CRIME FICTION CHOICE

Crime writer and Thrillers Killers N Chillers editor Col Bury has been inviting guest bloggers to write a little about a favourite crime short story.

Well, it's my turn today, so why not pop over here and see what I've chosen?

DERRINGER AWARD WINNERS

The Short Mystery Fiction Society has announced the winners of its 2011 Derringer Awards :

Best Flash Story (less then 1,001 words): TIE--“The Book Signing,” by Kathy Kencharik (from Thin Ice: Crime Stories By New England Writers, edited by Mark Ammons, Kat Fast, Barbara Ross, and Leslie Wheeler; Level Best Books, 2010), and “The Unknown Substance,” by Jane Hammons (A Twist of Noir, December 27, 2010)

Also nominated: “Blues in the Night,” by Carol Kilgore (Dark Valentine, May 2010); “Homeless,” by Patricia Morin (from Mystery Montage; Top, 2010); and “Stick a Needle in My Eye,” by Julia Madeleine (Powder Burn Flash, No. 302, May 5, 2010)

Best Short Story (1,001-4,000 words): “Pewter Badge,” by Michael J. Solender (Yellow Mama, August 2010)

Also nominated: “My Asshole Brother,” by Eric Beetner (A Twist of Noir, May 7, 2010); “Seventy-two Hours or Less,” by Michael J. Solender (A Twist of Noir, April 23, 2010); “Broken Down on the Bonneville Flats,” by Jack Bates ( Beat to a Pulp, October 17, 2010); and “Angel of Mercy,” by David Price (Beat to a Pulp, January 31, 2010)

Best Long Story (4,001-8,000 words): TIE--“Care of the Circumcised Penis,” by Sean Doolittle (ThugLit Presents: Blood, Guts, and Whiskey, edited by Todd Robinson; Kensington, 2010), and “Interpretation of Murder,” by B. K. Stevens (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine [AHMM], December 2010)

Also nominated: “A Tour of the Tower,” by Christine Poulson ( Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], March/April 2010); “Silicon Kings,” by Richard Helms (The Back Alley Webzine, April 2010); and “The Little Nogai Boy,” by R.T. Lawton (AHMM, September 2010)

Best Novelette (8,001-17,500 words): “Rearview Mirror,” by Art Taylor (EQMM, March 2010)

Also nominated: “Deserters,” by Chris Muessig ( AHMM, March 2010); “The Gods for Vengeance Cry,” by Richard Helms (EQMM, November 2010); “The Man with One Eye,” by Stephen Ross (EQMM, December 2010); and “The Scent of Lilacs,” by Doug Allyn (EQMM, September/October 2010)

Congratulations to everyone, especially my mate Michael J Solender who gave up a cracking story.

The Derringer Awards will be presented at  Bouchercon 2011,  in St. Louis, Missouri, from September 15 to 18.

How la di da!

2011 Spinetingler Award Dave Thompson Community Leader Award – NOMINEES

Nominees for The 2011 Spinetingler Award Dave Thompson Community Leader Award

 are

Crimefactory
 

Do Some Damage
 

Jen’s Book Thoughts
 

Mulholland Books website
 

Musings of an All Purpose Monkey
 

Needle Magazine 

More information here at Spinetingler.

SMASHING REVIEWS!

Well, I'm as pleased as punch drunk to have had some very positive reviews this month.

First up, over at BOOKGASM , Bruce Grossman has some very nice things to say about issue one of Needle - A Magazine Of Noir and he gives me a hat tip there.

And at ALL PULP, Suzanne Law reviews Dark Valentine issue four and gives it a glowing review. She also says: 

' La Fée Verte, A Roman Dalton Investigation, by Paul D. Brazill, is a story about a retired detective sent on a mission by an exotic and beautiful woman, powered by the full moon and rage from within. It is beautifully descriptive in both forms and there is no shock ending because, frankly, it does not need one. The protagonist, Roman, is often seen inside a bar, and very much feels like the kind of place you'd walk into on the outskirts of any major U.S city, only inhabited by the occasional supernatural and a group of punks you don't want to give lip to.'

Thanks to Bruce and Suzanne and to the editors of Needle and Dark Valentine for having me over there!

Gone Bad by Julie Morrigan.

Gone Bad by Julie Morrigan

Julie Morrigan has, under her many aliases, had noir stories published in places like Out Of The Gutter, A Twist Of Noir, Radgepacket Online, Thrillers Killers N Chillers and  Powder Burn Flash. And now she's put out GONE BAD- a short story collection which is simply spot-on.

GONE BAD is a tight arsed collection of eighteen slices of the hard side of life. The characters in GONE BAD are painfully familiar in these accurate snapshots of life.Petty thief louts, twockers, rapist, pervy priests, debt collectors, working girls and country singers. All human life is here. These are people on the edge and over the edge. The underbelly and much further down.

The stories, are clever, scary, sad and very, very funny. This is true dirty realism. Brit Grit noir meets kitchen sink drama - except the kitchen sink is blocked with fast food, cheap blow, lager and blood.

Some of my favourites include the Spinetingler Award nominated ‘Watching’, the chilling ‘Local Hero’, ’Pick A Pig Night’ and, my favourite of them all, the brilliantly brutal ‘Let’s Dance.’

GONE BAD is a five star collection and highly recommended  for fans of urban noir

Jailbait Justice: The Girl With The Big Iron On Her Hip by Danny Hogan

Jailbait Justice: The Girl With The Big Iron On Her Hip by Danny Hogan

The Apocalypse isn’t just a bunch of old rocks in Greece, you know? It’s The End Of Days. The Second Dark Age. Scary, eh? And it’s going to be great! Well, if Danny Hogan’s brilliant Jailbait Justice is in any way prophetic it will be.

Jailbait Justice is the story of Jezebel Misery St Etienne, who made her first blood soaked appearance in Pulp Metal Magazine. Jezebel is a tough and funny sharpshooter with a dirty mouth. Like Mad Max and Tank Girl’s inglorious bastard off-spring, she rights wrongs across a post apocalypse landscape with the aid of a massive gun called Comeuppance

In Jailbait Justice, Jezebel is lumbered with taking a mouse of a girl called Alice across the badlands  to the bright lights and apparent sanctuary of Houston. This sparky relationship has echoes of the films Three Mules For Sister Sarah and The African Queen and it gives the story an extra bullet in its barrel. Along the way the quarrelsome pair encounter bloodthirsty  bandits, freaks, cannibals and all manner of danger.

Danny Hogan’s previous novellas for Brit Grit publishers  Pulp Press were both cracking reads but with Jailbait Justice he has excelled himself. Horror, sci-fi and spaghetti western all violently collide in a story that is visceral, scary, funny, exciting and so clearly crying out for a sequel. Or two. Jailbait Justice is the sort of book that you throw a sicky to finish!

Six shots right on target! 

Get a piece of Jailbait Justice here!

.

OUT NOW!! Nowhere To Go by Iain Rowan

Nowhere To Go by Iain Rowan

 News from Iain Rowan:

'Eleven stories of murder, obsession, fear and–sometimes–redemption. Featuring stories published in Alfred Hitchcock’s, Ellery Queen’s, and more, NOWHERE TO GO is a collection of Iain Rowan’s best short crime stories.

Iain has had over thirty short stories published. His stories have won awards, been reprinted in Year’s Best anthologies, and been the basis for a novel shortlisted for the UK Crime Writers’ Association’s Debut Dagger award.

NOWHERE TO GO is available on Amazon ( US | UK) for Kindle, and for Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry, and on Smashwords for Sony, Stanza, and other e-readers. It’s published by Infinity Plus.

Here’s what some kind people have said about the stories in it, and about my writing.

“During the five years that I published Hardluck Stories, One Step Closer and Moth were two of my favorite stories. I loved the nuances and true heartfelt emotion that Iain filled his stories with, and Iain quickly became a must read author for me–everything I read of Iain’s had this tragic, and sometimes, horrific beauty filling it, and was guaranteed to be something special.”
(Dave Zeltserman, author of Outsourced, and Washington Post best books of year Small Crimes and Pariah)

“A short story writer of the highest calibre.”
(Allan Guthrie, author of Top Ten Kindle Bestseller Bye Bye Baby, winner of Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year)

“Iain Rowan is both a meticulous and a passionate writer, and these stories showcase his ample talent wonderfully well. You owe it to yourself to discover Rowan’s fiction if you haven’t already had the pleasure.”
(Jeff Vandermeer, author of Finch, Shriek:An Afterword, City of Saints and Madmen; two-time winner of the World Fantasy Award)

“Iain Rowan’s stories never fail to surprise and delight, and just when you think you know what will happen next, you realize how much you’ve been caught unaware.”
(Sarah Weinman, writer, critic, reviewer, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and News Editor for Publishers Marketplace)

NOWHERE TO GO is published by Infinity Plus, who also publish a range of books by authors including Keith Brooke, Eric Brown, Neil Williamson, and Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winner John Grant. Infinity Plus also publish the crime novel One More Unfortunate, by Kaitlin Queen. 

Contents:

ONE STEP CLOSER: Life jumps the rails, runs away from you and there’s no catching it up. Not ever.
 

THE CHAIN: “You know what this is about, Mr Jackson,” the voice said.
 

A WALK IN THE PARK: Mason didn’t know much about the man they had been sent to kill.
 

ONE OF US: “You must be the doctor,” he said.
 

TWO NIGHTS’ WORK: As soon as the short man opened his bag, I knew what was going on.
 

EASY JOB: Harry could never resist an easy job, and the place on the moors road was the king of easy jobs.
 

FAKE: “Get me one note please, Mr Rogers. Any one. Pick it at random.”
 

MOTHS: “You’ve been watching me, haven’t you,” she said.
 

CHAIRMAN OF THE BORED: Oh, and I killed someone else too, but he was old and pointless and I doubt anybody noticed.
 

THE REMAINS OF MY ESTATE: I am the Alcatraz of the ironic. Nothing gets out of here alive.
 

NOWHERE TO GO: The man took a step out, then back, then stopped, no time any more, nowhere to go. '

Iain Rowan's website is here.

SUNDAY SHORT STORIES

Some cracking short stories around the web at the moment.  Here we go, 2,3 4 ...

Thrillers Killers N Chillers have Julie Morgan's THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT.

Beat To A Pulp have Jim Wilsky's BIG CAT

The Flash Fiction Offensive have DO UNTO BUZZ by Jim Harrington

&  Michael J Solender's COLD STORAGE

The Domesticated Bohemian, AKA Phil Dodd, gives us MIRROR TOUCH.

And Fingerprints have TRAP ZOMBIE by Paul Grzegorzek.

Every One A Gem!

FINGERPRINTS - SUBMISSIONS OPEN

''Fingerprints" is looking for the kinds of stories you've told a million times to a million people. Those crazy, messed up stories that skirt the edges of the law. Fingerprints calls it "crime flash non-fiction." You might call it, "That time we were in that gas station and this guy tried to rob the place with a Super Soaker."

FINGERPRINTS IS A SMASHING NEW EZINE FROM BEN SOBIECK 

.

SCI FI NOIR

There's a smashing article by Maxim Jakubowski  over at Mulholland Books' funky website at the moment.

The theme is Science Fiction Noir and it's HERE

2011 Spinetingler Award: Short Story on the Web – NOMINEES

2011 Spinetingler Award: Short Story on the Web – NOMINEES 

2011 Spinetingler Award: Best Short Story on the Web nominees

Times Past by Matthew C. Funk from All Due Respect

Hold You by Steve Weddle from A Twist of Noir

Pillow Talk by Jodi MacArthur from Beat to a Pulp

The Girl with a Clock for a Heart by Peter Swanson from Mysterical-E

Secretario by Catherynne M. Valente from Weird Tales

Ghostman on Third by Chad Eagleton from The Drowning Machine

Carpaccio By Lily Childs from Thrillers, Killers ‘N’ Chillers

How to Jail by Dennis Tafoya from Crime Factory

Home Invasion by Jen Conley from Thuglit

Beat on the Brat by Nigel Bird from The Drowning Machine

 Some gems there! More information at Spinetingler Magazine

My Amazon Author Page

Yes, I know.

Me with an Amazon Author page.

Looks good though, eh?

THE BASTARD HAND BY HEATH LOWRANCE

THIS IS FROM NEW PULP PRESS' VERY ACCURATE PRESS RELEASE:

New Pulp Press, that scrappy and disreputable crime fiction publisher, is proud to release the debut novel from the utterly insane Heath Lowrance, entitled The Bastard Hand. Following is a description of the book, advanced praise, and a book trailer. Thanks for your support of independent publishing!

Book Description
Charlie Wesley is not right in the head. He’s escaped from a mental hospital up north and hitchhiked his way south, the voice of his dead brother urging him on. But when Charlie hits Memphis, the fine line between his delusions and reality shift in the form of the Reverend Phineas Childe—a preacher bent on booze and women; a Man of God with a dark agenda. Charlie is the perfect pawn in the Reverend’s game of retribution. And the small North Mississippi town of Cuba Landing will be the setting for the Reverend’s very personal Apocalypse. . . .

Advanced Praise
“In the storied waking-up-into-a-nightmare pulp tradition, Heath Lowrance’s The Bastard Hand reads is a lurid thrill. You will finish it in one frenzied sitting, then feel as if you’re awakening from a red-misted trance.”

—Megan Abbott, author of Bury Me Deep

"A bastard of a good book. If you like Flannery O'Connor and Jim Thompson, you're going to love this."

—Allan Guthrie, author of Slammer

"Reverend Childe is a terrific pulp creation, and this wild, crazy book could've sat next to the Gold-Medal pulps of Charles Williams and Harry Whittington if those two were only popping LSD back then."

—Dave Zeltserman, author of Outsourced

“Mean, tough, lurid, intense, and entirely engaging, this novel is a must read for all fans of the hardboiled genre.”

—Vincent Zandri, author of Moonlight Falls

"...grabs you by the lapels and drags you on a wild, wild bar crawl that leaves you battered and bruised at the gates of hell. Like Jim Thompson jamming with Robert Johnson and Nick Cave on the eve of the apocalypse."

—Paul David Brazil, Pulp Metal Magazine columnist

Buy THE BASTARD HAND

Watch the BOOK TRAILER

Check us out on the web at www.newpulppress.com

OUT NOW!!!!

THERE ARE LOTS OF TOP BOOKS OUT THERE AT THE MOMENT THAT  I NEED TO ADD TO MY  TBR PILE. 

HERE ARE A FEW THAT I FANCY GETTING STUCK INTO.

RADGEPACKET FIVE - OUT NOW!!!!

The latest RADGEPACKET anthology from  Byker Books - 'Radgepacket: Tales from the Inner Cities, vol. 5' is OUT NOW  and I've got a story in there called A Man On The Run - A Peter Ord Investigation.

If you fancy some true Brit Grit, get stuck in there! I mean there are two Hartlepool writers in there! Who'd have thunk it!

 
Here's the full line up:

Paul D. Brazill
Maureen Wilkinson
Craig Douglas
Patrick Belshaw
Linda Lewis
Darren Sant
Alan Griffiths
Charlie Britten
Pete Sortwell
Colin Graham
Sharon Bidwell
Martyn Taylor
Lee Kelly
Ian Ayris
Keith Gingell
Sharon Birch
Blaine Ward
Ragna Brent
Carol Fenlon
Danny Hill


To grab a copy, just click here for those the UK or here if you're a septic.

Tony Black Interview at Pulp Metal Magzine

There's a load of new stuff up at Pulp Metal Magazine, including my recent interview with Tony Black

& my little column , I DIDN'T SAY THAT, DID I? where The Big Bamboozler, that's me,  recommends some cracking books.

New @ Pulp Metal Magazine

Art/Comics/Interview-

The Crazy Brain: An Interview with Alex Young

Noir Comic -

BLACK BETWEEN THE FRAMES #3

Writer’s Interviews -

Truth Lies Bleeding – Tony Black Interview By Paul D Brazill

Paul D Brazill’s column -

I Didn’t Say That, Did I? : The Big Bamboozler Recommends

Celluloid-

The Black Swan versus Catwoman By Gary Widdowfield

Non-Fiction-

Writers’ Commerce and the Steering Clear of Unified Communication Devices By Dr. KJ Hannah Greenberg

Odd Fiction-

Swarm Intelligence By Lynn Alexander

Slow Horse By Mark Porter

I REMEMBER THAT DAY SHE CAME LIKE A SEAL By 2011

The Writer Without A Soul By Matthew Acheson

Not With A Bang By Matt Murphy

Ruby Tuesday By Stephen Conley

Get Her A Fucking Card, Man! By Phil Beloin Jr.

Affectionately Yours, Sherry By Diane Bechtler

THRILL BY PETER ORD

IF YOU LIKE ATMOSPHERIC NOIR SOUNDTRACKS THEN CHECK OUT 'THRILL' BY PETER ORD.

Guest Blogger: Ed Lynskey - Yet Another Troubled Young Man in the Noir World

Guest Blogger: Ed Lynskey –

Yet Another Troubled Young Man in the Noir World

The main character in my new Appalachian noir Lake Charles is Brendan Fishback. He’s a troubled young man who’s also in big trouble. He’s been arrested for killing his girlfriend Ashleigh when all he can remember is climbing between the hot sheets with her the previous night. The next morning waking up beside her still warm corpse dips his raw nerves into an acid bath.  

Right off, the shaken Brendan makes a few quick fixes. Cleaning up his act, he decides to wean himself off his pot habit. His self-detox then off a series of bizarre dreams where he converses with Ashleigh’s spirit. The siren has dubious plans in mind for him while she pledges to aid him in tracking down her actual killer. She speaks to Brendan, explaining his unusual quest.

“Simple. Find and catch my killer, and you can save us both.”

“Listen you, this is my life. Nothing makes sense in it since I partied with you. Fatal ambushes. Blood-chilling dreams. Pot gardens.  Bum arrests. Sadistic sheriff’s deputies. I’ve just about had it with you.
            “Your nailing my killer is our way out of this.” She began fading to a
temporary black.
            “You don’t leave me much choice.”  

            There’s a big hole ripped in Brendan’s emotional fabric. His dad Angus split early on when Brendan was still in diapers. He’s confused about why. Mama Jo, his mother, refuses to utter her ex-husband’s name under her roof. His twin sister Edna could care less about their father. She finds her marriage to Cobb Kuzawa, Brendan’s best pal, on the rocks. Meanwhile Cobb is too busy with fishing, drinking, and feuding to mull over life with his introspective friend. This is how I set the stage for my troubled young man Brendan.

            It took me eight rocky years to guide Lake Charles through all the wickets to see print. It went through various stages of edits and rewrites as I evolved as a fiction writer. But I formed some definite ideas. I first mixed in heaps of violence, over-the-top action scenes, and male banter to stoke the narrative interest. There wasn’t anything wrong with doing that. But I’d been there, done that too often in writing my short fiction. So the time felt right to try a different tact, at least for me. Enter the new Brendan Fishback.

            He’s still a troubled young man. That part of him could never change. I wanted to devote more words to his thoughts than his actions. I don’t know if he’s a sensitive male since he kicks ass when he is shoved into a corner, and he never backs down from a fight. On the other hand, he’s more selective about which fights he wants to pick. The red-hot violence flares up only at key points like at a twilit wayside where Brendan’s dark psyche hits rock bottom.

            Edgar-winning Ed Lacy (a.k.a. Len Zinberg), an American noirmeister (Men From the Boys) from the 1950s and 1960s whose body of work I admire, gave me the idea to weave in a dream sequence. Throughout it, Brendan is able to carry on an edgy dialogue with the late Ashleigh. I also just read a Charles Todd title featuring the series character Inspector Rutledge doing much the same thing with his dead friend Hamish.

Even from beyond the grave, Ashleigh, ever the femme fatale, is manipulating Brendan. Death can’t quash her wiles. We catch on to it. Brendan begins to suspect it, as well. But as nearly always happens in the noir world, he can’t—or won’t—do anything about it until he’s ready to make his big move. Despite all of his warts and hang-ups, Brendan remains a likeable character. You can’t but help to cheer for him to succeed in his mission to clear his name and get on with his young life.  

Thank you, Paul, for lending me a post in your weblog to say a few words about my guy in Lake Charles.

Read the first chapter Lake Charles to learn more about the book and author.

(This link goes to the first chapter posted on the Goodreads website.)

http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/254944-lake-charles

Lake Charles is up for pre-order sales at Amazon Books.

(This link goes to the Amazon page to place pre-orders for Lake Charles.)

http://www.amazon.com/Lake-Charles-Mystery-Ed-Lynskey/dp/1434430464/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1300115352&sr=1-7

Julius Katz Mysteries by Dave Zeltserman

Julius Katz is a detective. But he isn’t just any detective; he’s a modern day amalgam of Sherlock Holmes and Doc Savage. He’s also a workshy, connoisseur  of the finer things in life who only takes on a case when his funds start dwindling to nothing.

And like any good detective, Katz has a sidekick, called Archie. But, of course, Archie, despite being named after Nero Wolf’s factotum, isn’t just any sidekick. Archie is a new-fangled super computer that the ever dapper Katz wears as a tie pin.

There are two splendid mystery stories in this collection, the first of which, ‘Julius Katz,’ won a Shamus  and a Derringer Award, and the second, ‘Archie’s Been Framed,’ being an Ellery Queen Magazine Readers Choice winner.

Julius Katz Mysteries is a brisk, clever and very fine read from the remarkably versatile Dave Zeltserman. As a fan of the Monk television series, I think that the adventures of Julius and Archie would also make great prime-time viewing.

MESSAGE FROM BYKER BOOKS

Evening,  

Just a reminder that the fifth volume in our mighty Radgepacket series hits the streets this weekend and we're celebrating the fact that we've got away with it five times now with a little launchy soiree type thing. we've got a guest speaker (Rod Glenn - proper novelist and proper bloke), some booze, some nibbles, and plenty of banter so come along and meet some of the crew, have a drink and a laugh. What else would you do on a Saturday man? Ikea? Pah!

The whole Radgepacket series has, over it's short life, attracted praise from various writers and critics - here's a selection of views :-

'imaginative writing in this collection which offers a sharp critique of the trashy, beer-and-a-kebab culture. ' - The Crack

'Top notch stuff. Seriously impressed.' - Ray Banks, Author

'An anthology for those who like their fiction twisted, profane and depraved. Me, I loved it.' - Big Beat from Badsville

'Within these pages you will find gem after gem.' - Sheila Quigley, Author

                     

The launch is at the 'The Back Page' in Newcastle city centre and, for those of you who don’t know it, it's one of Britain’s best (if not the actual best) sports book shops and carries a massive range of books and other sporting paraphernalia, not to mention the friendliest staff you’ll ever meet anywhere…ever!

The full address is :

56 St. Andrews Street
Newcastle upon Tyne,

NE1 5SF

So come along, have a drink with us, get a copy of the new and improved Radgepacket, get it signed by the contributors in attendance and hear a bit of spiel from my good self – you can even heckle...a little bit. Be nice to see you.

Cheers

Ed

New Story At The Bijou

My contribution to the Rat Pack Revue 'At The Bijou' a little ditty called Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime.

Guest Blogger: Cathryn Grant -The Best Time To Be A Writer

Guest Blog: The Best Time To Be A Writer – Cathryn Grant

When I asked Paul whether he wanted me to blog about being an indie author as others had done recently, he said, it seems to be the topic of the day, so feel free. There’s a reason it’s the topic of the day. A lot of writers who have worked at their craft for a very long time, only to find the publishing industry has changed significantly in the past few years, are excited about their new-found freedom to use their own words and wits to find an audience.

Since 1999, when I first started writing fiction seriously, traditional routes to publication have come to look like a scene at the grocery store – only one checkout lane open.

Still, at the start of 2010, it never crossed my mind that I would self-publish the novel I was preparing to query. Then two things happened. First, a guy in Melbourne emailed me to say he liked one of the short stories I had posted on my website. Although I work for a global corporation, although I use the web daily in my high tech marketing job, suddenly I realized the reach of the web.

Not long after that, I took a two-day class on using web 2.0 tools for fiction. The focus of the class was podcasting. The instructors had podcast their novels in weekly segments and built a loyal fan base. It seemed as if the whole world shifted because I suddenly realized that I didn’t need an agent or a publisher to reach the people that really matter – readers who enjoy my voice.

There are over six billion people on the planet. The notion that a few hundred agents and a handful of big publishing corporations can understand and satisfy the reading tastes of all those people is absurd. That’s why so many writers are excited to talk about their indie journeys. If they work hard at polishing their craft, and work hard to find an audience, and work hard to write good stories, they don’t need to find an agent to help modify a book so it will be saleable to an editor who thinks she can persuade a marketing department there’s an audience so they can convince sales reps to promote it to bookstores so they can decide whether customers might purchase it.  

Just over a year ago I thought this was a terrible time to be a writer, now I think it’s the best time. And the fact that Paul invited me to guest blog proves it – through a silly little tool called Twitter, I met a guy who lives halfway around the world from me, a guy I never would have met in the normal course of my life. I read his fiction and liked it, and we got to “know” each other. At a time when some people have feared the decline of the written word, millions of people are communicating through the written word. How amazing is that?

About Cathryn

Cathryn Grant’s short fiction has appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Her short story, “I Was Young Once” received an honorable mention from Joyce Carol Oates in the 2007 Zoetrope All-story Short Fiction contest. Cathryn’s flash fiction has been published at Every Day Fiction and at her website.

Her psychological suspense novel, The Demise of the Soccer Moms, is available in eBook and print. Her second novel, Buried By Debt, will be released in November 2011.

One reader commented that she “makes the mundane menacing”.

More about The Demise of the Soccer Moms here:

Amazon.com US: http://tinyurl.com/6e4wc9v UK: http://tinyurl.com/5uyx6oa

Smashwords: http://tinyurl.com/6bn2zqm

Barnes & Noble: http://tinyurl.com/6xlzsle

My website: http://cathryngrant.com

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/cathryngrant

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4472114.Cathryn_Grant

Tuesday’s Overlooked Film: Somebody To Love

Tuesday’s Overlooked Film: Somebody To Love

Alexexandre Rockwell’s debut film, In The Soup, was a bittersweet comedy/crime drama that starred Steve Buscemi, Jennifer Beals and Seymour Cassell. It wasn’t a perfect film but it was pretty damned fine, if you ask me.

Rockwell’s  1994 followup,  Somebody To Love is even less perfect and is also some kind of wonderful . So much for perfection, then, I say.

The appeal of Somebody To Love will probably hinge on your taste for the star Rosie Perez. Perez can be a tad shrill and brash and, of course, I like her very much but I can see how she could have the same affect on someone as, say, Jack Black has on me.

Perez plays Mercedes, a wannabe actress whose career is getting nowhere slowly. Her boyfriend is a has-been TV actor, played brilliantly by Harvey Keitel, (there’s an hilarious  scene where he’s drunk and tries to recite Hamlet’s soliloquy wearing leopard skin undies!)who is married and treats her like crap.

But Mercedes has an admirer . Ernesto (Micael De Lorenzo from Fame)  is a good looking nice guy who,  of course, Mercedes rejects because he can’t dance and doesn’t have any money.

This is a sometimes shambolic and very human film full of humour, tenderness and quirky moments. The splendid cast includes Anthony Quinn, Stanley Tucci and Steve Busecemi (who plays a transvestite) and there are some very nice  cameos from Eddie Bunker, Sam Fuller and Quentin Tarantino too.


There are more overlooked films at Todd Mason's smoky,poky bar full of sinners.

The Dead Man : Face Of Evil by Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin

The Dead Man : Face Of Evil by Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin

The Dead Man : Face Of Evil is the first part of a whipcracking  new cliff-hanger horror /thriller serial from Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin.  It was originally planned to be a television series but is now going to be a series of short, sharp novellas with a host of writers involved.

Our hero, Matthew Cahill, is a widower who spends a lot of his time and energy taking care of his self-destructive friend Andy. After they both lose their jobs, Cahill goes away on a skiing trip with a potential love interest. But there’s an avalanche and Cahill is killed. However, three months later Cahill’s body is found and he is miraculously brought back to life with a mysterious supernatural gift.

The Dead Man looks like it’s going to be a hell of a series with a great roster of writers involved including James Reasoner, Bill Crider, Matthew P. Mayo and  Harry Shannon. It’s fast paced, exciting and damned funny at times, too.

I’m most certainly looking forward to the next instalment in The Dead Man series.

The Zodiac Club at A Twist Of Noir

A Twist Of Noir is back!

Christopher Grant has started posting more stories from the 600 to 700 Challenge.

There are stories from the likes of Matt C Funk, Nigel Bird and more.

I chose number 666,of course.

So, The Zodiac Club, which is exactly 666 words long, is here.

Thanks to Christopher for his help with this one!

SIX WORD STORIES

Quentin.

Blah blah. Bang Bang. Ha ha.

V

I saw. I conquered. I came.

H

To be? Or not? To be.

For Sale 2

For sale. Double bed. Never used. 

 

(c) Paul D Brazill 2009.

JACK & THE GIANT EBOOK

So, a bunch of kids got together and retold the Jack and The Beanstalk story.

And it's now available as an ebook. 

And the profits go to a kids charity, too. How good is that?

Have a peek, look you! Jack and The Giant is here!