VERGE LE NOIR - BLACK PILLS & RED BULLETS

Synopsis/blurb………

Product Description

In KISSES FROM OCALA we meet Rhonda an unforgettable stripper who loves Renoir, Kandinsky, Dali and money.

In WOLFENHAUS we meet a reclusive industrialist with dark dreams and even darker secrets.

RED ROOSTER tells the journey of a writer who went looking for a forgotten bluesman, from New Orleans to New York.

In the title story BLACK PILLS & RED BULLETS we meet Kenichi Isaka a Yakuza who went too far when he practiced the art of Kimbaku-bi a Japanese style of bondage on the wrong girl.

A couple of Canadian yuppies in Cuba looking into the skin trade get a little more than they bargain for in the story: MATANZAS.

THE OLD UGLY deals with the little journey of a legendary gun. From birth to death.

What happened at the Seattle Aquarium after dark? Is where modern lovers meet and greet as told in the story titled: HARD RAIN.

What’s the dooms day survivalist up to? What are his intentions with the daughter of ex-mayor Hobbs? Find out in the story: BURN BABY, BURN.

What happens when an old goomba decides to clean up his act? Meet Mario Mortillaro in the story: THEY SHOOT HORSES, is he really turning a new leaf?

Welcome to the snap and crackle prose that comprises this collection of ten unforgettable short stories.

Fraught with spatters of : Danger, mystery and violence. If you like escapism which hankers back to a time when reading pulp-ish fare made one feel like an amoral tight rope walker. Then this one's for you!

About the Author

Verge Le Noir. A voracious reader and a slight misanthrope. Decided to start writing on discovering the works of a man from Detroit by the name of Elmore Leonard; something call Rock and Roll; cool flix, and the female of the species. Not in that particular order - if you can believe it. Black Pills & Red Bullets is his first entry in the world of indie books- expect more. In search of some sanity, dive bars and a killer story. He roams around New York City.

Another short story diversion for me this month. Downloaded relatively cheaply on Amazon UK a few months ago and I feel like I got my money’s worth. Reading back through the brief descriptions above, I wouldn’t say all 10 are seared into the memory banks, but enough of them have me wanting to look out for more from Verge in the future.

RED ROOSTER and BURN BABY BURN are the 2 stand-outs for me.

Great author name - I hope it's real, great cover, great stories – most of. Enjoyable.

You can find him on Twitter @VergeLeNoir

4 from 5

Amazon UK purchase.

JONATHAN LATIMER - RED GARDENIAS

Synopsis/blurb….

Bill Crane’s fifth and final mystery finds him teamed up once again with his old ally Doc Williams and the boss’s niece, Ann Fortune. Ann poses as Crane’s wife in their investigation of a murder and death threats to the family of an industrial magnate. On the way to cracking the case in his own inimitable way, Crane learns the secret of the gardenia perfume, the lipstick marks on the dead man’s face, the crimson cat, the three shelves and the hairpin! Latimer’s deft blending of suspense and humour is never better revealed than in Red Gardenias, which has been described as “Masterful….the proper proportion of dry vermouth to produce a fine martini, all without bruising the gin!”

Rich over at Past Offences has put up a monthly challenge for readers who wish to participate. The challenge is to post about something read or watched for a particular year. Our year in question for July was 1939.

Having been unable to locate a couple of candidates that lurk somewhere in the library – books by Eric Ambler and James Hadley Chase, I selected this one by Latimer on the basis that it was cheap and also because I already have Solomon’s Vineyard by the same author. If I already own one of his, another must be good, surely?

If I was comparing it to a drink, my particular analogy would be with a three day old pint of milk, left out on the doorstep in full glare of the blazing sun. Ok ….slight exaggeration then, more akin to a pint of beer that was poured out yesterday then forgotten about. It still does a job of sorts, but it’s not the best thing you’ll ever drink in your life.

I found Red Gardenias a bit dated. We have some uncomfortable racial references or slurs and some male chauvinism from Crane, when referring to Ann. I think I have less difficulty reading racist and misogynistic remarks in current fiction and interpreting the intent of an author and am better placed to attach a likeability-dislikeability quotient to a character, as a result, than I am when reading books 75 years old. Is Crane a racist, or is Latimer, or is neither and it’s just a reflection of the general attitudes of the time when the book was written?

That aside, we have Crane, Fortune and Williams trying to uncover a murderer, whose efforts have for the most part been successfully passed off as accidents. The duo or trio for the most part operate independently of each other. Our victims belong to a wealthy family and for a bit of the novel I was trying to remember who was who to whom….brother, son, cousin, wife, ex-wife, dead, or nearly dead.

Along the way, we were supplied with a range of likely suspects. I discovered that Bill Crane has a fondness for alcohol, which his pretend wife, Ann frowned upon. (He also partakes of laudanum – something I have heard of previously, but never really knew what it was – an opium preparation apparently.) In certain exchanges they did come across as a married couple, albeit one with issues in their relationship. I think an attraction was bubbling along under the surface, one which Ann was doing her best to suppress. I could imagine wedding bells had there been a 6^th in the series.

In the end it all pulled together and was resolved satisfactorily.

I’ll score it a 3 from 5 as it wasn’t too bad overall. The main difficulty I have is finding myself overly sympathetic to troubles that befall rich people, I’m obviously too in touch with my inner-Marxist.

I’ll still read Solomon’s Vineyard at some point. The fact that it was banned or suppressed in the US for over 40 years piques my curiosity. I shan’t be reading more Bill Crane books though.

I bought my copy recently on Amazon.    

PS, I can't recall the crimson cat or the three shelves mentioned in the blurb. I must pay closer attention in future!     

JOHN DOLAN - JIM FOSSE'S EXPENSE CLAIM

Synopsis/blurb…..

Once you've met Jim Fosse you'll never feel quite the same about opening your e-mails ...

A darkly humorous short story of obsession from John Dolan, author of 'Everyone Burns'.

WARNING: Contains sexual references and some really terrible grammar.

Short at about 42 pages long, but it reads quicker as this tale is set out as a series of e-mails, letters and newspaper reports.

Definitely not PC, as our protagonist endeavouring to squeeze $10k out of his employer for unreceiptable corporate expenses such as drugs and hookers on a business trip, manages to initially amuse, then irritate and finally break the ginger-haired, Hispanic expense claim manager.

Dolan is all the more funny and amusing for that. There’s a satisfying twist in the tale that lifts the story another notch.

4 from 5

With the first chapter of Everyone Burns included, John Dolan is an author I’m adding to my read-something-else-by list. Everyone Burns features PI David Braddock. It’s the first of three books featuring Braddock and is set on the Thai island of Samui. Not having read too much fiction set in this part of the world it ticks a few boxes for me.

John Dolan’s website is here.  

I picked this up free on Amazon Kindle recently after seeing the author name-checked over on Victoria Dougherty’s website, among the Books I Loved section.   

  

JOHN LUTZ - THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER

Synopsis/blurb……….

A con man takes to the road with a blond drifter, trying to stay one step ahead of a vengeful killer in this chilling thriller from New York Times–bestselling author John Lutz

Lou Roebuck couldn’t tell the truth if his life depended on it. If he could, he might not have lost his job and his wife, or ended up driving over his old nemesis, Ingrahm, in his Thunderbird. Now Roebuck’s a thief and a murderer on the run with nobody to listen to his tall tales but Ellie, a pretty blonde who’s looking for excitement. They’ll have to keep moving, though, because not only are the cops dangerously close behind, but Ingrahm’s cold killer friend, Gipp, is coming after them as well. Roebuck’s going to have to do some pretty fast talking if he and Ellie want to keep breathing. And if he can’t lie his way out of this one, he’s going to find himself lying in an early grave.

A true master of suspense, John Lutz dazzles with a breakneck thriller that has more twists and turns than a winding country road. The Truth of the Matter is a bravura display of Lutz’s justifiably acclaimed storytelling prowess.

My first time with this author and I was mistaken for thinking it was a newly published book, when I requested it on Net Galley. I know of John Lutz mainly because of the film Single White Female, which I saw many years ago and enjoyed. There are a couple more of his books sitting somewhere amongst the stacks but I couldn’t tell you what they are without some serious digging.

Lutz has been fairly prolific since the early 70’s when The Truth of the Matter, his debut novel was published. He has a couple of 10 books series with two PI’s – Alo Nudger and Fred Carver, both of which I like the sound of – though in all honesty it would be madness to embark on trying to read another 20-odd books. Other series he’s penned include Frank Quinn (11 titles) and the Night series of 6 books. There’s maybe 10 standalone novels that have also been published and many short stories – enough to fill 4 collections. 

John Lutz’s website is here.

Back to The Truth of the Matter then. We start and finish with Lou Roebuck. He’s just about to run out on his latest girlfriend. He’s lost his job and after running down an old army buddy and fleeing from his partner Gipp. He burglars his ex-employer he’s now on the run.

Roebuck sure has the gift of the gab. I was amused at how quickly he thinks on his feet when asked a question; how quickly the fantastic lies trip off his tongue, initially sounding plausible but soon the penny drops that he would have had to live to be about 200 years old to have done half the things he’s claimed to. He’s the star of the book – never truly likeable, always untrustworthy yet there’s something about him that has you rooting for a solution to his predicament. Even so, should he get out of one scrape, you just know there’s more trouble in store around the corner.  

Roebuck picks up a blonde in a hotel bar. Ellie with her own chequered past and acceptance of what life has in store for her joins Roebuck on his road trip. He feeds Ellie lies and half-truths and whilst she never contradicts him or challenges him, you feel she knows exactly who he is. When they come to the attention of Sheriff Boadeen when holed up at Lake Chippewa, Ellie is the realist and pragmatically deals with Boadeen in an effort to stave off impending disaster.

With Boadeen circling closer and Roebuck still having nightmares about his pursuit by Gipp, his surviving enemy from his army days; Ellie and Roebuck take flight again. Without spoiling, you sense things aren’t going to end well.

I liked the reading about the characters more than I liked the characters themselves. All in all a decent read and one that does have me wanting to try more from the author, particularly a book or two from one pf his series, when I can see how he develops a lead over a few books.

4 from 5

Net Galley was my source for this one

JOEL TOWNSLEY ROGERS - THE RED RIGHT HAND

Synopsis/blurb………..

The Red Right Hand - Joel Townsley Rogers

With a new introduction by Martin Edwards

There was a Little Man - Who Got Away

But how? He killed St. Erme. But what did he do with St. Erme's right hand? St. Erme had a right hand, that much is indisputable. And it must be found. These are the two most essential questions in the sinister problem that confronts me - the problem I must find an answer to before the killer strikes me down too.

With the answer to either or both of those questions the police would have the ugly red-eyed killer stopped. Meanwhile the problem had both the police and Dr. Riddle stopped...

Written in 1945, The Red Right Hand is considered by many to be a classic of the American mystery genre.

More praise for The Red Right:

“...should be reissued every 5 years forever.” - Donald E. Westlake

“A strange and terrifying story... The solution of the mystery, while perfectly logical, is not at all what one is led to expect.” - The New York Times Book Review

“What a novel! The author runs full tilt at the plot, pulling the reader along with him, and keeps going, the pace never slackening, until finally, finally, he skids to a halt at the end of the novel, leaving the reader breathless and astonished at the audacity of the conclusion.” - Christine Poulson, author of Murder Is Academic

“The Red Right Hand abides by no rules and leaves you flabbergasted as to how such a fiendish novel could ever be assembled by a sane mind.” - Cullen Gallagher, Pulp Serenade

“...an eccentric and truly unforgettable book that combines complex yet unfussy prose with a weird and wonderful plot to produce a really distinctive and distinguished work.” - Tipping My Fedora

“Seriously great pulp fiction.” - Keith Rawson, The Chaos We Know and Laughing at Dead Men

I don’t really know what to say about this one TBH. I thought I knew what was going on for a fair portion of our narrative as dictated to us by Dr. Riddle. Then in a flash, I didn’t as my understanding was turned on its head.  Then I did as I read on until the end, or did I……

The only other book, I can recall that similarly stunned me was William Hjortsberg’s Falling Angel.

We have a road trip that results in murder, more than one.

New York, Connecticut, Vermont, plans, road trip, car, garage owner, mechanic, inventor, investor, insurance, banks, cheques, fiancé, marriage, honeymoon, hitchhiking tramp, doctor, painter, professor, gardening, shopkeeper, mailman, police, death, blue hat, pointy teeth, breakdown, crank handle, snake, dog, Indians, brothers, picnic, woods, lake, swamp, knife, saw, professor and a red right hand……….

Ergo …….. bemusement, confusion, bewilderment and dizziness whilst simultaneously amazed, delighted and extremely satisfied, though I think I’m going to have to read it at least once more to try and get my head around it. 

5 from 5

Well worth seeking out in my opinion.

Joel Townsley Rogers wrote four novels in total, I believe. This one is the one he is best remembered for. In addition he was a prolific writer of short stories, a lot of which are science fiction. Born in Missouri in 1896, he died in Washington D.C. in 1984.

Thanks to Kjetil at 280 Steps for my copy of this. 280 Steps are a relatively new e-book publisher bringing back some out of print classics as well as giving an outlet to some original new crime fiction. Their website is here.

2 BY HANS KEILSON

The 2 books here could have been 3 as I have Keilson’s The Death of an Adversary also on the shelves. Probably not crime fiction more regarded as literature I suppose, though any rational analysis of the Nazis couldn’t but help classify them and some of the unthinkable acts they perpetrated as criminal.

Keilson wrote his first book in the 30’s, which was banned by the Nazis. He fled to the Netherlands later and was a part of the Dutch resistance during World War II. For more details on a fascinating life check his Wikipedia page here.

He never received much acclaim outside the Netherlands until he celebrated his 100^th birthday. Cue international fanfare and trumpets. He died a year later aged 101 in 2011.

In 2010 he was featured in The Guardian and was tagged “the greatest novelist you’ve never heard of.” The following year they were publishing his obituary.

Links to both pieces are here and here. 

Comedy in a Minor Key

"The Death of the Adversary and Comedy in a Minor Key are masterpieces and Hans Keilson is a genius... Read these books and join me in adding him to the list, which each of us must compose on our own, of the world's greatest writers."

Francine Prose   

A penetrating study of ordinary people resisting the Nazi occupation - and, true to its title, a dark comedy of wartime manners - Comedy in a Minor Key tells the story of Wim and Marie, a Dutch couple who first hide a Jew they know as Nico, then must dispose of his body when he dies of pneumonia. This novella, first published in 1947 and now translated into English for the first time, shows Hans Keilson at his best: deeply ironic, penetrating, sympathetic, and brilliantly modern, an heir to Joseph Roth and Franz Kafka. In 2008, when Keilson received Germany's prestigious Welt Literature Prize, the citation praised his work for exploring 'the destructive impulse at work in the twentieth century, down to its deepest psychological and spiritual ramifications.'

Published to celebrate Keilson's hundredth birthday, Comedy in a Minor Key - and The Death of the Adversary, reissued in paperback - will introduce American readers to a forgotten classic author, a witness to World War II and a sophisticated storyteller whose books remain as fresh as when they first came to light.

Life Goes On

Published when the author was just twenty-three, Life Goes On is an autobiographical novel that paints a dark portrait of Germany between the world wars. It tells the story of Max Seldersen - a Jewish store owner modelled on Keilson's father, a textile merchant and decorated World War I veteran - along with his wife, Else, and son, Albrecht, and the troubles they encounter as the German economy collapses and politics turn rancid. The book was banned by the Nazis in 1934. Shortly afterward, following his editor's advice, Keilson emigrated to the Netherlands, where he would spend the rest of his life.

Life Goes On is an essential volume for fans of Keilson's Comedy in a Minor Key and The Death of the Adversary. At the age of one hundred, with his one copy of the first edition of Life Goes On in hand, he told The New York Times he would love to see his first novel reissued and translated, too. 'Then you would have my whole biography,' he told them. He died at the age of one hundred and one.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH LORI RADER-DAY

Lori Rader-Day author of The Black Hour was the latest participant in my Question and Answers session.

The Black Hour was reviewed here. Anyone who has an interest in crime fiction set in the world of academia could do a lot worse than read this one.

Lori’s website is here.

Many thanks to Lori for her generosity with her time.

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Is the writing a full-time or a sideline-passion-hobby? What’s the day job?

I work a day job at a university near Chicago. Writing is still pretty much a full-time job, though. You just have to do it in the other hours you might have normally had time to do things like read, go outside, sleep.

What’s been the most satisfying moment of your writing career so far?

It was pretty cool to hear that the New York Times Book Review would be writing about The Black Hour. Stunning, actually. I think the two best moments are when I finished writing the first draft and when my agent sold the book.

From start to finish how long did The Black Hour take from conception to completion?

I wrote the first draft in about a year and a half, and then spent another year revising before submitting to agents. I'm glad I spent the time to feel confident in the draft.

What’s your typical writing schedule?

Very haphazard. I write during lunch hours many days, some evenings, some weekends. I wrote 10,000 words of The Black Hour while on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. You write when you can, I guess, and I like to write, so why wouldn't I do it on vacation, too?

Who do you read and enjoy?

I love Louise Penny, Charles Todd, Catriona McPherson, Clare O'Donohue, Lynne Raimondo, and Terry Shames. Good mysteries, a broad spectrum of styles—all delightful women writers. (Well, Charles is a mother/son duo.)

Is there any one book you wish you had written? 

To Kill a Mockingbird. It's an all-time favorite, and you really only have to write that one and then you're done.

Favourite activity when not working? 

Reading, but I have a lot less time when I'm not working these days.
  

What’s the current project in progress? How’s it going?

My next book is Little Pretty Things, out next July. I'm almost done but all this Black Hour business has certainly slowed me down.

If I check back in a couple of year’s time, where do you hope to be with the writing?

I want to be writing solid suspense novels, maybe have a series or two going. I have ideas, but I might need to be cloned to get them all written.

MATTHEW McBRIDE - A SWOLLEN RED SUN

Synopsis/blurb…..

God, drugs, corruption, and morality come together in this gripping tale of desperation

In Gasconade County, Missouri—once called the meth capital of the world—Deputy Sherriff Dale Banks discovers $52,000 hidden in the broken-down trailer that Jerry Dean Skaggs uses for cooking crystal. And he takes it. Banks knows what he did was wrong, but he did it for all the right reasons. At least, he thinks so. But for every wrong, there is a consequence.

Jerry Dean can’t afford to lose that $52,000—he owes it to his partners and to a crooked cop. He also can’t afford to disappoint the crazed and fearsome Reverend Butch Pogue, who is expecting Jerry Dean to deliver the chemicals the reverend needs for his next batch of meth. To avoid the holy man’s wrath, Jerry Dean sets in motion a series of events that will threaten Banks’s family, his life, and everything he thinks he knows about the world.

Matthew McBride's new novel, A Swollen Red Sun, is rough and ready suspense, encompassing a wide array of characters from the sour side of life, and smashing them together with vigorous and blunt prose." —Daniel Woodrell, author of The Maid's Version and Winter's Bone

"The words practically vibrate off the page in Matthew McBride's amped-up and intricately-plotted novel about meth freaks and dirty cops. Filled with scenes of both tremendous brutality and heartrending compassion, it is the best fictional depiction of the current drug epidemic raging across the Midwest that I have ever read." —Donald Ray Pollock, author of Knockemstiff and The Devil All The Time

Praise from two authors who I have read and enjoyed, always has me optimistic as opposed to merely hopeful when embarking a new book!

I do like reading books concerning drugs, drug dealers and drug users – perhaps I’m an addict! Add in a mess of cops – straight, crooked and one halfway in-between – we’ll call him conflicted. Throw in an odd-ball, disturbed preacherman; the one with two wives, one of which is chained up in the cellar with a ball-gag in her mouth. Even the crooked cops won’t venture onto the mountain where Rev. Pogue is cooking up his crystal!

Dale Banks is the cop who cashes in after kicking over a mess of cat litter during a raid. Banks, a family man and an otherwise honest cop up until this point at least, succumbs to the temptation, in full knowledge of repercussions further down the road. Banks endangers his young family and straight-laced partner with his impulsiveness, but doesn’t regard returning the money as a viable option.

As events escalate and spiral into further violence; Jerry Dean - $52k light – hatches a plan to recover his money and with a glint of ambition in his eye, rescue Pogue’s young ball-gagged wife whilst taking over Pogue’s operation. All the while, Banks is trying to figure out who he can trust to combat the growing threat to him and his family and Banks’ nemesis on the force, a man with political aspirations starts cleaning away any links to his involvement in the meth trade.     

Fast and violent. Not everyone’s cup of tea but certainly mine. Extremely enjoyable, with an ironic twist at the end.

5 from 5

I have Matthew McBride’s debut sat on the pile, the enigmatically titled – Frank Sinatra in a Blender. To be enjoyed soon, I think.

I can’t find a website for him, but he’s on Twitter (@matthewjmcbride)

I accessed this one via Net Galley. A Swollen Red Sun is published and available now from Mysterious Press.

       

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH ANONYMOUS-9

Captain A-9

Elaine Ash aka Anonymous-9, author of Hard Bite and the forthcoming Bite Harder was kind enough to indulge me with a few questions and answers.
Hard Bite was enjoyed back in late 2012.

The 1st Short Story Collection (unread as yet) preceded the novel and Just So You Know I'm Not Dead - 3 short stories was read earlier this month and triggered the invitation to Anonymous-9 to answer a few questions on her writing and reading.

Hard Bite review
Just So You Know I'm Not Dead review



Is the writing a full-time or a sideline-passion-hobby? What’s the day job?

No matter if I'm getting paid big bucks for advertising writing or little bucks for fiction writing (although those bucks just took a jump), it's all writing all the time.

What’s been the most satisfying moment of your writing career so far?

It happened yesterday. I'm researching my DREAMING DEEP novelette commissioned by Uncanny Books and I landed an interview with a seasoned tugboat captain down at the Port of Long Beach which is a high security place. The Los Angeles area is a notoriously difficult place to land interviews. There are so many writers competing for information, and with paparazzi crawling everywhere there's not a lot of trust. Suffice it to say in my experience landing interviews is rare and tough. But yesterday, my work preceded me. I breezed through checkpoints and clearances, people knew who I was and had read about me in advance, I was welcomed onto a high tech boat, I even got to sit in the captain's chair in the wheelhouse! Being able to do the research for my book unimpeded was the most satisfying moment so far.

From start to finish how long did Hard Bite and Bite Harder take from conception to completion?

Hmmm.  HARD BITE started as a short story in 2008 and the novel manuscript was turned in to Blasted Heath in 2011. So that was three or four years. It felt like a decade. BITE HARDER took about a year, maybe a little more. I wrote 100,000 words and threw out 52,000 before I was done.

No spoilers (and I haven’t yet read Bite Harder), is there scope for a 3rd Sid the Monkey novel?

Yes, and it's in the outline stage. Allan Guthrie says I should call it THE LAST BITE and if I have another book after that I can call it THE SECOND LAST BITE. Ha.

What’s your typical writing schedule?

I mess around at home putting writing hours in around everyday life until I hit a snag. Then I head for the desert and an empty condo that a Canadian pal keeps in Palm Springs. Once there, I put in 15, 16 hours per day. I allow myself out once per day in the car to eat at a restaurant and twice to go out for a walk or exercise. Other than that, I'm in a chair writing. My body often aches and I sleep on the couch so I can get up and jot stuff down in the middle of the night. I have no phone, no internet, no friends there, and I write everything in longhand, no typing or revising. The desert is all about tapping the imagination. It allows for deep concentration on the characters until the story becomes more real than the cloistered life I'm engaged in. I'll do that for 5 days at a time and then come home.

Do you insert family, friends and colleagues into your characters? Would they recognise themselves?

No. Although I'm always accused of that and find it rather arrogant on the part of the accuser.

Are there any subjects off limits as far as your writing is concerned?

No subject handled right should ever be off limits. Political correctness is a strait jacket writers need to shred and then burn in a dumpster.

What are the last three books you’ve read?

MOBY DICK by Herman Melville,  HAMMERHEAD RANCH MOTEL by Tim Dorsey and THE LONG MIDNIGHT OF BARNEY THOMSON by Douglas Lindsay.

Who do you read and enjoy?

Chandler, Cain, Jim Thompson, I'm always seeking noir and if it has a funny, ironic edge so much the better.

Do you have any literary heroes?

Horror master H. P. Lovecraft  surfaces again and again in my life to feed me. I'm so moved that he died sick and penniless, writing stories that then swept the world. His legacy provides livings for thousands of writers connected to his work including me.

Is there any one book you wish you had written? 

THE GRIFTERS by Jim Thompson is so emotionally complex with that chilling mother-son relationship. Anything by James M. Cain.

Favourite activity when not working?

I take an hour a day to exercise and listen to music and lectures on my iPod. I enjoy range shooting, guns, Las Vegas for everything except gambling, Texas, Brit Grit as coined by Paul Brazill and furthered by Keith Nixon.

What’s the current project in progress? How’s it going?

See the answer on the tugboat research.

If I check back in a couple of year’s time, where do you hope to be with the writing?

I'll have a movie deal and HARD BITE will be in production. That's what happened for Douglas Lindsay (also published by Blasted Heath) and I hope it will happen for me. The HARD BITE series will still be going strong. The DREAMING DEEP series will be selling hand over fist for Uncanny Books. My newest and as yet unpublished series called CRASHING THROUGH MIRRORS about a down-on-his-luck musician will have taken off (the first novelette is finished), and I'll be able to live modestly on the proceeds of my stories. If that sounds ambitious, I believe in dreaming!

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Thanks again to Elaine-Anon-9. Bite Harder is out in September, published by Blasted Heath. The Blasted Heath website is here.