Synopsis/blurb....
Crime, noir and mystery short stories by Anonymous-9, Winner of Spinetingler Mag's Best Short Story on the Web, 2009. (She was nominated again in 2010.)
"The 1st Short Story Collection" by Anonymous-9 contains 11 of her very best. New York Times bestselling author T. Jefferson Parker praised her crazy-good sense of humor. But that touch of humor comes with an edge and a bite. The collection reflects Anonymous-9's hardboiled vision of a dark and violent world. This is a collection of her award-winning fiction for the very first time.
A short collection of stories from Anonymous-9 aka Elaine Ash and a decent finish to the month's reading.
In the 70 page collection we had......
Hard Bite - a refresher for me as I've read both of the longer works from Anon-9 - Hard Bite and Bite Harder. I can't remember what happened to gang of three - a cripple, a call girl and a trained killer monkey. Here our gang of three, mainly two continue to set the world to rights but not without a few missteps.
Tequila Spike - a concerned woman, a small girl, a feckless mother, a procession of worthless boyfriends, a plan to give the girl a future.
Claw Marks - some bar room and bedroom observations from a cat
Backseat Driver - a bar room pick up and an early morning leaving present
Mama Knew - marriage ain't all it's cracked up to be, but ...... To a widow the sweetest sound this side of heaven is a man snoring.
Organic Chicken Tortilla Soup with Chopped Finger Garnish - a trip to a restaurant, should have dialled out for pizza
Return of the Night of the Living Dead Zombie Monkey from Sunset Boulevard - a bit of a weird one with Cecil B Demille featuring
Killer Orgasm - a single woman with a plan for a man
Eating the Deficit - the future, bills to pay
The Master Bedroom - a boy with parent issues
M-N-S (n) murder-necrophilia-suicide - doing the devil's work, but not if your cv doesn't qualify you for the job
Notes and Quotes Acknowledgments Dedication - an interesting afterword offering snippets on the origins and evolution of some of the pieces in the collection.
A fantastic collection that I sped through.
All were good, minimum, a few were great and a couple superb. Personal favourites - Hard Bite, Tequila Spike and Backseat Driver.
Well worth a look in my opinion.4.5 from 5
Anonymous-9's fiction has been enjoyed in the past - Hard Bite, Bite Harder, Just So You Know I'm Not Dead, Crashing Through Mirrors
Read in November, 2018
Published - 2011
Page count - 70
Source - owned copy
Format - kindle
I always like it when all of the stories in a collection are at least good. Sometimes collections are a bit uneven, but it doesn't sound as though that happened here. Glad to hear it.
ReplyDeleteMargot, I enjoyed all of them which is a bit unusual really.
DeleteSounds like a great collection -- I'm surprised it all fits into a mere 70 pages! The stories must be really quite short.
ReplyDeleteProbably 5 or 6 pages most of them. Definitely lots going on.
DeleteSame applies as to your previous collection - will wait for the longer versions. Tortilla soup with finger is an image I will try to block out from my imagination...
ReplyDeleteHard Bite is the first novel from her and a decent place to start - a paraplegic and his trained killer monkey!
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