A good way of trying out new authors and getting a taste of their writing is to sample a short story or two.
There are some great sites around offering free reading material and entertainment.....Spelk Fiction, Tough Blogazine, Shotgun Honey, Pulp Metal Magazine, Near to the Knuckle, Yellow Mama, Bull, Great Jones Street, Beat to a Pulp and Out of the Gutter to name-check a few.
Author websites can also throw up some great stories, check out Paul D. Brazill, Dietrich Kalteis, Tom Leins and Margot Kinberg blogs/websites for starters.
Last August, I read a story a day. This year I repeated the exercise, mostly keep on track - only a couple of days with no story as I was away for a few days and a couple of days reading more than one to catch-up.
The full selections were.....
1st - Tony Tremblay - The Scum Bar - Tough Blogazine
2nd - Tom Leins - The Guns of Brixham - Akaskic Books
3rd - Jim Thomsen - A Hell of a Girl - Shotgun Honey
4th - Paul D. Brazill - The Company Man - Paul D. Brazill
5th - Dan O'Shea - Two-Phones - Shotgun Honey
6th - Angel Luis Colon - Last Call - Beat to a Pulp
7th - Cal Marcius - Two-Forty-Seven - Spelk Fiction
8th - Paul D. Brazill - The Emperor's Old Clothes - Pulp Metal Magazine
9th - Margot Kinberg - Low Pressure - Confessions of a Mystery Novelist
10th - Barbara Renel - Hummingbird - Spelk Fiction
11th - Paul Heatley - Bobby's Dog - Spelk Fiction
12th - Tom Leins - Sloppy Operator - Flash Fiction Offensive @ Out of the Gutter
13th - Richard Godwin - Rothko's Daughter - Pulp Metal Magazine
14th - Paul Heatley - Tickets to Heaven - Yellow Mama
15th - Rusty Barnes - Asphalt Angel - Shotgun Honey
16th - Tom Leins - Triggerman - Flash Fiction Offensive @ Out of the Gutter
17th - Elijah Ellis - Welcome Stranger - Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (July 1965)
18th - Roger A. Price - Hard Time - Dunscar.com
19th - Tom Leins - Clawfist - Spelk Fiction
20th - Paul Greenberg - Cleaning up the Neighbourhood - Near to the Knuckle
21st - Rusty Barnes - El Asesino - Bull
22nd - Sarah M. Chen - The Donut Dealer - Great Jones Street
23rd - Sonia Kilvington - Jake - Flash Fiction Offensive @ Out of the Gutter
24th - Joe R. Lansdale - Hap and Leonard In the Rivers of the Dead - Sundance TV
25th - Chris Roy - Re-Pete - Near to the Knuckle
26th - Alex Gaby - The Crooked Road - Alfred Hitchcock presents : A month of mystery (1969)
27th - Tom Leins - Dry Salvage - Near to the Knuckle
28th - E. A. Cook - Citizens - E. A. Cook Writes
29th - David Swann - Approach to the Scar - Spelk Fiction
30th - Todd Morr - Dick - Flash Fiction Offensive @ Out of the Gutter
31st - Morgan Boyd - Arson on the Eastside - Tough Blogazine
2016 reads can be found here - AUGUST 2016 - 31 DAYS, 31 SHORTS
Cheers for checking out mine, Col - hope you enjoyed them!
ReplyDeleteApologies mate, I should have linked to your site also - I'll update my post later today. I think you were top boy in August - a 5 fer - knocking that pesky PDB off his perch!
DeleteIf I recall reading a recent post correctly, you have another one dropping today.
Thanks for the linkage, Col - much obliged! Yep - new wrestling noir online today, and there will be a new Paignton Noir story at Spelk at the end of the month too.
DeleteHappy days!
DeleteThanks, Col, for the kind words. And thanks for those other great ideas for short story reading. You're right, I think, that short stories can be a great way to get to know an author's work without investing an inordinate amount of time. And you can find some real gems, too. Now, I need to check some of those sites out...
ReplyDeleteMargot. your very welcome. I have enjoyed plenty of your short offerings in the past couple of years - only the one last month though! :-(
DeleteI hope you noticed I managed to enjoy the two "car" stories you kindly forwarded me - both very enjoyable pay-offs!
So much interesting stuff here, Col. I must get back to reading new releases. Spent the summer reading old adventure novels and non-fiction.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot worse things you could have been doing instead. I need to up my non-fiction reading - probably 2018 now!
DeleteA great idea, Col. Last February I read short stories mostly, from paper books, though, not online.
ReplyDeleteCheers Tracy. I might need to do this more often to clear some of my clutter. At one time I used to print off the ones I liked, but then forgot about them! I have tons of paper everywhere, which annoys my family!
Delete