New Kieran Shea at BEAT to a PULP

Kieran Shea is always a joy to publish because of his unique perspectives and professionalism. His latest  "The Way Of Our Now" is available to read at the BEAT to a PULP webzine.

"The Replacement" by Nikki Dolson

I've published the latest Nikki Dolson (ALL THINGS VIOLENT, LOVE AND OTHER CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR) short story called "The Replacement" over at the BEAT to a PULP webzine. If you've never read Ms. Dolson, you are in for a treat. The rest of you, I'm positive, have already clicked away to read. 

Johnny Cash: Love, God, Murder

Johnny Cash (1932-2003) was one of the voices surrounding my cradle. In a small home in Varna, New York, would have been my dad, mom, and sister, and a baritone voice from an 8-track tape player singing about heady topics which I would learn to understand in the years to come. My musical interests expanded beyond country to rock, classical, and my go to favorite jazz. But even today, that deep voice and those songs still capture my attention, and before he died, Johnny Cash gifted us with a compilation titled Love, God, Murder (2000) with liner notes by Bono, Quentin Tarantino, and Johnny's lovely wife, June Carter Cash.

The "Murder" collection of songs has been playing on my Bose nonstop for weeks, whether I'm tinkering with a poem, editing a crime story for the BEAT to a PULP webzine, or riding the killing trail with Cash Laramie, who, yes, I partly named after Johnny. Inspirations abound. Take a song like "Don't Take Your Guns to Town," about a young man named Billy Joe who wants to be respected and rides into town with his guns hanging at his side. Hear that song just once and a movie begins playing out inside your head that could have been directed by John Ford. You see his mom crying over him and that dusty cowpoke laughing him down at the bar. It's not just a song but a narrative that gets into your ear and under your skin, and no matter how much you don't want Billy to make that fatal mistake to draw his pistols, he will again and again.

Another classic, "Delia's Gone," is about an unfaithful wife who's killed by the narrator. Unlike "Don't Take Your Guns to Town," there is no sympathetic protagonist, rather a jealous husband who appears to gleefully enjoy the path he takes—Cash was never afraid to go there in what Tarantino calls hillbilly thug life. I especially relish this particular compilation for the various points of view, whether from people witnessing a president's assassination in "Mister Garfield," a prisoner fantasizing about breaking out of Folsom prison, a man admitting to a murder to protect his best friend's wife from the shame of their affair, or an honest policeman allowing his criminal brother to get away "'cause a man who turns his back on his family ain't no good." That song, "Highway Patrolman," was written by Bruce Springsteen, and it has always impressed me how Cash could interpret other people's songs, slipping them into his own music book for a seamless listen. He's covered songs from a wide range of artists, from Hank Snow to Trent Reznor, with the ability to make them his own. How does he do it? I believe it's because his voice speaks with an authority that seems from The Almighty himself.

Any other Cash aficionados? What's your favorite song or album?

Transgemination

I had such a kick working with Glenn on Transgemination. The kind of book still giving me chuckles on the third pass. Science fiction, horror, thrills, and lots of humor. It is now available in print and for the kindle. Here's what its all about:

What would YOU do if you stumbled upon a mysterious simmering gooey thing in your backyard? Farm boys Karl and Stew are forced to answer this question when they happen upon an otherworldly blob thing in their cornfield. Before they know it, their normally tranquil farm is transformed into a chaotic, surreal nightmare of sorts, and quickly becomes the epicenter of national attention. Follow Karl and Stew as they struggle to maintain their sanity in this humorous, sometimes outlandish but thought provoking sci-fi novella, replete with bizarre creatures, explosions and even a love story. A must read for fans of retro sci-fi/horror B movies, woven with real science, as only Glenn Gray can do. Buckle up for a fun, yet harrowing ride.

Angel Luis Colón at BEAT to a PULP

"Last Call" by Angel Luis Colón at the BEAT to a PULP webzine.

CONTINUITY GIRL

The latest release from BEAT to a PULP and Nik Morton is now available for kindle pre-order. Print to follow.

What has gone before . . .

In our future, Kyler Knightly and his uncle Damon Cole are field agents for Continuity Inc, a private organization that obtained the contract when the government Time Corps was deregulated. CI is dedicated to protecting human history.

They use the Zygma projector to travel through time and must carry a focus object from the period they’re targeting.

Kyler is also a dreamer with passive psychic talents, a precognitive.

The head of the group is an Artificial Intelligence character, Sennacherib, which possesses an organic interface, sharing the body of a two-spot octopus in an aquarium tank! Their offices are in the West End of London, a disused theater.

The third book in the series brings two more exciting time-travel adventures for Knightly and Cole of Continuity Inc.

CONTINUITY GIRL


Kyler is accompanied by the delectable yet mysterious Tertia Beynon. Their mission is to trace an academic who has traveled to Roman Britain in 192 AD. Precog suggests that an interfering event in this past will radically alter the future. Arriving at Hadrian’s Wall in the freezing winter, the pair encounter blood-thirsty argumentative locals and then obtain the aid of Governor Clodius Albinus in their trek on the northern side of the wall. Here they are confronted by Ambrosius, a druid who possesses arcane power.

Nothing seems simple. Action abounds, with brutal sacrifices, deadly swordplay, a fraught chariot chase and an attack by a pack of wolves.

With all this going on, will they be able to save their future in time?

“What an exciting zip back to the past with some really neat time travel twists! The story may be short but it’s packed with plenty of entertaining ‘what ifs’ and action near Hadrian’s Wall. And for good measure, the conclusion just might be something you don’t expect!” —Nancy Jardine, author of 'The Celtic Fervour' series

WE FELL BELOW THE EARTH

Our duo are helped by Tertia and Chief Inspector Irving. Corpses drained of blood point to a clue, a letter from Bistritz in 1897. Kyler and Cole are sent to Transylvania.

The conclusions are inescapable: it seems that the discovery of time travel—even though it’s regulated and Continuity Inc strives to protect history—heralded in a sequence of parallel time-streams. Where before these time-streams were ‘what if’ scenarios, now they’ve split into different realities. In some, fiction is fact.

The deaths, the blood and gore point to vampires being real, and they’re certainly not your idealized romantic sort. The evil blood-suckers are intent on feasting in Kyler’s present and spreading their contagion ...

THE BROKEN COUNTRY: BEING THE SCABROUS EXPLOITS OF CYRUS & GALINA VAN, HELLBENT WEST DURING THE EIGHTH YEAR OF THE HARROWS, 1876; WITH AN ACCOUNT OF MAPPERS, BOUNTY HUNTERS, A TATAR, AND THE SCIENCE OF PHRENOLOGY

Latest title (and a long one at that, right?) from BEAT to a PULP books and Court Merrigan:

Set in post-apocalyptic 1876, THE BROKEN COUNTRY tracks the scabrous exploits of the outlaws Cyrus and Galina Van. The pair kidnaps a naïve, young scion and head west in pursuit of gold, glory, and respect. Along the trail they met Atlante Ames, a mapper who euthanized her own father and now seeks her twin brother, himself gone outlaw in the ravaged West. In cold pursuit rides the implacable bounty hunter Hal, who takes scalps in the name of Jesus Christ and the science of phrenology, and the contemplative Buddhist assassin Qa'un, paying off the bloodprice he owes Hal … bounty by bloody bounty. Cyrus and Galina's hard road west comes to a head in a dynamite-tossing, six-gun-blazing shootout at the old train depot in Laramie.

A dark journey to a time when wagon trains have retreated and the Old West is haunted by bonepickers and starving tribes, THE BROKEN COUNTRY: BEING THE SCABROUS EXPLOITS OF CYRUS & GALINA VAN, HELLBENT WEST DURING THE EIGHTH YEAR OF THE HARROWS, 1876; WITH AN ACCOUNT OF MAPPERS, BOUNTY HUNTERS, A TATAR, AND THE SCIENCE OF PHRENOLOGY is unlike any other book you will read this year.

Available now to pre-order for the kindle.

Derringer!

April starts on a high note. "Yolo" by Libby Cudmore (BEAT to a PULP, May 2016) is a 2017 Derringer Finalist for Best Short Story. She's in fine company with other finalists whose work appears in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.

Congrats, Libby!

Scorched Noir

The Border … an alkaline limbo between two worlds, where desperation and violence loom like the ever-present sun.

Notes: Writing Prose in Pleasure of the Park

I’m hoping to get Notes: Writing Prose in Pleasure of the Park out in early December. Kyle was working on it just before his death in 2013, and it contains a new batch of poems with strong, and strange, imagery as well as several humorous short stories. Spending time on this project and hearing his unique voice is a wonderful, personal Christmas present.

Christmas in the Lone Star State

A lawman past his prime and a prisoner past all hope . . .

Ten days before Christmas in the harsh winter of 1876, Texas Ranger Bill Sayles arrives at the prison in Huntsville to escort prisoner Jake Eddings on a furlough to his hometown, where his ten-year-old son is being laid to rest. The Ranger and his prisoner join forces to keep Eddings' wife from harm by the murderous Litchfield brothers, and maybe grab a last shot at redemption.

Read Chapter One at the BEAT to a PULP webzine.

Ed Gorman

It does the heart good to see the love flowing in from so many corners of the internet for Ed Gorman who recently passed away. What a decent, caring human being that we were fortunate enough to know. Ed was a friend who would drop an email letting me know what he was up to and had asked on several occasions if I wanted to join this or that project. I wish I had been able to jump on board more often, but I'm grateful to have had the opportunity and privilege to anthologize a couple of his short stories. And, more importantly, be able to call him a friend. You will be missed, Ed.

Here's a story that had been republished in 2011 at the BEAT to a PULP webzine called "Stalker."

Two-Trick Pony (The Drifter Detective Book 8)

Very stoked to announce that Two-Trick Pony by Garnett Elliott is now available for both print and ebook. Here's the description and thank you, dMix, for the cover:

What happens when a Drifter stops drifting?

Two-Trick Pony features the first and last (?) cases of wandering P.I. Jack Laramie, bookending his not-so-glamorous career. In ‘The Big Bronc Hit,’ a fresh-faced young Jack travels to Amarillo, eager to earn his money on a foray into Texas horse country—until he learns the true nature of his ‘investigation.’ Rodeo clowns, a broke-down bronc-riding champ, and a mystery woman round out the cast, with a final confrontation among the rocky crags of Palo Duro Canyon.

In ‘The Vinyl Coffin,’ an older, more jaded Jack makes his next-to-last mistake when he decides to settle down in Dallas, finally opening the detective office he’s been dreaming of. But quitting a vagabond’s life doesn’t do much for the middle-aged blues, and after a nightcap at the infamous Carousel Club that leaves him face to face with an old nemesis, he finds himself helping a faded star already down the path to self-destruction. Does Jack get pulled in too, or does he rally in time to save both of them? Well, it is his ‘last’ case ...

Two Trick Pony

Make sure you are up to date on The Drifter Detective Series because #8: Two Trick Pony is fast approaching!

Blood Moon

Here's the latest book the BEAT to a PULP team has been working on:

BLOOD MOON by Eric Beetner 

The Lawyer should have heeded the ominous signs: a forest fire raging in the distance and the undertaker’s wagon carrying away two knife-stabbed bodies. But he’s a man obsessed, methodically hunting down the gang members who murdered his family, and Big Jim Kimbrough, his latest target, isn’t far from the hell-blazing inferno. In a surprise turn, Kimbrough gets the jump on The Lawyer and leaves him for dead; though fortune is in his corner when a trio of frontier women find him and nurse him back to health. It’s not long before Kimbrough learns The Lawyer is still alive. Desperate to rub out the man who’s been dogging him, the outlaw goes gunning for The Lawyer again, determined this time to finish the job.

Eric Beetner (The Year I Died Seven Times) writes the Old West with the same terse, action-packed grit as his crime fiction. BLOOD MOON is his second riveting “Lawyer” tale following the highly praised Six Guns at Sundown.

Ugly Beauty

All Those Hungry Mouths by Keith Rawson has been described as "ugly beauty" and "apocalyptic portraits."

Free ebook: Further Adventures of Cash Laramie & Gideon Miles

A free ebook for a limited time: Further Adventures of Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles.

LEVIATHAN

Here's what I've been working on with Chuck Regan: 

LEVIATHAN

An Alternate History World War II Dystopian Novella . . .

The Axis forces won World War II, and a monstrous tower rising from the ruins of Philadelphia is the heart of the Nazi-occupied United States. Norm Cromwell does what he can to survive under the restrictive regime of The New Republik of America, but he is starving, and resources are dwindling, and his paranoia is building, and agents are always watching. When a riot breaks out in line at the food distribution truck, Norm and two of his coworkers must go on the run to find Free America. Hunted by scout zeppelins, massive walking tanks, and agents of the Republik, Norm must decide what is most important to him—survival or self-sacrifice for a greater good.

This Post-Apocalyptic Dieselpunk novella was inspired by 1984, The Man in the High Castle, and Metro 2033.

Pale Mars Cover Reveal

What I've been working on with dMix and Garnett who says it best, "'Pale Mars' is the Atompunk sequel to 'Red Venus.'"

Pale Mars

I'm working on the sequel to VENUS called PALE MARS. Brilliant sci-fi from Garnett on the way very soon.