10 Days of Madness Begins

Over at the Leaky Pencil blog, which is hosted by Chris Allinotte, the 10 Days of Madness extravaganza kicked off today.  Benjamin Sobieck and Angel Zapata kick things off. This is the 3rd year of  "the madness",  and  I was very thrilled to be included in the inaugural offering with a story called "Heart Shaped Hammer".

Anyway....head on over to the Leaky pencil, give the story's a read, and let the authors know what you think. Click HERE to be transported to a world of madness.

Great News For Luca Veste

Luca Veste, crime writer based out of England, shared some exciting news. He has signed a 2 book deal with Harper Collins imprint Avon.

Details of Luca's good, and well-deserved fortune can be found HERE

Luca is also the publisher / editor of the short story crime collections OFF THE RECORD I and OFF THE RECORD II, which can be found HERE Best of luck and success to Luca!

Chicka Boom Boom...Jodi Macarthur's doing the Chin Wag

Getting ready to leave work Friday, I was about to shut down the laptop when I did one last blog roll check. I noticed Richard Godwin had Jodi Macarthur up on his must read Chin Wag feature. I'm a big fan of Jodi's and I just had to check it out. I'm sure glad I did. This was tremendous and I'd have to say one of the best interviews, not only for getting to know a little more about Jodi, but for what she has to say, I have read.

I really urge you to read this. I have read it a few times and will most likely read it again. It is that good.

Click HERE and enjoy the show.

John McFetridge's FLASH is Great Stuff

John McFetride is one hell of a talented crime writer in the novel, short story, and flash arena's. I hit the jackpot when I was checking out the excellent Do Some Damage blog last night. If you look on the right side of the blog, you will see John's 64 page PDF called "Flash". I highly recommend this as a must read. Within the pages, you will find tremendous flash stories, a couple of kickass shorts, and a few good interviews with John. The stories read so smooth and I found myself not being able to put it down until I finished every last word.

Do yourself a favor and give it a read. You will not be disapointed!

Want a Critique of a CH in Your WIP?

Over at Clarissa Draper's blog, she's offering a free critique of a chapter of your WIP. Details can be found HERE

Some of you have read this before, and the feedback was valuable, but it certainly never hurts to get an opinion from an independant source, who may not be into reading your genre. So here is CH 1 of  "Sissy Murphy", which is not quite a prologue, but a harbinger of things to come.

Here's the pitch as it stands today: American  writer, pothead, and pacifist Seamus Murphy is befriended by Irish ex-patriot Tommy Moore, who uses Seamus' love of Ireland and lack of confidence to transform him into a killer, who will help Tommy settle unfinished business.

No blood. And the little Puerto Rican cocksucker needs to be alive, when the concrete vault is dropped on top of him.

I love simple instructions.

The no blood tenet meant my initial idea, a cricket ball, was out. The raised seam would easily lacerate flesh. This bummed me out, because I have really improved the pace on my inswinger. Plan B, a lacrosse ball, works perfectly. Delivered at ninety miles per hour, it will hurt like hell, bruise internal organs, break ribs…crush testicles.

I’m sure Armando, street name Striker, follows a code of stereotypical ethics on the streets of Lawrence, Massachusetts. The usual bullshit: no ratting, never go against, or leave the gang. Striker will now learn ours.

Never fuck with the elderly, children…or the Irish.

My well practiced brogue is sweeter than Tim Finnegan’s when I ask him, “Where is she, you piece of shite?”

“Fuck you," Esse says.

Distance: fifty-feet. Coordinates: left rib cage. Clear for crank shot.

David Lee Roth pops into my head…'One break…comin' up'.

Fire!

Whammo!

Striker gives up a cough scream. I realize I must have nicked a lung. Coach would be proud.

Striker screams, but sees nothing. He’s got a severe case of Super Glue conjunctivitis at the moment. He’s naked and facing me, but his uncircumcised welfare check missile is a huge distraction.

I’m weird about shit like that.

He's probably never seen a lacrosse net. Doesn’t know his hands and feet are duct taped to each of the four corners, spread eagle style.

This is the tenderizing of Striker stage of the game. I’m hoping the fear of the money shot is weighing heavily on his mind.

It is not a fear of heights. It is the fear of falling.

The Clancy Brothers are doing "Wild Colonial Boy" on the boom box I set up and it sounds great reverberating off the cement walls of the warehouse. Senor Shitforbrains thinks he's being tortured by some crazy fucking Mick, not the long haired, hippie freak I used to be.

***

I drop his body, which I duct taped in a coffin chic pose, into the trunk of the Charger. He's breathing, but in bad shape, covered in welts and bruises that look like red bulls-eye's, with black centers. If he was going to live another day, they would each expand to the size of purple softballs.

I call Tommy, tell him where his daughter is and that I'm on my way. He tells me everything is cool, proceed as planned.

As I drive through the pre-dawn darkness, I'm thinking of the tattoo that runs the length of Striker's right forearm. It's an upside down cross, DAD, near the wrist, REST IN PIECES just below the elbow joint. Everyone has their anchor to drag. I have a small dick, at least he had the option of a seeing a shrink.

When I pull up to the cemetery gates, Tommy's connection is waiting in the backhoe. He climbs down, opens the gates, and walks over to me.  I hand him an envelope with five large in it, and pop the trunk with the key fob. We carry Styker's half dead carcass over to the backhoe and roll him into the front loader.  We shake hands and he climbs up into the cockpit.

As I walk away, the engine fires up and I see the front loader start to roll up and then raise into the air. On the drive back to my place, I'm thinking of the mourners, who won't know they are getting a two-for-one special later this morning as their beloved's casket is lowered into the vault.  If there is an afterlife, I'm hoping Striker gets to sort things out with his old man.

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.

"Night Games" published on Thrillers,Killer's-n-Chillers

I have always loved the short story, whether in print or film. Fitzgerald and de Maupassant are particular favorites and Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Tales from the Crypt and Darkside as well. I have written many of them over the years and recently I have been revisting them. First impression was..these really suck in both style and format. A lot of them had decent ideas, but they needed work. I re-worked one that was orignally written for a Writers Digest "your story" challenge (750 word limit)The prompt was "you get a package in the mail and it only contains and eye patch" Well, I ditched they eye patch, but some of that story became a 650 word story "Night Games".

I took a chance and submitted it to the awesome website Thriller's, Killers-n-Chillers. A few weeks went by, and when I checked my e-mail on Saturday - a note from Matt Hilton (a many times published crime author)one of the editors at TK-n-C informed me that it was accepted. My kids must have thought I hot the Lotto, because I was dancing around the family room, I was so happy about the news. So, if you want to read the story and more importantly read some kick-ass Horror, Crime, and Thriller shorts

Click HERE

Check Her Out, Or Else!: Julie Lewthwaite

One of the best things about the internet and blogs, is it allows you to connect with writers, you would otherwise never have known about. My latest discovery is crime writer, Julie Lewthwaite. Her style is gritty, straight to the gut, and no-nonsense. After a read of one of her shorts, you almost feel violated yourself. Keep in mind, this is not your granma's kind of reading, and I don't suspect the local church group will come a callin' any time soon for any author nights, but she ain't writing for the moral majority. You can read more of Julie's writing HERE

Also, as promised, tomorrow is contest day. Here's the skinny:

You can win a free print copy of "Mindjacker", which I will send to you wherever you live. I am also going to provide a Smashwords coupon code for the entire day to let anyone who visits my blog download a free e-book version in whatever e-reader format they choose. Once you have the code, feel free to give it to others. The novel is also availble in print and e-book on Amazon, but it all started with Smashwords, so...

Here are the details:

Free download:
- Start time is 12:00 PM EST on Tuesday, September, 7 2010
- The free download coupon will expire at midnight.

Free print version:
-I will also, at the same time mentioned above, post a small excerpt from "Mindjacker" and all you have to tell me in the comment section is:

1) What author is being referenced.
2) What is the name of the novel
3) What is the character's name

The first person to answer all 3 questions correctly, will win the free copy.

Peace,

Sean

Credit Where Credit is Due

If you take a peek at the links on the right side of my blog & check out the people (all six) who are following this blog, it will give you an idea of the "virtual" gang that I hang with. In reality, I feel like I'm the little, wide-eyed shrimp, trying to make the team, carrying the helmets, getting my arse snapped with towels etc... In other words, paying attention, keeping my mouth shut (not really), trying to learn the ropes, and always enjoying it and having a few laughs along the way.

I don't know any of these people personally, but all of them are top notch in my book. Once a week I'll provide a few updates on what they got going on and I truly hope that if you are into crime / thriller writing or reading, you would do the same.

- I am waiting for Scottish author Donna Moore's novel "Old Dogs" to be delivered. It sounds like a good one. Check out her blog HERE

- English author Col Bury has just been signed by NY agent Nat Sobel. Like I said, I don't know Col, but his blog is way cool and he comes off as one hell of a nice guy, and this news is just fabulous. Check him out HERE

-Another English author, PD Brazill, has an awesome website and is a heck of writer. If you want the beat on the street in the crime world and also read some awesome author interviews, Click HERE

Like I said, I'll try to do this once a week, and mix it up everytime with different authors, as the three I mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg.

Something New I'm Working On: CH1 of "SISSY MURPHY"

No blood and the little Puerto Rican cocksucker needs to be alive when the concrete vault is dropped on him.

I love simple instructions.

The no blood tenet meant my initial idea of a cricket ball was out. The raised seam traversing the leather shell would easily lacerate flesh. This bummed me out, because I have really improved the pace on my inswinger. Plan B, a lacrosse ball, works perfectly. Delivered at ninety miles per hour, it will hurt like hell, bruise internal organs, break ribs, and crush testicles.

I’m sure Armando, street name Striker, follows a code of stereotypical ethics on the streets of Lawrence, Massachusetts. No ratting, you never go against, or leave the gang, blah, blah, blah. Striker will now learn ours.

Never fuck with the elderly, children, or the Irish.

My well practiced brogue is sweeter than Tim Finnegan’s when I ask him, “Where is she, you piece of shite?”

“Fuck you.”

Distance, fifty-feet. Coordinates, left ass cheek. Clear for crank shot. Fire.

Striker screams, but sees nothing. He’s got a severe case of Super Glue conjunctivitis at the moment. Other than his bikini skivvies, he’s naked. My plan was that he be totally naked and facing me, but he’s not circumcised and so hairy, his welfare check missile is a huge distraction.

I’m weird about shit like that.

Striker has probably never seen a lacrosse net before and doesn’t know his arms and legs are duct taped to each of the four corners.

His tan line tells me he suns himself in bikinis and I wonder if he’s either part French Canadian, or summers in Provincetown. Maybe both, I think, then smile.

This is the tenderizing of Striker stage of the game. I’m hoping the fear of the money shot is weighing heavily on his mind.

It is not a fear of heights. It is the fear of falling.

David Lee Roth pops into my head, One break…coming up.

Whammo! Lower right torso. Couple ribs, maybe a kidney.

Striker gives up a cough scream, trying to say something. I realize I must have nicked a lung. Coach would be proud, 'Great shot Murph.'