All Categories - A.B.PATTERSON

"Harry's Grail" is here!!!

9/10/2025

It's always an incredibly special day for an author when the boxes of your new book arrive. And today, in Sydney, they did. Yes, Harry Kenmare PI is back, in superb style and as debauched as always! So, the official launch event will be on the postponed date of Sunday 16 November 2025 at the Glebe Hotel (the Emerald Bar for Harry!). With the printing issue and the uncertainty that flowed from that, it wasn't feasible to proceed with the original launch date, as I never thought the books would arrive in time. Unexpectedly they have, but not in time to allow for publicity and advance notice for people's diaries. I'll post again in the next few days with the booking link for those who want to come along and celebrate with a drink and lots of author talk! In the meantime, those in Australia who want a signed paperback, drop me a line to arrange.
Cheers,
ABP

Publication Day!!! "Harry's Grail" is here!

23/9/2025

Yes, the wait is over and Harry's Grail is officially available today.
In Australia, the ebook is on Kindle and Kobo already, with other platforms to follow.
Kindle is also live for the UK and Canada, with the US version about to come online. Also the print-on-demand paperbacks are available from Amazon, especially useful for my overseas fans. These are available on Amazon AU, Amazon US and Amazon CA, with Amazon UK still coming. Other platforms to follow, as well.
The print run for the original paperbacks here in Aus is underway and they will be with me in two weeks. Then the official book launch event here in Sydney on 19 October 2025!
So, local fans can get a signed copy from me as soon as they arrive, or there's Amazon if you can't wait!
HARRY IS BACK!!!
Cheers,
ABP

Book Review - "A Dangerous Man" by J. L. Engel

21/9/2025

This superb and powerful novel is utterly relentless in its brutal and thrilling action from start to finish: one of those reads that literally has your adrenalin pumping.  I loved every moment reading it and was again stunned by the quality of storytelling by an indie author who I hadn’t read before.
Mr Engel confronts the reality of organized crime and police-cum-government corruption without fear or restraint, and I know from my own experience he does so in a way that would make the Establishment squirm with severe discomfort: they can’t handle the truth, to borrow a great line.
This is a classic tale of vengeance, with our protagonist, Ghost, having lost everyone he loved and cared about.  And he is a consummate expert in the arts of violence and killing.  Not that you’re going to feel sorry for anyone he deals with and dispatches from this world, because they all deserve their fates.  There’s a deeply visceral enjoyment as the reader as you witness the scum being eradicated, and the scenes are not for the faint-hearted.  But, damn, they are so well written.
Being ex-law enforcement myself, I thoroughly enjoyed, albeit with a twinge of bitter experience, the depiction of decent cops versus corrupt cops.  Mr Engel has that subject nailed to a fine point, and his ability to paint the harsh ethical realities is one of the highlights of his writing.  He also vividly depicts the nature of power, predators and prey in human society.  This is a tale with suffering and tragedy underpinning everything and the blunt reality of this is starkly presented.
Aside from master storytelling, Mr Engel can sure as hell draw memorable characters as well.  I was on team empathy with the main man, Ghost, from the start, and then with his reluctant detective sidekick, McCrary.  The Russian mob boss, and his son, are perfectly drawn as the ruthless, narcissistic monsters they are, and so typical of organized crime.  But the real treat in terms of unforgettable characterization were the psychopathic twin contract killers.  As despicable and horrifying as they were, the brilliance of their depiction left me with a fascination for them, although one that required a bottle of sanitizer afterwards.
Mr Engel, you are a hell of writer and you epitomize the value of indie writing that transcends the routine and bland offerings of mainstream publishing these days.  I look forward to a lot more of your fine work.

Cheers,
ABP

"Harry's Grail" - so close I can smell it!!!

18/9/2025

Hell Yes!!! Just to tease my fans with an update - Harry's Grail has been typeset and I've given approval for production.
It'll be available as an ebook first, then digital print-on-demand. That should be in the next few days. The original paperbacks will be a little longer. I'll keep you posted.
This is the exciting phase of being an author!
Cheers,
ABP

The wait for the third Harry novel is almost over!

1/8/2025

Finally, Harry's Grail is imminent. The third novel in the series is jam-packed with action, on all fronts!
It will be published in October 2025 with the official book launch on Sunday 19 October.
More details to come, but I thought I'd tease you all with the cover!
Cheers,
ABP

Authors Uncensored: “In celebration of indie fiction authors”.

21/6/2025

“In celebration of indie fiction authors”

It was in this month ten years ago, June 2015, that I published my first novel, Harry’s World. It had taken me the preceding five years to write it, doing so as my second job. Now, ten years on, I am still writing for my passion, and, alas, still doing another job, the one that pays the bills. So, the writing is much slower than I’d like, but my passion for it is as strong as ever.
Since 2015, I’ve published the second Harry novel, a set of Harry short stories, had several short stories published in American anthology magazines, edited and published two anthology collections, and had a novella published by an indie publishing house, Uncle B Publications, in the United States. And the third Harry novel is in final editing stages right now. It will see the light of day before the end of the year.

In these last ten years, I have got to know the indie writing scene and many of the fine authors operating in that world.
Of the nine fiction books I’ve read so far in 2025, all nine of them are by indie authors. Last year, about 70% of my fiction reads were indies. The year before it was about 50%. This trend has an easy explanation: the sheer quality of the storytelling and the uncensored bliss of the writing.

There are three realms within the fiction publishing world.
The first is the “publishing Establishment” as I call it: the traditional (trad) publishing houses, dominated by the Big Five and joined by smaller publishers. These more minor players may like to call themselves independent, but they are still mainstream, following the conventional dogma of carefully curated and moderated output.
Then there are the true independent (indie) publishing houses, invariably tiny outfits run by a handful of dedicated, often unpaid, authors and editors. And they are often niche publishers catering to a certain genre. Many of them, however, are true champions of freedom of expression and uncensored writing.
The final realm is that of self-published authors. Also categorized as indie publishing, this outlet is the most libertarian in terms of editorial control. Consequently, in this realm you’ll also find some glorious raw and honest writing, as well as some of questionable quality. But it is the ultimate democracy in the publishing world.
I sit in both of the indie camps, having self-published my work and also been published by indie publishers.

For me, one of the main problems with mainstream trad publishing is how “correct” (read “woke”) it has become. And correct becomes vanilla and, frankly, boring. Sure, there are exceptions, but wokeness is slowly castrating the field. Stories are churned out to formulae and edited to the nth degree to ensure that no one is possibly offended or upset or disturbed. Or challenged to think!
Now, trad publishers will defend their curation (see “censorship”, in my language) of the writing world on the grounds that they are the expert arbiters of literature and that their output is what sells. They are in it to make money, after all. But this is a self-serving argument, as what sells is what they offer for sale. And so, we go around in a circle, a circle of gatekeeping, control, and corporate profits. It’s not about the art of literature anymore, unless your “art” happens to fit the approved mould. Yes, book buyers are buying the vanilla mediocrity, because that’s what’s made available to them in the mainstream bookshops. And reviewed in the mainstream media. And so on. And as for trad publishing houses being the only arbiters of good writing, that is just pretentious arrogance.
I read a lot, and I don’t want vanilla: I despise mediocrity. I want multi-flavoured, with nuts and choc sprinkles, covered in potent liqueur, with a smouldering Cuban sitting in the neighbouring ashtray, a bottle of red, and some Irish whiskey to round it out. I want my reading material to make me think, make me feel, leave a seared image in my brain, make me laugh, gag, cry, whatever. I want to get to the end of a book thinking that was so damned good, I need to read everything by this author.
And that’s what the indie authors I’ve been discovering have, on the whole, given me: the beautiful, rich, memorable reading experience.

And this is why I am starting a new blog series called “Authors Uncensored”. I will be bringing you two to three indie authors a month with commentary on their work and insights from them into their writing and their storytelling. You will get to meet some fascinating human beings and get the opportunity to explore new authors and uncensored writing. Stay tuned!

Long live indie authors and freedom of expression!

Cheers, ABP

ANZAC DAY 2025 - Lest We Forget

25/4/2025

On this day, ANZAC Day, when we as Australians and New Zealanders commemorate our veterans, it is so important to remember that their sacrifice, in blood and suffering, is what we owe our freedom to. For those who returned from the front lines of conflict, the suffering often endured a lifetime for them, as it does for veterans to this day.
The freedom they defended is the vital freedom that so many now take for granted and do not appreciate, but it is the freedom that enables us to live our lives, enjoy our rights, and bathe in freedom of speech and ideas. The same freedom that many would take from us, both adversaries outside our country and self-interested control-centred people and groups within our country.

My own tribute is to dedicate a blog, as I have done in recent years, to both my grandfathers, who fought for the Australian Army in the World Wars, defending those freedoms.

My paternal grandfather was Gordon Reginald Patterson and he went to the Western Front in 1917. He turned 18 six days before he enlisted. Private Patterson then joined the Australian Army Infantry in the trenches in northern France and Belgium for all the horrors that entailed. He came back to Australia in 1919. He died when my father was only 6 years old. His photo is below (at left), and I can see my father in his face.

My maternal grandfather was George Harwood Smith and he went to the second World War in 1941, as a 39 year old (although his enlistment paper say he was 31, so perhaps he faked his age). He served with the Australian Army Motor Transport in Indonesia. When the Allied forces in Java surrendered to the Japanese in 1942, Private Smith went into the infamous Japanese POW camp at Changi in Singapore, where he remained a prisoner until the end of the war. I have finally found photos of him from 1941, one of which is below (at right).

I can't begin to even imagine the horrors both my grandfathers endured. But I can be forever grateful for what we now enjoy, thanks to the sacrifice of them and millions of other Allied service personnel.

Rest in peace, my grandfathers, and thank you for your service and your sacrifice. I wish I could thank you both in person. Lest we forget.

Cheers,
ABP

Gordon Reginald Patterson

George Harwood Smith

Book Review - "A Good Rush of Blood" by Matt Phillips

14/4/2025

I could easily rename this novel A Delicious Deluge of Noir, since it hits every high note of the genre. Or should that be low note, given the tone? As I got into the gripping storyline, and it is flawless storytelling, I was captured by both the atmosphere evoked by Mr Phillips’s biting prose and the wonderfully drawn characters. I’ll certainly never again casually think of Palm Springs as some cookie-cutter retirement village, that’s for sure! The main protagonist, Creeley, is a female toughened by her background, richly detailed and woven in, and by the environs she inhabits. She’s every bit as flawed and troubled as a memorable noir protagonist should be. And you really want to back her from the get-go. However, survival is never a given for this lady, as she mixes it with a cast of dissolute and depraved characters, including a perfectly portrayed corrupt cop, a staple of the genre. The odds are so not in Creeley’s favour. You’ll just have to read this to see how it pans out for her. This was my first taste of long-form fiction from Mr Phillips and I loved it. I will be back for more. Superb noir writing!
Cheers, ABP

Book Review - "I Cum in Peace" by Brian G. Berry

23/3/2025

This novella was simply so much fun! One look at the title and you know it’s going to be. It’s classic pulp writing expertly blending a glorious mishmash of sci-fi, horror, and crime. The action rolls fast and non-stop, and there’s plenty of lascivious sex, always good to read. The alien has a libido bigger than Texas, and the title announces the lusty intentions. No spoilers, but there’s a very dark side to this randy alien. Fun, fun, fun! Exactly what good pulp should be. And one gets the distinct feel that Berry had a whole lot of fun writing it. This was my first taste of Berry’s work and based on my sheer enjoyment I’ve bought a couple more. We need more tributes to great pulp like this. And this is another superb example of the raw and honest writing that indie authors produce, free from the censorship of trad-publishing houses. Love your work, Mr Berry.
Cheers, ABP

Book Review - "Death Cult" by Janelle Schiecke

23/3/2025

With my recent forays into horror writing courtesy of meeting some great indie authors online, I happened upon this novella by Ms Schiecke. It’s well written, well plotted, and boiling with action. For a novella, its cast of characters is impressive, with truly all sorts in the mix. Schiecke does an excellent job at evoking one of those middle of nowhere backwaters with its collection of strange freakish people, to put it mildly. The townsfolk are ominous enough, but soon we meet the titular death cult. Then the horror truly starts. And into the fray come our unsuspecting naïve protagonists, the proverbial lambs. And the torrents of blood start. Schiecke’s tight, descriptive prose is uncensored indie writing at its best, and it had me seeing the scenes clearly in my mind, as if watching the screen. I’ll be seeking out more of her work. Thank you, Ms Schiecke, you have added no end to my new-found enjoyment in reading horror.
Cheers, ABP

Book Review - "A Hot Dose of Hell" by Steve Stark

16/3/2025

My first reaction when I finished Mr Stark’s stunning debut novel was that I needed a 6-star rating option, ’cos 5 simply ain’t enough!  Alas, 5 stars it will have to be.
I truly love the indie author scene – it’s a gift that keeps giving as one discovers more and more superb writing, with wonderful and talented authors delivering honest and freely expressed stories, away from the woke and censorious editors at the major publishing houses.
Horror is not my normal reading genre, although of late my forays into the indie author scene have brought me a wider range of reading, and that is a great thing.
I can’t give enough praise to this book.  It’s a hell of a storyline with non-stop action.  In the climactic scene, I was almost as out of breath as the protagonists, although thankfully I wasn’t fighting off drug-addled zombies.  Stark’s descriptive abilities on the page are outstanding, be it characters, action, or places.  The rundown British seaside town, Scarmouth, is perfectly drawn, reminding me of a couple I have seen over the years.  If you enjoy some gore and violence, this novel takes them to a whole new level.  At the same time, there’s no shortage of rich characterisation, and Stark’s obvious compassion for those people who have ended up trodden into the gutter by life is a warm and human aspect to the story.  Many of the characters we can feel something for, as flawed as they are, and there are some despicable ones, too.  Then there are the touches of Establishment and/or corporate manipulation of society, compounding everyone’s misery.  A novel for our times, indeed.  And as if that’s not enough to feed our reading hunger, then there’s the satirical humour.  Stark’s utter demolition of the virtue-signalling, woke, bourgeois middle-class is simply divine to read and laugh out loud at times.  No spoilers, but boy, do they get what they deserve!  There were humorous moments when I was reminded of Tom Sharpe, one of the greatest British comedic authors and a favourite of mine when it comes to satire.  And at risk of this putting me in a depraved light (wouldn’t be the first time!), the scene with one of Scarmouth’s monster seagulls being beaten by one of the main henchmen had me splitting my sides with laughter.
This book is an amazing achievement and, given it’s Stark’s first novel, I can only salivate at what’s to come.  Bravo, Mr Stark, and please keep writing, because, as for the end of any great performance, the crowd is on its feet shouting ENCORE!
Cheers, ABP

Book Review - "Namaste Mart Confidential" by Andrew Miller

10/3/2025

Namaste Mart Confidential

Andrew Miller

I’ve previously savoured several shorter pieces of Andrew Miller’s fiction, so I was eager to get hold of his debut novel, knowing what he was capable of on the page.
And Namaste Mart Confidential surpassed expectations.  This is damned fine writing.
The cover blurb calls it a “wild ride” and that is no understatement.  Miller has a wonderfully fertile imagination and we end up with this fantastically fun cast of characters, from the two protagonists, Adam and Richie, who moonlight as unlicenced PIs from their jobs at the Mart, to gangsters, cops, celebrities and their shallow sycophants, religious freaks, and a missing lingerie shop girl.  Some of the cast are likeable, some are certainly not, but all are believable and the interplays between them are finely crafted.
It's got the solid storyline of a good mystery, but it’s so much more.  At times it feels like a classic farce, with wonderful humour, but also truly biting satire of modern L.A. society, and not just L.A. for that matter.  Miller’s satirical skewering of the cult of celebrity and of the religious cults, to name two of the main targets, is simply delicious to read.
Namaste Mart Confidential will make a superb black comedy on the screen, and that day can’t come fast enough.  Meantime, take a read of this riotous romp.  Thank you, Mr Miller, and bring on your next gem.

Cheers, ABP

Book Review - "Lost Causes" by Richard Nichols

9/3/2025

I love a good international thriller, having grown up devouring Ian Fleming and Frederick Forsyth, amongst others. Well, now I can add Richard Nichols to the top of that glorious list. I loved this debut novel. For me, it has it all to make it an awesome spy thriller.
Our main man, John Buchan (love the tip of the hat, there!), is an excellently crafted character, with his backstory and motivations established by interspersed flashbacks. We end up with a protagonist who is human, believable, and one we can get right behind. He’s an utterly no-nonsense action man, and the bad guys can lay awake at night in fear, at least until it’s time to die! In keeping with the very best of the spy thriller genre, Nichols lays out a superb plot with intrigue and twists, and there is action pumping relentlessly from start to finish. We have the international locations, we have the guns and the hardware, and we have the smouldering hot femme fatale – all boxes ticked. Nichols delivers the tough male hero, à la Fleming, and he demonstrates the careful research, à la Forsyth. What he gives us on top, and refreshingly so in amongst the mediocrity of much modern genre fiction, is a main character who openly and unapologetically both laments the loss of more honest and more satisfying times and lambasts the wimps and woke brigades who have become the scourge of our modern world. John Buchan’s clear nostalgia for the pre-woke age, those golden days, resonates for many of us. Bravo, Mr Nichols, and please, please, please give us more!
Cheers, ABP

Book Review - "Muscle" by John Davies

24/2/2025

Muscle
John Davies

This novella was an absolute blast!  I loved it.  As you’d expect for a short novella, the storyline is not complex, but you can revel in the characters and the descriptions in this narrative.  It’s an unashamed action escapade and is raw and brutal in its depiction of violence.  As well as the great yarn, in a deft display of social commentary Davies starkly evokes both the gratuitous violence indulged in by some toxic men alongside the survival-justified violence resorted to by other men.
I was drawn to the main character immediately, a hard man used to surviving with his fists, a necessary skill in his world.  But his struggles with his emotions and his relationship add a very different dimension, and I reckon Davies has delved into the male psyche with insight and compassion.  And he’s done so with honesty.  He won’t be winning any fans in the prissy, woke brigades, but I’m taking an educated guess that he won’t lose sleep over that.  There are plenty of us who want to read books with balls, and Davies delivers.  No spoilers from me, ever, but I did not see the end coming.
I think this is his debut offering and what a hell of a start.  As one hopes for with indie authors, Davies gives us a truly authentic voice with a no-holds barred approach with his tight, sharp prose.  I will be waiting for more.  Take a bow, Mr Davies!
Cheers, ABP

Book Review - "Dark Bloom" by Molly Macabre

24/2/2025

Dark Bloom
Molly Macabre

I do like the occasional post-apocalyptic yarn in amongst my more usual reading fare, although this was my first foray into that sub-genre which included zombies.  Macabre’s book came highly recommended from other indie authors I know, so I grabbed myself a copy.  And I was delighted that I took the leap.
In keeping with the best of the post-apocalyptic stories, Macabre does a great job at painting a picture of human nature reduced to its basest desires, selfish desperation being the driving force in most cases.
Her two main characters, coming together through brutal circumstances early in the tale, are well-drawn with loads of insight into their back stories, replete with abuse and loss, and the emotions and motivations that drive them forward.  These are two seriously damaged souls whose previous experiences, ironically, make them better able to survive the ravaged world they are left in.  I found myself drawn to both of them, barracking for them as the story moved along.
This is Macabre’s debut novel and, in my opinion, she is off to a solid start.  Another worthy new addition to the ranks of indie authors.  Well done, Ms Macabre.  I’ll be back for more from you.  Even if there are zombies! LOL.
Cheers, ABP