IslandX

Island X

It was a pleasure to work with Theolyn Brock on Island X, a story that explores what happens when six federal inmates previously scheduled for execution are instead exiled on an uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean a thousand miles from anywhere, completely cut off from the outside world. As the days pass, the men come to realize the greatest threat to their survival may be more sinister than merely the lack of modern civilization. Dark, elemental forces seem to be reaching out to them from deep within the island itself.

SteadyTrouble

Steady Trouble

“I’ve worked with Elizabeth on both self-published and traditionally published books. Each time I found her to be extremely professional, timely and she provided a great knowledge of the genre of crime fiction, as well as fixed my grammatical travesties. I could go with any number of people to correct my spelling, but Elizabeth gave my writing a bit more that I feel really helped push it to its final stage.” — Mike McCrary

CrossedBones

Crossed Bones by S.W. Lauden

She would have made a great detective, if she didn’t like breaking the law so much.

Shayna Billups is not a woman to be trifled with. As ruthless and conniving as she is beautiful and charming, Shayna will go to any lengths to get the things she wants in life—namely, money and a good time.

Having put ex-flame Tommy Ruzzo’s heart through a blender in Crosswise, the book that introduced Shayna and Tommy to readers, Shayna has left Tommy reeling in Florida, and settled in New Orleans.

DangerousEnds

Dangerous Ends by Alex Segura

“Trying to avoid getting shot again? Good luck with that.”

Pete Fernandez has had more than his share of bad luck over the years. You’d think losing one’s job, father and fiancée, falling down the addiction rabbit hole, and going toe-to-toe with a serial killer (Silent City, Down the Darkest Street) would be enough to break a guy.

Fernandez is cut from sturdy cloth, however.

Determined to set his life on firmer footing, he begins working as a private investigator and attending AA meetings. He’s still figuring things out, however, not sure if trailing cheating spouses is the way he wants to spend the rest of his days.

LoveDeathBurgundy

Love & Death in Burgundy by Susan C. Shea

All her life, Katherine had lived with the equal terrors of being invisible and being seen by everyone as a fool.

When artist Katherine Goff and her musician husband, Michael, moved from their California home to Reigny-sur-Canne three years ago, Katherine thought it was finally her chance to live a simple, carefree life among close neighbors in a charming French village. The locals, however, turned out to be resistant to outsiders, particularly foreigners.

AngelColon

Ignore Me (please don’t ignore me) by Angel Luis Colón

It’s a pleasure to welcome Derringer and Anthony Award-nominated author Angel Luis Colón (No Happy Endings) to the site today in conjunction with his latest release, Blacky Jaguar Against the Cool Clux Cult (June 23rd from Shotgun Honey/Down&Out). With dozens of short story credits in publications such as Thuglit, Literary Orphans, and Great Jones Street, Colón is a familiar name to readers of crime fiction and noir. But even with name recognition, there’s something almost every author dreads: marketing. Today, Colón shares his thoughts on why promoting your writing shouldn’t be the low point in the writing process.
JonBassoff

The Marvelous Possibilities of the Irrational by Jon Bassoff

Jon Bassoff is well-known as the author of thought-provoking, critically acclaimed noir. His consistently original, and deeply disturbing, novels explore the darkest corners of his characters’ psyches. Bassoff has been compared with luminaries such as Cormac McCarthy, Donald Ray Pollock and Jim Thompson, and his novels Corrosion, The Incurables, and The Disassembled Man have been adapted for the big screen. Today I’m pleased to welcome Jon back to the site in conjunction with his latest release, The Blade This Time (DarkFuse).
Incognito

Incognito

“I’ve worked on two manuscripts with Elizabeth, both of which were picked up by publishers, and there’s no doubt in my mind that I’ll be returning to her for my next. With her legal background and editing skills, Elizabeth is super sharp and astute. Not only will she correct your copy to the standard, but her development skills will catch things you didn’t notice. She’ll let you know what needs to be corrected, offer suggestions for change, and sensibly question details so that the story sounds logical, without distorting your writer’s voice. Take my word for it, you’re in safe hands.” — Khaled Talib

JeffHess

Cold War Canoe Club Author Jeffery Hess Interviewed by James R. Duncan

Doing something a little different here today, in which I welcome two authors I’ve had the pleasure of working with, Jeff Hess and Jim Duncan, for an interview between the two of them. I worked with Jeff on his novel Beachhead and the just released collection Cold War Canoe Club, both from Down & Out Books, as well as on a couple of projects in the pipeline. In what turned out to be a somewhat prescient manuscript, I had the pleasure of working with Jim on Blood Republic, a story in which America descends into a second civil war, one driven by conservative vs. liberal ideology run amok in the wake of the most hotly contested presidential election in history. Jeff and Jim know each other from their work on the award-winning Home of the Brave anthologies, which Jeff edited and Jim contributed to as an author. Today, Jim interviews Jeff about Cold War Canoe Club and how Jeff used his six-year stint in the Navy to fuel the stories therein.