Category: News

Speedloader is now available for 99c from http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/67332

 

Spinetingler Magazine is pleased to announce the launch of Snubnose Press, an e-publisher of crime fiction.

Spinetingler Magazine has been publishing new and emerging writers since 2005. Building from that foundation Snubnose Press will seek to publish only the best in short crime fiction.  With the traditional publishing market contracting, Snubnose Press will fill this gap by publishing original anthologies, novellas and short novels.

Visit Snubnose Press at http://snubnosepress.wordpress.com/

The debut title of Snubnose Press is an anthology of six original short stories called Speedloader. Upcoming releases will include short story collections by Patti Abbott and Sandra Seamans.

Speedloader Description:

From the trenches of WWI to the abandoned row homes of Baltimore; from a rural charnel house to the Texas-Mexican border these six stories explore the dark heart of crime fiction today.

Speedloader features stories of…

…revenge that will challenge you to a game of uncle that you may not win and will haunt those who are able to finish it.
…clashing motives on the Texas Mexico border.
…a slide into an alcoholic haze.
…a struggle with the weight of a personal choice when confronted with the sins of the past.
…getting caught up in actions far beyond one’s control.
…small crimes covered up and lost amidst larger forces.

Speedloader is six stories slammed home and ready to kill.

With all new, original stories from Richard Thomas, Nik Korpon, Nigel Bird, newcomer WD County and Spinetingler Award winners Matthew C Funk and Jonathan Woods.

Visit Snubnose Press at http://snubnosepress.wordpress.com/CONTACT: Brian Lindenmuth or Sandra Ruttan: snubnosepress@gmail.com

Here’s a project that I’d like as many people as possible to support.  It’s a bunch of top-drawer crime writers who are trying to help out those caught up in the devestation in Japan from this year’s disaster.

You can find a personal interview over at:

http://nigelpbird.blogspot.com/2011/06/dancing-together-shaken-not-stirred.html

One hundred percent of the royalties from this new collection of original
stories will go directly to the 2011 Japan Relief Fund administered by the Japan
America Society of Southern California. EVERY PENNY the Fund receives will go
directly to northern Japan, to rebuild shattered communities, reunite families,
help men, women, and children to get on with their lives despite dreadful loss,
and cope with the continuing threat of nuclear contamination.

This
collection was born out of the writers’ concern for the people in the disaster
zone. SHAKEN: STORIES FOR JAPAN is an attempt by writers to pool their talents
to help people in need, as musicians and actors so often do.

The book
contains original stories by Brett Battles, Cara Black, Vicki Doudera, Dianne
Emley, Dale Furutani, Timothy Hallinan, Stefan Hammond, Rosemary Harris, Naomi
Hirahara, Wendy Hornsby, Ken Kuhlken, Debbi Mack, Adrian McKinty, I.J. Parker,
Gary Phillips, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Jeffrey Siger, Kelli Stanley, C.J. West, and
Jeri Westerson. As a group, these authors have won every mystery award there is
and sold hundreds of thousand of copies. They’re all working at the top of their
games in this volume. SHAKEN; STORIES FROM JAPAN is art for heart’s sake, and
the purchase price will help those who are struggling to repair, or at least
soothe, these terrible losses.

Not all the stories are mysteries; the
consensus was simply that all writers should submit something that touches on
Japan. Linking the stories are haiku by the 17th-century master Basho,
translated by Jane Reichhold, and Issa, translated by David Lanoue. Both
translators donated their work, as did the cover designer, writer Gar Anthony
Haywood, and the e-book producer, Kimberly Hitchens.

PRAISE FOR THE
AUTHORS

“Kelli Stanley has her eye on greatness.” -George
Pelecanos
Wendy Hornsby’s “stories are edgy, menacing, and masterful.”
-Booklist
Dianne Emley’s books are “Intense and hard-edged… First-rate.”
-Tess Gerritsen
“[Naomi Hirahara] is truly one of a kind.” -Chicago
Sun-Times
“[Brett] Battles is a master storyteller.” -Sheldon Siegel
I. J.
Parker’s books are “terrifically imaginative work” -Wall Street Journal
Ken
Kuhlken’s writing is “Elegant . . . haunting, and beautiful.” -Don Winslow.

Jeffrey Siger’s work “Brilliantly explores a fascinating culture” -Leighton
Gage
“Hank Phillippi Ryan understands plotting and she writes beautifully.”
-Robert B. Parker
Adrian McKinty is “One of his generation’s leading
talents” -Publishers Weekly.
Jeri Westerson’s work is “creative and
enthralling…” -John Lescroart
“Gary Phillips writes tough and gritty
parables.” -Michael Connelly
Vicki “Doudera expertly weaves a tale of
suspense.” -Tess Garritsen
Rosemary Harris is “Hilarious” (Kirkus Reviews),
“A rising star” -Crimespree Magazine
Timothy Hallinan’s writing is
“razor-sharp, convincing, and heartbreaking.” -Gregg Hurwitz
C.J. West’s work
is “Powerful, thought provoking and massively entertaining.”
-Crimesquad.com
Cara Black’s Aimee Leduc novels are an “irresistible series
set in Paris.” -New York Times
“Debbi Mack has carved her own niche in the
mystery pantheon.” -Scott Nicholson
[Dale]”Furutani manages a fluid mix of
cultural history and swashbuckling adventure.” -Publishers Weekly
Stefan
Hammond created the “Essential guide to Hong Kong’s mind-bending films.”
-Entertainment Weekly

I found out today that my story ‘Sisterhood‘, one of the Dirty Old Town collection, has been accepted into the ‘Best Of British Crime Stories Volume 9’.  That’s
about as good as it gets as far as I’m concerned and I’m honoured to have been
selected.

Thanks to Maxim Jakubowski for all his splendid efforts.

News came the morning after I bought my first copy of
‘Best Of British Crime Stories 8’ which is an extraordinary collection. I already have
my 2 contributor’s copies, so this is one I promised to a friend for lending me
the box sets of ‘The Wire’.

In case you haven’t seen the cast list for Volume 8, then it’s about time you did.  Here they are:

Ian Rankin, Mick Herron, Denise Mina, Edward Marston, Marilyn Todd, Kate Atkinson,
Stuart MacBride, David Hewson, Alexander McCall Smith, Nigel Bird, Robert
Barnard, Lin Anderson, Allan Guthrie, A.L. Kennedy, Simon Kernick, Roz Southey,
Andrew Taylor, Sheila Quigley, Phil Lovesey, Declan Burke, Keith McCarthy,
Christopher Brookmyre, Gerard Brennan, Matthew J. Elliott, Colin Bateman, Ray
Banks, Simon Brett, Adrian Magson, Jay Stringer, Amy Myers, Nick Quantrill,
Stephen Booth, Paul Johnston, Zoë Sharp, Paul D. Brazill, Peter Lovesey, Louise
Welsh, Liza Cody, Peter Turnbull and Nicholas Royle.

Any one of those would be worth the entry fee alone, so what are you waiting for?

Other good news is that another piece has been accepted as one of 9 to be used as a stimulus for an art exhibition and a book.

Things are very exciting at Dunbar Noir, as you might imagine.

Pulp Ink also cracks on apace.  We’re at the proof-reading stage and it won’t be long
until it’s sent on to Needle Publishing for the setting up.

Here’s what they said in the world famous Mystery Scene:

 

At the weekend we had the Pipe Bands festival in Dunbar.

Apart from trying hard to keep my children from the expensive rides and from eating too much cake from the soon to be launched Community Bakery, I had a few nice encounters.

The first was with a lovely artist who’s done some brilliant paintings of the area.  Now I think about it, she was pretty as a picture herself.  Anyway, I bought a handful of prints in the hope that it will ease my family Christmas present shop when December comes.

I was also really taken by a jewellery stall selling the wares of Lilac Millie.  As it turns out, Lilac Millie is a friend of mine who’s been hiding her light under a bushel.

What I particularly like about what she does is the use of the local environment, collecting worn bits of glass (we call them precious stones in our house) and pebbles from our beautiful beaches and creates something entirely new from them.

And I think we have things in common, my jeweller friend and I.  Both of us are on the lookout for interesting things around and about.  Both use raw materials that many might think are utterly useless (in my case ideas, stories, faces, you name it) and both create something new, individual and utterly splendid (at least she does) in our re-shaping.

And apart from that, I’d love to write a story about someone called Lilac Millie.  I’d say she’s either a gangster’s mol or a street girl from Paris.  We’ll see if the idea develops from there – like I say, I’m a collector of random articles.

Should you find yourself in need of a gift, you could do a lot worse that supporting an entirely local enterprise.  As you can see, the products and the prices are very appealing.

Till soon.

Not so long ago, I posted an interview with Pablo D’Stair at Sea Minor.

In what ways he stood out, I’m not going to try to explain (you can find that out for yourself), but I’ll point out one.  He was the first, and is still the only, person who sees e-books as an opportunity for those publishing paper books.  That’s right.  Now I happen to agree with his take, that the publishers who thrive against their e-competitors are going to have to do something special.  And Pablo will.

He’s soon to release a series of his novels as well as Dirty Old Town through his KUBOA.

Anyway, he’s also making a name for himself (and it’s some name, isn’t it?) with a novella he’s putting out chapter by chapter across a series of blogs. 

It’s titled This Letter To Norman Court and it is quite outstanding.  Check out his style and you’ll see what I mean.  It’s stripped and yet rich – not a common alchemy.

Best thing to do is to go over to This Letter To Norman Court’s page and he’ll explain better than I can the concept he’s running with.

You can read it for free and, if you do, I know you’ll be glad you made the effort.

You’ll be calling him Pablo D’Star before you know it.

http://tinyurl.com/6fna4zq

 

what more can i say?

If you need another slice of Dunbar Noir to fill you up, all you need to do is pop up to the pages and select Story Of The Month.

This one’s set in the world of gymnastics and was inspired by thoughts of next years Olympic Games.

Let me know what you think.

Hi all.

Daniel B O’Shea is doing a great thing over at http://danielboshea.wordpress.com/2011/05/07/the-tornado-relief-flash-fiction-challenge-touches-down/

He’s donating $125 to the Red Cross Tornado Relief Fund in the States because he offered $5 for every piece of Flash Fiction that was sent to him by today.

Slow on the uptake, I only found out too late. He offered to give another $5 if I could get a piece of Flash (including some rain) to him last night. Sadly my mind’s mince.

To ease my conscience, I donated the money instead. I’ve also offered to send all my profits for the sales of Dirty Old Town (And Other Stories) for the month of May to the Red Cross too.  You can imagine that at 69p per sale, that’s not a huge amount, but I guess looking after the pennies…

It seems a distant charity for me to support, but my brother and his family have settled in South Carolina, so it’s actually not far from my heart at all.

So if you’ve bought already in May, thanks for the support and you know where my slice of your money has gone.

Well done Mr O’Shea.