Two Very Different Short Story Collections

Unlucky Seven is noir crime fiction, while More Julius Katz and Archie is made up of fun + amusing mysteries featuring a brilliant private detective and his erstwhile assistant. One thing they both have in common (other than I wrote them!) is that they received starred reviews in PublishersWeekly this year, with PW saying of Unlucky Seven: "The seven short stories in this impressive collection from Zeltserman combine sharp-edged prose with grim twists.", and of More Julius Katz and Archie: "The puzzles are clever, and Zeltserman plays fair with readers. Stout devotees will be delighted with this loving homage." So anyone looking for short mystery or crime fiction, I've got you covered!

 

PW starred review for More Julius Katz and Archie

 

From Publishers Weekly starred review of my short story collection More Julius Katz and Archie: The puzzles are clever, and Zeltserman plays fair with readers. Stout devotees will be delighted with this loving homage. 

Starred Review for Unlucky Seven

 

The seven short stories in this impressive collection from Zeltserman (21 Tales) combine sharp-edged prose with grim twists -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

You can read the entire review here. Click here to purchase the book.

Hard-boiled or Noir?

 

Hard-boiled or noir, or both? 

Given this definition of hard-boiled from Encyclopedia Britannica: Hard-boiled fiction, a tough, unsentimental style of American crime writing that brought a new tone of earthy realism or naturalism to the field of detective fiction. Hard-boiled fiction used graphic sex and violence, vivid but often sordid urban backgrounds, and fast-paced, slangy dialogue.

And this definition of noir fiction from Wikipedia: Noir fiction (or roman noir) is a subgenre of crime fiction. In this subgenre, right and wrong are not clearly defined, while the protagonists are seriously and often tragically flawed.

I'd say it fits squarely in both. But I'll let the reader decide.

Looking for reviewers

 

I've some review copies to give out for my hardboiled noirish crime novella: formats Kindle, PDF, or EPUB. It's 16,000 words (an hour and a half reading time), and if you ask for it by sending me a message through this blog with your email and format I'm going to expect a short review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. If I don't get one, I'll be sending Lance after you! Trust me, you don't want Lance coming after you, which you'll know all about once you read the novella!

A new hardboiled novella

 

Trey Barker, a good guy and a good writer, helped me out a lot when I was running my Hardluck Stories webzine, so when Trey asked if I'd write a novella for the Guns + Tacos series he edits with Michael Bracken, I wasn't going to turn him down. The inspiration for my entry was Paul Cain's Fast One, and it's ultra-hardboiled, action-packed, and fast-paced. I hope folks check it out.

Now 25 Tales!

 

The cover hasn't changed, and neither has the title, but I've updated the kindle version of 21 Tales, adding 4 recently written and previously unpublished stories. 20 of the 21 stories in the original publication were crime stories, these new stories are either sci-fi or speculative fiction and are in the Weird section. 

The new stories:

Baseball during the Hundred-Year Pandemic: introduces a solution for playing baseball games in empty ballparks during a longstanding pandemic.

Killing Time until the Next Eon: a vision of what might exist after the world ends.

The Nightly Show at the Zan Chinese Theatre: would you spend $25 grand on a ticket for an extraordinary, life-altering theatre experience? What if you knew one theatregoer dies during each show?

An Examination and Analysis of the Brain Sapper Problem: This story is a matter-of-fact examination of the brain sapper problem, until it becomes something entirely different.

To celebrate this edition, I've put 21 Tales on sale for $0.99 for the next two days, which makes the cost each story less than $0.04! What a bargain!!

A new collection of Julius Katz stories!

More Julius Katz and Archie continues with eight additional stories!

Julius Katz and the Case of Exploding Wine
Julius Katz and the Giftwrapped Murder
Archie on Loan
Cramer in Trouble
Julius Katz and the Terminated Agent
Archie for Hire
Julius Katz and the Belvedere Club
Like a Lightning Bolt

Paperback and kindle editions are available now!

Noir collection free for next two days

 

I've made UNLUCKY SEVEN free on Amazon for the net two day. Grab a copy now!

From Unlucky Seven

 

In my story Something's Not Right, the following letter which my protagonist writer can't let go drives the story:

After your earlier letter I was expecting at the least a diverting read, and not the excruciatingly hackneyed and clichéd disaster that you sent me. Your inane plot plodded along at a pace that made me want to drive sharpened spikes through my eyes, your characters barely qualified as cardboard cutouts, and your dialog was what I’d expect from a failing eighth grade creative writing student. The only thing that kept me reading your ‘masterpiece’ to the bitter end was my fascination over how shockingly bad it is.

I know you must be disappointed that I cannot offer even a single word of encouragement, but I can offer advice. Please, for the love of God, never put pen to paper again unless it is to compose a suicide note. Even that, I’m afraid, would end up as an unreadable mess.

Best of luck in your future career as a busboy or other such endeavor which I’m sure you’ll be eminently qualified for.

I invite other writers to share their worst rejection letters.