Col Bury's at A Twist of Noir

Good friend and fine writer, Col Bury, has a new story on display over at the A TWIST OF NOIR site. It's titled, LOSING TRACK, and it is a very entertaining, one of his best, in my humble opinion.

Check it out HERE

Laura Roberts @ A Twist of Noir

Found an entertaining short story by Laura Roberts titled SNOW PATROL, which is featured over at a Twist of Noir today.  Laura does a great job of using the setting as a character and the imagery throughout is very good

You can check out SNOW PATROL Here

Laura's website is very impressive. You can find it Here

She also has a novel out there "Rebels of the 512" Here

Crime, Noir, and Murder: Brown Paper Publishing Anthology Review

Pablo D'Stair, editor over at Brown Paper Publishing, sent me a free copy of  "You're dead, and I killed you: a conversational anthology of noir, crime, and murder" a few weeks ago. In return, I agreed to read and provide a review. It was a win/win, as I have been on a vision quest to school myself on these subjects. I'll  be sending this to Pablo, who I must say, is a true gentleman, but figured I would share it here as well.  You can download a free PDF of this book from the BPP site, if want, or buy the paperback for $5.00

The book is 151 pages, with the first 25 being a round table discussion of murder, human nature, and noir by Pablo D'Stair, Robert Johnson, and Sonia Tabriz. I'm the impatient type and knowing that the remainder of the book was the stories, the intellectual vibe of the discussion lost my interest fairly quickly. I decided to revisit it later and get to down to business. There are eight stories and each one is introduced by one of the authors, who did not write the story being presented. It is a nice touch, the commentary is interesting, and well done. Get to it, you say? Then, here we go.

Jason Michel starts things off with two stories that immediately got me right into things. "Kerbs" is quick hit that had me thinking one thing, then, wham, in one short sentence the twist snared me. I was hanging upside down right to the end. "Celebrity Death Camp and Other TV Hits" is a nice piece of dark satire, that if you despise reality TV as much as I do, will have you cheering in your seat and wishing it were a true story.

David Grant's "REBORN: A Suicide Note" is a perfect mix of clever humor and darkness, just the way I like it and had a really good, unique twist that although I figured was coming, caught me by surprise.

Stephen Honeycutt was up next with "A Moment". A longer story than the previous ones, but one where the book really started to rope me in. From the first salacious couple sentences, I was all in right until the end. This serial killer for higher tale is one hell of a tawdry, dark story.

Still reeling from the previous story, I continued on with Gregory Frye's "The Seven Demons of Randal Murray", which I would have to choose as the best of the lot. This one is very dark and has a supernatural element to it, which when combined with the excellent dialogue and tremendous imagery freaked me out and I'm still thinking about it.

Darcia Helle's Wilted Brown Eyes" is a nice piece of flash that delivers with a moving scene about a murder, or was it?

For fans of straight up, hardboiled noir, Corey Mesler's "The Book Game" will leave you more than satisfied. Very impressive to me was the lead character is not a detective, but an antique book seller. All the expected ingredients are there, plus lots of clever lines and a nice twist.

Nik Korpon's "Amber Flowers" delivers a nice creepy tale that had me thinking it would make a great episode of Tales from the Darkside. Excellent character development, steady build up of suspense, and a rewarding, shocking ending left me more than satisfied.

Last in the batting order was Chris Deal's "A Murder Ballad" and it took me to Mexico with a poignant yet powerful murder mystery. This was more of a slow burn than a quick punch in the face, and written with a style smooth as silk. It made me care about the characters, conjured up some emotions, but still delivered a powerful, almost heart wrenching finale.

I have read a lot of crime shorts and flash this year and I highly recommend this complilation for the stories, the way they are presented, and the diversity of them.

The Beat on The Street

Lot's happening out there. Here are a few.

The Christmas Noir Flash Challenge continues until Jan 3rd over at Do Some Damage HERE

Some new stories as part of the ongoing 600 -700 word challenge are up at A Twist of Noir HERE

Let's not forget about the Fairy Tale Crime Story Contest. Deadline is Jan 14. Details HERE

After reading John McFetridge's "Let It Ride", as a paying customer, I posted this review on Barnes & Noble's site.

"I bought "Let It Ride" for my nook after reading some of the author's short fiction, which I enjoyed very much. I'm gving it a 5 star rating in the catagory of crime/suspense fiction. I have read many novels in the genre in 2010 and "Let it Ride" was the most entertaining of the lot. If Mel Torme is the Velvet Fog, then John McFetridge is the Velvet Pen, because his writing style, especially with dialogue, is so smooth. It's one of those rare novel's that are almost cinematic in style and storyline. I thought it would make a terrific movie, the whole time I was reading it. I have never been to Canada before, but after reading "Let it Ride", I feel like I have been there. It was a wild, exciting, dangerous trip, and I'll going to check out the author's other novels now."

He Don't Pop His Zits, He Shaves Them Off.

Don't know why, but today's blog post title popped into my head at the gym yesterday. It was a line from an episode of one of my favorite 70's crime shows,  Baretta, that has always stuck with me. Anyway.....

As the end of the year approaches there are lots of lists everywhere. You know, "the best of" type of things.  Normally, I don't put much, if any, value in such things, but when the lists are offered up by like minded, respected writers, of course I'm going to pay attention and learn something. If you're serious about writing, you might want to do the same. So..

Chris Rhatigan is posting the top five stories of 2010 as told to him by a bunch of different crime writers HERE

At the the Crimefactory magazine blog, you can check out the Best of Whatever feature HERE

Don't forget this weekend's deadline for the Do Dome Damage 2010 Christmas Noir Challenge. Details HERE

Some fab new stories are up for the Twist of Noir 600-700 challenge HERE

As always, there are some new tales over at Killers, Thriller-n-Chillers HERE

And to wrap things up, hard hitting writer Julie Lewthwaite has a really cool story, "Let's Dance" at her blog HERE

The Red Adept Reviews Twists Contest

Over at Red Adept Reviews there is a very cool contest going on. Complete details can be found HERE

Here is some info:

I think most people have seen “Sixth Sense”, with Bruce Willis. Remember the surprise ending? Ever read some of O. Henry’s stories? Those are just two examples of the types of “twists” we are looking for in a story. We must never see it coming, yet think “Why didn’t I see that coming?”
All prizes below include publication in a new anthology titled, “Twists and Turns: A Red Adept Reviews Collection.” Each winning author will receive an equal percentage of the net royalties for this anthology and a copy of the resulting e-book.
The anthology will also feature a bonus short story from J.A. Konrath one of our sponsors!

"Crank Shot" published at "A Twist of Noir"

My 622 word (had to be 622 as part of the challenge) crime story "Crank Shot", as well as a bunch of other great stories are online over at " A Twist of Noir". I really like the short word count as it makes it easier to read more of the stories. If you want to have a look click HERE

I sincerely thank all veterans who have served, and those that have died for their country. The world is a better place because of you!

My story "Charles in Charge" on Thrillers,Killers -n- Chillers & Other Updates

Had a great Halloween, which was made even better when I got an email from Col Bury, one of the esteemed editors of at KTnC, that my Halloween crime story "Charles in Charge" was posted to the site. Many of the regular vistiors to this blog have been gracious enough to give it  read. If you would like to check it out click HERE

Lots of great stories are out there from Donna Moore's Ramone's Challenge. I think I have read and commented on just about all of them and made a few new "virtual"  friends in the process, always a good thing! Donna has listed all of them HERE

Still time left to check out the tremendous new entries over at A Twist of Noir's 600 -700 challenge. You can do so HERE

Catching Up

Thanks to Dave Barber's BLOG, I found out about a pretty cool event going on over at Erin Cole's BLOG. She's hosting the 13 Days of Horror, where a new horror story will be posted each day until Halloween. Some good stuff going on there, so check it out.

Over at A TWIST of NOIR, 5 new stories (605 - 609) were posted Friday for the 600 -700 word challange. You should check all of them out. Great stuff by mucho talented writers. I am number 622, so it should appear in a few weeks.

Peter Rosovsky has been providing excellent updates from Bouchercon in San Francisco. It is really cool to hear about the behind the scenes action that takes place at this huge crime event. You can check it out HERE

A nice article about my novel, Mindjacker, and me appeared in a local paper up my way. If you feel so inclined, you can read it HERE

I continue to make progress on my second novel, and am wrapping up a Halloween themed crime story to submit to Killers, Thrillers -n- Chillers

A Twist of Noir and Contest Reminder

Thanks to Col Bury, I found out about a way cool thing going on over at the A Twist of Noir blog. The deal is that the writer needs to come up with a crime story that has the designated number of words. There were 100 openings (600 to 700) and the line-up is full of talent. That said, I put in my humble request to see if could take part, and the blog owner Chris, has given me a chance at # 622. I'm honored, excited, and nervous as shite, but I have always felt that to succeed at something, you need take a risk and push youself.

I am going to have another contest where you can win a free copy of "Mindjacker", which I will send to you, wherever you live. On Tuesday, October 12th at 12:00 PM EST I will post a small passage from the novel where a character's physical appearance is described. Keep in mind, that most of the characters in the novel are modeled after people who are famous in one way or another. I will also provide a small clue to help point you in the right direction. All you have to do is be the first person to tell me the name of that person.