Editing by Elizabeth

July 20, 2011

Gun by Ray Banks

Gun by Ray Banks He had to remember – his heart pumped too fast, he’d bleed out quicker; too slow, and he’d pass out. Had to maintain a balance if he was going to make it out of this.

Richie has recently been released from prison after serving a sentence for ABH (actual bodily harm) committed during the course of doing a job for local crime boss/drug dealer, Goose. Richie’s girlfriend wants him to make a fresh start and get a proper job, but only 18 and with no real education Richie soon finds himself back on Goose’s doorstep looking for work.

Though at first Goose doesn’t even remember him – rather insulting since Richie did more time than he otherwise would have had to because he wouldn’t tell the police who he was working for – Goose soon assigns Richie the task of dropping by another lowlife’s place, picking up a gun Goose has arranged for, and bringing it back. Sounds simple enough. But of course it’s not. It never is.

Things go sideways for Richie almost immediately, and the matter-of-fact manner in which the violence that ensues is portrayed speaks to the brutal environment Richie and those around him similarly situated function in as they attempt to improve their lives through the only path they see as being a realistic means to an end: crime. →

July 19, 2011

Absolute Zero Cool by Declan Burke

Absolute Zero Cool by Declan Burke The latest novel from Declan Burke, Absolute Zero Cool, will officially be launched in The Gutter Bookshop, Temple Bar, Dublin 2 on Wednesday 10 August by none other than John Connolly. Anyone fortunate enough to be in the area should drop in, as all are welcome. Here’s what can you expect from this killer blast of Absolute Zero Cool:

Who in their right mind would want to blow up a hospital?

“Close it down, blow it up – what’s the difference?”

Billy Karlsson needs to get real. Literally. A hospital porter with a sideline in euthanasia, Billy is a character trapped in the purgatory of an abandoned novel. Deranged by logic, driven beyond sanity, Billy makes his final stand: if killing old people won’t cut the mustard, the whole hospital will have to go up in flames.

Only his creator can stop him now, the author who abandoned Billy to his half-life limbo, in which Billy schemes to do whatever it takes to get himself published, or be damned . . .

With most of the country sweltering under record breaking heat this summer we could all use a blast of Absolute Zero Cool.

Absolute Zero Cool will soon be available from Liberties Press (ISBN: 9781907593314), and those outside the UK can also keep a lookout for it on The Book Depository, which has free shipping worldwide.

Declan Burke is one of Ireland’s leading crime fiction authors. He reviews regularly for a variety of national newspapers and magazines, and hosts the website Crime Always Pays. His previous books include Eightball Boogie, The Big O, and Crime Always Pays. He is also the editor of the Liberties Press-published Down These Green Streets, a collection of essays, interviews, and short-stories on Irish crime fiction from a variety of well-known and award-winning authors.

July 12, 2011

Speedloader by Snubnose Press

I don’t know how to pray but I close my eyes and ask God for help anyway. God doesn’t answer, doesn’t even send happy thoughts, just reruns of nightmares. – “Plastic Soldiers”

Snubnose Press is the new e-publishing arm of Spinetingler Magazine, and they’ve come roaring out the gate with their first offering, Speedloader.

Edited by Sandra Ruttan and Brian Lindenmuth, Speedloader is a collection of six hard hitting crime fiction stories from an impressive group of authors.

In You Dirty Rat by Nigel Bird a powerful combination of festering guilt and a quest for justice drives a soldier to take action years after a series of tragic events occurred on the battlefield.

Mori Obscura by Nik Korpon and Herniated Roots by Richard Thomas both use addiction and what its overpowering pull can do to a man as their backdrop.

Crash & Burn by Jonathan Woods is an amazingly intricate story for short fiction, one which has the plans for revenge of several players unfolding on a collision course of epic proportions.

Classic Matthew C. Funk, Cuffs is a New Orleans set tale of mistaken identity – or is it? – that starts off with a feeling of confusion which quickly develops into an increasing sense of dread.

And while those five stories are all outstanding, Plastic Soldiers by W.D. County absolutely leveled me. Told through the eyes of a kidnapped ten year old boy, Plastic Soldiers showcases both the worst and best that the human soul is capable of. County manages to pack a novel’s worth of pain and desperation and hope into five of the most compelling pages you will ever read. This was the first story of County’s that I’ve read, but it damn sure won’t be the last. You can read County’s “Dancing With Myself” interview on Nigel Bird’s blog to learn more about him.

Interesting note: Boden Steiner, who did the cover art for Speedloader, created an alternate version based on the story “Plastic Soldiers.” His vision is as powerful as the story itself.

Speedloader is available from Snubnose Press for only $0.99.

To learn more about Snubnose Press, visit their website.

July 07, 2011

Gone Bad by Julie Morrigan

Gone Bad by Julie Morrigan A weak hand grabs at my ankle. I look down and his face is turned to look at me, all pleading eyes and bleeding nose. Why does he think I’d help him? – “Keeping It Real”

Why indeed, as it quickly becomes apparent that the folks in the eighteen blistering stories in Julie Morrigan’s collection, Gone Bad, are far from a warm, fuzzy, altruistic bunch.

No, Morrigan has chosen instead to write a wickedly good group of stories which all revolve around some of the worst behavior and emotions which people are capable of. Greed, deceit, torture, murder, jealousy, lust, rape? Step right up, Gone Bad‘s got you covered.

The stories in the collection range in length from true “flash fiction” to a couple that are quite meaty, and though there is honestly not a dud in the group – no mean feat with as many stories as are included – there were a few that I found especially enjoyable.

“Searching” starts the collection off on a decidedly creepy note as a young boy joins in the search for a missing neighborhood girl. It’s not the first time he’s participated in such a search, his sister having gone missing recently as well, and it’s soon clear that’s not the only thing it isn’t his first time doing. →

July 06, 2011

Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson

Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson I am not the person I thought I was when I woke this morning. – Christine Lucas

Christine Lucas is having more than some existential “Who am I?” moment when she says she’s not the person she thought she was when she woke up. She honestly doesn’t remember the majority of her life.

Severe head trauma has left Christine with both anterograde amnesia, in which the sufferer can’t form new memories, and retrograde amnesia, in which the sufferer can’t remember events from the past. She literally wakes up each day as a new person, a blank slate, having to discover over and over again who she is and what happened to her.

As disturbing as that is in and of itself, once Christine starts keeping a journal of her daily activities and discoveries at the behest of her doctor she begins to realize something even more disturbing; she’s not getting the same story consistently from those around her… including her husband.

Sometimes the variations on detail are subtle, other times she’s told outright lies. With a building sense of dread Christine begins to wonder if anything she’s been told has been true, even the version of events about the accident that caused her condition to being with. Now, not only can’t Christine trust herself, she’s not sure she can trust anyone else either. →

July 01, 2011

Out There Bad by Josh Stallings

“I don’t believe some higher force is planning this life for me. If I did, I’d give up, lay down and die right now. Because it would be clear, that fuck in the sky hates my ass.” – Moses McGuire

Well, even if there is no “fuck in the sky” that hates Moses’ ass, there are plenty of people right here on terra firma ready to step up and fill that role. It’s not that Moses tries to piss people off, he just can’t help it.

As he remarks at one point in Out There Bad, Josh Stallings’ mind-blowingly spectacular follow up to Beautiful, Naked & Dead, “You know me, if there’s any shit in a ten mile radius, I will step in it.” And, oh my, has Moses stepped in it this time.

When we last saw forty-three year old suicidal strip club bouncer Moses McGuire his life looked like it had finally turned a corner. He’d avenged the death of his best friend and, along the way, fallen in love with her twin sister. Off to Baja they went to settle down and live happily ever after. Yeah, well, life doesn’t work like that for Moses.

As Out There Bad opens Moses is once again alone and working as a bouncer in that same old strip club in LA. When a misunderstanding – one involving a patron’s broken jaw and ribs – lands Moses temporarily out of a job he decides to go hit another strip club and see how things are going on the other side of town. And that’s when Moses’ cosmically bad karma kicks into high gear. →

June 30, 2011

East On Sunset by Ken Mercer

“There are enough problems in life as it is, Will. You don’t have to go looking for them.” – Laurie Magowan

That’s a lesson Will Magowan actually seemed to learn after his brief but intense stint as the Chief of Police of Haydenville, California in author Ken Mercer’s debut, Slow Fire. And though he’s out of a job in law enforcement in East on Sunset, Magowan is back in his hometown of L.A. and things finally seem to be heading in the right direction.

He’s kicked his drinking problem, is back with his wife, who’s pregnant, and has landed a job with security for the Dodgers. Of course, you don’t have to go looking for problems for them to find you, and Mercer throws a hell of a roadblock in Magowan’s path to happiness in the form of ex-con Erik Crandall.

Crandall, a small time dealer whom Magowan sent to prison during his time as a Narcotics Detective in the LAPD, is fresh out of the joint and confronts Magowan with the accusation that Magowan stole nearly a pound of fentanyl from Crandall during his arrest. Now he either wants it back or the cash equivalent… half a million dollars.

Problem is, Magowan spent his last bit of time with the LAPD in a drug induced haze and he’s actually a little fuzzy on exactly how the bust of Crandall went down. Knowing that he can’t very well tell Crandall that, and that he doesn’t have half a million dollars lying around in any event, Magowan blows Crandall off, warning him not to come around again. That goes over about as well as you’d expect it to, and with that the snowball that is East on Sunset is sent plunging on its way downhill. →

June 29, 2011

Collateral Damage: A Do Some Damage Collection

Following the success of their first collaborative collection, Terminal Damage, the talented crew from Do Some Damage is back with another anthology that will knock your socks off. Just as the stories in the first collection were centered around a common theme, a horrendous visit to the airport, so are the stories in Collateral Damage thematically related.

This time the focus for the eight tales of revenge, mystery, murder, and mayhem all revolve around Father’s Day. And while every story in the collection is worth the price of admission, each showcasing the author’s unique voice, there were a few that stood out for me.

Reunion – The collection gets off to a rollicking start in this story from Joelle Charbonneau. After years of estrangement from her family because of the horrendous treatment she received at the hands of her sadistic mother, a grown daughter returns home to give her dying father a special Father’s Day present. There’s an old saying that revenge is a dish best served cold, but Reunion proves that a long, slow simmer is much more likely to pay off handsomely in the end.

Modern Father – In this chilling story from Sandra Ruttan dedicated husband and father, Tom, discovers that his wife, Mary, hasn’t actually been working late all those evenings like she claims. Coldly, methodically, Tom hatches a plan to give himself a Father’s Day present Mary will never forget. →

June 28, 2011

Frank Sinatra In A Blender by Matthew McBride

“Y’know, there’s just something remotely fascinating about cutting off another man’s legs with a chainsaw. Especially if he’s still alive.” – Nick Valentine

To say Nick Valentine is a unique individual would be putting it lightly. Along with his partner Frank Sinatra – no, really – he works as a private detective in St. Louis. He likes to think there’s no case he can’t solve, and he’s damn sure there’s no drink or drug he doesn’t like.

When a credit union is robbed and the police have trouble picking up a decent lead Valentine finds himself front and center on the trail of the robbers…and the money. And he’s not the only one, as an oddball assortment of the worst examples of humanity St. Louis has to offer are all hot on the trail as well.

From dealer and go-to guy Big Tony and his partner Doyle, to local heavy hitter Mr. Parker and his enforcers Sid and Johnny No Nuts, author Matthew McBride has populated Frank Sinatra in a Blender with one of the most colorful cast of characters you’ll ever run across.

Before you know it Valentine is up to his ass in double crossing bad guys, suspicious police officers, and enough liquor and Oxycontin to drop an ox. Add to that copious amounts of strippers, car chases, and shootouts and you’re in for one hell of a no-holds-barred ride. Oh, and don’t forget that chainsaw. →

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