Tiddies & Guns & Bankok..Oh My!

If you don't know this already, there is a Hell of a lot of great short story writing over at the Flash Fiction Offensive. Big prop's to editor Dave Barber, who somehow juggles work, family, and his own writing, to find the time time for FFO. Today, I read 4 in a row. Each one is a good read, unique in style, and take place in different countries or geographic locations. Can't ask for much more than that.

Paul Brazil starts things started, delivering the goods as the FFO's monthly Guest Writer spot. He makes the most of the extended word count with SNAPSHOTS.

Paul Salvette did an excellent job taking me to the sleazy streets of Bankok with his tale RAID ON SOI 5

Nathaniel Tower gets my vote for most original theme with BREAST AND PICKUPS

Ryan Jackson cranks up the action in the inner city project's with 12 GAUGE RAGE

Up The Junction

Around 1981 or so, the song "Tempted" by Squeeze was getting heavy airplay, and my take was 'fuckin kill me if I ever like shlocky, horseshit like this'.  Well now, fast-foward to 1985 or so, and me and my buddies are into Echo and the Bunnymen, Husker Du, English Beat, The Replacements, and errrr, Squeeze. We wore out the "Cool For Cats" CD that summer. Ironically, that album came out in 1979. Our favorite was always "Up The Junction" because we seemed to always be getting ourselves in trouble in one way or another. If you were in a jam ie; arrested, about to get into brawl, or any other unsavory situation, you were "up the junction"   The point of this post?  Last night I watched a show of the nowadays Squeeze performing in Bryant Park in NYC. Sure, they are a bit long in the tooth, but still sounded good and when they played "Up The Junction", I think I dug it more than I ever had. Just a simple pop tune, good lyrics, and catchy riffs.

With all of the BRIT GRIT posts going around lateley, especially over at Ashedit, I think the lyrics of UTJ are just so cool, especially the English slang sprinkled throught. Plus, if you listen, it tells a pretty cool story as well.  Any Squeeze fans out there?

Short Stories: 3 Good Ones

Read three quality short stories today while perusing the blogs I follow. Each one brings something different to the table: subject matter, style, emotion, suspense, and clever plot twists. I love the diversity between these tales and it is a great example of various techniques authors use to build and maintain tension / reader interest. So, have look and if you feel compelled, leave a comment for the authors and \ or blog hosts.

- Luca Veste's "Time" is over at Thrillers,Killers n Chillers HERE.

- Fiona Johnson's "Saying Goodbye" is at the Flash Fiction Offensive HERE

-Surya Sunder Dey's "A Walk on the Golf Course" is over at the "Guilty Conscience" blog HERE

Absolute Zero Cool: 10...9...8...7....

Mucho talented writer and overall nice guy Declan Burke's latest novel, ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL makes it's debut on August 10th. You can get all the details from his Crime Always Pays blog HERE or from his publisher, Liberties Press's website HERE

Check out the very impressive pre-release blurbs HERE

I was fortunate enough to read a version of AZC in Novemeber 2010 when it had a different title. I, pardon the pun, absolutely loved it and provided the following review:



"If you took Palahniuk's "Fight Club", Ellis' "American Psycho", and King's "Secret Garden, Secret Window", combined them with Burke's mastery of dialogue, character, and the human condition, then removed the gratuitous violence, the end result would be Burke's latest and most impressive novel to date, "The Baby Killers". An excellent read that continually ratchets up the intrigue and suspense factors as it builds toward the tremendous finale, while at the same time providing an intense, no holds barred, behind the scenes introspection into the psyche of the writer and his process."

Declan did a really excellent Q&A with questions I sent him a while back, and if you missed it that time around, you can have a look HERE  Well worth a read for sure!