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Great set of noir short stories from Preston Lang - "This One Is Trouble"

30/10/2017

I'm a big fan of Preston Lang's work, as per my previous review of his novel The Blind Rooster, as well as a couple of shorts I'd read in anthologies (see Switchblade magazine).

His collection of short stories in this set is a solid demonstration of his snappy story telling and excellent prose, as well as a great range of colourful characters, great femmes fatales, and gritty violence. And his range of tales shows great imagination.

I've recently acquired another two of Mr Lang's novels, so will be diving into one of them shortly.

Oh, and I do just live the cover image! Speaks volumes.
If you love hard-boiled and noir as much as I do, then I seriously recommend Preston Lang's work.

And in very recent news, I've just appeared along with Mr Lang in the Special Edition of Switchblade magazine! Something sort of cool about having your first short story published along with another writer you really admire. And there are a gang of other great writers in there, too.

Cheers,
ABP

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A great hard-boiled crime read - "A Cougar's Kiss", by Frank De Blase

30/10/2017

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I just loved this one by Frank De Blase, my first.
I saw an interview with De Blase in Crimespree Magazine and liked the sound of his attitude to writing, and in particular to femmes fatales. The great cover art says it all!
So I thought I'd get online and buy one for a try: I always love trying out authors new to me.

And I was not disappointed, not one iota. This novel is dripping with femmes of the fatale variety, and just oozing style. The characters are great and the storyline keeps you gripped, but it is the style that predominates. I love my hard-boiled and noir, and this was so right up my alley. I've ordered another of De Blase's - can't wait for it to arrive.

Love your work, Frank!
If you love that old style of hard-boiled, then I can't recommend De Blase highly enough.

Cheers,
ABP
P.S. The next one has arrived!

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CORRUPTION TALES! Issue # 1 - Introduction.

29/10/2017

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CORRUPTION...
...One of my 7 themes as a writer.

Yes, sadly it's a pervasive aspect of human nature. Almost all of my professional life has been on the front line with corruption, whether it be investigating it or witnessing it.
And when I use the term "corruption", I'm using it in its traditional sense: using one's position and/or power to gain a personal benefit, or bestow a benefit on someone else.
I'm not interested in the technically-defined types of corruption, whether it be "noble cause" misconduct (breaking the rules to get the right result), or police getting half price hamburgers, or administrative paperwork being "massaged" to comply with unrealistic or inflexible rules. I remember well this last type: as detectives, we often had to work overtime without getting paid for it, as there was insufficient budget, but we still insisted on locking up crooks. Old-fashioned, I know! So every now and then, if Friday afternoon was looking empty, the boss would tell us to go for lunch at the pub and not bother coming back. In other words, the afternoon off in lieu of all the unpaid overtime. Of course, our duty journals needed to reflect that we worked our shift until 4 p.m. And so they did. These days, times having changed, those technically inaccurate journal times would be regarded as "police corruption". Meanwhile, you should see all the real shit that goes on...
I'm going to be doing a series of blogs detailing some of the stellar examples of corruption I've seen over the years. I won't be naming anyone, so don't expect any scoops. But, in line with my fiction writing serving to showcase what goes on in our society, these blogs are going to relate true tales of corruption, again to share with you some of what really goes on behind those respectable façades.
One of the most interesting aspects of this for me is that our society still hangs on to the image of corruption as being the bags of cash changing hands - my blog image attests to this! And, sure, bribery is still huge business. But so much of corruption in government and its agencies actually relates to corrupt decision-making, whether it be to cover up scandals, appoint favoured mates to jobs, or to keep political masters happy.
And given all the years I worked as a detective, you might thing my best examples would come from what I saw going on in the squads. No, is the short answer. I saw a few things over the years I wasn't very impressed with, but on the whole I found most of my fellow detectives to be honest. Short-cuts and administrative paperwork issues aside, those men and women did their work for their community, and not to serve their own greed and self-interest.
No, and this may be surprising, the most endemically corrupt organisational culture I have ever come across was that at the NSW Department of Community Services, where I was unfortunate enough to spend 12 months of my working life. And it certainly wasn't your bribery style of corruption. Rather, it was the routine covering up of matters and the falsification of paperwork to perpetuate the lies. Anyway, my next blog will dish up the details of that lovely organisation.
Stay tuned.
Cheers,
ABP

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BIG NEWS - 1st Harry short story published in the US - "Switchblade" magazine Special Edition!

18/10/2017

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I am pumped this morning here in Sydney! The day has started with Switchblade magazine publishing its first ever Special Edition, and it contains my first ever short story.

This is more of my PI Harry Kenmare, but written in the first person, so a different approach. I'd often wondered about writing in the first person (Chandler, Macdonald, and many other hard-boiled crime writers do it), so I thought a short story was the ideal way to experiment. My Harry novels will stay in the third person, just because I find the multiple points of view give a lot of flexibility with the characters. But I think you'll love my foray into the short story world. And I'm working on more.

This short story is titled "Little Rich Street Girl". It's only available in Switchblade, so you'll need to grab a copy on Amazon:
www.amazon.com/dp/0998765031/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1508276249&sr=1-4&keywords=switchblade+issue

But I'll give you a taster with the opening lines:

"Coagulating semen clung to the lock of grubby blonde hair dangling down her cheek. Obviously not all of a previous load had gone down her throat. I guessed she wasn’t concerned about the finer points of her appearance."

Not only am I thrilled to be published in Switchblade, but I'm equally thrilled by the company I find myself in. I've read some of these authors before, and they produce some seriously good hard-boiled and noir crime writing. If you like my stuff, then you'll find plenty more to enjoy with this fine group of crime writers:

Eric Beetner - Preston Lang - Charles Roland - JL Boekestein - Morgan Boyd - JD Graves - Rick Risemberg - Michael Loniewski - Calvin Demmer - Ehren Baker - Scotch Rutherford

Grab yourself a copy! Seriously, you'll enjoy!

Cheers,
ABP

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COPS WRITING CRIME - The Squad is still growing!

5/10/2017

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The ongoing project to discover cops or ex-cops who have taken to writing crime fiction - The Squad as I've named us!

Today, I've added another 2 new members to the permanent index for The Squad on my website. Both the new members are from the US - Isabella Maldonado and Michael O'Keefe.

The Squad now numbers 40 in total:

21 American, 10 British, 6 Australian, 1 French, 1 Canadian, and 1 Bahamian.

I'll keep adding more as I come across them, and if you know of any others please feel free to drop me a line.
Check out The Squad: Also: Cops Writing Crime

And please remember, my list is only for CRIME FICTION - not all the true crime and memoir writing by cops and ex-cops that's out there.

Cheers,
ABP

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COPS WRITING CRIME - 3 more members for The Squad!

4/10/2017

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The ongoing project to discover cops or ex-cops who have taken to writing crime fiction - The Squad as I've named us!

Today, I've added another 3 new members to the permanent index for The Squad on my website. The 3 new members are all from the US - Frank Zafiro, Laurie Lynn Drummond, and Robin Burcell.

The Squad now numbers 38 in total:

19 American, 10 British, 6 Australian, 1 French, 1 Canadian, and 1 Bahamian.

I'll keep adding more as I come across them, and if you know of any others please feel free to drop me a line.
Check out The Squad: Also: Cops Writing Crime

And please remember, my list is only for CRIME FICTION - not all the true crime and memoir writing by cops and ex-cops that's out there.

Cheers,
ABP

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Great set of noir short stories from Preston Lang - "This One Is Trouble"

A great hard-boiled crime read - "A Cougar's Kiss", by Frank De Blase

CORRUPTION TALES! Issue # 1 - Introduction.

BIG NEWS - 1st Harry short story published in the US - "Switchblade" magazine Special Edition!

COPS WRITING CRIME - The Squad is still growing!

COPS WRITING CRIME - 3 more members for The Squad!

A.B.Patterson

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