And yet…
There is something oddly engaging in Dave's personal journey of self-awareness. Block's ability to draw memorable minor characters makes this effort stand out just a little bit. I certainly kept turning the pages to see how it came out in the end…
It is fun to note that Block, some thirty years later, would revisit the plot device of a self-perpetuating secret club in the Matt Scudder novel A Long Line of Dead Men.
How does Dave find romance with a good girl like Jan while indulging his basest desires on a nightly basis with six other women?
First things first, this is not one of Lawrence Block's early novels that has been recognized as a fledgling crime novel, renamed, and reissued by a reputable publishing house (ala Borderline, Lucky at Cards, and Cinderella Sims).
No, this is a typical Nightstand offering--ten chapters of 20 pages apiece, one sex scene per chapter, with no bad words and no descriptions of body parts that fall below the waist and above the knee.
It's beset with clunky metaphors and awkward scene transitions. The ending is rushed and tacked-on.
And yet…
There is something oddly engaging in Dave's personal journey of self-awareness. Block's ability to draw memorable minor characters makes this effort stand out just a little bit. I certainly kept turning the pages to see how it came out in the end…
It is fun to note that Block, some thirty years later, would revisit the plot device of a self-perpetuating secret club in the Matt Scudder novel A Long Line of Dead Men.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews