Through Daddy's Eyes

This picture is of Ava's first drawing on her new Crayola crayon dry erase board. As Ava was creating her masterpiece, I said to my wife, "Doesn't that look like a cat?" She agreed and we took a picture. Does anybody else see it or is this a matter of parent goggles, which is okay with us!

Meatballs, Baby!

A co-worker made these meatballs which were fantastico. Never had them before and I'm hooked. My charmer says she's heard of a similar recipe. I thought I'd share.

2 tbs Grape Jelly
2 tbs Brown Sugar
1 cup Ketchup
1/2 tsp Chili Powder (to taste)
Costco pre-cooked meatballs

Mix first four ingredients together to make sauce. Place meatballs in sauce until thawed. Place meatballs in slow cooker to let flavors combine.

BEAT to a PULP #178: The Step Away by Kieran Shea

Kieran Shea returns to BTAP with a Charlie Byrne grind.

Thanks, amigo.

BEAT to a PULP: Superhero

BEAT to a PULP: SUPERHERO should be out in a couple of weeks. Twelve extraordinary short stories by these top wordslingers. I like the way this cover came out. The image was purchased from iStock where I noticed it had been downloaded three other times -- hopefully not being used for an anthology of this sort. But, rest assured, the originality of these tales will be unmatched. More about Superhero in the week to come.

Devil Wings Over France

Dave "Dead-Stick" Malloy grinned as he saw the flare from the exhaust stacks of the Fokker's engine through the ring of the Aldis sight. He had already fired a couple of bursts through his twin Vickers to warm the barrels of the deadly machine guns. Now his fingers punched the trips and sent leaden death flickering through the darkness.

This is just the opening to DEVIL WINGS OVER FRANCE and if you're like me, you'll have to keep reading this exciting novella.

The B-Man Cometh

I’m camping this weekend and this is lying in the grass. Who is B-Man?

Banana Man? Probably.

What’s his story? You tell me.

Under Construction: The Guns of Vedauwoo Cover

Wayne D. Dundee has written another Cash Laramie novel, this one called, The Guns of Vedauwoo. I'm in the editing process, and I thought you might like to take a look at the cover which is under construction. Would love to hear your thoughts. The excellent photo of the Vedauwoo rocks was taken by Rich Prosch.

The complete Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles series:
Adventures of Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles
Adventures of Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles Vol. II
Bullets for a Ballot
Manhunter's Mountain
Miles to Little Ridge

Vin of Venus

Vin, bereft of half his limbs and his memory, struggles between two worlds--the mist-shrouded, verdant hell of ancient Venus and the mean streets of modern Europe--battling both alien monstrosities and underworld villains on his quest to recover his identity. Along the way he is aided by an unlikely cast of allies, as well as the mysterious, ruby-encrusted bracelet that serves as the only link between his heroic past and grim present. Written in classic pulp-style, VIN OF VENUS mixes Hardboiled and Sword and Planet elements in a genre-bending series of action tales.

"Vin of Venus" by Garnett Elliott, Paul Brazill, and David Cranmer is available on Amazon for $0.99.

Matt Hilton review: Swords, Planets and Hard-boiled Heroes.

Randy Johnson's review can be found here.

Harvest of War

Book description: Victory rewards the most brutal. But in a war fought between Orcs, Humans, and the monsters known as the Reapers, who best deserves that title? And will any of them fight for the weak? Or are the weak doomed always to be prey?

I read Mr. Gramlich's novella (or long short story) in one sitting while my charmer shopped for groceries and I watched our baby get some Z's in the car. Yes, there's plenty of descriptive action in the appropriately titled "Harvest of War," but it's the character development between two unlikely allies that leads me to say that this is my favorite story by Charles Allen Gramlich to date. My wife returned from shopping and asked how it was, and my reply was, "Brilliant. Wish I had published it."

"Harvest of War" can be found on Amazon for the bargain price of $0.99.

In That Split Second

We had talked about that point when our little girl would tumble into the pool by accident. She’s coming up on eighteen months now and loves the water but still hasn’t dunked her head under completely. She spends a lot of time walking up and down the steps and floating in her inflatable bee.

Of course as soon as we mentioned it this past week, her foot slipped on the second step and she fell backward into the pool. She quickly spun around underwater so that her belly faced the bottom of the pool … her mom’s hands were already reaching and pulling her out of the water. She had held her breath like we showed her, and she was still holding her breath until her mommy told her to breathe which she did. I reassured her she’s ok. We immediately took her back into the water so she wouldn’t be afraid the next time, and she hasn’t been afraid since.

Everything seemed to go textbook perfect for such a situation. But it bothered the hell out of me for days after because of the sheer helplessness in that spit second Ava was scrambling underwater. Man, a parent doesn’t like to see that vulnerability.