Johnny Cash Killer

I have a new story up Thrills, Kills ‘N’ Chaos. What with one thing and another, It’s been a while since I have had some of my flash fiction published online and it’s nice to get back in the groove again. JOHNNY CASH KILLER is basically a story of revenge, and maybe regret. There is even a little romance in there too. I got the idea and the title from a line in Eric Beetner’s excellent novella, THE DEVIL DOESN’T WANT ME, so thanks Eric, even though you are blissfully unaware that I stole it! Thanks also to TKNC editor, David Barber for giving the story fine home. You can check out JOHNNY CASH KILLER here: Thrills, Kills ‘N’ Chaos. 

While you're over there why not take a look at some other great stories form guys like Paul D Brazill, Dyer Wilk and my brudda, Ryan Sayles.

Roadkill Review: Queen of Diamonds by Frank Zafiro & Jim Wilsky

Buy it!

Cord Needham is a big name on the Poker circuit; a real high roller and player to be reckoned with. He’s in town to defend his championship title and maybe to have a little fun on the side as well. Casey Brunell is a poker player too, but he has been playing a more dangerous game, running up debts that no honest man can pay with a local mobster and now he’s scratching at the felt.
Casey thinks his luck has finally changed when he meets the beautiful Ania Kozak at the tables. But then again, so does Cord. “Annie” likes to play by her own rules and the stakes are always high. The only bet you can make is “all in” and in her games, cards aren’t the only thing that gets played.

This novel had all the required ingredients to make it exactly my kind of book, and it didn’t disappoint. “Queen of Diamonds” is the second collaboration between Frank Zafiro and Jim Wilsky and it’s a partnership that runs like a well oiled machine.

The story is told from the perspective of both Cord and Casey, alternating by chapter between the two protagonists. This dual narrative dove-tails seamlessly, with absolutely no jarring changes in rhythm or style, which might have been an area for concern in collaborations from lesser writers.

The plot is tightly written and always engaging and the male protagonists are well described, but the real star of this show is the wonderfully duplicitous and insanely hot, Ania. The way she expertly maneuvers Cord and Casey like pieces on a chessboard marks her out as being a cut above your average femme fatale.

I have read a lot of books set in Las Vegas, but I can’t think of any that I have enjoyed more than QUEEN OF DIAMONDS.

This review first appeared at Out Of The Gutter.

Demonic Visions: 50 Horror Tales

This baby hit the virtual bookshelves earlier in the week, but it kind of got buried in all the excitement surrounding the launch of RELOADED. I’m stoked to have a little flash fiction story in DEMONIC VISIONS. Horror is a genre I have written in before, but not for a few years. What attracted me to this anthology was editor, Chris Robertson’s cool idea of gathering a group of authors together to produce not one book but a whole series. Volume one of DEMONIC VISIONS features tales of cannibalism, murderous underworlds, zombie carnage, portals to alternate dimensions, and a whole host of other scary shit that will have you checking under the bed and sleeping with the light on. It’s out now on Kindle and will be on Kobo and Nook shortly. The paperback should be out in a couple of weeks.  
Amazon US     Amazon UK

Reloaded

As usual I’m a day late and a dollar short, so we best get on with it. BOTH BARRELS, the first anthology from Shotgun Honey, was awesome and I was gutted to miss out on a slot. I’m going out on a limb and saying that RELOADED is even better, and it has nothing to do with the fact I have a story in this one. Okay, so it has a little to do with that, but you should buy it anyway.
 
What’s that you want free shit? Well, alright then, Ron Earl Phillips is giving copies away on Goodreads for those of you in the US who are to damn tight to pay cash money. Just click on the linky thing HERE  

In case you're still on the fence, here’s the TOC:
Patti Abbott – The White Funeral
Hector Acosta – The Howl at the Park
Erik Arneson – All Alone
Cheri Ause – The Trouble with Sylvia
Trey Barker – Release of Degradation
Eric Beetner – One Corpse, Two Assholes
Terence Butler – What Goes Around
Joe Clifford – How to Clean a Gun
Garnett Elliott – Rollin’ Mona and the Tijuana Slide
Rob W. Hart – A Blow to the Head
Andy Henion – When Monte Comes Calling
John Kenyon – No Place Like Home
Nick Kolakowski – How I Spent My Summer Vacation
Ed Kurtz – Buffalo Squeeze
Frank Larnerd – Three Count
Chris Leek – Loose Change
Mike Loniewski – Loose Ends
Bracken MacLeod – Ciudad de los Ninos
Julia Madeleine – Love Gone Bad
Brian Panowich – Set Fire to the Trees
Terry Rietta – Rubes
Rie Sheridan Rose – Tumbling After
Ryan Sayles – They’re Pros, Each and Every One
Richard Thomas – Trinity
John Weagly – The Last Croak

See, I told you.

Book Deals, Births and Buddies

This past week has been crazy and I have a lot of catching up to do. I’ll start by saying how delighted I am that the wonderful people at Snubnose Press will be publishing my novella NEVADA THUNDER.  It’s a fast, hard-boiled ride full of dive bars and bad decisions. Here’s the blurb:

The sun isn’t the only thing that beats on you in the Nevada desert. Johnny Gregson learned that the hard way. He used to be a fighter, sooner or later people will realize that he still is.

 His only knock down came from Carlo Martinez, but it didn’t happen in the ring. Martinez is no boxer. He’s the Las Vegas front man for a Mexican drug cartel. When Gregson refused to throw a fight, Martinez paid him back with a trumped up drug charge. Call it a technical K.O.

 Gregson did the time and came out a little older and maybe a little wiser. He didn’t want revenge, but that wasn’t going to stop his surrogate sister, Kara from trying to get it for him. Her naive attempt at blackmail has landed them both in a world of trouble. Part of the problem is that Kara doesn’t have anything on Martinez; the other part is Martinez believes she does.

If everything goes to plan NEVADA THUNDER should hit the shelves by the end of the year. It goes without saying that I’m pretty stoked about the whole thing and honored to be joining the Snubnose family.

I owe a lot of people a lot of things (money mostly), but I also owe a big thank you to my Zelmer Pulp brothers, Chuck Regan, Brian Panowich, Isaac Kirkman and Ryan Sayles for reading the early drafts of NT. They helped me make it a much better book.

Talking of ZP it’s been a landmark week for Ryan Sayles too, his wife, Donna gave birth to a happy and healthy baby boy on Thursday. Congratulations guys and welcome to the world Gus!

Brian Panowich also had some good news this week, but that has to remain under wraps for now. All I can say is well done, man. It’s no less than you deserve.

Some other happenings:

The Godfather of Brit Grit, Paul D. Brazill has my favorite British writer, Gareth Spark over at his Out Of The Gutter column this week. You can check it out here: BRIT GRIT ALLEY

Tucson writer and all round good guy, Chris DeWildt was interviewed on Bud Smith’s radio show the other night. He talks about writing, noir and reads a couple of stories from his excellent new collection, DEAD ANIMALS. Here’s the link: THE UNKNOWN SHOW

Tom Pitts, author of the fast-paced thrill fest, PIGGYBACK is also hitting the airwaves this week on Nikki Palomino’s Monday night show, DAZED. Tune in from 10pm EST on the 9th: DIGITAL RADIO 103

Finally, no blog post is ever complete without mentioning Joe Clifford. His band, The Wandering Jews have just released a new album, ALL THE PRETTY THINGS. If you dig the rock storytelling of Springsteen and the driving melodies of Gaslight Anthem then you really need to hear this. You can download it right now from iTunes: ALL THE PRETTY THINGS

Plenty to hammer down on there, folks.

Both Barrels Reloaded.

Here’s a first look at the cover for RELOADED, the new anthology from those good people at Shotgun Honey. Inside this killer artwork, you will find 25 tales of crime and noir written by some of the very best in the business. This line up just oozes class.



Featuring stories from:

Patti Abbott, Hector Acosta, Erik Arneson, Cheri Ause, Trey Barker, Eric Beetner, Terence Butler, Joe Clifford, Elliott Garnett, Rob W. Hart, Andy Henion, John Kenyon, Nick Kolakowski, Ed Kurtz, Frank Larnerd, Chris Leek, Mike Loniewski, Bracken MacLeod, Julia Madeleine, Brian Panowich, Terry Rietta, Rie Sheridan Rose, Ryan Sayles, Richard Thomas and John Weagly.

I’m delighted to have my story "Loose change" included and to be alongside my Zelmer Pulp Brothers, Brian Panowich and Ryan Sayles in yet another top crime anthology.  

RELOADED will be out on the 10^th September.  

All Points West

Hey, there’s a new sheriff in town. Well, a new deputy anyway. I’m excited to be joining Ron Earl Phillips and Ryan Sayles as a submissions editor on the western fiction magazine THE BIG ADIOS. I was fortunate enough to have my story, SEEDS published there a while ago and I have long been an admirer of the quality stories hosted on the site from such great great western writers as David Cranmer and Heath Lowrance.

Submissions are always open for high quality western fiction, so get to it!

Talking of Heath Lowrance, I’m delighted to tell you that the forthcoming Zelmer Pulp collection, FIVE BROKEN WINCHESTERS will now include a story from Heath, featuring his hard eyed righter of wrongs, Hawthorne. Heath is one of my favorite writers and I’m stoked that he will be joining the ZP posse for this one.

This collection will feature some superb stories that range across the whole spectrum of western fiction from: Chuck Regan, Isaac Kirkman, Brian Panowich, Ryan Sayles and special guest, Ron Earl Phillips. FIVE BROKEN WINCHESTERS will also be the first outing for my ‘deadlier than the male’ Bounty Hunter, Justice McCann in a hard hitting story of blood and revenge called THE GUNS OF JUSTICE (see what I did there.)

If you want a taste of what Zelmer Pulp has in store for the Wild and Weird West, then I suggest you fill your hand with Brian Panowich’s cracking Harmon Brown yarn, BABY JUICE or indeed any of Heath Lowrance’s excellent HAWTHORNE novellas.

Well, are you gonna pull those pistols or whistle Dixie?