Editing by Elizabeth

May 18, 2011

Yellow Medicine by Anthony Neil Smith

If you want respect from the badasses and psychos, become a cop. Then that’s who your colleagues are. – Billy Lafitte

Most people don’t take bribes or go out of their way to abuse their authority. Most people don’t routinely violate their oath of office or take advantage of people who are down. Most people wouldn’t dream of exploiting a natural disaster of historic proportions for their own gain.

Most people aren’t Billy Lafitte.

And thank god for that, because Billy Lafitte is not a nice man. Billy Lafitte is the type of thieving, exploitative, brutal thug people expect the police to protect them from. Good luck with that…Billy Lafitte is a cop.

Lafitte’s antics finally got him kicked off the Gulfport, Mississippi police force when he stooped to exploiting residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, commandeering supplies and charging scalper’s prices for things people needed just to survive. Adding insult to the injury of losing his job, his wife also decided to call it quits, taking their kids and leaving him. Most people would have taken this as a serious wake-up call to get their life in order.

Most people aren’t Billy Lafitte. →

May 17, 2011

Witness to Death by Dave White

If he’d just gone out and gotten wasted like a normal guy, none of this would have happened. – John Brighton

Breakups are never fun, but rarely do they lead to the disastrous chain of events that John Brighton finds himself caught up in after being dumped by his girlfriend, Ashley. Instead of going the getting drunk route, John decides to turn to his ex-girlfriend, Michelle.

Problem is, Michelle is involved with a new guy, Frank, and John’s convinced Frank is cheating on her. Thinking he can kill two birds with one stone, prove the cheating and get Michelle back, John sets out to follow Frank to what he believes will be a secret rendezvous with another woman. Well, he was right about the secret rendezvous part, anyway.

As John follows Frank down to some waterfront apartments along the Hudson, he notices Frank actually appears to be tailing a group of men in trenchcoats. As John’s trying to puzzle out what’s going on, a gunfight erupts between Frank and the men. Before he knows it, all five of the men in trenchcoats are dead, Frank is dragging him away from the scene, and life as John knows it will never be the same again.

You see, John has inadvertently stumbled upon a covert operation involving rogue arms dealers, terrorists, the Department of Homeland Security, in-fighting between the New York and New Jersey mobs, and one very, very dysfunctional family…of which his ex-girlfriend, Michelle, happens to be a member. Now John isn’t just trying to salvage his relationship, he’s fighting for his very life, and the lives of countless others. →

May 16, 2011

‘I Had to Stay Dark.’ by Dave White

May 13, 2011

The Gravity of Mammon by Dan O’Shea

He was pushing 50, and, after almost 20 years schlepping around the Sahel, 50 was pushing back. It was time for an exit strategy. – Nick Hardin

With 8 years in the Marines as a sniper, including two tours in Gulf War I, and 10 years with the French Foreign Legion under his belt, Nick Hardin is a genuine badass. Unfortunately, even badasses have a sell-by date, and given all the mileage he’s racked up in conflict zones Hardin is fast approaching his.

Working as a “fixer” in Darfur – someone who escorts foreign journalists into conflict areas, making sure they and their gear get in and out safely – Hardin somehow finds himself tasked with ensuring the safety of a Hollywood feel good charity event, Dollars for Darfur. And he almost pulls it off.

Until, that is, hotshot actor Shamus Fenn feels the need to try and out badass Hardin, a move that earns Fenn a broken nose and a video clip of his humiliation endlessly playing on the internet and late night talk shows. Exercising what little clout he has left, Fenn gets Hardin blackballed by the networks, effectively drying up Hardin’s source of income. Time for that exit strategy. →

May 12, 2011

‘Throwing Shit into the Monkey House’ by Dan O’Shea

I am giddy about having author Dan O’Shea here today, and those who know me will attest that “giddy” is not a word that applies to me often, if ever. In addition to numerous short stories you can find at his website, Dan has written two novels, The Gravity of Mammon and Unto Caesar, both of which are with an agent and looking for a publishing home. In addition to being a very talented author, Dan is blessed with a silky smooth voice that he puts to good use making recordings of his short stories. (I highly recommend “Thin Mints” to start.) So awesome are his dulcet tones, he’s become the official voice of Steve Weddle’s Oscar Martello character. In fact, my only regret about having Dan here today is that I didn’t think to ask him to do his guest post as a recording. Well, that and the piss everywhere.

Dan in 1977…

This guest blogging gig is weird. I’ve been writing for a living one way or another all of my adult life, but I always had a topic. Granted, a lot of the topics sucked – topics like, say, give us 3,000 words on the ramifications of pending international tax treaties on transfer pricing for US-based multinationals. That topic sucked. But I knew where to start. Besides, what do you think drove me to write about killing people in the first place?

But this guest blog thing? Ms. White dropped me a line saying she’d like to review my online novel experiment, The Gravity of Mammon, and, as part of that exercise, could I send her a guest blog post. Of course, I said, sure. I mean, I’m as narcissistic as the next guy. Somebody wants to talk about me, but wants me to talk about myself first? Hell yeah, I’m all over that. It’s like a threesome – me, myself, and somebody else talking about me and myself.

But then I ask her what she wants me to cover, and she says whatever I want. That she likes to let writers off their leashes. Which tells me that Ms. White must like the smell of writer urine everywhere, because, as a group, we’re really not housebroken and we do like to piss all over everything. But that still doesn’t give me a topic. →

May 11, 2011

Chasing Filthy Lucre by Jarrett Rush

I fought. Not by choice, but necessity. – Weber Rexall

Fighting is a way of life for Weber Rexall, literally and figuratively. Literally, Weber earns money as a boxer in an underground fight club, often through fights the outcome of which are fixed in advance.

Figuratively speaking, as a resident of New Eden Weber fights like everyone else just to stay alive in a dystopian future that has seen the government and military fall, leaving no central power structure to serve the needs of the populace.

What sounded like a good idea to the rebels and revolutionaries initially, returning the power to the people, quickly turned into a disaster once people realized that for better or worse some form of centralized power was required in order for society to function. Without it, life in what was supposed to be New Eden quickly descended into a new kind of hell with people living a hand-to-mouth existence in an every man for himself shadow of society.

Poverty and anarchy, not prosperity and utopia, are the realities of New Eden. Beyond poverty and anarchy there is one other fixture that has emerged in New Eden: widespread addiction. Not to drugs, but to data. →

May 10, 2011

‘I’m not the book I wrote.’ by Jarrett Rush

May 05, 2011

‘Short Stories: Fewer Words, More Work?’ at Criminal Element

Heads up, crime fiction fans, Macmillan has a new community website you need to check out: Criminal Element.

Featuring original short stories, excerpts from upcoming crime and mystery novels, as well as daily blog articles, Criminal Element is a great place for fans of crime fiction and mysteries to come together and share their love of the genres.

They’ve even let me have the floor today to talk about short stories and crime fiction: “Short Stories: Fewer Words, More Work?” So pop over, read my article (feel free to leave a comment, too), and then take some time to explore the site.

May 03, 2011

A World I Never Made by James LePore

I don’t owe you or anybody an explanation, but I think you’ll appreciate the irony of a suicide note coming from a person who has abhorred tradition all of her life. – Megan Nolan

That Pat Nolan was semi-estranged from his adult daughter, Megan, does little to soften the blow when he receives a call that she’s committed suicide and he needs to travel to Paris to formally identify and claim her body.

Upon his arrival, the Parisian Detective in charge of the case informs him the autopsy revealed his daughter was in the final stages of ovarian cancer. Despite their strained relationship, Pat is confused as to why Megan kept something so significant from him.

His confusion turns to shock, however, when he’s taken to the morgue to make the official identification; the body the Parisian police have identified as Megan is not his daughter. Having seen the suicide note found with the body, and recognizing that it was written by Megan, Pat realizes she must have staged her death.

Knowing only that his daughter must be in serious trouble, and that her cryptic suicide note was her way of reaching out to him for help, Pat acts on instinct and lies to the police, identifying the body as Megan. When two men try to kidnap him at gunpoint shortly after he begins making inquires about Megan to people she knew in Paris, Pat realizes he’s not the only one who knows she’s still alive and is looking for her. It’s also not much of a stretch to conclude the other people trying to find his daughter are the very reason she faked her death, a death that will become all too real if they find Megan before Pat does. →

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