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"Switchblade" magazine - PI Harry Kenmare is back for more!

21/12/2017

I absolutely love reading Switchblade every quarter - a great collection of hard-boiled and noir crime writing from around the world. I've "met" many authors whose work is fantastic, and I've been able to start reading some of their books.
My PI Harry Kenmare had his inaugural short story outing in Issue 3 (Special Edition) of Switchblade. It was also Harry in the first person, for a change.
Well, thrilled to announce that Harry is coming back in Switchblade Issue 4. Yes, Harry is up to all sorts of filthy mischief (of course!) in the short story, "White Powder, Black Leather, Grey Badges".
Issue 4 is due out in January, so make sure you hop over to Amazon and grab yourself the finest anthology of hard-boiled and noir you'll find anywhere! The offering comes in Kindle and paperback.
The line-up of suspects is in the image at left.
And the previous issues are still out there waiting to impress you.
Cheers,
ABP

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"Switchblade" Issue # 3 - hard-boiled, noir, and addictive!

13/12/2017

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I am absolutely loving Switchblade! Issue 3 is, once again, a beautifully hard and dark offering from the Switchblade house, and its editor, Scotch Rutherford.

Following my review of the Special Edition of Switchblade Issue 3, my copy of the normal Issue 3 arrived. There was a fair bit of commonality between the two versions of Issue 3, so I’ve included my earlier comments below for the pieces I read in the Special.
However, the pieces I hadn’t read before were a real treat. I was especially impressed with Robert Smith’s “Duke’s Birthday Bash” – the description of a certain class of Englishman was so on the money, and it was a great story. Going to go looking for more of Smith’s work, for sure. For the flash fiction extra, Joe Ricker’s “Baggage” managed a very dark look at some sad lives in just 3 pages – great work. And there was another poem, “Switchblade: A Screwdriver for the Skin”, this one by Zakariah Johnson. Whilst poetry and noir don’t seem like a match, this verse does it, and viscerally so – I even got a bit squeamish. But then I’m terrified of bloody needles, so a superb, poetic description of a blade doing its nasty work is guaranteed to set my skin on edge.

From my earlier review of the Special Edition...
I really, really enjoyed all the pieces in the collection. Personally, I prefer short stories over flash fiction, I think because there's more story development by definition, but everything here was very good indeed. The short story set opens with Preston Lang, already a firm favourite of mine, and he delighted darkly as always with "Press It Down". Nice twist as usual, loved it. "Crawdaddy" by J.D. Graves is noir at its best with great characters, bent cops, and twisted tragedy all round! And for more twisted mayhem with outstanding female sexual predators, Calvin Demmer's "The Lioness Must Hunt" is femmes fatales taken to a new level - I don't want to meet those ladies, ever! There were also great short stories from Charles Roland, Eric Beetner, Ehren Baker, and Morgan Boyd.
Then the flash fiction rounded it out, with pieces from J.L. Boekestein, Richard Risemberg and Michael Loniewski.

Yep, as we are coming to expect, if you love noir and hard-boiled, then Switchblade delivers, both barrels at once!
Great work again, Mr Rutherford! BRAVO!

And I've got some more authors to get hold of novels from!
Cheers,
ABP

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Calling all Francophiles - "French Collection" by Vanessa Couchman.

13/12/2017

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Regular visitors to my posts and my website will know that I am an unashamed Francophile. And from time to time, my reading choices reflect that – can’t read hard-boiled and noir crime all the time!

Well, what a delicious delight Vanessa Couchman’s collection of short stories turned out to be. Quite a bit of my Francophile reading has been autobiographical tracts about living in France – and some truly great reading.
But Couchman’s French Collection is a wonderful little assortment of short fiction pieces – magnificent in their crossing over time periods and their capture of so much that is French. As my regular readers know, I don’t do spoilers. But here are a couple of lines of Couchman’s that jumped out at me.
The first, about a little place near Cahors in the south-west of France at the outbreak of the First World War:
“The August heat crushed the soundless village, stripped of men.”
So succinct, so powerful, so evocative.
And then here’s this one about a small town shop:
“...a place where the women span and embroidered their gossip.”
For me, Couchman captures so much of France, both contemporary and historical. And her use of language is an utter pleasure to read.
I was originally intending to make this my read on the commute to work for a few days. I started Monday morning on the train, continued Monday afternoon on the way home, and then kept the bedside light on Monday night until I had finished the collection.
Bravo, Vanessa.
My friends, if you are a Francophile like me, this is a MUST read. I absolutely loved it!

Cheers,
ABP

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"Harry's Quest" - A major step closer: the manuscript is complete!

6/12/2017

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A massive milestone yesterday - I completed the last scene for Harry's Quest, so that is a completed manuscript! Yeah!!!
Of course, there's a truckful of editing to be done, but, personally, I always find that first draft onto paper to be the single hardest part of the creative process. So that part is done.
You can look forward to another five seedy episodes in Harry's life, along with Tanya and Sasha, and Trev. The episodes:
1. "Harry's Trains"
2. "Harry's Western"
3. "Harry's Fat Cats"
4. "Harry's Jihadis"
5. "Harry's Karma"
Heaps of crime and corruption for Harry and his entourage to trawl through. And, of course, liberal servings of sex!
All things going well, I'm expecting to have Harry's Quest available in February/March.
Now where's my editing pen?

Here's the back cover blurb for a taste of what's to come...

"PI Harry Kenmare is back, with a visceral lust for vengeance.
Sydney’s elite and powerful are awash in corruption, like rats sunning themselves in an open sewer. And so, in these sordid episodes, Harry’s business is as busy as ever.
All the better, then, to finance Harry’s quest: the hunting down of the paedophiles who raped and murdered his little Orla. No qualms, no limits, no rules – just pure bloody revenge.
And now he has a team. Join Harry, with his gritty charm and vices, the loyal and dependable Trev, and those smart temptress twins, Tanya and Sasha, as they pursue Harry’s quarry, and deal with demons of their own.
Hold on tight for another hard-boiled, noir, and very sexy ride!"

Cheers,
ABP

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Ah, Night Jessamine, you sweet, alluring temptress!

5/12/2017

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'Tis the season!
The season when that wondrous Queen of the Night, the Night Jessamine, begins to flower and conquer the evening and night air with its incomparable scent.
Yes, my Night Jessamine shrub on my balcony has started its first flowering of the summer and it is truly a scent to behold. I make sure I go out there every evening, without fail, to enjoy its perfume before I head to bed.
I took this photo this evening, not that I'm short on photos of my Night Jessamine bush.
Last summer, we enjoyed two flowerings, so here's hoping for the same again.
Seriously, if you've never smelt this plant, you need to put it on your bucket list.
If only I could put it in a bottle...
So, of course, my main man, PI Harry Kenmare, just loves it! He does have a sensitive side, you know.
Cheers,
ABP

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"Switchblade" magazine - PI Harry Kenmare is back for more!

"Switchblade" Issue # 3 - hard-boiled, noir, and addictive!

Calling all Francophiles - "French Collection" by Vanessa Couchman.

"Harry's Quest" - A major step closer: the manuscript is complete!

Ah, Night Jessamine, you sweet, alluring temptress!

A.B.Patterson

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