My favourite novella was entitled "Archibald Lawless: Anarchist at Large." When I was fifteen I read a lot about anarchy, both in its theoretical/political form and in the exaggerated strawman-anarchy form. From what I remember of this novella, it leans more towards the former than the latter in its representation of anarchy, which I quite respected. ( )

Longer than short stories, each of these works succeeds in immersing the reader into the mystery and characters of unrelated works. ( )

10 novellas by 10 authors and edited by Ed McBain. 1. Walking Around Money by Donald E. Westlake, 2. Hostages by Anne Perry, 3. The Corn Maiden : A Love Story by Joyce Carol Oates, 4. Archibald Lawless, Anarchist at Large: Walking the Line by Walter Mosley, 5. The Resurrection Man by Sharyn McCrumb, 6. Merely Hate by Ed McBain, 7. The Things They Left Behind by Stephen King, 8. The Ransome Women by John Farris, 9. Forever by Jeffrey Deaver, 10. Keller's Adjustment by Lawrence Block, - This signed first edition of Transgressions is published in an edition of 226 copies, of which 200 numbered copies have been released to the trade and 26 lettered copies have been reserved for the authors and the publisher. My copy is 109/200

Transgressions contains 10 novellas by well-known and loved authors. My favorite stories belonged to Stephen King dealing with things left behind in a man's care by co-workers who died on 9-11; Joyce Carol Oates writes about hateful school girls; Anne Perry takes us to Ireland and drops us in a vignette about their well-known political/religious conflict; The Ransome Women by John Farris is a story about an artist who engages models--one a year-- and what happens to those models once they're done; and Sharyn McCrumb writes about body snatching.

The rest of the contributors did a good job, but these are the stories that really stood out for me. I always love to get a sampling of authors I've never read, and I think this is a good book to introduce these authors and their style of writing to those who may not normally pick up one of their books. Of course, each author will bring his fan-base to this particular book too, and I don't think they'll be disappointed. ( )

In the foreword to TRANSGRESSIONS, Ed McBain says it was a bit of a challenge finding 10 authors to contribute to a collection of crime novellas. I mean, who even writes novellas anymore? Yet somehow, McBain (or Evan Hunter, to use his birth name) was able to do it.
The result is a lengthy--783 pages, to be exact--and ambitious work that will probably stand as one of a kind, perhaps forever, since I doubt anyone else will undertake such a project in the future.
Read the entire review at http://thebookgrrl.blogspot.com/2008/... ( )