Aftermath by Jake Hinkson

I read Jake Hinkson's "Maker's and Coke" in Beat to a Pulp: Round One last year and it blew me away.

I'll say the same thing about "Aftermath," which is up at The Flash Fiction Offensive.

This is a seriously powerful story about a witness to a robbery gone wrong. One of the golden rules of writing is that the main character can't sit around -- he or she must do something, they must affect the outcome in some way. Hinkson violates this rule with great purpose. It's central to the story that his character does not respond to the situation around him.

Hinkson's novel Hell on Church Street is published by New Pulp Press, and I'm going to go buy it.

13 Shots of Noir by Paul D. Brazill

Paul D. Brazill's got his bartending license and he's serving up 13 Shots of Noir. 

So man up and gulp down that poison!

The first story in here is "The Tut" and it's my favorite. This badboy was nominated for a Spinetingler Award. Sometimes awards mean nothing, but certainly not in this case. This is one mean motherfucker. Tight in all the right places, bizarrely funny, and more than a little unbalanced. It's about a man who kills his wife... but that's no escaping her. You'll be hearing that dead woman "tut" well into eternity.

Along with Kieran Shea, Brazill is a leading practitioner of the all-dialog story. "Thump" is a one-sided dialog that somehow works beautifully. Suspenseful and creepy and brilliant.

13 Shots is dose after dose of the top-shelf stuff. Stories about the losers and the weirdos. True Brit Grit.

Only question is, when's PDB's novel coming out?

New Reviews!

You know it's a good day when you get not one, but two stellar reviews.

Thanks R Thomas Brown and Julie Morrigan for checking out Watch You Drown and telling the world about it.

Show No Mercy by Julie Morrigan

Julie Morrigan's debut short story collection Gone Bad made waves in the world of short fiction, landing on many a year-end short list. Her latest, Show No Mercy, is an equally compelling read, full of the lewd, dark, and swear-filled stuff we've come to expect from Morrigan.

My favorite in here is "The Birthday Present." I saw this once somewhere else (not sure where...) but it certainly was worth a second read. A pathetic, middle-aged bloke has decided to treat himself on his birthday--he wants to lose his virginity to a gorgeous, elegant escort. Things don't quite go like how he imagined, and, in the end, his delusions get the better of him. A darkly funny and well-told tale.

"Be Anything You Want to Be," one of the flash pieces in the mix, is another stand out. Nothing brings out bitterness like family--especially when those arseholes make a bunch of money and don't share it.

Julia Madeleine has called Morrigan the "Queen of British noir," and I would agree. Every entry in Show No Mercy is pure story. Check it out at Amazon and Amazon UK.

At All Due Respect: Court Merrigan

Court Merrigan is up at All Due Respect with "Two Brothers," a haunting tale about Thailand and loyalty. I found out about Merrigan's writing last year and since then he's made a splash in the online crime fiction world.

You can find out more about him at his blog.

The Stain Carrier by Sophie Littlefield

Over at Beat to a Pulp, Sophie Littlefield has a searing story of suburban noir with "The Stain Carrier." 

Nancy Jackson's chosen to go off her meds and on a path of restrained destruction--futile attempts to rid her friends of their psychological and physical prisons. The whole piece radiates desperation.

And the writing is simply brilliant. Detailed, lyrical, and stylish, everything rolls off the tongue. Makes me very jealous.

This is the first of Littlefield's stories that I've read. It won't be the last.

You People Suck

A while ago, a bunch of morons complained about a perfectly good story by Graham Smith over at Thrillers, Killers, 'n Chillers. They were all offended or something and TKnC removed the story because of the complaints.

Now these annoying pricks (or people exactly like them) are back and they're all up in arms over a story by Richard Godwin.

I fail to understand how people can get angry about a story available for free that it is at a site with a warning and is called Thrillers, Killers, 'n fucking Chillers... but that's just me.

This is a brilliant story, but even if it wasn't, TKnC should be able to publish whatever they want. The internet is the home for the kind of boundary-pushing fiction not available in commercial markets.

So if you want to keep deviant fiction alive (and I think most everyone who reads DBK does), go and lend your support to Godwin and TKnC.

AND go buy his new collection of stories from Pulp Metal Fiction about everyone's favorite culinary serial killer, The Mustard Man.

What They're Saying...

WATCH YOU DROWN

For obvious reasons, no one should believe me when I say I've got a book you should invest your time in. But you should trust these fine folks...


"Watch You Drown is a dark, realistic and funny collection of tarnished gems from a very talented craftsman. Highly recommended." -- Paul Brazill


"It's a really poweful mix you'll find here and I hope that your prepared to jump into its icy waters (for dark and chilled they mainly are) - I guarantee that you'll be woken up with a start and that you'll be diving straight back for more." -- Nigel Bird


"Chris is a master at the art of suspense and his stories are chock full of it like a warm fully loaded semi-automatic." -- Julia Madeleine


"The tortured people he writes about are earning minimum wage at best and their crime are driven by drugs. booze, desperation and the like. They feature people on the edge of the precipice who fall off more than hang on." -- Patti Abbott


"Watch You Drown is more than a collection of short stories, it’s a gateway to a world of pulp fiction that Rhatigan rules." -- Katherine Tomlinson

At The Slaughterhouse...

Hey folks,

You should swing by The Slaughterhouse, where I'm talking with Richard Godwin's small time criminals, short stories, and the future.

Sincerely,
Chris Rhatigan

At All Due Respect

Allerton Mead's got the first fortnight of February with "All My Dirty Clothes," a vivid story about a few young punks who are in way over their heads.

Letters from the Egg Carton by Rebecca Bohn

In Letters from the Egg Carton, Rebecca Bohn (better known to the noir community as RS Bohn) has crafted compelling micro fiction that demands multiple readings.

I use the term micro fiction loosely -- this collection leans more toward prose poems. These condensed bursts don't so much tell stories as suggest stories. Every piece invites the reader to create their own interpretation -- to continue the story where she left off, or imagine another route the story could have taken. (Hence the multiple readings thing.)

Bohn also possesses a keen ear for the music of words, which she uses to great effect in both tragedy and comedy. It's this quality that makes Letters from the Egg Carton a joy to read -- she is a true virtuoso with language.

I highly recommend this compact, thoroughly original, and delightfully absurd collection of Bohn's work.

Twofer and ShortStory365

That splendid chap Nigel Bird is offering a twofer on Pulp Ink and my new collection of noir tales, Watch You Drown.

I'm throwing down too: Buy Watch You Drown and get a free copy of Bird's gut-wrenching work of Brit Grit, Smoke. Just email me at chris_dot_rhatigan at gmail.com.

On an unrelated note, I've been posting at ShortStory365. This is a cool site -- the goal is to read a short story and post about it every day for the whole year. The challenge is open to one and all. 

My latest there is on CJ Edwards' "Framed," over at TFFO. 

Watch You Drown

It's here folks. 

My short collection published by Pulp Metal Fiction. 

Exclamation point. Exclamation point. Exclamation point.

Stories about desperate people doing desperate things.

Some stuff you've never seen before, some stuff with the stamp of approval of top pubs like Shotgun Honey, Beat to a Pulp, A Twist of Noir, Yellow Mama, and Dirty Noir.

And awesome cover art from the paintbrush of Jason Michel. 

Only 99 cents at Amazon, Smashwords and Amazon UK. 

The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology

The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology (ed. by Ron Earl Phillips, Thomas Pluck, and Fiona Johnson) contains 30 stories about children who have been neglected, abused, or otherwise marginalized. The collection itself lives up to its cover--these are powerful, often shocking, stories.

Here are a few that stuck out to me...

"Probably, Right?" by Lynn Beighley is a very fine piece of very short fiction. It's about a witness who reasons away responsibility and avoids an uncomfortable truth. Beighley possesses a strong, confident voice and, in a tight space, creates a memorable narrator.

"One Night" by Roberto C. Garcia is a particularly crushing piece about a neglected child. This is a straight family drama rendered in excruciating detail.

"Keisha" by Susan Gibb is the kind of story that--as someone going into teaching--makes me tremble. Even hard-working, well-meaning teachers can only do so much. This piece exudes a quiet, real sense of desperation.

"On and On" by JF Juzwik. Like AJ Hayes once said, JF Juzwik is like a submarine--even when you don't see her, you can't forget about her. (Apologies to AJ if I messed up his quote!) This is a smart, acidic, wrenching tale about a little girl in a seemingly hopeless situation.

Benoit Lelievre has an excellent entry as well with "Under the Gaze of Saturn," a story that weaves in tough economic times with the lost children theme in a non-linear narrative.

As usual, I can't get around to all the stories I dug in here, but the bottom line is that the money goes to a good cause and you get a great read. Check it out at Amazon and Amazon UK.

Dead Money by Ray Banks

Dead Money is about Alan Slater, a failing door-to-door salesman whose screwing around behind his wife's back. The novel opens with Slater at a casino with his "friend," hot-headed, high-stakes gambler and all-around asshole Les Beale. Beale is in the habit of convincing Slater to hang around with him as a sort of moral support/check on his explosive temper.

The one night Slater bows out from these festivities he gets a frantic, 2 a.m. call from Beale. Out of some sense of loyalty (or not?), Slater gets out of bed and helps Beale dispose of a dead body. Poorly.

From here, he enters a world of shit.

This book has everything I want. It's fast-paced, sweary, overflowing with black humor, and fatalistic to the core. At the start, Slater appears to be a regular guy, but the more desperate he gets, the more awful he acts.

And as things get more fucked, Slater becomes more like the guy he hates -- he becomes more like Beale. Banks handles this with remarkable care and it feels genuine.

If this is the kind of stuff Blasted Heath is putting out, sign me up.