Free For All: Guns, Pulp, & Celebrations

At BEAT to a PULP this week are three poems from Kyle J. Knapp's Celebrations in the Ossuary and Other Poems. Take a look and then follow the Amazon link to grab your own Kindle eBook for free in celebration of what would have been his twenty-fourth birthday today. Along with Ossuary, BEAT to a PULP: Round Two and The Guns of Vedauwoo featuring Cash Laramie are included in the Labor Day $0.00 holiday special.

Altered Plans

Saturday’s plan was simple: mail out copies of ROUND TWO to contributors, finish proofing a collection of my crime stories, and publish the next BTAP story on the webzine.

Reality: Staples had in stock only half of the padded mailers I needed, so fifteen out of thirty books were sent out, leaving more to do this week. Then, the Internet was working sporadically which meant the other items on the list were getting done in bits and pieces.

And to top it off, while taking an afternoon break watching GHOST PROTOCOL with the family, I discovered a bump on the top of my head that was kinda crusty. Dandruff? Not a stranger to that but when something popped and puss ran down my forehead, I jumped up and had Little d take a look. At first, it seemed like a pimple but when examined under the light, it looked more like a rash a good half dollar in size.

Off to the doctor—an old, country sawbones at that—who said it was too soon to tell. Could be a rash, could be an infection. It was in a spot difficult to diagnose so early, and because it had popped open, he suggested I should wait twenty-four hours to see what happens. “This is the same treatment I would give to my brother if he was sitting across the table from me and asked my opinion.” That didn’t make me feel any better, but I smiled kindly.

I left the office thinking about the time I slammed my head into the corner of a cabinet door in the camper a couple of weeks before. Was it that? An infection? Or it does resemble shingles—I had the chickenpox as a kid, so it could be that. Though shingles usually happens to men and women over fifty.

And now here I am. My Sunday is shot for the most part as I sit here and wait to go back to the doctor. Ava wants to go to the pool and Little d will take her. I’m going to read the Vin of Venus novella that Garnett Elliott sent to me. With fingers crossed for a simple infection and not shingles.

How’s your day/weekend going?

BEAT to a PULP: ROUND TWO Is Out!

Smoke 'em if you got 'em, then set your jaw and steel your stance, 'cause BEAT to a PULP: Round Two is here! It's all meat, no filler in this red-raw-and-oozing collection of twenty-nine tales of pure pulp action. You'll find aliens, gangsters, drifters, mountain men, private dicks, gun molls, loners, misfits, drunks, thugs, booze-hounds, and more, all brawling in the pages of Round Two. And that's just for starters.

Seething with left-hooks, uppercuts, kidney shots, and gut-punches aplenty, this powerhouse compilation doles out the genres, from hardboiled crime, western, and noir to sci-fi, fantasy, literary, horror, and more.

Round Two covers all-new ground with offerings from a gang of tried-and-true heavyweights and inspired up-and-comers, all savvy purveyors of pulp at the top of their game. Haymakers include a Hemingway pastiche by famed mystery author Bill Pronzini, a stunning Chandler homage by Hard Case Crime kingpin Charles Ardai, a post-war tale with a twist from James Reasoner, a zombie-horror nightmare by Bill Crider, and even more blows to the temple from such hotshots as Glenn Gray, Patricia Abbott, Chris F. Holm, Vicki Hendricks, Sean Chercover, the legendary Vin Packer, and more, more, more!

Feel up to it? Then climb back in the ring. No lines, no waiting if you order your copy of BEAT to a PULP: Round Two NOW through CreateSpace and Amazon. Kindle eBook to follow shortly.

The Proof is in the Box

Have you ever had that sensation of extreme exhilaration? The kind that doesn't go away for days? That's how I feel when a proof of a new book arrives in the mail. Seeing that book, picking it up and leafing through it for the first time--I imagine it's comparable to my daughter's pride in completing a task on her very own and her joy in seeing the cat and squealing "m-ow" for the umpteenth time.

Anyway, here's the arrival of BEAT to a PULP: ROUND TWO proof. Over the next few days, we'll be going through it one last time.