Reexamining A Clockwork Orange

BEAT to a PULP's Chad Eagleton has an in-depth essay on Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange over at The Fall Creek Review. A thought-provoking piece on the relevance of this book and, honestly, if its actually any good.

I've always liked the Stanley Kubrick movie but can remember having a difficult time, myself, finishing the novel. Chad tackles this—comparing book vs. film—plus highlights Rat Pack by Shane Stevens which is how he initially came to read the Burgess classic.

Btw some recent greatness at The Fall Creek Review includes "The Lizard's Ardent Uniform" by Chris Holm and Ron Scheer's  "My Dinner with Allen Ginsberg." TFCR sporadically updates but when they do you don't want to miss any posts. A good site to bookmark.

Any John LeCarré fans?

Where I go Back to the Beginning: Call for the Dead by John LeCarré.

Give It Away, Give It Away

I've read many thoughts about giving away books for free and there are a whole host of opinions. It seems it comes down to whether it was successful or not for that particular author. Here are a few quick thoughts on my experiences.

Both volumes of my Cash & Miles Adventures have been offered for free at different times. I began with Vol. II because Vol. I was doing well and I wanted to boost sales of the second collection. During the freebie offer, there was an unexpected increase in sales of the first volume, but that makes sense, right? If you have the second installment of a series, you probably want to know how it started. After the offer closed, Vol. II entered the Top 100 sales charts. I had several readers on Twitter thank me for the free book and mention they bought my other title.

Kinda, sorta the same for MANHUNTER'S MOUNTAIN written by Wayne D. Dundee--a Cash Laramie story with a new author taking the reins. To introduce this first novel (in what I hope will be an ongoing series), I gave it away free for a few days. A couple thousand folks downloaded the book, which helped to expand its horizons through the Amazon charts and recommendations panel "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought." Both these things brought my eBook to the attention of folks who might not otherwise see it. MOUNTAIN has re-entered the best sellers charts several times, and I feel the success goes back to that free giveaway in January.

So I'm going to try again with our latest release, BULLETS FOR A BALLOT written by Nik Morton. We'll see how it works out this time but, so far, giving away books for free has been a good move for me. What has been your experience?

Seven Books Worth Your Time

DIG TEN GRAVES by Heath Lowrance: "Heath Lowrance follows up his classic debut, THE BASTARD HAND, with a searing collection of hard-boiled, dark fiction. The blackest of noir permeates the pages of DIG TEN GRAVES and oozes into its dark alleyways, its blood stained streets and its rain soaked gutters - even the crevices on the faces of its battle scarred and booze battered protagonists." -- Paul D Brazill.

THE CHAOS WE KNOW by Keith Rawson: “The Chaos We Know is a pulp-fueled debut w/ dopers, cops, husbands and wives. boyfriends & girlfriends, psychos & sadists, sand-storming through the potholes & shithouses of Arizona, leaving barnacles of the self centered, the down trodden’ & the surviving. Keith Rawson is the new garbage-tongued satirist of filth, deviance & violence for the new underclass.” -- Frank Bill.

THE NIGHT AND THE MUSIC by Lawrence Block: Lawrence Block’s 17 Matthew Scudder novels have won the hearts of readers throughout the world—along with a bevy of awards including the Edgar, the Shamus, the Philip Marlowe (Germany), and the Maltese Falcon (Japan).
And it’s MattScudder who’s been largely reponsible for Block’s lifetime achievement awards: Grand Master (Mystery Writers of America), The Eye (Private Eye Writers of America), and the Cartier Diamond Dagger (UK Crime Writers Association).

But Scudder has starred in short fiction as well, and it’s all here, from a pair of late-70s novelettes (Out the Window and A Candle for the Bag Lady) through By the Dawn’s Early Light (Edgar) and The Merciful Angel of Death (Shamus), all the way to One Last Night at Grogan’s, a moving and elegiac story never before published. It was short fiction that kept the series alive on the several occasions when the flow of novels wass ingterrupted, and short stories that took Scudder down different paths and showed us unmapped portions of his world.

CHOKE ON YOUR LIES by Anthony Neil Smith: A new novel by the author of PSYCHOSOMATIC, YELLOW MEDICINE, and HOGDOGGIN'. Smith presents his homage to one of his favorite detectives, Nero Wolfe, but written for the "internet porn" generation.

Octavia VanderPlatts is wealthy, powerful, and "comfortable with her weight"--or to hear her say it, a "rich fat b****." Her IQ is at the genius level, and she uses it to manipulate and frighten anyone who tries to get in her way. She controls an empire built on discrimination lawsuits won against some of the nation's top companies. On top of that, Octavia doesn't care one wink what people think of her.

PULP MODERN Edited by Alec Cizak: The inaugural issue of Pulp Modern, a quarterly dedicated to crime, fantasy, and western fiction. Includes new stories by Jimmy Callaway, James Duncan, C.J. Edwards, Garnett Elliott, Melissa Embry, Edward A. Grainger, Glenn Gray, David James Keaton, John Kenyon, Chris La Tray, Yarrow Paisley, Matthew Pizzolato, Thomas Pluck, Stephen D. Rogers, Sandra Seamans, Copper Smith and a classic tale by pulp fiction pioneer Lawrence Block.

FRANK SINATRA IN A BLENDER by Matthew J. McBride: Sometimes solving a crime takes a hard guy who’s not afraid to work outside the law, and PI Nick Valentine swerves through the underbelly of St. Louis looking for answers. With every law he breaks, every drink he takes, and every Oxycontin he snorts, Valentine lurches closer to finding the truth. Or floating facedown in the Missouri River.

THE TRADITIONAL WEST (A Western Fictioneers Anthology): The classic American Western returns in this collection of brand-new stories by some of the top Western writers in the world today. Robert J. Randisi, Dusty Richards, James Reasoner, Larry D. Sweazy, L.J. Washburn, Jackson Lowry, Larry Jay Martin, Kerry Newcomb, and many other members of Western Fictioneers, the only writers’ organization devoted solely to traditional Western fiction, take readers from the dusty plains of Texas to the sweeping vistas of Montana and beyond, in the biggest original Western anthology ever published!

DeWit Is Mix of Mystical, Hard-Boiled

Claire DeWitt, self-proclaimed world's greatest detective.

My Charmer on I SO DON'T DO FAMOUS

I’m no writer and I’m certainly no reviewer but when I heard Barrie Summy’s latest book, I SO DON'T DO FAMOUS, is out, I had to give her and her work some well-deserved praise!

The first book in the series, I SO DON'T DO MYSTERIES, with its witty engaging characters and clever storyline is just as enjoyable for adults as it is for its target audience of young teens. I’m far behind in reading the others, SPOOKY and MAKEUP, but I definitely plan to makeup for lost time and read them all.

When Ava is older and has become a bookworm just like her father, I'm sure she will love reading these fun Sherry (Sherlock) Holmes Baldwin mysteries. --Denise

Harold and the Purple Crayon

Little d and I were happily bombarded with many children's books for Christmas gifts and baby showers. Gee, I wonder how everyone knows she's going to be a reader... oh yes, of course. Anyway, we we're reading Harold and the Purple Crayon and it made me think of my favorite books as a tyke which were the Curious George series by Hans Augusto Rey and Margret Rey. d's favorite was a colorfully-illustrated collection of Mother Goose nursery rhymes.

What is your pick from childhood? I'm looking for many suggestions, starting from the pre-reader stage all the way up, to continue building on the kid's section of our library.

Murder in the Air

I've finished reading MURDER IN THE AIR. Publishers Weekly says, "Few will be able to resist Crider's brand of broad humor, eccentric characters, and murder." I wholeheartedly agree. Mr. Crider delivers another thoroughly entertaining mystery in the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series. Highlight for me was Rhodes stumbling ass-backwards into a rock pit that has been converted into a pond, discovers a clue, and then unintentionally becomes involved in a little episode known as noodling. Top fun and a fine read.

A POLICEMAN'S LOT

Hicks shook his head, clearing his mind, and ran around the tent, out into the open. He stood there in the middle of the field, tents pitched all around him, and apart from the sound of the horses in the makeshift corral and the incessant hiss of the rain, all was silent.

Cody, he thought. I’ve got to get to Cody.

It was his last thought as a hand suddenly came up behind him and clamped over his mouth. He didn’t even get a chance to react before a gleaming steel blade opened his throat, sending his life gushing from him in a crimson torrent.

Inspector Frank Parade has his hands full when Buffalo Bill and 500 of his circus employees descend on the Welsh town of Pontypridd to put on Bill’s famous west extravaganza. Murders begin happening immediately and Parade suspects a member of Cody's show is a killer and possibly the trail he's pursuing is leading him to the infamous London "Ripper" murders.

I enjoy stories that feature Wild West heroes and the ones that follow them into the dawn of the 20th century are especially enticing. In A Policeman's Lot, Gary Dobbs partners up Parade and Buffalo Bill making for an enjoyable detecting duo. He does a fine job of bringing the famous Wild West showman to life and his descriptions of Pontypridd, the era, and people sparkle. I'm hoping Mr. Dobbs doesn't leave Frank Parade on the sidelines too long because I'm betting there are more adventures in him. Or, maybe Bill Cody -- there’s an idea worth exploring -- Buffalo Bill as a world-traveling crime-solver.

More reviews: Buddies in the Saddle | Book Style | Chap O'Keefe

7 Questions: Gary Dobbs

The Bottom Of Every Bottle by Robert J. Randisi

Beginning a Robert J. Randisi novel is like being shot out of a canon with rockets strapped to your ass for good measure.

Then he heard a metallic “snick” and he moved fast. He overturned the kitchen table and ducked behind it as muzzle flashes lit the room and two bullets punched through the table. In the flashes he saw the man standing in the kitchen doorway. He fired his own weapon twice and was rewarded with a grunt and the sound of a body striking the floor.

This clip from his latest offering, THE BOTTOM OF EVERY BOTTLE, is on page 2!

The “he” in the above passage is officer Jake Gilmartin, and he’s being attacked in his own home by a fellow cop. Jake is working on three cases simultaneously and assumes the attack has something to do with one of them. On the run from dirty cops trying to pin him down, he turns to his son Rob, an Army gunnery sergeant, for help. Problem is his son hates him for abandoning the family years ago.

As it turns out, Rob doesn’t have much choice though because he’s already being staked out by the bad guys who are gunning for Jake. He takes a week’s leave to rendezvous with his old man and help. Rob learns he isn’t the only one who can’t stand his father. Most of the cops he runs across openly despise his old man, and the ones who don’t seem to wind up dead. Angela, a NY cabbie Jake has befriended, comes along to lend a hand.

This book has Gatling gun action, sharp dialogue and the occasional curve ball thrown in. Fans of Randisi will find every bit of the masterful storytelling in EVERY BOTTLE they’ve come to expect from the award winning author. For any newbies, this is a perfect place to jump on the speeding locomotive. Sit back and enjoy. Highly recommended.

New Short Story Collections From The Masters

First up is Ed Gorman's THE END OF IT ALL and Other Stories.

From Ramble House:

23 short stories from the pen of the master of horror and suspense, Ed Gorman. They represent his favorite chillers from a career spanning decades. It took 426 pages to hold them all there's not a word to spare.

And then there's Robert J. Randisi's THE GUILT EDGE.



RJR says:

It's now available from Perfect Crime Books or Amazon.com. Henry Po stories, Truxton Lewis stories, Val O'Farrell stories and a few more, plus an intro from Ed Gorman. Perfect Crime Books is a small press just starting out, and I'm happy to support them with a collection, a novel (soon) and pretty soon a two volume PWA collection of Shamus winning stories from PWA.

I've already ordered my copies. What are you waiting for? And before your books arrive, here is Shut Up And Kill Me by Robert J. Randisi at BEAT to a PULP.

A Fistful of Legends

Here's the cover and back to A FISTFUL OF LEGENDS that'll feature my short story “Cash Laramie and the Masked Devil.” The publication date is set for 31 January 2010. Please click over to I.J. Parnham's site for full details.

My Take On...

Thuglit Presents Sex, Thugs, and Rock & Roll edited by Todd Robinson.

Why Get It: Joe R. Lansdale, Jason Starr, Allan Guthrie, Anthony Neil Smith, Greg Bardsley and Mike Sheeter to name a few.

Excerpt: From "The Trouble with Trolls" by Patricia Abbott

It had been a long time since either Denny or his brother harbored any illusions about their parents’ marriage, but participating in the demise of women who became inconvenient to their father was unsettling. How many women must die before the old man let his prescription for Viagra lapse? Of course, Dad didn’t knock most of them off. There had just been that Olga until now.

Bottom Line: "Trolls" and Jason Starr’s "Double Down" are particular standouts of the stories I’ve read so far, and I haven't come across a dud in the bunch. Definitely worth the dinero.

Jedidiah Ayres interview with Todd Robinson, aka Big Daddy Thug, can be found here.

Autographs and Inscriptions

I’m geeky when it comes to old book inscriptions. Hell, I’ve even written a short story (needs polishing before sending it out) called “An Old Address” about a mystery buff who confronts a murderer after reading an enigmatic scrawl. So, when my wife bought me a 1925 edition of BEST SHORT STORIES OF THE WORLD (edited by Konrad Bercovici) for my birthday, I’m naturally intrigued by the vague message that reads "Easter Eve afternoon 1938. With bigger and better hopes of resolutions to come! -Fritz." Easter Eve afternoon? Exclamation point? Fritz? Not as mysterious as my tale which leads to the book purchaser's unfortunate fate, but like I acknowledge, I’m curious and left wondering. (And yes, I smell books too.)

I made an undeniably cool discovery a couple of weeks ago. I’ve had Last of the Breed by Louis L’Amour on a shelf at my folks house since the eighties. I believe my dad brought the book home from the days he worked at Ithaca College and it has sat in a mostly pristine condition ever since. Well, several months ago I read my first L’Amour, Flint, and now, while back at my mom's during some time off, I figured I would break open Breed to give it a look. To my surprise, I have an original signed edition. Twenty years ago it didn’t mean much to me but now it will have a prime position on my bookshelf and be revered evermore.

Anyone else have an old book that yielded prized booty?

No Blood, No Foul by Bill Raetz

BTAP will be featuring the first chapter of Bill Raetz’s No Blood, No Foul the last week of February, just ahead of the book's March 1 debut.

Here’s the trailer:

Longarm

When I was in Texas, I purchased Longarm and the Pine Box Payoff at Waldenbooks. I was looking forward to reading it, knowing that it was written by James Reasoner (under the pen name Tabor Evans like all Longarm novels), and I wasn’t disappointed… the story was skillfully told and a joy to read. It encouraged me to look for more, and recently when I was at a used bookstore, I found a stash of old Longarm paperbacks (along with a bunch of Luke Short, Jon Sharpe, Max Brand, etc). I bought ten books for about fifty cents apiece and so far I’ve read two others that I would recommend with The Pine Box Payoff…

Longarm in the Indian Nation (1979) is the fifth in the series and I’m assuming written by Lou Cameron who helped create the character, and, according to Wikipedia, wrote a number of the early books in the series. The back cover of my dog eared copy reads: "One Nation, Under Greed… It was bank robbery and murder that brought Longarm to the wild-spirited borders of Oklahoma, Land of the Redman-and anyone after a quick, illegal fortune… It was cattle-rustling that kept him there. Gold-grubbing Indian agents. Gunslingers. And a beautiful bounty hunter, with a sharpshooter’s eyes-and away of flashing them at the least convenient times."

Longarm and the Dragon Hunters (1980) is #26 (unsure who wrote this): "What Kind Of Buried Treasure Could Drive Men To Murder? At Dragon Bluff, rival archaeologists warred for a cache of priceless dinosaur fossils… angry Arapahoes rose up to protect their land andits riches… and hired guns were primed and ready, for sale to the highest bidder. Longarm rides into the 'Great Dinosaur War' to put an end to the violence -and enjoy the favors of a fiery teamster who claimed to be more woman than any man could handle!"

And here’s the blurb from the aforementioned Longarm and the Pine Box Payoff, which is #352 in the series: "Coffin Up The Dough. Some dame with expensive tastes and many names hasn’t left any tracks, but she has left a pattern. Seems she shacks up with rich hombres, then takes off with lotsa loot-and it’s up to Longarm to find her. But when he catches up with the mysterious lady, Longarm hears her side of the story. And when a scuffle with a posse leaves men dead, he finds himself owing her his life. But a treacherous uncle -an undertaker- ain’t happy, and he hopes Longarm and his woman wind up as his next clients…"

The Watchman by Robert Crais

Robert Crais is probably best known for his Elvis Cole series, and up to now, I hadn't read any of his novels. I just corrected that mistake by reading The Watchman featuring Cole's "sociopathic sidekick," Joe Pike.

Pike, owing a favor, agrees to protect a young ‘Paris Hilton’ type heiress, who is a witness in a federal investigation. Quicker than you can say Jason Bourne, they are on the run with Pike killing five assassins in the first day alone. Pike justifiably suspects a leak but who? He calls on his buddy, Elvis Cole, to do a little background investigation and begins to unravel the mystery.

A few years back, I read Without Remorse which featured the laconic Mr. Clark, who was a secondary character in Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series. It turned out to be my favorite book of the group. Of course, if Pike or Clark were continually used, it would ruin their enigmatic appeal. Even so, I'm sure I will read the next Robert Crais offering no matter who the protagonist is, because, as The New York Times said, this is a "taut, muscular... testosterone-fueled thriller." In other words: it rocks.

A special thanks to Darlene Ryan and the ladies at Poe's Deadly Daughters for sending me a copy of the book.