The Beat On The Street

- Col Bury has shared some good news. His collection of crime stories "Manchester 6" has been published in eBook format. Col fills you in on all the exciting deets HERE

- Col is also the featured guest over at Richard Godwin's place HERE

- Over at BlogTalkRadio, Paul Brazill, Darren Sant, B.R. Stateham, and Luca Veste are talking about International Hard Boiled and Noir. Check out what they have to say HERE

- Chris Allinotte has a very good story, "Temping Morsels" over at Lily Childs' blog HERE

- The Blackwatertown blog has a couple worthy posts.  A very entertaining and well written recap of an encounter with the Queen of England HERE.  And there's  a lot more to visting Northern Ireland than wall murals ("Kid in the Gasmask" is  fav of mine) Find out about the many excellent alternatives HERE

- Charles Gramlih has an excellent post on the "psychology of fear"  HERE

- My feeble attempts to keep you up-to-date on whats happening in the crime writing webshpere pale, in comparison with the service Sandra Seamans provides on her blog. Sandra is also a fine writer as well, and has a great Halloween treat on display over at the Flash Fiction Offensive, "The Painter" HERE

- Declan Burke's tremendous new novel "Absolute Zero Cool" is up for an Irish Book Award. Find out more and how to cast your vote HERE

- Ken Bruen is now blogging. Stop in, check it out, and say hello HERE

- And finally, John McFetridge is one of a handful of writers that pen the exact kind of stories I love. If you have not read any of his novels or shorts, you do not know what you're missing.  I was pumped to hear that his next one "Tumblin' Dice" is coming out in March 2012. John fills you in HERE

Dancing With Myself @ Nigel Bird's Blog!

When Nigel Bird asked me if I wanted to participate in his "Dancing With Myself" feature, of course I accepted, and started dancing in my cube at work. I have not missed too many of them since I started following his great blog and always enjoy and learn something about writing and more importantly, the author. So if you want, you can learn some more about me HERE

The Beat On The Street

Breaking new from Lily Childs' blog: Col Bury has a new site and it is looking very impressive. Rather than go into all the details why that is, see for yourself HERE

Paul Brazill was kind enough to make me an offer I couldn't refuse as a guest blogger on his site. To have a peek, click HERE

"Wake up Dead" was one of the top novels I read last year and the author Roger Smith dances with himself over at Nigel Bird's blog HERE

Over AT THE BIJOU, Absolutely*Kate is looking for stories for her Fab Feb Filmfest. Details HERE

If you didn't know it, the above picture is Fredo Corleone from "The Godfather", played by John Cazale, who just happens to be from Revere ( Reveah to me ) Mass. I just watched a documentary on him and it was very good. He died way to young and the list of actors paying homage to him is a true testament to how respected he was by his peers. RIP and I'm jonesing to watch "Dog Day Afternoon" again as well as "The Conversation" which I have never seen before.

TIRBD Fairytale Crime Challenge: And the winner is....

1st Place...Nigel Bird
2nd Plave..Jack Bates
3rd Place...Loren Eaton

Complete details are HERE

Big time congrats to these very talented writers and a huge attaboy to John Kenyon for hosting such a way cool contest. Along with reading all the excellent entries, I was introduced to some new writerly friends, which is always a good thang. If you haven't got a chance to read the winning stories, here's the righteous path.

Nigel's is HERE
Jack's is HERE
Loren's is HERE

The Beat On The Street

PD Bazill, as only he can, offers up his list of the 5 best cime stories of 2010 over at Chris Rhatigan's blog HERE

Thanks to Nigel Bird,  I found about a pretty cool story challenge that is going on over at the Things I'd Rather Be Doing Blog. I knew all those Fractured Fairlytale cartoons I use to watch as a kid would payoff someday. Find out the details HERE

Declan Burke is offering the opportunity to win some free crime fiction over at Crime Always Pays HERE and while you're there, be sure to check out the post regarding the Literary vs Genre fiction pissing contest, where heavy hitters Stuart Neville and John Connolly joined the fun HERE

On a more cerebral note, Seana Graham has a nice post on some recon she did regarding where she lived as a child. Well worth a look HERE

And finally, a special round of well wishes go out to Dave Barber's dad, who's had some challenging health issues lately. Dave's a top guy and you can let him, as many already have,  know he's not alone HERE

Chris Rhatigan's Top 5 in 2010 Bonanza

Over at Chris Rhatigan's ( a fine crime writer I must say) blog, he's running a feature where he's asking other mucho talented crime writers for a list of the 5 top crime shorts they read in 2010.  AJ Hayes provided the Weds list and Nigel Bird is showing now. Not only are there links to the 5 awesome stories, but also insightful comentary from the the writer providing the selection.

You can get the lowdown HERE