Book Reviews by Elizabeth A. White

Spinetingler Magazine has announced the 2012 Spinetingler Magazine Awards winners, and I’m honored that from amongst such a wonderful group of nominees Book Reviews by Elizabeth A. White was chosen as the 2012 David Thompson Community Leader Award winner.

David Thompson was a bookseller and publisher whose passion for crime fiction knew no bounds, nor did his tireless advocating of crime fiction books and authors. You can learn more about David by visiting Sarah Weinman’s blog, where she compiled a deservedly lengthy list of the tributes that poured in from every corner of the crime fiction community in David’s honor upon his untimely death in 2010.

It is truly an honor to win an award that bears David’s name.

Thank you to the Spinetingler crew for nominating me, and to everyone who took the time to vote. Every person who was nominated does such wonderful things to support crime fiction books and authors, and all were more than deserving. For a group that thrives on murder and mayhem – in print, of course – the crime fiction community is actually quite tight-knit and supportive, and I am proud to be a part of it.

The first edition of Pulp Modern was an extremely pleasant surprise, populated with an array of short stories by both authors I knew as well as introducing me to a few new treasures to pursue, like David James Keaton.

The followup lives up to its predecessor, with editor Alec Cizak once again assembling a quality assortment of stories from established authors and relative newcomers alike that span crime, fantasy, and the Old West. As always, there were a few that particularly stood out for me.

I don’t think there’s an author currently working in crime fiction/noir who more consistently forces readers to go to uncomfortable places as does Matthew C. Funk, and “Breed Out the Bad” is no exception. The matter-of-fact way in which Funk tells the story of a young man done wrong’s Biblical solution to ridding his small town of the ‘evil’ represented by the Tarwater family, starting with the sisters, is as deeply disturbing as it gets.

“The Aerialist” by Stephen Eoannou is a wonderfully understated tale of love, betrayal, and revenge. It turns out Spence and Blind Charlie share more in common than an affinity for placing bets at the OTB, and as the two journey across town to watch an aerialist attempt to walk between the two Statue of Liberty replicas atop the Liberty Building one of them will also discover the aerialist isn’t the only person making a perilous journey and poised for a disastrous fall. (more…)

Edited by Nigel Bird and Chris Rhatigan, Pulp Ink is a blistering collection of 24 deliciously dark tales, each inspired by a song from the Pulp Fiction movie soundtrack. Murder and madness, sex and seduction, revenge and redemption, Pulp Ink has a little bit of everything going on. A few of my favorites:

“Requiem For A Spider” finds Reed Farrel Coleman’s well-known and much loved character Moe Prager roped into acting as combination backup/security blanket for an old friend at a meeting with a potential business partner…in the Russian Mafia. Proving that no good deed goes unpunished and people aren’t always who they seem to be, things go seriously sideways.

With their infant son in tow, Junior and his wife, Nina, travel the country in Matthew C. Funk’s “You Can Never Tell” systematically tracking down – and eliminating – all the old associates of Junior’s father in order to determine which one betrayed and killed him. Always one to push a story places you’re not quite expecting it to go, Funk takes the age-old concept of revenge and redemption and gives it a startling twist. (more…)