The Good, The Bad And The Books

You’ll have to excuse the tumbleweeds blowing around this place of late. It’s been a crazy few weeks here in the Leek household. In between running around the country with the day job, Georgie and I celebrated our 18^th wedding anniversary.  I ain’t nobody’s bargain and putting up with me for that length of time is no mean achievement on her part. The following weekend our Katie turned 21. Both of these events resulted in me getting slightly drunk and a little sentimental, but I figure I was probably entitled. We also had a real scare when my niece, Marina had to undergo emergency surgery. Thankfully she is fine now and recovering well.

While all of this was going on in the real world I have been burning the midnight oil in an attempt not to blow a DEMONIC VISIONS deadline and trying to keep on top of all the other stuff that goes along with having three books drop in the space of a week.

THE BIG ADIOS western digest, which I edit with head honcho, Ron Phillips and deputy dawg, Ryan Sayles made the leap from webzine to quarterly print and e-book. The debut issue features killer stories from the likes of Tom Pitts, Jim Wilsky, Aidan Thorn and ZP’s own Gareth Spark.

Hot on the heels of TBA was another debut, this time in the form of Craig McNeely’s DARK CORNERS. Weighing in at nearly 300 pages this pulp spectacular has reviews, interviews and some really great fiction. I have a western in this inaugural issue, which lines up alongside crime, noir and sci-fi in a glorious smorgasbord of pulp and genre fiction. ZP are well represented here too with both Chuck Regan and Ryan Sayles in the mix. Craig and his team have produced a hell of a magazine. Seriously, you should buy it.
 

Finally, this week saw the much anticipated (at least by me) release of my western novella GOSPEL OF THE BULLET. I can’t tell you how much that means to me, but I can tell you how grateful I am to Ron Phillips and ONE EYE PRESS for publishing it. A big shout also has to go out to my uber-talented ZP brother, Chuck Regan for creating the gorgeous cover. The initial reaction to GOSPEL has been universally positive and also little overwhelming.  If you have dropped your dime on it already then thank you, I hope you dig it.

The next few weeks should see a return to calmer waters, as another Chris once said, it’s been emotional.  

 

Light 'Em Up

Well, here it is. My debut short story collection, SMOKE EM IF YOU GOT EM has just staggered out into the daylight like a used car salesman after a liquid lunch, blinking in the harsh glare and wondering what the hell those stains are on his pants. This is kind of a big deal for me—the book that is, not the stains. Smoke 'Em is my first solo publication and as such, the crutch afforded me by the other writers that have previously surrounded my work anthologies and collections has been pulled away leaving me feeling a little exposed. And now, just like that drunk salesman, my words will have to stand on their own.

SMOKE EM IF YOU GOT EM documents my rite of passage as author. The eighteen stories in this collection stretch all the way back down that dusty highway to where I started out. They show you how I got to where I stand today and there are some new ones which will take you little further on up the road to where I am heading next.

 

Putting this collection together wasn’t just a case of vomiting every story I had into the Amazon dumpster and calling it a book. I was very careful about what I brought with me and what I left behind. Ryan Sayles helped me a lot with that. In fact Ryan helped me a lot, period. The end result is a book that I am damn proud of.

You can pick up Smoke 'Em right now for a shade under two bucks. That works out to around 11 cents a story. I don’t know if any of you good people out there will actually buy the thing, but many thanks if you do, I hope you dig it.

Click here to buy from Amazon US

Click here to buy from Amazon UK

A 2013 Selfie

2013 has been a pretty good year for me. I wanted to do more, but real life kind of got in the way of fiction. Ah well, there's always next year. I would just like to say a big thank you to all the good people who spent their hard earned cash on one or more of these books. It's okay if you didn't, I still love you, just not quite as much.

Happy holidays folks!