Book Reviews by Elizabeth A. White

I have a confession to make. As a general rule, I don’t read Westerns. I find that too often the stories get lost in the author’s desire to provide the reader with every little period-accurate detail they’ve researched, and bogged down with unwieldy “cowboy” lingo in the dialog. And while that may appeal to some, it’s just not my cup of tea.

I have another confession to make. Edward A. Grainger, aka David Cranmer, is turning me into a convert. You see, Cranmer doesn’t write Westerns per se, he writes well-crafted stories with engaging characters that just happen to take place in the Old West. And he does it very, very well. Don’t get me wrong, the adventures of Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles are unquestionably Westerns, but Cranmer never loses sight of the real prize: character and story. And that makes all the difference in the world to this reluctant reader of Westerns.

It helps that Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles, both U.S. Marshals, are charismatic and unique individuals. Laramie is known to display an unorthodox streak as questionable as the outlaws he hunts, his behavior often fueled by the approach to life that was ingrained in him having been raised by Native Americans. For his part, Miles brings the challenge of being one of the first black Marshals into play, showing how his status as a black man in the 1880s Old West can make both all the difference in the world and none whatsoever to how he does the job… often at the same time. (more…)

Having previously read Julie Morrigan’s short stories various places online, I was quite pleased when she offered her first collection, the outstanding Gone Bad, earlier this year. So imagine my excitement when a mere months later – with a novel, Convictions in the interim – Morrigan released yet another collection, The Writing on the Wall.

Featuring six short stories and a novelette, The Writing on the Wall proves that Morrigan is both a talented and versatile author, one who inhabits her short stories as comfortably as a second skin.

“Shadow Man” takes an already terrifying experience, sleep paralysis, and pushes the concept even farther. Those who experience sleep paralysis vividly experience as waking hallucinations things people normally only encounter in their dreams. But what if what you were encountering was neither a hallucination nor dream, but real?

“The Black Dog” demonstrates that while reading may be both fundamental and fun, some books are more powerful than others. Far more.

In “Chocolate Button Eyes” a man out on a date gets a bit more than he was expecting when he’s invited back around to his date’s place for an after dinner drink. “Lust makes men stupid and I’m thankful for the fact.” Guys, this one will make you reconsider just who’s about to get lucky when you go home with a woman you barely know. (more…)

Over the past nine days I’ve reviewed four short story collections (Crime Factory: The First Shift, West Coast Crime Wave, The Chaos We Know, and Noir at the Bar), am serving up Pulp Modern today, and have at least two more on the immediate horizon. Clearly the crime fiction/pulp/noir short story is enjoying a resurgence in popularity.

And you know what? It’s good stuff. I mean really good stuff. In fact, there are so many talented authors out there it can sometimes seem overwhelming figuring out where to jump in, which is why these collections are so great; they’re one stop shopping for a smorgasbord of talent.

Pulp Modern is such a collection, and editor Alec Cizak has distinguished Pulp Modern by expanding the spectrum of its roster to include not only crime fiction, but stories with Western and fantasy themes as well. It makes for a pleasant change of pace, and exposed me to a couple of authors I may otherwise not have come across in the wild. A few standouts…

“Legacy of Brutality” by Thomas Pluck features man-mountain Denny, previously seen in the short “Rain Dog” (Crimespree Magazine, Issue #43). Having come up hard – If there was a God, I’d beat his ass for making this hateful world. – Denny learned early it’s better to listen than talk, and that you have to set things right yourself if you want justice in this life. Brutally good stuff. (more…)

Birthed in the mean streets of Philly, escaped to the back alleys of St. Louis, recently spread to the dark side of the City of Angels, there’s a disturbing phenomenon that threatens to expand to even more unwitting cities in the future. It is… Noir at the Bar.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, a Noir at the Bar ceremony consists of a tribe of crime fiction aficionados, writers and readers alike, gathering together to partake of booze and listen to sensual and sinister original works read aloud by their creators. It is, from all accounts, an exhilarating and surreal experience one is lucky to escape without a trip to the local hoosegow.

Previously reserved only for those fortunate enough to live nearby, or crazy enough to make the pilgrimage, the demented minds behind the St. Louis chapter of Noir at the Bar have come up with a way for everyone to get a taste of the debauchery. Editors Jedidiah Ayres and Scott Phillips present to you, Noir at the Bar, the anthology.

Featuring stories from eighteen top-notch writers currently working in crime fiction, Noir at the Bar is a hide the women and children collection of some of the most creative and deliciously disturbed short fiction ever rounded up in one volume.

As always it’s like Sophie’s Choice picking only a few to highlight, but here ya go… (more…)

Michael Wolf founded digital publishing house BSTSLLR in order to provide authors with an “author-friendly, forward-thinking” outlet for their work, and BSTSLLR has come charging out of the gate with their first offering, West Coast Crime Wave.

Featuring both award-winning, best selling authors as well as some very talented newcomers, West Coast Crime Wave’s eighteen stories take place from Alaska to L.A., and everywhere in between.

Though every story in the collection is well worth the price of admission, there were a few that particularly leapt off the page for me.

“The Last Ship” by Bill Cameron starts the collection of with a bang when a retired police officer checks into a remote B&B in Oregon to recharge his batteries following a run-in with the business end of a biker’s gun. He gets more than he bargained for, finding himself caught up in the conflicts of the eccentric owner and the B&B’s few full-time residents. Drugs, nefarious wrangling for power of attorney, and a local legend involving a faerie ship – yes, you read that correctly – combine to make this atmospheric entry both very entertaining and very creepy. (more…)

I don’t know how to pray but I close my eyes and ask God for help anyway. God doesn’t answer, doesn’t even send happy thoughts, just reruns of nightmares. – “Plastic Soldiers”

Snubnose Press is the new e-publishing arm of Spinetingler Magazine, and they’ve come roaring out the gate with their first offering, Speedloader.

Edited by Sandra Ruttan and Brian Lindenmuth, Speedloader is a collection of six hard hitting crime fiction stories from an impressive group of authors.

In You Dirty Rat by Nigel Bird a powerful combination of festering guilt and a quest for justice drives a soldier to take action years after a series of tragic events occurred on the battlefield.

Mori Obscura by Nik Korpon and Herniated Roots by Richard Thomas both use addiction and what its overpowering pull can do to a man as their backdrop.

Crash & Burn by Jonathan Woods is an amazingly intricate story for short fiction, one which has the plans for revenge of several players unfolding on a collision course of epic proportions.

Classic Matthew C. Funk, Cuffs is a New Orleans set tale of mistaken identity – or is it? – that starts off with a feeling of confusion which quickly develops into an increasing sense of dread.

And while those five stories are all outstanding, Plastic Soldiers by W.D. County absolutely leveled me. Told through the eyes of a kidnapped ten year old boy, Plastic Soldiers showcases both the worst and best that the human soul is capable of. County manages to pack a novel’s worth of pain and desperation and hope into five of the most compelling pages you will ever read. This was the first story of County’s that I’ve read, but it damn sure won’t be the last. You can read County’s “Dancing With Myself” interview on Nigel Bird’s blog to learn more about him.

Interesting note: Boden Steiner, who did the cover art for Speedloader, created an alternate version based on the story “Plastic Soldiers.” His vision is as powerful as the story itself.

Speedloader is available from Snubnose Press for only $0.99.

Snubnose Press has set a goal of publishing a book a month, and hot on the heels of Speedloader their second title, Harvest of Ruins by Sandra Ruttan, has just been released.

From the bestselling author of The Blade Itself and Good People comes an anthology of short stories, Scar Tissue: Seven Stories About Love and Wounds.

• “The Desert Here and the Desert Far Away”
• “The Days When You Were Anything Else”
• “No One”
• “Gravity and Need”
• “As Breathing”
• “Cobalt”
• “The Time Before the Last”

Featuring both award-winners and previously unpublished works, these tales of men and women pushed to–and beyond–the ragged edge demonstrate why National Public Radio declared Marcus Sakey writes “crime drama for the 21st century.”

Scar Tissue is available exclusively as an ebook. Kindle users can download the entire anthology on Amazon, and everyone else can get it at Smashwords.

Marcus has been kind enough to give everyone a sneak peek at the anthology by offering one of the short stories from it FREE. To get the free short story just use this link, add the story to your cart, and put in the following code at checkout: YB98Q

Enjoy!