Sea Minor

Simply The Best

2012-02-02T08:54:00.001Z

This collection is excellent and features my favourite short story of last year.

Not only that, but it's free today at Amazon UK and Amazon US. What are you waiting for?

On A Brighter Note

2012-02-01T19:08:00.002Z

A message from Pablo to cheer up a bum day:

Hello all,

First off, a sincere “Thank you” to everyone who downloaded, read, voted, help spread the word—this challenge was thrown together off the cuff and would not have amounted to anything without efforts from a lot of folks. Individual e-mails will go out when I have two seconds to breathe, but you all know who you are.

So, the results are in but I am treating them as tentative, for now. Of the 180 copies of each collection that went out, we have only heard back from 15% of readers with votes. In fact, I have personally chatted here and there with people who have told me they read the collections and just needed to vote, but those votes have not come in yet.

The winner (by a margin of a little more than 2-1) as of midnight, Feb. 1^st, is Pablo D’Stair’s collection.

BUT: As this could easily change if a good amount of tardy votes come in, any vote that does come in for the next week WILL be counted, no questions. If you personally know someone who read and did not vote (or are such a person yourself) please get the vote in by Feb. 7^th.

Because votes are still being counted until Feb. 7^th, the Author-List-By-Story for the Challenger Collection and some other updates (including details of Round Two with the $500 Prize Pot) will not be posted/sent out until then.

Now, I do have to say, though I am happily surprised (a little bit shocked, really) to have won (at least so far) that due to the percentage of the readers-to-votes this win is nowhere near as conclusive as I was aiming for. And because of this, and due to the amazing work from the challengers and from all manner of folks helping to promote, I don’t feel right about saying “I win” and having no prize being awarded. At the same time, I don’t just want to give the listed prizes…because that would be kind of silly and oddly dismissive of the work the Challengers did.

SO—as many of the challengers had hinted at donating any winnings to charity and as many of the challengers have actually worked on the charity anthology The Lost Children, I am going to make a donation of the $100 First prize to PROTECT: The National Association to Protect Children and Children 1st UK on behalf of all the writers who participated.

NOTE: This donation is being made, no matter what. If enough votes come in between now and Feb 7^th to make the Challenger Collection the winner, I will still pay out all three prizes to the top three Challenger stories, as voted by readers ($225 total).

More updates and details to come.

Cheers again to everyone,

Pablo D’Stair

Bon Anniversaire

2012-01-31T08:29:00.000Z

It's a year to the day that 'Dirty Old Town (and other stories)' went live on Amazon.

Like my children, it's difficult to imagine my life without the collection in it. Whatever happens from here on in, I think it will remain my favourite of all simply because of what it involved at the time.

I should have learned a lot during the process. Maybe I have. Time will tell.

I've certainly realised that writing and the world of books, stories and publication is where I want to spend my 'working life', even though the path has had it's fair share of jagged glass and impure objects to negotiate.

Bare fact - the book has sold 1,327 copies to date. That's over 3 (3.63) per day. Imagine that for a short story collection, probably inconceivable before ebooks. There have been giveaways and tree-book sales, too, making it even more incredible from where I'm sitting.

It wouldn't have done so well without the help of so many. Thanks for the reviews, purchases, patience, retweets, links, spreading of the word and all the encouragement along the way.

Sure, at an income of about 20p per copy I'm not rich in money terms and that dream of long writing days remains in the clouds, but I feel very much enriched as an author and as a human being because of this journey.

Last thing, and this may make no sense at all, I realised when searching out a birthday picture that I see Dirty Old Town very much as a girl. A female book. Maybe it's the Nigella referrence in the press the other day. Who knew? So do your books have different genders? Let me know.

One Man's Opinion - THE BITCH by LES EDGERTON

2012-01-28T09:51:00.000Z

In baseball it’s 3 strikes and you’re out, for ex-con, Jake, 3 strikes and he’s in. For life. And ain’t that The Bitch?

Jake’s been inside. Twice. One more conviction and he’s going away for good.

Fortunately for Jake, he’s sick of prison life and has decided to go straight.

He’s been to college to better himself and has even built a reputation as a hair-stylist that’s good enough for him to set up his own salon. I love this incongruity – big, bad Jake with his blood-stained hands chopping away at a perm.

And he’s met a woman too. Paris. Beautiful, sexy, smart and about to have Jake’s baby. Looks like he’s hit the jackpot, no?

Thing is, Jake doesn’t know his stories. Paris was the guy who did it for Troy. A name like that and maybe he should have sensed that his bed-of-roses might be full of thorns.

‘It all began with a phone call.’

The first thorn appears in the form of Walker Joy, one-time cellmate and saviour.

Walker’s in big trouble. He owes big money to big crooks. One job will see him safe. All he needs is a break in man.

Of course, Jake’s not having any of it. He knows which side his bread is buttered.

Problem is Walker has a few aces up his sleeve and Jake knows he’s screwed. It’s enough to drive an alcoholic to drink. Really.

From there on in the story unfolds. Jake is reeled in like a prize-fish on the end of the line, all the while knowing that he’s got a hook right up his ass. He’s not a bad bloke, you see. Or at least his heart’s in the right place. Circumstance has him by the short-and-curlies and no matter how he examines the angles, he’s lined up for the corner pocket.

At every point of the story where a ray of hope appears, the world conspires against him and as every chapter comes to a close, the need to read on grows stronger.

It’s a well-told tale. I found it hard not to feel for Jake. If it were a film or a play, it would be the kind that would have you shouting out for him to get the hell out of there. ‘He’s behind yer!’ and ‘He’s still behind yer!’

On the whole, the plot is very much in the present and is all the more uncomfortable for that. It’s punctuated by prison stories and tales from Jake’s past that should possibly have made me think less of the man; instead it had the opposite effect.

Well paced, engaging and very entertaining, it’s like one of the small diamonds in the collection Jake is aiming to steal.

The ending is perfectly weighted. Sits on top of the story like the bowler hat on a dapper gent, a hat that needs to be doffed every time Les Edgerton approaches.

Well done, sir.

Amazon US Amazon UK

GRIMM TALES from JACK BATES

2012-01-27T13:04:00.000Z

Have you had your broth today? If not, you should definitely go and get some. #broth is short for Brilliant Reads On The Heath and it should definitely be added to your favourites. It's another great innovation from Blasted Heath.

Today's interview is with the lovable and talented authors, Jack Bates. Not only is he talented, but he has generosity in spades. Give him some love as he tells us about Grimm Tales.

1. How did you squeeze in with all these other talented writers?

Dude, I don't know. I read Patti Abbott's blog and respond to her posts. About a year ago Chris Rhatigan invited me to join Crime Fiction Writers after he reviewed my Derringer nominated story, Broken Down on the Bonneville Flats. Nigel here drops me a line every now and then so I'm sure I heard of it that way. Also, I've worked with Jay Hartman at Untreed Reads on a couple of anthologies. The community is tight. We all share information.
2. Let's talk about the story. Where did the idea come from? Were you familiar with the folktale?

Once I heard about the challenge, I went looking for one I had never heard. The internet is an amazing tool. I searched 'rare Grimm tales' and there it was. Even had a really cool drawing of a young guy flying over some exotic city.

3. And it sparked your imagination?

You know the cliche about people who ask writers where they get their ideas from? I have no problem doing adaptations. When I was writing screenplays, I used to find stories and practice with turning them into movies. As soon as I read The Flying Trunk, everything started to come into place. I dig writing about Detroit. It's so foreign to so many people even here in Michigan. There is an event down by Wayne State University in the city called The Dally in the Alley. It's a party of hipsters, college students, and whoever else shows up. I saw some pictures a friend posted and everything kind of gelled from there.
4. What's been your favorite part of the experience?

Ken Bruen calling my story a gem in the foreward. Ken, if you read this, a beer on me at Bouchercon Cleveland.
5. What's next?

I've got projects all over the place but what I'm really hoping for is the opportunity to publish the old fashion way. I've always wanted to be a hack, a paperback writer. I'm kind of there. What do they call people who are prolific electronically?

And that Ken Bruen recommendation is thoroughly deserved. Why not go and see if you agree with him?

Thanks Captain.

Dancing With Myself: STUART AYRIS interviews STUART AYRIS

2012-01-25T10:27:00.000Z

For anyone who buys from LULU, or would like to, there's a free postage offer just now if you buy from them. I've missed out on a number of issues of the excellent Needle Magazine (of noir), edited by the talented Steve Weddle, because of the prohibitive overseas posting rates. Use the code WHOASHIPPINGUK305 and ask for ground shipping and you won't have to pay for delivery. Go get those Needles.

Most excellent.

I was delighted to see that Matthew McBride has now had 'Frank Sinatra In A Blender' bought by New Pulp Press. Seems like a marriage made in heaven to me.

There's still time to vote for your favourite at Spinetingler's Best Novella shortlist. Course, I'm hoping 'Smoke' comes out on top, but seeing the competition I feel like a winner just being there. I think you should at least see what the books in the list are as it will give you some great reading for a good while.

Another chance to vote can be found at Out Of Bullets Throw The Gun where the brave Pablo D'Stair has taken on a mob of talented Flash Fiction writers. So far there have been 175 downloads of each, so there should be 175 votes to come by the end of the month. Pablo also has some free novellas out there for you at Smashwords. Go check them out if you're at a loose end.

I have also set myself a new challenge. It's a tricky one. I'm aiming to stop myself from buying any more books until April Fool's Day.

In the last month I've been sent my 6 novels by Vintage for winning their review competition, picked up 4 new Needles yesterday, a couple of Pablo's novellas, downloaded Crime-Factory, novella's from the Spinetingler list, a kindleful of free books and great-deal books, been sent review copies and some gifts. If I keep up at that rate, I'll just not get to read and enjoy what I have. I'll let you know if I crack.

And now it's time for today's dance. You'll find a cracking review of Tollesbury Time Forever over at Darren Sant's blog in case you want to check it out. It looks excellent (and it's another of my recent purchases).

Please welcome Stuart Ayris.

“So Stuart, what do you do from day to day other than write?”
I’ve been a psychiatric nurse for the last fourteen years but I’m currently working from home as I’m awaiting a knee operation.

“How did you do your knee?”
My niece?

“No. Your knee.”
Oh, too much football and cricket over the years, too much falling down subways and too many people pointing at me instead of catching me.

“So tell us about your novel, Tollesbury Time Forever.”
Well it’s about a man called Simon Gregory, a Beatles-obsessed alcoholic with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and a love of cricket. The novel follows him as he attempts to be reunited with the son he abandoned twenty-two years ago. It’s set in Tollesbury, where I live, and took about three years to write.

“How long is it?”
Massive.

“And the book?”
Just over 74,000 words.

“How would you describe your writing style?”
I like to think of it as having the descriptive elements of John Steinbeck and the madness of Jack Kerouac. Tollesbury Time Forever, for example has been very highly praised for it’s prose yet also contains four short stories three poems (one of which is three pages long) and a Blues song. But somehow it seems to work!

“Did you try and get Tollesbury Time Forever published in the traditional way before settling for putting on Kindle via Amazon?”
I sent it to a fair few publishers and agents and hardly any replied. Those that did basically sent standard compliment slips saying it wasn’t for them. I’ve received better compliments to be honest. So I had the choice of ditching it or having a punt. I had a punt and it’s turning out the little man may have been right and the big men wrong!

“How have the sales been?”
Well I was very disappointed with Debenhams this year but I thought PC World made a fair effort.

“And the sales of Tollesbury Time Forever?”
Beyond my wildest dreams - I envisaged maybe selling a hundred overall and I reached that in the first two weeks. The sales in the third week have been phenomenal and the book has managed to stay in the top 60 Literary Fiction Bestseller rankings on Amazon for more or less its whole life to date.

“How has Tollesbury Time Forever been received?”
Incredibly well. I always thought, and was led to believe, that it was an acquired taste, a niche book, something that might appeal to perhaps a carbon copy of myself. As it turns out, it’s had over twenty five-star reviews in it’s first three weeks. I just can’t believe it. It is so humbling and very exciting.

“Can you give us maybe a snippet from Tollesbury Time Forever so readers can see a little of your writing style?”
I am a man yet I am a Hen Harrier also. I am a drunkard and a dreamer. I am a Beatles fan and a lover of cricket. I am a husband and I am a father. I am all these things and more. And I am a friend of yours. I am the world’s best friend. Just think of me not as a schizophrenic but as a Hen Harrier only. A Hen Harrier.

For there is no schizophrenia and there is no depression; no bi-polar disorder, personality disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder. There is just life and trying to get through it. That is all. Look past the drugs and past the diagnosis, look deeper than the despair and higher than the highs - and what you have is a soul that needs embracing, a mind that needs cradling and a heart that needs to beat its beat without condemnation.

Some weeks ago, I was at the marshes with just darkness on my mind. I was rushing to the depths. Yet now I float and I rise. The earth is the same yet I see with new eyes. I have learned that the world does not change. All that alters is the way we choose to see it.

I am no more a man than I am a schizophrenic. I live only in Tollesbury Time. And I will live in Tollesbury Time forever.

“Nice. So what are your next steps?”
Unsteady ones. I’ve had three cans of K cider and my knee is knackered.

“Has she been running?”
Who?

“Your niece.”
You’re madder than I am. I’d just like to finish my thanking all those people that have downloaded Tollesbury Time Forever and reviewed it. It has seriously meant the world to me.

“So do you have a blog or anything?”
Yep - www.tollesburytimeforever.blogspot.com

“And do you have any final words?”
Just keep frugaling up the frugals people!!

"What does that mean?"
You'll just have to read the book. Tollesbury Time Forever - out now in all good amazon.co.uk and amazon.com sites!

Dancing With Myself: LINDA RODRIGUEZ interviews LINDA RODRIGUEZ

2012-01-23T19:23:00.000Z

There's been a big slash in the price of Kuboa titles, so it' s well worth taking a look. The tree-book version of Dirty Old Town (and other stories) is now only $2.95, which is fantastic.

And don't forget that gem of a collection from Chris Rhatigan, Watch You Drown.

Now, over from Minotaur books and dancing with herself, the one-and-only Linda Rodriguez. A big Sea Minor welcome if you will.

In Linda Rodriguez’s Every Last Secret: A Mystery, half-Cherokee Marquitta “Skeet” Bannion fled a city police force and family entanglements for a Missouri college town as chief of campus police. Now, the on-campus murder of the student newspaper editor puts Skeet on the trail of a killer who will do anything to keep a dangerous secret from being exposed, and everywhere she turns she uncovers hidden sins. Time is running out as Skeet struggles to catch the murderer and prevent more deaths by unraveling every last secret.

“Every Last Secret offers that rare and startling thing in the universe of thrillers: a truly fresh voice.” —Jacquelyn Mitchard, #1 national bestselling author of The Deep End of the Ocean

“There's a new cop in town and she has smarts, courage, and a good heart. Mystery readers will find a new favorite in Chief Skeet Bannion.” --Nancy Pickard, author of The Scent of Rain and Lightning

“Murder on a college campus, plenty of bad people, and all kinds of puzzles to solve. Linda Rodriguez has written a highly enjoyable procedural introducing a rough and tender heroine, Skeet Bannion.”--Kathleen George, author of The Odds and Hideout

1) So what are you doing in this series of interviews on crime writers? You’re a poet, not a crime writer.

My first crime novel is being published by St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books in April 2012. Every Last Secret: A Mystery won the Malice Domestic First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition. I’ve finished the sequel and am starting the third novel in the series. Oh, and I have a short story, “The Good Neighbor,” coming out in the anthology, Kansas City Noir, so I think all that makes me a crime writer.

2) You’ve moved from writing poetry to mysteries. Doesn’t it bother you, coming from literary circles, that you’re writing genre? You’ll never be able to write poetry again now that you’ve strayed, will you?

The short answer to that is no, it doesn’t bother me. This is a question I get asked in person quite a bit. It implies, of course, that genre novels are a lesser form of writing. I don’t believe that. I think many mystery/thriller writers and science fiction/fantasy writers are writing brilliant books with a great love of language, strong characters, and real attention to some of the key societal issues of today. I have a Literary Mystery Novelists series on my blog, www.lindarodriguezwrites.blogspot.com, that showcases many of these writers in the mystery/thriller field. Also, I still write poetry and will continue to do so, just as I’ll continue to write mystery novels. I’ve never seen it as an either/or situation.

3) What made you decide to write a book with a campus police chief as the protagonist fighting corrupt administrators to solve a murder on campus that they’d rather have covered up? You did it because of all the news stories lately about campus crimes and cover-ups and violence on campus, didn’t you? Just trying to cash in, right?

Why are you so unpleasant? I actually wrote Every Last Secret over three years ago. Its publication just as campus crimes and campus police are in the news (á la Penn State/Sandusky, the pepper-spraying campus police officer at UC-Davis, and the slain campus police officer at Virginia Tech) is sheer coincidence. I certainly was aware when I started writing of campus crime and violence and the role of campus police after years of working with them on my old university campus where I was an administrator who dealt with sexual assault, harassment, and discrimination complaints.

I wanted to have a heroine who would have a reason for investigating crimes (other than just being nosy) and would be experienced with guns and physical combat without writing an urban police procedural. I knew quite well that most larger colleges have their own police forces consisting of commissioned officers who have gone through police academy and often have years of experience on metropolitan police forces. Thus, Skeet Bannion came to be.

4) This Brewster, Missouri, town you write about with Chouteau University in Every Last Secret, what town and college are you really writing about? Give us the lowdown on who’s dirty and where the bodies are buried. This is really just a juicy memoir, isn’t it? You’re pulling a James Frey in reverse, right?

Wrong! There are a lot of small towns right around Kansas City, Missouri, where I live. Some are college towns, and some of these small towns have the old-fashioned courthouse square structure (of which I’m a great fan). So I made Brewster a college town and gave it a courthouse square. Some of these towns are right on either the Missouri River or the Kansas (Kaw) River, so I set my town of Brewster right next to the Missouri River, which is one of America’s great rivers. I combined some of the most interesting aspects of these towns for Brewster, and I combined some of the most interesting aspects of colleges and universities in this area for Chouteau University. I spent years as an administrator at a local university, and I didn’t want people thinking Every Last Secret was just a roman á clef and trying to see which character was really who in real life. With a fictional town and university, it’s easier for readers to realize the book is pure imagination.

5) Traditional mystery, small town—is this one of those cozies? With a cat who detects?

I guess you might call it that, though Skeet is a little harder-edged than your usual cozy heroine. She spent years as a cop with the Kansas City Police Department, much of it in Homicide. And Kansas City is a big murder town with lots of gang violence. Skeet came to this small town looking for a peaceful life, but small towns are really idyllic only on the surface. They have their own tawdry crimes and secret corruption hiding in the depths. Not to mention the spillover from the nearby city.

She does have a cat, Wilma Mankiller, named after the great Cherokee principal chief, a hero of Skeet’s and mine. Wilma, the cat, doesn’t talk or detect or do much of anything except regular cat things, though. There is another cat in the book, Cernunnos, whose owner thinks he spends his days meditating, but Skeet just thinks he spends his days in a stupor from overeating. Sorry, no cat-detecting.

6) Why do you think mysteries and thrillers have become so popular recently?

Aside from the fact that so many hugely gifted writers are writing some version of crime fiction right now? I mean, you have Louise Penny, Daniel Woodrell, Julia Spencer-Fleming, Robert Crais, Laura Lippman, Kathleen George, Sara Paretsky, Ian Rankin, Elizabeth George, Walter Mosley, Nancy Pickard, James Lee Burke, Deborah Crombie, Val McDermid, Declan Hughes, Michael Connolly, Margaret Maron, Alafair Burke, George Pelecanos, Emma Donoghue, James Ellroy, Ruth Rendell, Steve Hamilton, and the list just goes on and on.

The standard answer, I believe, is the desire to see order restored, and I’m sure that’s right—as far as it goes. I think there’s more to it, though. Mysteries are about the relationships among people and about the impact that violence has on those people and those relationships. Also, the crime fiction field is examining parts of our society and issues within our society that other areas of fiction ignore. Put those factors together with a large number of talented writers, and you have all the makings of a boom.

7) You write and publish poetry and novels but not a lot of short stories. Why is that?

The short story form comes very hard for me. Usually, the moment I start writing, the characters and situation start to grow, and before I know it, I’ve got something that wants to be a novel. I’m in awe of those who toss off multiple short stories every few months. It’s a form I’m interested in working with more in the future, though. I love a challenge, and writing good short stories is very challenging.

8) Everyone knows publishing is going through a huge, messy transition right now. Are e-books going to wipe out paper books? Will self-publishing and Amazon destroy publishing as we know it? On and on ad nauseum.

First, you must look at the real data behind all the headlines and overdramatic hype. E-books are currently only 20% of total publishing sales, and their spectacular rate of growth has slowed. Will they continue to grow as a portion of all publishing sales? Yes. Will they wipe out the physical book entirely, except for rare collectibles? Anything’s possible, but I don’t see that happening in the next couple of decades.

Every time some new technology comes along, people leap at the chance to shout the end of the book. Radio, movies, television, VCRs, all of these things were supposed to spell the end of the book. Guess what? The book’s still going strong. Paperbacks were supposed to spell the end of the hardcover book. Yet more hardcovers were published last year than were ever published in any year before the paperback book came out. I think the mass-market paperback book may actually be in some real trouble. Perhaps the e-book will completely replace the mass-market paperback. But no, I don’t see the end of the book anywhere in sight. People will always need and want stories, and right now the book (paper or e-) is still the best way to experience and re-experience stories whenever we want them.

9) You have published award-winning poetry books, an award-winning mystery book, and a cookbook that’s been a steady seller since 2008. Usually, writers tend to specialize. Why don’t you? ADHD? Short span of attention? Is that you just can’t resist shiny objects?

You are cruel. I prefer to say I have a broad range of interests. It’s why I’m never bored.

10) What are you working on now and for the future? Or will you just be a one-book wonder?

I’ve finished my next book of poetry, Dark Sister, which is based on teachings of my Cherokee grandmother. I have another book of poetry I want to write after that about sociopaths and monsters. So I will be continuing with the poetry alongside the novels.

Every Last Secret is the first of a series, and I’ve finished the second book in that series, Every Broken Trust, so I’ll be writing the Skeet Bannion books for some time, and I’m excited about the overall narrative arc of those books and Skeet’s development within them. I have another mystery series in mind that I’m eager to write, as well. I’d be interested one day in turning my hand to a historical mystery, and I could see myself eventually writing some urban fantasy (but probably not vampires, especially if they sparkle). Then there’s this big, complex novel about the Vietnam War at home and abroad that I’ve long wanted to write. I’m not likely to run out of book projects any time soon.

Thank you so much for having me here on Sea Minor, Nigel. I hope you’ll all visit me at www.LindaRodriguezWrites.blogspot.com and check out Every Last Secret at your local bookstore or Barnes & Noble or at http://www.amazon.com/Every-Last-Secret-Linda-Rodriguez/dp/1250005450.

One Man's Opinion: WATCH YOU DROWN by CHRIS RHATIGAN

2012-01-22T09:52:00.001Z

Chris Rhatigan has been making a big splash in the world of fiction. He specialises in short fiction and is a real craftsman of the art.

Not only does he put out great work, he's a reviewer and an editor and this puts him at the cutting edge.

What I admire in this collection is two-fold. First of all, it's lean and stripped of the unnecessary yet remains juicy and plump at the same time. The stories a rich and the worlds have all the dimensions I could want as a reader.

The second reason is connected with his diversity - the themes, voices, territories and genres are really varied as is the length; he can thrill with a piece of micro-fiction, flash and short without faltering or losing his edge in any of these formats.

It's a really poweful mix you'll find here and I hope that your prepared to jump into its icy waters (for dark and chilled they mainly are) - I guarantee that you'll be woken up with a start and that you'll be diving straight back for more.

Only negative for me is the cover - and that's not the way I judge a book, no way.

Superb and super-cheap.

Take it in the US, the UK of from that other land called Smashwords. Any which way you can.

I'll do you an offer, too. Send proof of purchase over via my email and I'll send you a copy of Pulp Ink, the anthology Chris and I worked on together. I haven't told him that yet, so Mum's the word.

MARTIN EDWARDS - FAVOURITES

2012-01-20T12:44:00.000Z

Martin Edwards is a man who is widely respected in the writing world. He will have a piece in the Mammoth Best British Crime Stories 9 which will can be pre-ordered now (the publication date is less than 2 weeks away now).

Here he gives a valuable list of some of his favourite works:

What is your favourite short story?

‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson

Your favourite Sherlockian story?

‘The Red-Headed League’ by Arthur Conan Doyle

Your favourite classic detective story?

‘The Avenging Chance’ by Anthony Berkeley

Your favourite humorous story?

‘The Murder at the Towers’ by E V Knox

Your favourite ‘impossible crime’ story?

‘The House in Goblin Wood’ by John Dickson Carr

Your favourite American crime short story?

‘Don’t Look Behind You’ by Fredric Brown

Your favourite modern crime short story?

‘The Rio De Janeiro Paper’ by Reginald Hill

Your favourite contemporary short story writer?
William Trevor

Your most successful story?
‘The Bookbinder’s Apprentice’ which won the CWA Dagger
Your favourite of your own stories?

‘Waiting for Godstow’

Your thoughts about ‘Clutter’, which appears in the Mammoth Book?

A dark story that was fun to write

Martin Edwards’ latest novel is ‘The Hanging Wood’

One Man's Opinion: DEAD MONEY by RAY BANKS

2012-01-18T10:17:00.000Z

I was absolutely thrilled a couple of days ago to find that Smoke has been short-listed for Spinetingler's 'Best Novella' award and even more thrilled when I saw the company I was keeping in the rest of the list.

The response to the book has been overwhelming, which has come a something of a surprise. When I sent it over to Trestle Press, I really had no sense of its merits. Maybe I'd been living too closely to it for too long to be able to find any perspective on it whatsoever.

If you read it and enjoyed it, I'd be honoured if you took the time to pop over and consider voting.

If you haven't read it and would like to, it's not too late to pick up a copy and form an opinion (it might help that if you follow the Trestle Press link here you'll find out how to get a buy-one-get-one-free deal). Needless to say, that goes for the other books in the list, too. Votes are being taken until the end of the month.

I'd also like to thank and praise Brian Lindenmuth for setting up this category in the first place. It would appear that novellas are thriving just now and I'd like to celebrate that fact. Great work Spinetingler.

Other good news.

Allan Guthrie's 'Savage Night' is now available in Kindle. It's going for the paltry sum of 99p in the UK and $1:54 in the US.

Here's a little about it if you don't already know:

Praise for SAVAGE NIGHT

"Guthrie's work stands up against the best the genre has to offer. His prose is clinically efficient, his storytelling consummate, his dialogue sparkles and snaps on the page, and his blend of black humour and breathless action is impossible to put down." The Herald

"A black comedy akin to the work of Christopher Brookmyre and Douglas Lindsay... If you have a robust sense of humour, you'll love this." The Observer

"Guthrie twists the plot, chops up the timeframe, and toys with point-of-view… never a dull moment." Booklist

"A masterful exercise in pulp storytelling." The List

"The best noir writer in the country...easily the match for America's finest in the genre." The Scotsman

My tip - buy it. Then read it. And weep.

And so to Dead Money by Ray Banks, published by Blasted Heath.

When I first became a teacher I was going to change the world. I looked around scathingly at my older colleagues with their crumbling enthusiasm and veneer of bitterness. I vowed to myself that I’d never be like them. Never.

Nowadays I should be apologising to my younger self. At the same time, I might like to explain that getting older isn’t what it seems from the perspective of youth. It does things to you. What I didn’t understand then is that experience can step in where energy once used to be, making things simply different and only slightly less good for the pupils.

Alan Slater might have been like the young me once, Les Beale being his older colleague. Les became Alan’s role-model in the techniques of selling double-glazing and then hit the bottle, the gambling tables and the skids in fairly quick succession.

Alan observes Les’s decline from close quarters, though he’s no intention of heading down the plug-hole in the same way as his wayward mate.

Thing is, as Les is a big fellow he has a powerful gravity and it’s impossible for Alan to get out of his orbit. When a gambling-fix goes wrong and Alan’s called in to clean up the mess, his life really does begin to tumble. What’s worse for Alan is that rather than being a pale image of the bigoted, arrogant and violent Les, he’s actually got a darker core that easily surpasses that of his master.

As we follow Alan’s attempts to keep control of his wife, dog, home, drinking problem, job and lover, we witness his satellite falling back to earth.

The book’s set in Manchester. It’s not the Manchester of Victorian splendour or the sterile Arndale centre, but the dingy world of mill-town terraces and rot.

Mixing the sharply angled panoramas with the down-sides of gambling, booze and the predatory instincts of the salesman, Banks gives a wonderful cocktail of noir sensibilities to be enjoyed.

The scenes, particularly the casino and the pub settings, are wonderfully set. He doesn’t miss a trick when painting a backdrop, nor does he add unnecessary weight.

The gambling routines are described with relish by Banks, a man who’s worked under the half-lights himself and clearly knows the ropes.

The first person narrative cracks along and as a reader I was completely absorbed in the tale.

To my mind there’s not a nice character in the book. There’s not a redeeming feature on show, not in the sales team, the gamblers, the police, the students, the women in Alan’s life of the clients. That makes the way the book remains engrossing all the more of an achievement.

There’s something reminiscent of the black-and-white toughness of the British flicks of the late fifties and early sixties, the Saturday Night and Sunday Morning hues washed over the twenty-first century setting.

Lowry painted a lot in Manchester. Working scenes of movement and depression. If he were painting Dead Money, far more of the matchstick men would have been lying on the pavement, throwing up, bleeding or fending off a gang of attackers.

A hugely enjoyable piece of work.

ONE DAY THROWDOWN!

2012-01-16T07:01:00.000Z

SALE WITHIN A SALE-PAUL D. BRAZILL’S 'BRIT GRIT TOO' -MONDAY- AND MONDAY ONLY -$.99, PLUS THE BUY ONE GET ONE FREE IS STILL IN FORCE!!

Amazon Kindle Best-Selling and trailblazing author Paul D. Brazill has decided to drop the price of his legendary “Brit Grit Too” to $.99 for one day, Monday, January 16, 2012. If you purchase “Brit Grit Too” Trestle Press will match that with any title up to the full purchase price of $4.99 as part of the BOGO sale.

Just email Paul D. Brazill or find him at his legendary blog- http://pdbrazill.blogspot.com/

Or email Trestle Press directly with your proof of purchase-trestlepress@gmail.com

This is what you will find contained within “Brit Grit Too”:

Edited by Paul D Brazill, Brit Grit Too collects 32 of Britain's best up and coming crime fiction writers to aid the charity Children 1st http://www.children1st.org.uk/

The BRIT GRIT mob is coming to kick down your door with hobnailed boots. Kitchen-sink noir; petty-thief-louts; lives of quiet desperation; sharp, blood-stained slices of life; booze-sodden brawls from the bottom of the barrel and comedy that’s as black as it’s bitter—this is BRIT GRIT

Table of Contents.

1. Two Fingers Of Noir by Alan Griffiths

2. Looking For Jamie by Iain Rowan

3. Stones In Me Pocket by Nigel Bird

4. The Catch And The Fall by Luke Block

5. A Long Time Coming by Paul Grzegorzek

6. Loose Ends by Gary Dobb

7. Graduation Day by Malcolm Holt

8. Cry Baby by Victoria Watson

9. The Savage World Of Men by Richard Godwin

10. Hard Boiled Poem (a mystery) by Alan Savage

11. A Dirty Job by Sue Harding

12. Squaring The Circle by Nick Quantrill

13. The Best Days Of My Life by Steven Porter

14. Hanging Stan by Jason Michel

15. The Wrong Place To Die by Nick Triplow

16. Coffin Boy by Nick Mott

17. Meat Is Murder by Colin Graham

18. Adult Education by Graham Smith

19. A Public Service by Col Bury

20. Hero by Pete Sortwell

21. Snapshots by Paul D Brazill

22. Smoked by Luca Veste

23. Geraldine by Andy Rivers

24. A Minimum Of Reason by Nick Boldock

25. Dope On A Rope by Darren Sant

26. A Speck Of Dust by David Barber

27. Hard Times by Ian Ayris

28. Never Ending by Fiona Johnson

29. Faces by Frank Duffy

30. The Plebitarian by Danny Hogan

31. King Edward by Gerard Brennan

32. Brit Grit by Charlie Wade

Spinetingler Award nominee Paul D Brazill has had stories in loads of classy print and electronic magazines and anthologies, such as A Twist Of Noir, Beat To A Pulp, Crime Factory, Dark Valentine, Deadly Treats, Dirty Noir, Needle, Powder Burn Flash, Thrillers, Killers n Chillers, Noir Nation, Pulp Ink, Pulp Pusher, Radgepacket Volumes Four and Five, Shotgun Honey& The Mammoth Book Of Best British Crime Volume 8.

He writes for Pulp Metal Magazine and Mean Streets.His blog, You Would Say That, Wouldn't You? is here: http://pdbrazill.blogspot.com

He is the creator of the horror/noir series, Drunk on the Moon, published by Trestle Press.

Dancing With Myself: DAVID FREED interviews DAVID FREED

2012-01-13T13:53:00.001Z

At the risk of sounding like a scratched record, you can get a free copy of With Love And Squalor today at Amazon in the UK and the US as well as throughout Europe.

And now, here's something that will definitely be of interest, an interview with a lot of great information. Take it away Mr David Freed.

How can you ask yourself questions and answer them for public dissemination without coming off as completely egomaniacal and/or wacko?

Brilliant question. You must be a genius! Seriously, though, I don’t really know how to answer that one. This is my first Q&A in which I functioned both as the interviewer and interviewee. I guess the most truthful response is to say that any writer, or anyone who dares to hold his creative work up for public inspection, must maintain a fairly healthy ego. But if you’ve kicked around, and been kicked around for as long as I have, you learn pretty quickly to park the maniacal part of your writer’s id at the door—or else have it shoved down your throat every time some critic savages your work. As my mother used to say, “Egotism is an alphabet of one letter.” Actually, my mother never said that. It’s an old Scottish proverb. I only used it because it makes me sound incredibly intelligent which, of course, I must be, to ask and answer my own questions, right?

Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?

Hardly. I convinced myself for the longest time that I wanted to be both a physician—a heart surgeon, in particular—and a World War II fighter pilot. A dubious GPA my freshman year of college quickly disabused me of the doctor game plan, and I was born long after WWII ended, so the fighter jock thing was out, too--though I did get my pilot’s license in my early 20’s and continue to fly to this day. For what it's worth, I also held out the notion in various phases of my life of being an astronaut, playing in the NFL, and performing with the Beatles. Each ambition was as equally implausible as the next. For whatever reason, I always enjoyed writing and, like so many others of my generation, had this wacky idea that I could Make The World A Better Place, which more or less led me to investigative journalism. I realized, hey, I could be a detective armed not with a ,45, but a notepad. Getting paid to write while defending truth, justice, and the American way, plus seeing my name on the front page. Not a bad way to earn a buck. I later toiled in Hollywood as a screenwriter and, later still, working with the U.S. intelligence community, all of which provided plenty of grist when I ultimately decided to try my hand at writing a novel.

Who were/are the people inspired you?

For better or worse, I’m not a big believer in external inspiration, or role models, for that matter. Creativity, as the old saw goes, is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. When it comes to being a writer, that means you can’t wait for brilliance to strike. All you can do is park your butt in the chair and write. No excuses. Too many folks who aspire to write for a living spend way too much time talking about writing, or pretending to write, hanging out at Starbuck’s, eavesdropping on conversations ostensibly for “research” purposes, and not actually writing. For me, the process of composing creatively only works if I can wall myself off from the rest of the world--just me and my laptop--and focus. My goal when I’m actively engaged in a project is to write 1,000 words a day, no less than five days a week. Some days, I fail miserably when attempting that goal; on other days, when I’m in The Zone, I can double or even triple that number. Those are rare days, to be sure.

Your hero in Flat Spin, Cord Logan, is a private pilot and flight instructor, and the book contains many flight references. What influences led you to incorporate this element in his character?

The Internal Revenue Service. I’m an instrument-rated pilot and own my own airplane. One big problem with owning a plane is how much it costs. One day, the guy who does my taxes assured me that I could deduct at least a portion of my flying expenses if those expenses involved legitimate research, and that research ultimately contributed to my work product. When he told me this, I nearly kissed him! Thus, Cordell Logan was born. My life has not been the same since.

And a follow-up: What is a "Flat Spin"?

A flat spin occurs when an aircraft spirals down, wildly out of control, while remaining essentially horizontal to the ground. There’s relatively little hope of recovery, depending on what kind of plane you’re in. Remember that scene in “The Right Stuff,” when Chuck Yeager (as played by Sam Shepard) nearly makes it into space in a silver F-104 Starfighter, then loses power, fights to regain control while falling to earth, and ultimately has to punch out? That was the flat spin to end all flat spins. Get in one, and you’re basically toast. In the case of my book, Flat Spin, the title serves as a metaphor to explain the sorry state of my hero’s life when we first meet him.

What books are on your nightstand? Who are your favorite authors and genres?

I’m pretty eclectic in my reading tastes. Nonfiction-wise, I particularly love biographies and military histories. As far as fiction goes, I just finished David Benoiff’s City of Thieves—a great book, if you haven’t read it—and am about to embark on Shavetail by Thomas Cobb, who wrote Crazy Heart (another great book). I love Steinbeck, Faulkner, and Hemingway, though the latter, not as much as I once did. When it comes to modern literature, you can’t beat James Salter, in my opinion. On my best day, I could not write one-tenth as well as he does. Among authors of mysteries, I stand in particularly awe of Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Reed Farrell Coleman, Bruce DeSilva (his Rogue Island is fantastic), Denise Hamilton, and Chris Knopf, whose Sam Acquillo/Hampton series is consistently entertaining, and newcomer Len Rosen, whose “All Cry Chaos” is nothing short of brilliant.

To paraphrase Steve Martin, "Hey, Dave, how can you be so freaking funny?" Others who’ve read and enjoyed it say that part of Flat Spin's allure are the sardonic, sometimes over-the-top characters. Is humor an element in all of your writing? Have you ever thought of being a stand-up comic?

Truth be told, I’d rather go to the dentist and get a root canal than stand up in front of a crowd of strangers—unless, of course, they’re willing to buy my book!

Is there a real Mrs. Schmulowitz? Can she come to my house for Thanksgiving dinner?

You mean Cordell Logan’s landlady, a retired PE teacher who loves pro football, cooks a mean brisket, and is the only 80-something who favors Lycra bicycle shorts and fire engine red tank tops? Nope. There is no real Mrs. Schmulowitz, though I have had more than a few relatives and friends upon whom I modeled her.

Your hero, Logan, is a former government assassin-turned-flight instructor who used to be an Air Force fighter pilot. If you had your choice of flying any fighter, which would it be?

The World War II-era P-51 Mustang, hands down, followed, in no particular order: the F-86 Sabre, A-10 Warthog, F-16 Fighting Falcon, and the Harrier.

Finally, the question we've all been wondering: Why are there no vampires in "Flat Spin"?

Because--spoiler alert--there are no vampires

With Love And Squalor Giveaway

2012-01-12T08:51:00.000Z

It's free today at Amazon UK and US. This is what you'll get:

An Arm And A Leg

first published in Crimespree Magazine 2010

Also published in Mammoth Best British Crime Stories 8 2011

Fisher Of Men

first published in Voluted Tales Magazine 2011

A Whole Lotta Rosie

first published in the anthology Pulp Ink 2011

Reaching The Summit

first published in Apollo's Lyre 2011

No Pain No Gain

first published at Crime Facory Magazine

Breakfast TV

first published at A Twist Of Noir 2011

put forward for the Pushcart Prize by Christopher Grant

Suture

first published at PulpMetal Magazine 2010

and Samples

Hoodwinked

first published at All Due Resepect 2011

included in the collection Beat On The Brat (and other stories)

Sea Minor

first published in The Reader Magazine 2009

included in the collection Dirty Old Town (and other stories) 2011

Chapter 1 of Smoke, a novella 2011

Dancing With Myself: LOREN EATON interviews LOREN EATON

2012-01-11T10:08:00.001Z

Things move quickly in this world of electronica. New ways of selling and distributing and grabbing people's attention. I guess we all need to pay attention to get to the good stuff and here's s little slice of that.

The Pablo D'Stair fiction challenge has taken off. There has been a good deal of interest and for all those who entered, you'll be getting a new readership that your work deserves. There's a podcast out there now, so you can hear the thoughts of Pablo in the hands of Rob and Livius over at Booked.

I you want some of the action and a chance to vote, the details can be found here.

MANHUNTER'S MOUNTAIN is the first full-length Cash Laramie novel by hardboiled veteran Wayne D. Dundee. It's free for today, the last day of the offer, so you know you need to follow the link. Don't you?

Here at Sea Minor, Loren Eaton is about to open your eyes to one or two things. Loren has a story in the excellent Grimm Tales anthology and you'll find an offer on the book over at Untreed Reads. If you buy the most excellent Discount Noir and Grimm Tales at the same time, you get 50% off Grimm tales. I believe that means you can pick up both for $5. You'll get a double dose of today's guest in the process.

Just an aside, Dirty Old Town (and other stories) is close to 1250 sales now after a mini-boom at Christmas. Thanks for that.

You'll also be able to get a copy of 'With Love And Squalor' for free at Amazon tomorrow if I've done things right, so check it out if you're interested.

And now the main event.

Loren Eaton, you're very welcome here.

So, in preparing for this interview, I happened across your blog, I Saw Lightning Fall. You really like SF and fantasy and horror, all those really geeky genres. How did you end in the crime fiction anthology Grimm Tales?

True, speculative fiction really is my first love. I grew up reading it and naturally turned to writing it in later life. But several years ago I discovered Peter Rozovsky’s blog Detectives Beyond Borders and the crime writing of Patti Abbott. That influenced both my reading and writing habits.

And I suppose that a fairy-tale-themed crime-story collection didn’t fall too far off of your normal compositional mark, right?

Well, that’s true. When John Kenyon of Things I’d Rather Be Doing suggested it, I thought it sounded like a wonderful idea. Plus, it’s a lot of fun to be writing alongside fine folks such as Patti Abbott, Evan Lewis, Kaye George, Eric Beetner and Nigel Bird. You’ve heard of him, haven’t you?

Yes, I most certainly have. Let’s talk a little more about your story itself, shall we?

By all means.

For Grimm Tales, You were supposed to riff off of one of the original Grimm’s fairy tales. Which one did you choose?

In truth, I didn't have much exposure to Grimm's fairy tales as a child. I knew some of the stories that Disney had reworked (sanitized, really), but I hadn’t read the originals. Around 2004 or 2005, I picked up a copy of the Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling-edited anthology Black Swan, White Raven, which featured reimagined folk stories. Michael Cadnum's "The Flounder's Kiss" really grabbed me. It retold “The Fisherman and His Wife,” a story about a henpecked husband who begs a magical fish for greater and greater blessings at the behest of his overbearing wife. With an almost noirish twist in the end, the woman’s greed and the man’s cowardice undo everything they’ve earned to that point. It was a natural choice for me.

And how exactly did you turn it into a crime story?

About the time I started writing it, my wife and I had just finished watching The Godfather for the first time. (I know, I know, I don’t understand how I made it that far in life without having seen Coppola’s masterpiece.) I wanted to feature a Mafioso as my protagonist and to riff off of that famous scene where Michael Corleone offs Sollozzo and McCluskey in an Italian restaurant. But I had to work in a flounder somehow. My father and I had done a little bit of fly fishing on the salt flats in the Keys, so I had my Mafioso head down there on vacation. True, the flounder population in south Florida is notoriously sparse, but I thought a bit of creative license would have to do.

Anything else for us?

Yes! Go buy Grimm Tales, which is currently on sale in the Untreed Reads store. If you like it, pick up the cut-rate-retailer-themed anthology Discount Noir. It features my zombie love story “Thirty-One Hundred.”

Sea Minor - I'm glad I'm not the only one out there who arrives late to parties of cultural significance. I'm only just half way through the first series of The Killing. And I love it.

One Man's Opinion: HOODTOWN by CHRISTA FAUST

2012-01-09T16:38:00.000Z

In her novella ‘Hoodtown’, Christa Faust has attempted something extra-ordinary. She’s created a world and a micro-culture that are similar enough to our everyday lives to be recognisable, yet different enough to keep a reader on their toes from start to finish.

Hoodtown is the broken down sleazy ghetto where the hoods hang out.

The hoods are a group of people brought together by religion, slang, wrestling and culture in a way that means they have to keep their faces covered at all times. They have hoods for babies, for sleeping and for wrestling in. There are special arrangements for shaving and facials. Their whole way of life is impeded upon by these hoods, not least in the way they are looked down upon by the majority ‘Skins’ who wear no hoods and pull the strings in society.

The story is told by X. She’s an ex all-right – an ex-wrestler, ex-beauty and the ex of one Jaguar de Juarez who is a wrestling legend.

When we meet her she’s well past her heyday in wrestling terms, drummed out of the federation after ‘the incident’ with Blue Velvet.

She’s a tough lady and a hell of a character. She also exposes herself in ways that many first-person narrators don’t achieve.

Unfortunately for X, she happens upon the body of a murdered hood. It’s something that haunts her given the nature of the killing; the victim’s hood has been removed and an act of sacrilege has been committed.

The murder turns out to be one of a series and X is driven to find out what’s going on.

The plot broadens as the involvement of big fish from Skin and Hood ponds react to her enquiries and the only allies she has are the men in her life and a sympathetic Skin cop (who is the exception rather than the rule).

Her life moves at a pace, shifting from one lead to another until the satisfying and totally unexpected identification of the killer.

Overall, the work is written really well. Faust has turns of phrase that show a great creativity in her use of language and an unusual perspective on everyday happenings. There are regular nuggets of delight to be savoured.

The hard-boiled package works really well and she carries off the creation of the Hood culture with apparent ease.

A couple of things slowed things down for me, however, making this a four star review than a five. I’d also like to point out that these points probably say more about me as a reader than about the author.

I was fascinated by the Hood concept. Tried to work out what a face would look like after so many years under-cover, or thinking about how the baby hoods worked and sleeping and love-making etc and I found myself drifting away from the plot. I was also bogged down with attempting to fathom the whole concept (yep, probably trying to see things that weren’t even there). It doesn’t seem to make any fresh statements about prejudice, but it’s a constant reminder of the need to respect-people for who they are. It had me thinking of Burkas and the issues for wearers and non-wearers within western communities. Ghettos and exclusion and riots and poverty were frequently in my thoughts. I guess from that point of view it should be seen as a thought-provoking book that should be read, but I’m not sure.

The other issue for me was my capacity to hold the threads together. Each scene leads to the next with a fairly high speed of turnover and big changes coming fairly quickly. Throw in the unusual names and the number of characters and I found myself having to work pretty hard to stay with the programme – like I said, this is likely my issue as working-memory isn’t one of my strengths.

These points were minor in the scheme of things. Amidst the colourful language, the raw setting and within the violent scenes of a crazy, Hood wrestler on the rampage they pale into the background.

Very entertaining overall. A perfect book for groups and group discussions. I’d quite like to do some discussing myself, see the parts I missed and find out what others took from the setup so I can read it again from a better-informed position.

Please go and try it - I’d love to see your reviews and interpretations.

For those who love the book, and there will be many, you have the luxury of a wonderfully illustrated copy as an extra option (I'm half-tempted, I must say). It looks like the kind of thing you'd pull down from the shelves when you really wanted to impress. You'll find that here.

One Man's Opinion: HILDA'S BIG DAY OUT (A SHORT STORY) by ALLAN GUTHRIE

2012-01-07T12:05:00.003Z

I had some pleasing news yesterday that came completely out of the blue. I became the winner of the Vintage Books Reviewers Competition. That's a lovely to thing and I'm really pleased to hear that my efforts are appreciated. The result is I was able to choose 6 books from the Vintage list; so much for getting on top of the To-Be-Read pile.

Now to today's attempt.

Those who know me will be very much aware of the great respect and admiration I have for Allan Guthrie, for his writing and for his humanity. I'll not say more. What I need to add is that Hilda's Big Day Out may not seem immediately to be something all Guthrie or Crime-book fans should have, but it most definitely is.

You get four stories in this collection - the main attraction and three bonus tracks.

First off comes Hilda's Big Day Out.

This was first published in The Sunday Mail, no less.

It opens with the peculiarities of a New Year's Day dip, something all the more apt for me as I was one of the lunatics who plunged into the North Sea this year.

We meet Hilda. If you've read Guthrie before, it'll be like a reunion with an old friend and if you haven't you should get to be better acquainted.

This time Hilda has his own voice. He's the story-teller and he has a great story to tell. As his owner rests on the beach, Hilda is kidnapped by a man who thinks he needs a three-legged dog.

Using the dog as the main voice must have been challenging, but Guthrie surpasses himself in the description he uses from the perspective of our three-legged friend.

The lighter opening tones darken for a while and by the end of the tale, the result is utterly satisfying.

The next story, Your Mother Should Know, is a piece that Chris Rhatigan and I were honoured to include in our Pulp Ink anthology last year. It's full of atmosphere, a kind of humidity to my mind, as it tells the tale of a young girl whose life is tricky and for whom their aren't many solutions. What I love about this one is that it's set in the States and shows the amazing versatility of voice of the author, one of which I'd love to see him expand in the near future. Early Sissy Spacek comes to mind for this one.

Next is Bye Bye Baby, the sperm and egg that came to form the very successful novella. It's a story that keeps up the power of the opening salvo.

Finally we come to 'Call Me I'm Dying'. It's from 'A Hell Of A Woman: An Anthology Of Female Noir' (edited by Megan Abott and Val McDermid no less). It brings the collection to a nicely-rounded finish as another canine gets a brief mention. What you get is a head-to-head between an extremely unusual man and his guest as they celebrate their tenth anniversary over dinner. This one's electric. Full of power. By the time the metaphorical explosive package was revealed, the story already had me hooked. Sparse, sharp and a brilliant example of what can be done when all the flab is cut from a narrative.

It's a great collection all round and a testament to the genius of the man at the helm.

Better still, if you go now it's free.

Fetch.

A quick addition, by the way, a must-have collection of Anthony Neil Smith's short stories entitled 'Early Crap'. And it's totally free for 5 days!!! How irresistible is that?

Dancing With Myself: JAY STRINGER interviews JAY STRINGER

2012-01-06T10:27:00.003Z

Did you know you could get an Allan Guthrie star story today for free? No. Follow the link and find out about Hilda's Big Day Out.

And now to the main feature. Most cool:

JS: Tell us a little about yourself?

JS: Born in 1980. Not dead yet.

JS: Very droll. But really, who are you?

JS: Well, I’m a writer. I grew up in an area of England called the Black Country, but I’m currently living in the frozen citadel of Glasgow with my wife. We keep closing our eyes and pretending we're in New York, but it doesn't work. I have an Amazon page where you can check out some of my work, as well as a pretty cool blog.

JS: Tell us something interesting about yourself?

JS: Depending on who you ask, I was named after either Jimi Hendrix or Irish whiskey.

JS: And you write crime fiction?

JS: Yes. Well, that was sort of an accident.

JS: Accident? What happened? Did you trip?

JS: Okay, none of it was really an accident, except for my first novel. What I meant was, I’m drawn toward social fiction, and I don't like people putting too many words on a page. Also, I don’t really like navel gazing or talking tigers. Crime just seems to be the place where I ended up. But I think most of my favourite writers of the past would be labeled as crime in the modern market. Just look at Steinbeck or Dickens, they’d be crime writers. Hangover Square By Patrick Hamilton would totally be a noir.

JS: So are you a political writer?

JS: No, I like to say that I write social pulp fiction, it’s still all about entertainment, cliff hangers and suspense, but I’ll sneak in some serious issues once I have your attention. I just like to write about people who don't always do the right thing. And to throw in a few jokes and Harrison Ford references.

JS: Sure, Harrison Ford, that’s a sure fire way to reach the masses. That and all that dirty talk you put in.

JS: I wouldn’t say I use all that much dirty talk.

JS: Are you kidding? I just read your story in The Mammoth Book Of Best British Mysteries

JS: We’re talking about volume 9? Available for pre-order from all good retailers right now? ISBN 9780762444311? Available February 2nd?

JS: That’s the one.

JS: Just checking, because I was in volume 8 as well.

JS: Stop being a dick. Listen, anyway, I read your story and right on page one you've got a twelve year old swearing and talking about women's body parts.

JS: Well, twelve year olds swear. I did, and that was almost 20 years ago, so I don’t know why people pretend otherwise. People seem to be far more accepting of reading grisly and horrible acts being done to innocent people, than they are of reading a few normal everyday swear words. I don’t really understand it, but it’s a good thing to be aware of when I’m writing. It means I have to be able to justify it every time a character swears, which they tend to do.

JS: What’s your favorite swear word?

JS: Fuck has so many offshoots that it would have to win. Fuck ‘em is probably the phrase I use most. For comedy value I love using Bollocks because it sounds funny as well as being a bit naughty. Up here in Scotland there’s a great one, Bawbag. I can use it in print through dialogue, but I can’t say out loud it because I don’t have the accent.

JS: So quit beating about the bush and tell us about your story.

JS: It’s called A BULLET FOR BAUSER, it’s about a teenaged gang member in the Midlands, and how he thinks a gun will make him a man.

JS: Gun? But there isn’t a gun problem in the UK, is there?

JS: Do you believe in the Easter bunny, too? Kids in the Midlands have been shooting at each other for decades. They just don’t make the national news because they’re the wrong class and colour.

JS: And the funny accent.

JS: Yeah, okay, whatever.

JS: I did like the kid I your story though, can I read more of him?

JS: Funny you should ask that. I have a novel coming out this year, from Thomas & Mercer, called OLD GOLD. It’s set in the same town as my short story, so if you don’t blink you might see Bauser.

JS: Cool, tell us more.

JS: It’s a bit of a murder mystery, but also a bit of a dark comedy and a break-up story. It tells of a half-gypsy gangland detective. If you’re a businessman looking to find a statue of a falcon or a family looking for a missing toddler, you need not apply to Eoin Miller. If you’re a drug lord looking for a missing stash, or an illegal immigrant looking to stop a rapist, then he might be the man for you. He is very happy ignoring the world, his friends and his family. He’s doing a very nice job of learning to bury his conscience. He will take your money and find something you’ve lost, and then he will walk away. But when a woman is murdered in his house, he’s forced to make some big choices. He has to try and rediscover the difference between right and wrong, and he is badly out of practice.

JS: Okay, I’m bored of you now.

JS: Tell me about it.

JS: So where else can people be bored by you?

JS: Well, again, they can buy The Mammoth Book Of Best British Mysteries 9, and judge my potty mouth for themselves. I’m part of the team at Do Some Damage, and I blog there every Thursday. You can also find me every ten seconds on twitter under my own name.

To pre-order your Best British Crime in the US from Amazon, click here.

Dancing With Myself: JOHN BARLOW interviews JOHN BARLOW

2012-01-05T10:45:00.006Z

Welcome, John. Is this the first time you’ve interviewed yourself?

It’s the first time I’ve ever written it down. But like most people who work alone in a quiet room all day, I chat to myself a lot. So this feels very familiar.

Great. So why are you on Nigel Bird’s blog?

Long story short: I asked. Short story long: I’ve just published my first serious crime mystery, HOPE ROAD, and I’m trying to build some publicity for it.

Doesn’t your publisher do that?

Normally, yes. But this time I’ve decided to publish the novel myself, initially as an ebook, and then as a paperback.

Did your agent think that was a great idea?

Ehm, next question...

Come on. No point doing the interview if you’re gonna to get all coy.

OK. Well we did finally agree that testing the ebook market wasn’t *such* a bad idea. The industry is in a state of flux. Nobody really knows what’s going to happen once electronic books become the dominant format for mainstream publishing (ETA 2015-6). What we do know is that advances from traditional publishers are way down, while quite a lot of self-publishers are making good money putting their work on Amazon, Kobo, Apple etc.

So you thought you’d jump on the bandwagon?

You make it sound so vulgar! Given that I was writing a crime mystery (one of the genres that is doing best in the current ebook boom), I thought it was a good moment to give it a try; a ‘no guts, no glory’ sort of thing.

Bandwagon, then?

Yeah.

And how has it gone?

The novel has been on Amazon and Smashwords a few weeks, but I’m still waiting for it to appear on sites like Waterstones, B&N, Apple and Tescos. This, then, is the first thing I have learned: get everything ready before you publish! I spent most of December doing a crash course in self-publishing.

Any other hard-earned nuggets of e-wisdom?

Yes. Get a serious publicity strategy in place before you click the ‘publish’ button. Otherwise you’ll get your book into the Kindle store, and realise (as I did) that nobody can see it. Visibility is a huge issue in e-publishing.

You mean you didn’t realise this would happen?

I know. I’m a tool.

Hey, why not tell us a little bit about the book?

Good idea. The basics: it's set in contemporary Leeds. It’s a noirish amateur sleuth mystery with a police procedural running in parallel. The sleuth is the son of a crime boss, and his girlfriend is a police detective. The end.

There’s a dead body, right?

Yep. But the book began as a story about counterfeit money. For about ten years I’ve had a low-level obsession with fake money. Low-level in the sense that I’m not a counterfeiter myself (although I have met people who are *connected*). My specific interest is in the process of how fake banknotes are ‘passed off’ in large quantities, which usually involves an army of ‘changers’ who target corner shops, car boot sales, pubs and clubs etc. But this method is fraught with danger because of the number of people involved, and also because a lot of places now have scanners for banknotes.

Just as some people try to evolve the ‘perfect murder’ in their minds, for years I racked my brains to devise the perfect ‘passing off’ operation. It would have to be ONE person acting alone, and it would have to be almost risk-free. I think I managed it.

You’re not going to tell us the secret, are you?

No. What I will tell you is that last year I had lunch with a DI from the West Yorkshire CID. I explained the scam in the novel to pass off hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of fake notes, and he was pretty impressed. Actually, he was very impressed indeed. Over our Malaysian buffet we tweaked the operation further, making it even more watertight.

So it’s a book about fake money?

No. It’s a murder mystery. The money is a subplot. But it’s really about neither of these. It’s about the main character, John Ray, and his relationship to those around him, especially his criminal family. My own family has an arms dealer in its murky past (he was found dead on a flight from Amsterdam in the early 80s, so no useful insights into the criminal world from Unkie Donald I’m afraid...), but that’s not strictly relevant. This is a novel about John Ray.

Tell us about John, John

It might sound a bit grand and high-falutin’, but creating the character of John Ray has changed the course of my life.

Yes, it sounds ridiculous. Explain.

First off, he’s the kind of bloke I’d like to be, and he’s incredibly enjoyable to write. Second, he emerged out of nowhere. I had the setting for the book (Leeds), and since my family are all from the city, I had a very strong emotional connection to the place. But John himself just swaggered in and took control. I never had to think much about what he’d do in a specific situation. I just dropped him in a scene and watched.

By the time I was finishing up the rewrites (my agent is an ex-editor, so I had brilliant editorial support) the fact that I had invented John Ray had completely vanished from my head. It was quite weird, but also very gratifying. And I knew he would remain a central character in my future work. I knew, in essence, that this novel was the start of a very long project, which in the end I have called LS9 (the area of Leeds where HOPE ROAD is set), and will ultimately comprise nine novels.

NINE! Why set yourself such a ridiculous target?

Ignoring the fact that you’ve now used the word ‘ridiculous’ in your last two questions... Nine novels because they’ll evolve as three very loose, interconnected trilogies. I want to stay with John as he and I get older (we’re the same age, 44), but I also want to branch out and look at some of the other characters in more detail. For example, Denise Danson (John’s police detective girlfriend) deserves more space.

BTW: I’m particularly interested in how readers respond to the character of Den Danson. Please mail/twitter me of you have any comments, good or bad.

Nine novels about little old Leeds, then.

Not at all. John Ray’s father is Spanish, a career criminal who emigrated to the UK in 1958. At some point the series will leap across to Spain.

And that would suit you because...

It’s where I live. I’m from Yorkshire, but now I live in Galicia, the cold, rainy part of northern Spain (think Yorkshire with tapas).

So the next decade of your writing life is all mapped out.

Yes. From Leeds to La Coruña. I’m not kidding, this is my life’s work. All I have to do is stay alive.

And write.

Right.

Thanks for speaking to us, John.

Thank you. And thanks to Nigel for having us!

Buy HOPE ROAD:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Kobo

Smashwords

Contact John: http://www.johnbarlow.net

http://twitter.com/John_Barlow_LS9

Short Story Anthologies

2012-01-04T11:04:00.000Z

I was just over at Spinetingler filling out a survey for their award nominations this year.

As you may recall, I had a story in the list in 2011 and I'd like to tell you that it really gave me an enormous lift. Why not go over and share the love you have for your favourites so that they can get some of the praise you think they deserve. A poll such as this deserves to be taken, so take a few minutes of your day and pop over.

While there, I was struck by my answer in the 'Short Story Anthology Multiple Author' box. I was stuck.

The thing is, there's something about my reading habits that makes a choice difficult.

When I come to a collection by an individual, I tend to read from beginning to end in the way I would a novel. I have no idea why that is, but it could well be that I sense the author has a reason for offering things up in a particular way.

I don't approach multiple-author anthologies in the same way. Instead of in straight lines, I tend to read them much in the way I mow a lawn - in random patterns determined mostly by the patches of long grass that catch my eye.

That's where the problem lies in picking out a list.

I tend to graze these things. Pick out an author or a title I fancy, or maybe a really short one if I lack time. That kind of thing.

When I considered my list, I thought about including collections where I'd read more than 75%. That's as far as I got.

There's another factor making any choices difficult.

Short story anthologies have really mushroomed. It makes sense, too. Sites and magazines putting up great work have decided to turn that into something different and I applaud that. Not that it helps in making choices.

The final factor involved in my keeping my colours low is that the anthologies I've read through are ones I've been involved with. So that's where I have to start.

Pulp Ink. This was a labour of love. It was a tremendous learning curve in different ways and working with Chris Rhatigan was a real treat. The other factor that meant it remained ever-engaging was the pure quality of the work. I learned a little about writing, too, somewhere along the line. It's my favourite of the year. Totally biased, but I can't help it. It's now made over 300 sales and that makes it pretty respectable for a 4 month run.

Another collection I read through is Grimm Tales. That was for different reasons. It started out as a competition, so I was there to check out the opposition. I was lucky enough to win that, but if you check the intro (by Ken Bruen, no less), you'll see that the prize could have gone in many different ways. This also brings something out about an anthology that I tend to like, which is an overall theme. It makes me less likely to be a dipper if I feel I'm following a thread.

Speedloader. Now there's an anthology with a difference. It only has 6 stories in from 6 contributors. What that means for me as a reader is that I'm not going to dip. I was really honoured to be part of that one, especially as it was the debut from Snubnose Press who are fast becoming one of the main players when it comes to creating a mark of quality on a book. The collection is simply superb and Plastic Soldiers was my favourite short read of the year.

There have been some cracking charity efforts out there - Brit Grit Too, Off The Record, Lost Children and Shaken. It makes a lot of sense and the fiction is brilliant.

And there's more.

The Best American Noir Of The Century

Laughing At The Death Grin

Beat To A Pulp - Hardboiled

Pulp Modern

Crimefactory: The First Shift

Noir Nation

Kung Fu Factory

D*cked

...

It's a great list. I'll have missed things out - post them in the comments if you have something burning inside that you need to share.

A mention is also needed for the Mammoth Best British Crime series.

Editor Maxim Jakubowski deserves a medal for putting these together. The result is always quite amazing. Like all anthologies, you won't love every one of them, especially where the net is cast as widely as this, but these are books that should be in the collection.

I had the honour of being in Volume 8 this year and I'll have that doubled when I appear in Volume 9. Volume 9, by the way, is to be released on February 2nd this year and can be pre-ordered if you follow the link. It also happens to include one of my favourites from Pulp Ink, Kate Horsley's 'Jungle Boogie'.

Which seems like a nice way to complete an imperfect circle.

OUT OF BULLETS COMPETITION UPDATE

2012-01-02T08:51:00.002Z

The Contest

UPDATE: Both collections are now complete and each contain 14 Crime/Noir Flash Fiction stories, these stories ranging in length from 200-2000 words. Both collections will be available (free in all e-book formats via Smashwords) from Dec. 29th until Jan. 31st (2012) for Reading/Voting.

12-20 Crime/Noir authors (for details see the Challengers tab) will contribute Crime/Noir flash fiction pieces of their choosing to compile one collection.

Pablo D’Stair will, in one consecutive 8 hour period, write a collection of approximate length (an equal number of stories, the lengths of which are up to D’Stair). This collection will be fully executed, from conception to finished product inside these 8 hours. NOTE: D’Stair is given one additional 2 hour period to make a run through to correct only superficial details such as typographical errors–no new material may be added, no material may be deleted or reworked

These collections, labeled simply A and B, will be made available, free of charge, in nearly all e-reader formats, to any interested party for the duration of the contest time via Smashwords. NOTE: Neither collection will in any way identify authorship of the individual stories, nor will there be any indication which collection is multi-author and which is single author. Readers will approach both collections and vote on them, blind.

Readers will decide (1) which collection they prefer and (2) from that preferred collection will pick their three favorite pieces, numbering these in order of quality (#1 is best, #2 is second best, #3 is third best)

The Reading/Voting Period for the contest is from December 29th, 2012 until January 31st, 2012

NOTE: Readers will vote by e-mailing their choices to an address monitored by impartial parties–any vote not received through this channel will not be counted. Voting instructions will be prominently displayed in multiple places in both collections.

Once the voting period ends, a full listing of the Challenger Collection, with author names, will be made available on this site.

What you need to do:

Go over to the Out Of Bullets site, download the 2 free collections and read them. When you're ready, vote for your favourite collection and your favourite stories.

When Pablo is toasted, the money can be extracted from his pockes with tongs.

Go be democratic.

One Man's Opinion: KICK IT by McDROLL

2012-01-01T20:54:00.000Z

When I read Kick It, I was taken aback.

The first story, A Pot Of Christmas soup was warm and cosy. Not only did I enjoy its telling, but I learned a neat trick with Foxes Glacier Mints that means I'll be able to put icicles on future Christmas cakes. It was really gentle and I got completely involved in ideas for next years dinner. 'Kick It' - I wondered about the title for such gently skilled story-telling. And then came the twist. The sting in the tale. 'Kick It' finally made sense.

Gemma Dixon, a woman working her way through the nettles of police-rankings, is a great character. The opener gives a hint and she appears in the remaining stories (bar one) where we get to know a little more about her style and her strength each time.

In between the Dixon tales we have a story of a disillusioned Support For Learning teacher. It's the job I do. Reading about it not only reflected many of my own fears, it also highlighted perfectly the difficulties of the job in a way that is far-too-rarely mentioned. And boy does this one wear steel toe caps.

Fantastic.

This is a wonderful collection and I'm off to take another kicking in the very near future.

A+

Dancing With Myself: KRISTIN FOUQUET interviews KRISTIN FOUQUET

2012-01-01T11:38:00.001Z

Lists of best-reads may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I love them. They provide a really useful guide for selections and advice from trusted hands.

You'll notice that I like making lists of my own. I have to apologise for one glaring error (since corrected) in my ten short-story collections in my leaving out Mayhem by R Thomas Brown. It's there now and I hope Mr Brown will understand.

A couple of weeks ago now, I read the top 5 reads of AJ Hayes. In case you're not aware, AJ's become a good friend of mine - trusted critic, loyal supporter, adviser and one of my favourite writers of short fiction and poetry.

One of his picks had a really interesting cover and an intriguing title, 'Rampart and Toulouse'. I knew I needed to contact the author of the novella, Kristin Fouquet, about getting her to do an interview for me.

Not only did she agree, but she has also sent me her book (not cheap to do across the pond) and it arrived yesterday. I must say, it looks great and even has a lovely little bookmark in there, too.

There's a personal resonance for me in starting the year off with this. Greg, close friend of many years and one who won't be with us in 2012 or any other year from now on, made New Orleans a second home. He was out there for a year building homes and friendships and webs within the community and it's a book he would have loved just for that reason. As if that weren't enough, from what I can see in the photo, Kirstin is also the kind of lady he'd have loved to surf couches with. I guess this is my way of turning a page with the gentlest of touches.

May I thank Kristin for her courtesy in communication, her kindness is agreeing to an interview and her generosity on sending me a book I can't wait to get to soon.

And here she is.

Big Happy New Year applause, please...

What is your dance of choice?

The tango. Shall we?

Let’s. What impact has the Internet made for you as a writer and a photographer?

I had some stories published by online publications (many now defunct) as far back as 2000, but it wasn’t until June of 2008, that things really escalated for me. My short story, “A Blonde for Onion,” was published by J.D. Finch at Outsider Writers. That site has evolved over the years, but it’s where I was first introduced to Caleb J. Ross, Lynn Alexander, Aleathia Drehmer, Tim Hall, Ken Wohlrob, David Blaine, Cheryl Townsend, Pat King, Beto Palaio, Jason Michel, Paul D. Brazill, among others. Forgive the name dropping, but I suppose I’m a bit sentimental about it. The most auspicious meeting occurred in one of the OW forums, where Carter Monroe wrote a comment about the Raymond Carver/Gordon Lish controversy. Being a longtime fan of Carver, I was now conflicted about how I viewed him as a writer. I approached Carter and a long conversation about writing and editing led to a writer/editor relationship and the publication of my first book, Twenty Stories by Rank Stranger Press. Many of the stories in the book were first published by online publications like Pindeldyboz, Full of Crow, The Ranfurly Review, Danse Macabre, Hobo Camp Review, Literary Fever, and The Bicycle Review. The three short stories which proceed the novella in my second book, Rampart & Toulouse, were also published online in Muscle and Blood, Short Story America, and Danse Macabre. I’ve also met so many terrific writers and friends online and am grateful for the connections.

Although my photography has been used in many print publications, books, chapbooks, and music CDs, I have had my photographs and photo essays exhibited in over thirty online publications and galleries. In the fall of 2010, Richard Godwin generously granted me an interview about my photography in his online series Chin Wag at the Slaughterhouse. I’ve also made some short films and music videos which are on my Cinema page at my website Le Salon. The book trailer for Rampart & Toulouse is here.

Several reviews of your book, Rampart & Toulouse, mention the photographic influence on your writing. Which came first, the photography or the writing?

This is a difficult question to answer because so much of writing is thinking. Burton Rascoe wrote, “…a writer is working when he’s staring out of the window.” I think if you’re a writer, you were probably born a writer. I’ve been making up stories and dialogue in my head for as long as I can remember, but I didn’t start putting them down on paper until I could physically write at age five. Also as a child, I would tilt little mirrors around a room to see different angles, similar to cropping photographs. I think this innate interest in seeing the world from different perspectives attracted me to photography. My father gave me my first camera, a small Vivitar, before I took a trip in 1985. My first photographs were of Paris, but there are no pictures of me there because I didn’t trust anyone enough to use my camera.

You are a native of New Orleans. How much does your city play a part in your work?

She’s always there even if I choose not to show her, as in my more minimalistic stories or conceptual photographs. For better or for worse, I am a product of New Orleans and her culture. Many of the settings for my fiction and obviously my street photography reflect this city I love so much despite the challenges.

How dangerous is New Orleans and does crime seep into your writing?

Crime is a complex problem here. The homicide rate is frighteningly high with no solution in sight. While the majority of the murders occur with the victim and killer knowing one another, some innocent people meet unfortunate fates. There is witness intimidation, but most of the killings are the perpetuation of a vicious cycle of vendettas. I am not a crime writer, but my characters are sometimes affected by crime. In my novella, Rampart & Toulouse, the protagonist witnesses a drive-by shooting and becomes agoraphobic as a result.

Have the reviews of your second book been favorable?

I have been overwhelmed by the responses to Rampart & Toulouse (Rank Stranger Press, 2011). Caleb J. Ross gave it a great review at Outsider Writers Collective and Press. Fellow New Orleans writers, David Lummis and Mark Folse, among others have bestowed kind words about it on Goodreads. James D. Wittenberg sounds off on Amazon. The lovely Penne J. Laubenthal calls my characters “Chekovian” in her article about me at Swampland.com. Ken Wohlrob ponders which came first- my photography or writing in his wonderful review, “Book of the Week: Rampart & Toulouse by Kristin Fouquet.” I was floored when A.J. Hayes not only gave it a fantastic review, but honored me by naming Rampart & Toulouse as one of his Top 5 Books of 2011 at the Guilty Conscience. I’m still dancing over that one.

So, what’s next?

I am writing my first novel. It’s titled Surreptitiously Yours. The setting is the French Quarter of New Orleans in the early 1960s. The protagonist is a 30 year-old film student working on her MFA in documentary filmmaking. Her thesis is a film using surreptitious recordings of people on the street, riding buses, etc… Then, she begins to suspect someone is spying on her. She’s uncertain if it’s real or if her increasing guilt about her surreptitious recording is causing paranoia. I’m also writing it in black and white.

Why write a historical novel instead of setting it in the present?

In short, because of technology. Surveillance equipment is common now. CCTVs are everywhere. The idea is they are intended to prevent or cut down on crime, but I don’t think they really do. Criminals know there are cameras in the businesses they rob. Many keep their backs to the camera or wear hoodies even in the heat of summer in order to remain anonymous. In some of the high crime areas of New Orleans, the cameras have been shot out or their lenses painted over and haven’t been replaced. With the majority of people carrying smart phones around with photo and video capabilities, anything can be recorded. I think people expect to be watched these days. I want to explore a time when there was a bit more privacy and people believed they were entitled to it.

What is the purpose of writing in B&W? Is it a gimmick?

My natural instinct in photography is to shoot in black and white. When I write, I see photographs. I see scenes and I describe them. With so many reviewers picking up on the photographic nature of my writing, it gave me the idea to write more like I photograph. I don’t think it’s a gimmick; I think it is a challenge in description. Everything in the novel is defined in dark and light, patterns and textures. I also think the psychological theme coupled with the era it’s written in is reminiscent of such stellar B&W films as Hitchcock’s “Psycho” (1960), Thompson’s “Cape Fear” (1962), and Fellini’s “8½” (1963) to name a few. Also, Powell’s “Peeping Tom” (1960), if only it had been shot in B&W.

I hope Surreptitiously Yours is never colorized.

I think it’s time to take off the Cuban heels. Any final thoughts?

Just when I thought I could dance all night. I would love to thank everyone who has been supportive of me and my writing and/or photography. I have a great feeling about 2012. I hope everyone has a wonderful new year. Finally, thank you so much for your time.

Nigel, many thanks for asking me to dance.

One Man's Opinion: The Killing Of Emma Gross by Damien Seaman

2011-12-30T16:42:00.001Z

The Killing Of Emma Gross is based upon a true story, set in a period when ‘the Ripper’ (or ‘Vampire Of Dusseldorf’) was terrorising families in Germany in the late 1920s.

It's out of the Blasted Heath stable and it's another of the thoroughbreds they seem to enjoy working with.

The murder we’re concerned with is of one Emma Gross, a prostitute found killed in the room of a seedy hotel where customers pay by the hour. It’s one that comes as part of a rather unfortunate package.

Seaman takes the idea of this unsolved case and weaves a wonderful story for the reader to delight in.

The book opens with Detective Michael Ritter with the body of Emma Gross and we get a fly on the wall view of what happens.

From that point on we’re inside the head of one Detective Thomas Klein. In fact, we’re not just inside his head but inside his whole body as it reacts to each situation and new emotion in different ways. It’s quite a skill Seaman has with internal settings, giving us not only Klein’s insides, but small rooms and oppressive atmospheres that lend to the whole piece a claustrophobic feel which entirely makes sense for the period and situation.

Unfortunately for Klein, he has something of a history with his senior colleague Ritter and this leads to trouble when their paths cross over the case.

Klein has been tipped off about the ‘the Ripper’ Peter Kurten and sets off to arrest him in a church.

Instead of making Klein the hero, Ritter turns the world upside down and Klein is given a roasting in an interrogation room.

The bringing in of a Berlin hotshot soon sees Klein back on the case and he’s soon sent off to work on a maverick operation that leaves him vulnerable from every angle.

Klein is a superb character. An old storm trooper who’s allowed himself to go to seed, he moves through the underbelly of the city with all senses bar smell switched on.

We get a glimpse of what it might have been like in a post-war world where the communists have been crushed, there’s an economic depression and Freud has a spreading influence that percolates through German Expressionism. I got flashes of the movie ‘M’ every so often (Fritz Lang’s very early talkie from the period and dealing with a serial child-killer) – that’s a film I admire greatly so if the effect was intentional, I take my hat off.

Seaman throws in some German language every once in a while, usually in terms of humour (the word ‘arsch’ is slipped in wonderfully from time-to-time).

I’d say he also did a lot of research, but it’s leaked to us subtly rather than rammed.

It’s a must for the fan of the police procedural and is even more of an essential read for those fans looking for something with a strong and unique flavour.

Full Marx.

Dancing With Myself: ANDREZ BERGEN interviews ANDREZ BERGEN

2011-12-26T10:06:00.001Z

Happy days, everyone.

Thanks for all your Christmas wishes.

I'd like to wish you all happy times in whatever form works for you.

I'd like to thank the folk out there buying and reading my books, too. I may not know who you are but, believe me, every time I clock up a sale you get a smile (like the bell and the angel getting its wings).

In case you still haven't seen, if you buy a copy of Smoke and send me the info, I'll give you (courtesy of Darren Santa) a copy of Flashes Of Revenge and you'll be able to have your pick from the Trestle catalogue, too. Three for the price of one.

And here's a really great interview from a man who likes to title a book.

Welcome Andrez Bergen, author of Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat.

How do you feel about interviewing yourself?

Actually, I’m fine with it. I’ve worked as a hack journalist for 15-odd years and interviewed during that time around 500 people, include American actress Famke Janssen in a hotel room in Tokyo, and British DJs Coldcut – I was quite drunk and freezing my balls off at a payphone in the middle of winter in Melbourne, while they were sober and enjoying the warmth in a park in London.

So, yeah, I’ve had some practice in various states, and to be honest I know the questions I’d prefer to be asked, so it’s a tad easier and saves on heating bills.

What’s your focus in the journalism thing?

Mostly, I write about music – in particular electronic music, sometimes more commercial dance (that stuff pays the bills), but I prefer focusing on the experimental stuff that pushes the perimetres.

I also write about Japanese culture. It helps that I’ve lived in Tokyo for the past decade. I do articles on anime, Japanese cinema, manga, literature, whatever. I love directors like Akira Kurosawa, Mamoru Oshii and Seijun Suzuki.

Anyway, I think all this attention to music and cinema has done some permanent damage to my headspace.

How about your fictional writing?

I tend to write whatever pops into my head, with very little planning. Sometimes ideas wing out of the articles I’m writing – for example I did a feature about the annual Obon Festival here in Japan and I slipped that, albeit a little revised, into Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat.

I’m currently tinkering with a similar story I did on the Japanese drink sake for my next book, One Hundred Years of Vicissitude – though that may be ditched if it doesn’t work out. Otherwise I’m heavily influenced by my love of cinema, as well as the old school, hardboiled noir and pulp fiction of writers like Dashiell Hammett, Seishi Yokomizo, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Raymond Chandler.

I could do with some attention to focus and clarity, and definitely keep a better eye on word repetition, but when you’re writing on the fly these things seem kind of like back-burner concerns.

Do you stick to one particular genre?

Nope, I think that’s beyond me. I’m always criss-crossing styles, often inadvertently – I think I’d get bored sticking to the one genre.

I guess Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat is, for the most part, two genres: sci-fi and noir. But the sci-fi plays second fiddle to the noir. The next novel is a bag of fish unto itself – it hasn’t decided yet which genre it is exactly. At the moment, there are about four of ‘em whacked into the upholstery.

What’re you engaged in now?

I do music stuff as well – more electronic experimental stuff as Little Nobody and Funk Gadget – so I have a few projects I have to follow up there in the new year.

But I’m also about 120 pages into the next novel. I’m calling it One Hundred Years of Vicissitude, and – yep – it’s obviously a cheeky reference to Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude.

It started out as a stand-alone tome about identical twin geisha who live to be one hundred, and one of them nurturing an Iago-like complex about the other.

Somewhere along the line, however, elements of Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat have filtered into the story, so it’s about five percent related to that as well. Long story. Literally. God knows how it’ll end.

Anything else you’d like to rant about here?

I think I should ring in my parents, whose love for cinema started me on the slippery-slop of an obsession that continues to run my life. I grew up early on with Vincent Price in Edgar Allan Poe, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in Hammer horror, The Monty Python crew, The Goodies, the Carry On movies, old musicals, John Wayne – and noir.

Plus classic ‘60s TV like The Avengers and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. That stuff is filtered through my fiction, at least, and I’m constantly citing lines that nobody else gets.

So you mentioned being smashed when you interviewed Coldcut. Are you sober now?

Absolutely. I have a six-year-old daughter so these days I tend not to drink at home, which is where I am now. The wheels do still fall off occasionally, but I try to be a little more professional. Mostly.

You make much mention of cinema. Which writers areinfluences?

Oh god, well I’m constantly going back to Hammett and Chandler – The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon are two of my all-time favourite novels. Then there are old faves like Joseph Heller, Philip K. Dick and Haruki Murakami for their surrealist humour and ideas – and I’ll always have a soft spot for Dr. Seuss, the master of both. I’m a big fan of Umberto Eco, James Ellroy, Edith Wharton, Ryu Murakami and Graham Greene.

From a more contemporary perspective I’d go with Kristopher Young, Marcus Zusak, Josh Stallings, Molly Gaudry, Benjamin Whitmer, Guy Salvidge, Shuichi Yoshida, Steve Mosby, Justin Nicholes, Urban Waite, Allan Guthrie, Grant Jerkins – and, yep, Nigel Bird!

Is there a healthy crime/noir writing community in Japan?

To tell the truth I haven’t the faintest idea. I’ve been here a decade, but I’m still a gaijin. Don’t get me wrong – I absolutely love Tokyo and Japan and the people here, but I didn’t come here to discover “scenes”. I did all that kind of stuff back in Melbourne, in Australia, and I was a bit over it when I moved over here. Being anonymous and outside scenes – with respect to music as much as writing – has its advantages. But I guess there must be decent crime/noir scene. Seishi Yokomizo did some pretty gothic horror detective fiction in the 1940s and ‘50s, and more recently Shuichi Yoshida has been on fire.

Also Ellery Queen seemed to think there was a healthy Japanese scene when he put together the Japanese Golden Dozen: The Detective Story World in Japan in the 1970s. (http://www.amazon.com/Ellery-Queens-Japanese-Golden-Dozen/dp/0804812543)

What’s the big deal about your publisher, Another Sky Press?

Easy – I love them to death. These people care about their writers and they work their arses off supporting them and helping them to get their work out in the big wide world – and to be honest they don’t get all that much back. They deserve their own bronze statues in local parks.

The decision to run with them on Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat is one I will never, ever regret, particularly since my editor, Kristopher Young, had so much input into the final story.

So why write?

What can I say? That it keeps me sane, that it’s escapism, that it’s a magical carpet-ride outside the casement of my own skull? Partially, I guess it’s all of these things, but most of all I write for the simple face that I love it. I’ve been writing stories since I first learned how to hold a pen at the beginning of primary school. I’m not saying I wrote decent yarns – ye gods, some of it was absolute nonsense – but I always loved the ability to create new places and new people.

Where can we find your work?

Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat is up on Amazon, but the paperback is cheaper direct from my publishers at Another Sky Press: http://anothersky.org/asp/in-print/tobacco-stained-mountain-goat-andrez-bergen/

Music-wise, if you’re at all keen, you can check out: http://littlenobody.weebly.com/

Anything stressing you out right now?

Well, yeah, actually. I think I’ve mentioned I’m an amateur aficionado of nihonshu, the Japanese alcohol known as sake.

Well, the Holy Grail of sake is a brew called Myouka Rangyoku (‘Heavenly Flower’) that has been touted as the world’s best sake at urbansake.com and in the pages of The Japan Times newspaper – it was served up to dignitaries attending the G8 Summit in 2008 in Hokkaido.

Like all chart-topping, divinely-inspired beverages this one comes with a healthy price tag: A 720 ml bottle retails upwards from ¥12,600 (about £100).

Unfortunately I’ve never had the opportunity to try it, and it turns out the brewery is located in Fukushima – slap-bang in the middle of where the massive March 11 earthquake happened, and about 60 km from the ongoing nuclear reactor debacle at Fukushima Daiichi.

I know this is a minor quibble in the grand scheme of things, but… damn.

Great interview, Andrez. It's been great to have you both.

All that talk of films gets me thinking of The Man In The Seventh Row from Blasted Heath. Maybe there's room for some collaboration one day.

The Top Ten Ways To Start Off Your Kindle Collection

2011-12-25T10:31:00.001Z

Some of you may have seen my posting of my top five novels of the year over at Guilty Conscience. Just picking five did leave my conscience pricked, so I’m posting my top ten today to make amends. I’ll still feel bad about the ones I leave out, but it’s the way the cookie crumbled.

The proportion of good reads in my life has gone up dramatically since I’ve been taking the advice of respected folk around the internet. Though lists don’t always satisfy everyone, they do offer a good guide to what folk might want to be cramming on to their kindles after Christmas.

So here goes.

Katja From The Punk Band by Simon Logan.

A tremendous story of kiss chase as a couple attempt to leave for the mainland while the bad guys try to stop them. This never skips a beat. Every word takes the story forward and there’s no friction anywhere to slow it down. It’s told from a number of perspectives and works like a dream.

The Devil All The Time by Donald Ray Pollock

This is a book that transcends most fiction. It should be placed on a shelf (real or virtual) among the giants of American literature. It’s about as good as it gets.

The Cold Kiss by John Rector

This was a debut novel, not that you’d know from the way the story is told. A young couple bump into a hard-nosed guy in a diner and end up giving him a lift. It snows, the man dies and he happens to have a shit-load of money in his bags. What to do?

One Too Many Blows To The Head by Eric Beetner and JB Kohl

A book that’s full of the flavours of original hard-boiled fiction. Set in the boxing world, a fighter dies in the ring and his brother goes out to find justice. Problem is, justice isn’t so easy to find as it might be. Loved it.

The Bastard Hand by Heath Lowrance.

Preaching and killing have rarely been fused in such a wonderful way. Very classy work.

Truth Lies Bleeding by Tony Black

It’s a great book. Sharply written. Brilliantly plotted. Page-turning and thought-provoking at the same time. Highly recommended.

Out There Bad by Josh Stallings

From early on, this book explodes into action. Stallings moves on at a cracking pace and I'm pretty sure this one has got the lot: sex, sleaze, car-chases, hand-to-hand, drugs, an arsenal of weapons, gangsters, assassins and booze.

The Damage Done by Hilary Davidson

Hilary Davidson's debut novel is first rate. The plot is as gently layered as a fine choux pastry.

The Long Midnight Of Barney Thomson by Douglas Lindsay

When I read this book, I laughed out loud so much that I could feel my spirit soaring and my levels of happiness increase. It's hilarious. The kind of humour I wish I could muster. It would be a mistake, however, to underestimate the skill of the author simply because the book's funny. It's only by setting you up, by getting the timing exactly right and by creating a plot that is utterly engaging from beginning to end that one can fully appreciate the talent.

The Killing Of Emma Gross by Damien Seaman

This is cheating a bit as I’ve still got the final hurdle to cross. It’s in the top 10, though, no doubt about it. I’ll be posting a review over the next week or so.

And because The Damage Done isn't available as an ebook yet, I can pick on extra, which is to be:

The Good Son by Russel D McLean

McLean's touch is interesting. Mostly I found it easy and flowing, one of those page-turners that brings a constant source of pleasure. He almost fooled me with that, for he also has a range of weapons at his disposal. He has blunt which he uses now and then to stun, throwing in a cold, hard phrase to unsettle. There are the sharp objects in there - descriptions and force that cut as the phrase turns. There are guns and fists lurking too. And there's a little wry-smile that jumps out when you're least expecting it as if Harry Lime's lurking in the shadows and having a bloody good time.

All in all, you get youself a copy of each of those and you'll be in reader heaven.

May I thank everyone who has helped me along in any way this year (and there have been so many). Kind words, comments, purchases, reviews, moral support, a gentle slap, visits here and enthusiasm for life. However you've been in contact, may I wish you and yours a very happy Christmas

Dancing With Myself: MICHAEL ABAYOMI interviews SIR MICHAEL ABAYOMI

2011-12-24T10:22:00.001Z

If you're looking for last-minute Christmas books for an e-reader, here are three places you'll find great gifts:

Blasted Heath has a growing collection of amazing fiction for you to try. Absolutely. I'm currently reading 'The Killing Of Emma Gross' (on sale at 99p!) and it's a wonderful police-procedural with a rather unique flavour.

Snubnose Press are stars for the top of the Christmas tree. Each of the books I've read from them has been of the highest order. Yesterday I posted reviews for Eric Beetner and Patti Abbott's work. At the end of them you can see what they have brewing for 2012 and it's going to be intoxicating.

Untreed Reads are having a half-price sale all day today, finishing at midnight PST. I'd recommend 13 Shots of Noir and Grimm Tales, Discount Noir and will give a little plug for my festive, existential romance 'Into Thin Air'.

OK.

Santa job over.

I really was Santa the other day, by the way. I had an emergency call from our Wraparound team and he hadn't turned up. They needed an imposter to step in and do the bell-ringing, Yo Ho Ho thing. I was off like a flash and loved it.

And here is the main business of the day, the interview with Sir Michael Abayomi. Take it away, Sir.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. It is with unquantifiable pleasure that I introduce to you our guest for today: the sensational, multi-talented, self-proclaimed international bestselling author, Sir Michael Abayomi.

Feels good to be here.

Now, for the benefit of those who have been living in a cave for the past year or so, I think we should start this interview with a formal introduction.

Yes. Of course. Well. My name, as you all should know by now, is Michael Abayomi. I was born in the beautiful city of Lagos, Nigeria, and I am the bestselling author of the Neuro series of books: The Mediator, The Host and The Second Rebellion.

Wait just one minute. Before launching into your sales pitch. You keep describing yourself as a bestselling author, when there are many out there who have never come across your work.

What do you mean? Are you questioning my credentials. Why, I am featured in the very first issue of International Bestseller magazine. Sadly, that issue doesn't get distributed until the 21st of December, 2012. But you just wait and see.
Shouldn't the whole world be ending right around then... according to doomsday advocates?
Yes. Well. In the quite likely event that it doesn't, I'll be proven right, now, wouldn't I?
A bit convenient if you ask me. But anyway, on with the interview. So tell us: when did you start writing? What inspired you to start weaving tales from the fabric of your imagination?

Real fancy words you've got there. Let me see. I've been writing since when I was a wee lad. Oh, wait. That ain't quite true. I've been coming up with stories since I was a kid; didn't start putting them down into words until I was round twelve. Didn't get any good at it until I was eighteen. By then, I'd fallen in love with the art, no thanks to a certain series of books called Harry Potter.
And since then, you've written quite a number of books I'm sure...

Well. Not quite. For I'd been busy with school, and then work. But I plan on making up for this in 2012. I plan on writing not four, not five, not six, but SEVEN books, all part of a series you see.

Wow. That sounds... rather ambitious. But for those of us willing to sample your work right now, what can you tell us about the books you currently have available - you know, the ones you claim catapulted you to the top of the bestseller lists?

*eyes widen with delight* Ah. Yes. Those ones. Where to begin? The series is called Neuro, and there are three books in all. The first is called The Mediator, and it is about a lawyer trying not to get screwed over by a corrupt justice system. The second is called The Host, and it is about a wealthy geezer brought back to life by the implantation of his memories into another man's body. The final one is called The Second Rebellion, and it is about this kid who gets chosen to test out a new device, called the Virtual Reality Visor, which places users in a virtual reality world called Gomorrah; it's sorta like a cross between The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings, only cooler of course. Wicked.

I'll have to admit, your books have quite an impressive premise, which brings me to my next question. You seem to juggle between quite a few genres. What audience did you have in mind when writing these books?

Hmmm. Well, my books are what I'd like to term an easy read. They can all be read comfortably in one sitting. You can even sip some tea while you're at it. Or coffee if you prefer. So if you enjoy reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Tom Clancy, Stephen King, Dan Brown, Stephenie Meyer, William Shakespeare, Robert Ludlum, J.K. Rowling, Danielle Steele or the Holy Bible, then my books are definitely for you.

And if you like drinking water of course...

Yes. That too. Like I said, Easy Read®.

I'm afraid that's all the time we have for the interview. But before you go, is there anything else you'd like to add?

I'm on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Goodreads and Amazon, and you can also check out my blog, where I talk about writing and being an international bestselling author.

Nicely put. Thanks for dropping by.

Thanks for having me.

On The Twelfth Day Of Christmas

2011-12-23T22:20:00.000Z

The Twelve Nights Of Christmas. That should be enough to keep you going through the holidays.

This collection contains twelve stories "inspired" by the classic Christmas song. Be warned, though, this cup of cheer is poisoned. Katherine Tomlinson has put a twisted spin on the holiday sentiment and created stories that belong more to the dark than the light.

One Man's Opinion: DIG TWO GRAVES by ERIC BEETNER

2011-12-23T10:13:00.000Z

You may have seen ‘One Too Many Blows To The Head’ listed as one of my Top 5 novels of the year. Set in the boxing world, it’s a book that really does pack a punch.

That was co-written with JB Kohl, so I was curious as to how Mr Beetner would fare as a lone wolf.

In my opinion, he managed extremely well.

Dig Two Graves is essentially a story about revenge.

Val has come out of prison a confused man. It’s about the same way he went in.

Inside, he discovered the joys of Ernesto’s mouth as an antidote to sexual tension. Thing is, he has feelings for the man, not that he’s prepared to admit them. It means that he gets stuck somewhere between his wife and his male lover.

It’s a situation he’d most likely have stuck with until his arrest for a bank robbery.

Because he’s become such a careful planner (‘Planning. A good bank hit takes planning and, even more than that, humility. All the big names – Jesse James, Bonnie and Clyde, Dillinger – they all had the same M.O.: go in big, scare the shit out of them, take as much as you can carry. What else did they all have in common? Died in a hail of bullets.’) that he knows there’s only one way he could have been pinned for the job – his partner in crime (Ernesto) has ratted him out.

Val is taken in handcuffs across town by a silent cop. When they arrive, Val and they’re met by Val’s wife who’s waving a gun. She’s not too happy to have heard about her husband’s extra-marital activities and takes a shot at them. Blows a hole in the cop. Takes another shot and misses them both.

Thankfully, she calms down at that point and decides to help Val to escape. Maybe she shouldn’t have bothered.

From here on in, this becomes a quest for revenge. Val’s targets are Ernesto and the big cheese in the local crime fraternity who happens to have it in for Val for having an affair with his wife many years earlier.

We follow Val through church meetings, gay bars and slums as he keeps his nose to the ground in his quest for blood.

There are a number of times when his rational self considers leaving town and finding safety. At least that way he’d get to stay free.

Instead, his hot-headed-self wins out (‘Everything from here on in counted as borrowed time anyway. Might as well make it count’).

Truth is Val is happiest when the adrenaline is pumping and he’s in the thick of violent or dangerous situations. As we get to know about him, we realise his past hasn’t been so much chequered as all black squares.

The plot moves with energy and tension from one scene to the next and the excitement Mr Beetner stirred in me was palpable.

His characters are written beautifully from Val’s perspective and the settings had everything I need.

Best of all, though, is the voice of the book. It has the hard-boiled edge of another age. The sarcasm is heavy, the wit sharp as shark teeth and the humour laugh-out-loud.

One of the effects Mr Beetner’s style has is to throw my sense of time and place. That may seem like an uncomfortable place for a reader to occupy, but I love the way it happens. I found myself transported to a world of the black and white noir movie, all mist, darkness, caricatures, hats and long coats until I’d be shaken from the moment by a Tweet, the mention of a song or a tongue-piercing. It’s something I fully enjoyed, a juxtaposition of two eras that works extremely well and with great originality. Takes me back to when certain things just didn’t happen even within my lifetime. How things change.

One thing that hasn’t changed is my respect for Eric Beetner as a writer. Next on my card is the sequel to ‘One Too Many Blows…’ – ‘Borrowed Trouble’. I know already, I’m really going to dig it.

GRIMM TALES

2011-12-22T07:23:00.000Z

GRIMM TALES is a collection of stories by some of the top names in online crime fiction, all based on classic fairy tales. As novelist Ken Bruen writes in his introduction, "Ever imagined what would have come down the dark pike if The Brothers Grimm were more Brothers Coen and wrote mystery?" The collection is edited by John Kenyon, editor of Grift magazine, and contains 17 stories by Patricia Abbott, Absolutely*Kate, Jack Bates, Eric Beetner, Nigel Bird, Loren Eaton, Kaye George, Blu Gilliand, Seana Graham, Eirik Gumeny, R.L. Kelstrom, John Kenyon, BV Lawson, Evan Lewis, B. Nagel, Sean Patrick Reardon and Sandra Seamans.

I read these tales when the competition was running and, I have to say, there's a lot of talent in this collection.

Ken Bruen says, 'The stories all display not only marvellous invention, turning the whole concept of fairytales on its mysterious head, but breathing new life into a genre that has become, if not familiar, certainly stale.'

I'm with Mr Bruen with this collection, but not in relation to the familiarity of the traditional tales; to me the best fairytale still have an immense freshness at every reading and I'm glad that as a teacher and a father I get to visit them often.

As Christmas comes near, Darren Sant have put together an offer you can't refuse. Well, you can, but you should at least think about it.

Smoke, three times chosen in Best 5 reads of the year, has been dropped to 86p / 99c. Trestle Press are offering a free book for every purchase of Smoke if you contact me (nigel.bird7@btinternet.com) with proof of purchase. Darren and I would like to go further. If you buy a copy between now and New Year, you'll not only get the other Trestle book, but a copy of Flashes Of Revenge (and vice versa), a very entertaining read indeed.

I'd take me up on that. The rest is up to you.

And three more sleeps.

Favourite fairytales, by the way...love Snow White for the sipping from the wine goblets; Rapunzel for it's shocking brutality and romance; The Tinder Box for those dogs under the tree roots; Shockheaded Peter and the moral tales; Rumplestitlskin for it's all over the place twists and turns... we've all got them. Here's a list from the Guardian to remind you how good they can be.

While you're buying Grimm Tales, by the way, why not get yourself a free download of the original sinners.

Dancing With Myself: MIKE MINER interviews MIKE MINER

2011-12-21T10:20:00.002Z

There's a brilliant interview here today, so please hang in here.

Before you get there, some news of the Flash Challenge against Pablo D'Stair.

I'm trying to round up stories for the Challenge against Pablo. They need to have fewer than 1000 words and to be with me by 27th December. Please also include a bio and a photo so that you can bathe in the light of the contest site OUT OF BULLETS, THROW THE GUN .

The collective piece will go up against Pablo's on 1st January. Readers will have a chance to go through both and pick their favroutes by 31st January. And remember the three cash prizes for best 3 in show should the collective come out on top, $100 for the top story. That's pretty big bucks for under 1000 words.

Other bits.

Do Some Damage have been pumping out some great posts recently and at Guilty Conscience you'll find some great reading recommendations from some talented writers.

And Trestle Press have a two-for-one deal just now that's going on over Christmas. There's some great stuff up there to choose from, so check that out.
Anway, that's the appetizer over.

Here's my star of the show, Mike Miner. Big welcome.

Are you comfortable talking to yourself?

Very. I do it all the time.

What does your mother think about your writing?

My poor mother. I think nobody's more proud of me than my mom, but I'm sure she's uncomfortable at times with my dark side. Probably thinks she did something wrong raising me. She didn't.

What do you write about?

In my fiction, lately, nobody is safe. A lot of my characters don't get out alive. It's been a while since I penned a happy ending, been a while since it occurred to me to try. I've stopped looking away when I might have in the past. Instead of fading to black, I leave the lights on. I've become interested in, and willing to explore, the damage my characters inflict and receive. I am drawn to the wounded, the eccentric, the crazy. In life and fiction.

Do you write crime fiction?

Sometimes? Crimes are certainly committed. I don't have much use for white knights riding to the rescue on white horses. Or sensitive characters with precious, complicated feelings who are ignored or misunderstood, who just can't make that all important connection. I'm releasing bulls in china shops, I want to write about people at the end of their rope, holding on to one last, thin thread. Men and women, boys and girls, who crash into each other with violent, permanent results. Incidents that leave scars. If people want to call it crime fiction, fine by me.

What are you working on now?

I have a novel completed. It's being read. Keep your fingers crossed. I'm too superstitious to name names. My stories “Ice” and “The Rematch” are part of a linked collection of stories I'm working on.

What else should we talk about?

Influences?

Okay.

I read a lot, but a few all time favorites are Hubert Selby Jr., Robert Stone, Raymond Chandler and Roberto Bolaño. I went through a huge Stephen King phase as a teenager. His collection, Night Shift, had a big impact on me.

Hmm. How about some female authors?

I adore Angela Carter. Those lovely southern gals, Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers. Alice Munro, Jennifer Egan.

What about current writers?

Everyone's talking about Matt Funk and Frank Bill – and people should be, they're great. My favorite books this year were Mr. Bill's Crimes in Southern Indiana, Jacobs' Southern Gods and Dust Devils by Roger Smith. A lot of writers on the other side of the Atlantic: Paul D. Brazill, Nigel Bird, RayBanks. Also the Scandinavians, Nesbo and Indridason and Nesser, to name three great series writers.

Thomas Pluck and A.J. Hayes had good years. I'll go out of my way to read them. Loved David Cranmer's western stories. Patti Abbott really got my attention this year.

I could go on and on. Right now I'm reading R Thomas Brown's Mayhem.

Why don't you have a website or a blog?

I don't know the first thing about setting one up. Or maintaining one.

How can people find your work?

I'll include some links here.

Is there a crime writing community? Are you a member?

I guess there's sort of a neo-noir scene. And I'm happy to be a small part of it, as a writer and a fan. I'm grateful to editors like David Barber and Kent Gowran and Jason Michel (and many others) for giving guys like me an outlet for our work. The writers in this scene have been incredibly supportive too. We just want each other to succeed. It's like a really good AA Meeting.

You know AA Meetings?

Yup.

What do you miss most about drinking?

Everything.

What was your poison?

Everything. A lot of tequila. Gin. A nice dry martini.

What don't you miss?

Everything else. Waking up in jail. My wife bailing me out. Courtrooms. Lawyers. Also, I couldn't write worth a damn when I was drinking.

What's the worst jail you've ever been in?

Twin Towers. Downtown Los Angeles.

What's the best?

Beverly Hills. Hands down. Commit all of your crimes in Beverly Hills, everyone.

Why do you write?

Can I steal Flannery O'Connor's answer? Because I'm good at it.

No. Why do YOU write?

To stay sane.

________________________________________________________________________

Mike Miner tweets as @skyeminer.

Story links:

“the rematch”:

http://www.pankmagazine.com/the-rematch/

“one more night”:

http://www.shotgunhoney.net/2011/12/one-more-night-by-mike-miner.html

“the revenge game”:

http://theflashfictionoffensive.blogspot.com/2011/10/revenge-game-by-mike-miner.html

“voices”:

http://pulpmetalmagazine.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/voices-by-mike-miner/#more-2272

“killer smile”:

http://www.shotgunhoney.net/author/mike-miner/page/2

“the wrong saloon”:

http://theflashfictionoffensive.blogspot.com/2011/04/wrong-saloon-by-mike-miner.html

“ice”:

http://solsticelitmag.org/ice/

Brit Grit Too

2011-12-20T13:19:00.001Z

I mentioned yesterday that Smoke has not only had a slash down in price, but that you could enjoy any other Trestle Press book for free as part of a two-for-one deal just by letting me know you'd bought it. That still stands.

I also mentioned that Brit Grit Too would be a good companion as a choice. I'd forgotten, at that point, that BGT is for charity. That means it would be a good idea to choose any other Trestle Book as your Smoke two-for-one and, let's face it, there's a barrel of talent to choose from.

Edited by Paul D Brazill, one of Britain's outstanding up-and-coming talents and enormously generous spirits, Brit Grit Too collects 32 of Britain's best up and coming crime fiction writers to aid the charity Children 1st children1st.org.uk/

The BRIT GRIT mob is coming to kick down your door with hobnailed boots. Kitchen-sink noir; petty-thief-louts; lives of quiet desperation; sharp, blood-stained slices of life; booze-sodden brawls from the bottom of the barrel and comedy that's as black as it's bitter--this is BRIT GRIT

Table Of Contents.

1. Two Fingers Of Noir by Alan Griffiths

2. Looking For Jamie by Iain Rowan

3. Stones In Me Pocket by Nigel Bird

4. The Catch And The Fall by Luke Block

5. A Long Time Coming by Paul Grzegorzek

6. Loose Ends by Gary Dobb

7. Graduation Day by Malcolm Holt

8. Cry Baby by Victoria Watson

9. The Savage World Of Men by Richard Godwin

10. Hard Boiled Poem (a mystery) by Alan Savage

11. A Dirty Job by Sue Harding

12. Squaring The Circle by Nick Quantrill

13. The Best Days Of My Life by Steven Porter

14. Hanging Stan by Jason Michel

15. The Wrong Place To Die by Nick Triplow

16. Coffin Boy by Nick Mott

17. Meat Is Murder by Colin Graham

18. Adult Education by Graham Smith

19. A Public Service by Col Bury

20. Hero by Pete Sortwell

21. Snapshots by Paul D Brazill

22. Smoked by Luca Veste

23. Geraldine by Andy Rivers

24. A Minimum Of Reason by Nick Boldock

25. Dope On A Rope by Darren Sant

26. A Speck Of Dust by David Barber

27. Hard Times by Ian Ayris

28. Never Ending by Fiona Johnson

29. Faces by Frank Duffy

30. The Plebitarian by Danny Hogan

31. King Edward by Gerard Brennan

32. Brit Grit by Charlie Wade

It looks tasty as anything and I reckon it's a must have, don't you?

And it's for such a good cause, it would make a timely Christmas treat in many different ways.

Two For One

2011-12-19T20:40:00.003Z

When Trestle Press put out my novella Smoke, there was a brief period of uneasy silence.

As this was my first extended piece of fiction, I was incredibly nervous about the reception it might be given. The silence practically blew out my eardrums.

I remember well the way my body relaxed as a few reviews popped up. Not only were they kind, they were raving. As more followed, I began to breathe easily once more. Thanks to all those who ended the quiet.

Anyway, I hoped that would be job done. I could sit back and let a steady trickle of sales take place. Maybe concentrate on other pressing matters instead.

A lot of good folk with a lot of great taste and writing experience were blowing my trumpet and I loved the tune I was hearing. I thought the music would spread far and wide.

Unfortunately I was wrong.

The trickle dried up like a puddle in the desert and stayed that way.

In the past week, I’ve been re-enthused about the work. As the best-of-year-reads have begun, I’ve been lucky enough to have some big picks. I’m going to list them here for you to check out. All of them are from ‘Death By Killing’ or ‘Guilty Conscience’:

Darren Sant, Top 5 Books - “Having read Nigel’s short story collections Dirty Old Town and Beat On The Brat I was eagerly anticipating his novella Smoke. He did not disappoint. Nigel writes tales that feature dark deeds and darker characters. However, there is always a hope for redemption for them. Smoke is no exception. An exceptionally well told story with an uplifting conclusion.”

Fiona McDroll, Top 5 Books – “If you want to understand what is happening in contemporary society in Scotland then Bird is handing it to you here on a plate; kids who have been failed by the education system, poor housing, poor employment and raining opportunities, teenage pregnancies, alcohol and drug misuse and a criminal sub culture. Sounds bleak but for many youngsters growing up today, this is their reality and Bird moves into this world with such ease and makes these characters real instead of government statistics.W

Chris Rhatigan, Top 5 Books – “Bird's recent novella ‘Smoke’ has gotten a lot of critical attention -- as well it should. But this collection is where I fell in love with his writing. This is dark crime fiction with very real characters and beautiful, lyrical language.”

Paul D Brazill, Top 5 Brit Grit – “To write an involving crime novel you need to be a craftsman/woman. To write an involving novella you need to be an artist. Nigel Bird is both which is why this multi POVed slice of crime fiction works so well.

Smoke, is the story of a town, Tranent, and the rough edged characters that live there.

Smoke is a spin off from Bird's great story An Arm And A Leg-which was included in this year's Mammoth Book Of Best British Crime.

The main characters are Carlos, who actually lost an arm and a leg at the end of the aforementioned story and is hell bent on revenge, and Jimmy, a young kid with a good heart who has drawn the short straw in life. And they have a mutual hatred of the Ramsey brothers, who are making their fortune organizing dog fights.

Smoke is reminiscent of Allan Guthrie's Savage Night in the way it cleverly interweaves different strands of the story and its great mixture of colourful characters, absurd humour and hard boiled crime.”

Thanks to all of those good people for their choices and to those others who’ve reviewed or mentioned the book in some way.

It’s sweet music to my ears.

So how can I help to spread that sound? Share it out?

The best way I can think of is to make it cheap.

I asked Giovanni about dropping the price for a couple of weeks to see if it helps. As ever, he agreed to give it a try. I’m hoping that in this way the book will find more readers. I think you’ll agree from the listings above that it seems to deserve that.

And that’s me blowing the horn. I know it’s slightly off-key to shout out like this, but it’s what I feel I need to do. I pass on this word in the hope that you may benefit from it and maybe feel inclined to pass it on to someone new:

Smoke, 75p and 99c. Wow.

And as if that weren't enough, if you buy a copy of Smoke at 99c/75p and send me proof of purchase, The Big G says you can have a free copy of any Trestle Press title to go along with it. How generous is that? (If you didn't notice, Brit Grit Too came out yesterday and that's $5 plus change).

I hope that's loud enough for you at the back.

Thanks, G.

And Yo Ho Ho.

One Man's Opinion: THE SISTERS BROTHERS by PATRICK DEWITT

2011-12-18T20:11:00.000Z

A short while ago, I was waxing lyrical about Edward Grainger's Cash Laramie. Mentioned that it was outstanding and gave me a lot of pleasure.

She told me about a Western she'd recently loved, The Sisters Brothers. Her enthusiasm was big, as was her generosity, so the next time we met up she passed it on for me to read.

I was wholly taken by the cover. It's brilliant and certainly aroused my curiosity. And the title's nigh on perfect. All systems go.

I met two brothers in the book, the Sisters brothers of the title. They were on the way to do some killing for their boss, all the way out in California as it happened.

It's a gentle opening about the beginning of their journey and though it didn't hook me entirely, I was curious.

I soon came to look forward to their gentle tales as they meandered from one incident to another, from one town to another and one whore to the next.

Eli tells the story and I think it's better that way. He has a rich vocabulary and a questioning mind, which means there are open questions for the reader to ponder as the tale unfolds.

Charlie, on the other hand, is cold and calculating - a born hit-man. Not only is he pragmatic and ruthless, but he's fast on the draw and cool as Luke.

As you can imagine, on a journey of this scale, the horses are a big part of the story. As in other cowboy lore, it's through the way the horses are dealt with and cajoled that we see a lot about our protagonists. That's all very well done.

There are some very entertaining encounters with dentists and hoteliers and drunks that add extra layers to the story as it is and was in the past. There are even some laugh out loud moments once you get to know them.

I found myself relishing their encounters, especially the matter-of-fact disposal of people who got in their way. The brutality is clean and powerful and very well done indeed.

The problem for me came at around the half way stage. The pace of the work didn't really break from an occasional trot. It seemed to pale before me, dilute itself to the point of little taste. What was revealed seemed to have an air of repetitiveness about it. I began to switch off a little and needed something to pep things up. It did arrive, but when it did it was also told as a fairly slow burn.

I felt the voices were all a little too similar for the bigger players, something that began to stand out a little too proud.

As things were brought together, there was some fulfilment in having made the effort, but I'd say I wanted a little more.

This may seem harsh.

I wouldn't want to put people off buying it and, after all, lots of folk out there have obviously loved it (including the owner of my copy).

There is a lot in there to treasure. Problem for me was that the further the story went on the more like panning in rivers it became to find it.

I'd try another DeWitt novel, but it won't get in there before a rather exciting looking To-Be-Read pile and certainly not before I've read Cash Laramie 2.

PULP INK BARGAIN

2011-12-18T10:34:00.002Z

Pulp Ink is now 86p or $1.36 including tax. Now that's a bargain.

So who's in it?

Allan Guthrie
Reed Farrel Coleman
Gary Phillips
Hilary Davidson
Matthew C. Funk
Paul D. Brazill
AJ Hayes
Michael J. Solender
Richard Godwin
Naomi Johnson
Jimmy Callaway
Sandra Seamans
Patti Abbott
Jodi MacArthur
David Cranmer
Chris F. Holm
Jason Duke
Eric Beetner
Ian Ayris
Kate Horsley
Matt Lavin
Jim Harrington
Nigel Bird
Chris Rhatigan

And why should you take a look?

'This is one of the best collections of short fiction you will ever see. Grab it now: Pulp Ink is ready to thrill, chill and entertain in ways you never thought possible.' Julie Lewthwaite, Sunderland, 5 stars

'It may be that the anthology format will be the best one for e-publishing. At least with the newer generation of pulp writers, this seems to be the best introduction to their works. I found this collection to be a quick and deadly read, perfect for my Sony e-Reader. Editors Bird and Rhatigan are to be commended for putting together a selection which is of superior quality.
The editors of Pulp Ink had a great idea: take little snippets of dialogue from Pulp Fiction the movie, send them to a host of writers working the same groove and ask them to write short stories based on the ideas. The result is this tome, a book with an edge every thousand words. I'm no Tarantino scholar (are there any?), but I do feel the vibe of his 90's classic funneled through these stories.' Timothy Mayer, Philly, 5 stars

'Most writers who feature in this collection have hit a home run. This is an addictive collection and there's no real let down here but the best stories have been written by David Cranmer, Allan Guthrie, Paul D. Brazill, Chris F. Holm, Hilary Davidson, Chris Rhatigan, Nigel Bird and Sandra Seamans. It's varied, it's wild and it's not for the faint hearted. Definitively a collection to check out. Very strong line-up of stories.' Ben, Montreal, 5 stars

'PULP INK is probably the short story bargain of the year so far, if you consider sheer volume of stories as well as the quality of those stories. It's jam-packed, and every entry is AT LEAST very good. More than three-fourths are downright brilliant.
But you know, it was bound to be great, wasn't it? Look at the editors: Nigel Bird and Chris Rhatigan. Two fellas who know a thing or two about what makes good stories work.' Heath Lowrance, 5 stars

'It was obvious to me by the time I had read the first three or four stories of this anthology that I had a problem. Writing an effective review of Pulp Ink would be like trying to clean the Humber Bridge with a toothbrush. Why? Quite simple because each story is like a sparking gem in the mud that is the e-book market. This anthology shone so brightly to me that I felt I had to wear shades when reading it. The editors deserve great credit for putting together such a fine collection. This is up there with the best of them and possibly my most enjoyable read this year.' Groovydaz, Hull, 5 stars

'I first picked up this collection after hearing so many good things about it and you know what? They are all true. Anthologies can be hit and miss, especially ones that "specialise" in a genre - not so with Pulp Ink....Certainly a collection that deserves its time in your collection.' Paul Phillips, 4 stars

'Purged from the dark and twisted minds of some of the most talented crime writers today, Pulp Ink is an intense and dirty fusion of nefarious short stories and smack you right in the kisser flash fiction. Rising up like a carousing prize fighter in a dark alley, these stories will clobber you with an elbow smash to the noggin when you least expect it.' Julia Madeleine, Toronto-ish, 5 stars

'Grab this and read it. Devour it.' R Thomas Brown (fiction editor, Spinetingler Magazine), 5 stars

Yes, I have a story in this collection but I still recommend this whipcrack of a read. There are lots of gems but favorites Include:A J Hayes' intense 'Padre',Patricia Abbott's Highsmith meets Gothic 'The Wife Of Gregory Bell',Jimmy Callaway's mini movie 'Comanche', Hilary Davidson's smart 'The Little Piggy' and the hardboiled 'Requiem For A Spider' by Reed Farrel Colman.Highly recommended.' Paul D Brazill, Bydgoszcz, 5 stars

'An excellent collection, well put together and all for a bargain price. Highly recommended for all noir fans.' Guilty Conscience, Liverpool, 5 stars

Lovely.

Happy Christmas to you all from the Pulp Ink Wrecking Crew.

$200 Flash Fiction Challenge

2011-12-16T16:14:00.000Z

Another message from Pablo D'Stair:

It seems the Lit Flash world has pussied out, big time. Must’ve know I’d mop the floor with them

But, now I am keen on putting myself to the test against Genre (Crime/Noir in specific) folks (who’ve been nothing but enthusiastic about this), so I put together the following (not mean spirited) contest for Crime/Noir flash and was hoping you could help me out with getting “The Challenger Collection” put together.

The Contest:

I will, inside of the previously explained 8 hr time limit, write a collection to conform (approximately) to the length of the Challenger Collection (my stories will not be inter-related, as the Challenger Collection won’t be).

The Challenger collection is to be comprised of 12-20 pieces of Flash Crime/Noir by 12-20 different Crime/Noir authors. These authors can choose whichever piece they want, previously written, or can write new pieces, it’s all the same.

I will write (in 8hrs) a collection of as many pieces of flash Crime/Noir (if the challenger collection has 12 pieces, mine will have 12, if it has 17 or 20, mine will have 17 or 20 etc.)

Both collections will be made available to anyone who wants to read and vote for the length of the contest (electronic formats, either a straight PDF or through Smashwords for any platform—after the contest, the collections will be made unavailable from these places).

The collections will contain No Author Names—also, it will not be explained which collection is a 1 author collection and which is the multi-author collection—they are both presented as Crime/Noir Flash Fiction Collections and read blind by the readers.

The readers will choose (1) Which collection they consider the winner (2) from that collection they will choose their 3 favorite stories.

The Prizes:

Now, if my collection wins, no prizes are awarded—I win.

If the other collection wins, I lose and there are 3 prizes to particular authors of the other collection based on the total number of votes for the top 3 stories

1^st Prize: $100 (US)

2^nd Prize: $75 (US)

3^rd Prized: $50 (US)

Sea Minor's note:

If you're interested, post a comment here or contact me via my email address (in my profile) and we'll see how this shapes up.

My opinion? Pablo's a great writer, he really is. Is he able to top the work I see out there regularly from those of you who are gifted at your craft? I don't think he can. There, said it. Take him on. Shake the tree. See what falls on your head. It could be $200. What have you got to lose?

Mayhem

2011-12-14T11:40:00.000Z

I read Mayhem a short while ago and would like to commend it to anyone sampling the collection now, anyone who’s wondering whether to press on the buy button or not.

Do it, I say.

Do it now.

Soon as you start, you’ll want to thank me for my advice.

One of the many things I enjoy about Ron’s work is that it's so very difficult to classify.

Mayhem verges on the dystopian at times, horror at others. It skirts through noir and crashes into crime. No matter what genre the piece you’re involved with, there’s one thing that I can pretty much guarantee – that as you read, you’ll feel uncomfortably close to the events and the thoughts of the protagonists as Ron really gets under your skin.

Under-pinning the writing is a sense of acute observation. These observations are then used as a spring-board from which he launches to land in a pool of a highly fertile imagination.

Not only are the stories gripping, they hint at bigger things, larger philosophies, which left me intrigued when I read them and in the cases of some of the stories, still does.

Ron Brown has shown in his many reviews of the short form that he understands the art and craft as well as anyone. Take a trip through his mind and you’ll see that he’s able to apply that knowledge with the perfect balance between subtlety and hard hits that you’d want from a book.

A triumph, indeed.