Friday 28 April 2017

VARIOUS - MAYBE I SHOULD JUST SHOOT YOU IN THE FACE (2014)


Synopsis/blurb….

Zelmer Pulp brings their A game to the mean, rain-swept streets of noir. This collection features new stories from all the Zelmer Pulp regulars as well as stunning noir photography from Mark Krajnak and an introduction by Brit Grit Godfather Paul D. Brazill.

Zelmer Pulp arrives with both guns out in this Volume 1 noir collection.

An enjoyable short story collection from the dudes at Zelmer Pulp – 116 pages long comprising 7 tales and a piece from Hartlepool legend Mr Brazill, plus some photographs from Mark Krjanak.

I liked the tales – some more than others which is par for the course. 6 of the 7 authors were new to me, familiarity with Gareth Spark having only been achieved the week before when I read his collection Snake Farm.

Chris Leek (Smoke ‘Em if You’ve Got ‘Em) and Ryan Sayles (War Path, That Escalated Quickly and The Subtle Art of Brutality) exist on the device unread.

Last Exit - Chris Leek ……. love and loss, a dead hooker and a cop looking for retribution…..a great opening……..People say life begins at forty. It doesn’t. The fact is it’s been going on all the while, only you’ve been too busy to notice; forty is just the age when you start to worry about how much of it you have left.

Omega Man - Benoît Lelièvre …….. another tale of lost love and obsession with a sting in the tale

Give a Good Day - Isaac Kirkman …… a short time-trippy tale of an old man’s day – ghosts of the past and memories, haunting……. He feels at times there are versions of himself in other worlds crying, using up all the tears he was allotted in this life before he got the chance.

Once Upon a Time in the Woods - Brian Panowich …… the kidnap of a young woman goes pear-shaped – a female Dr. Doolittle-type at one with the animals…..WTF – face biting squirrels and frogs and princes!

Taking Flesh - Chuck Regan …… a photographer and his nightmares about carnivals and sacrifices

Lazarus Come Forth - Gareth Spark ….. gangsters, a girl, a takedown and betrayal

The Roach Motel Reputation - Ryan Sayles ….. a brutal tale of a hunter looking for a murderer ……… In the back of the unmarked, squirming inside the cage, Thomas is crying. Screaming he’s sorry. He didn’t mean it. If he could turn back time… if only this. If only that.
Apologies mean nothing to me. Especially from a rapist drug dealer with a chip on his shoulder who sets up a man to accidentally kill himself and two children.

An enjoyable couple of hours reading and a nudge to myself to get to reading Sayles and Leek at some point.

4.5 from 5
Read in April, 2017
Published – 2014
Page count – 116
Source – owned copy

Format - Kindle

6 comments:

  1. There's some good writing in the little bit you've shared, Col. A bit gritty for me, unless I'm very much in the mood for 'dark,' but it sounds good. Glad you enjoyed it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Margot, I did like this collection and yes a few of the stories are quite dark.

      Delete
  2. I liked the quotes you shared. Sounds like a good book.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tracy, I've been reading a few short stories of late and this was one of the better collections I've read.

      Delete
  3. I usually feel I can ignore short stories (Edith Wharton excepted of course), but glad you enjoyed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll read the Wharton in May now. I'm enjoying a bit of a roll with the shorts at the minute.

      Delete