We're in between issues right now at Hardluck, and I thought I'd put together a 12-story sampler from Hardluck's archives to show new readers some of the goodies lurking there. Enjoy.
Punk by Ken Bruen
Beauty by Ed Gorman
"One Step Closer" by Iain Rowan
What's in a Name? by Robert Wm. Wagner
I'm No Killer by Allan Guthrie
Evil Forces by Gary Lovisi
A Handful of Dust by Harry Shannon
Keely Sings The Blues by Sarah Weinman
No Hablo Ingles by Manuel Ramos
Lost in the Water by Trey Barker
Coyote's Ballard by Mike MacLean
Church Social by Pearce Hansen
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
Hardluck turns the spotlight on Five Star
Here's the general announcement for the Summer issue of Hardluck Stories that John Helfers and I came up with:
"Hardluck Stories announces a call for stories for its upcoming Five Star Publishing edition:
Hardluck Stories, the noir fiction e-zine edited by Dave Zeltserman, is announcing a call for story submissions for a future edition that will celebrate the Five Star Mystery line. Edited by Dave and guest editor John Helfers, who oversees the Mystery Fiction line for Tekno Books, and packager of the Five Star Mystery line, this special edition of Hardluck stories will be open to any Five Star author who wishes to submit, whether they've published in the Mystery, SF/Fantasy, or Expressions lines.
Of course, stories must be noir, the darker the better, and the overarching theme of the edition will be Crime in the City. Stories should be no more than 5,000 words long, are due by July 1, 2007, and should be sent to dz@hardluckstories.com. Authors of the chosen stories will be notified by e-mail. For more information on Hardluck Stories, please visit the website at http://www.hardluckstories.com"
So why a Hardluck Five Star issue? For a lot of reasons, really. One is I have a book coming out with them July 18th. But that's only a small part of it. Without the support of people like Ed Gorman (who created the Five Star Mystery Line), Michael Black, Harry Shannon and Trey Barker, Hardluck wouldn't be what it is today. All of them have of them have been guest editors (in Michael's case, twice), all of them have been contributers, and they all helped shaped Hardluck's vision. There have been other links between Hardluck and Five Star--Jeremiah Healy, who gave Hardluck a much needed boost in the early days by guest editing a special issue of Hardluck, had one of his standalone books published by Five Star and gave me the privilege of publishing one of his stories in the Western Noir issue, as did Bill Crider, who's been a great friend of Hardluck, and also has a standalone coming out through Five Star. Other Five Star authors who've been published on Hardluck include Julie Hyzy and Dave Case. Anyway, Five Star is putting out some terrific crime fiction by some amazingly talented writers, and they deserve any attention Hardluck could provide it. Plus, I'll end up publishing a terrific collection of noir stories in the process. Can't beat that.
"Hardluck Stories announces a call for stories for its upcoming Five Star Publishing edition:
Hardluck Stories, the noir fiction e-zine edited by Dave Zeltserman, is announcing a call for story submissions for a future edition that will celebrate the Five Star Mystery line. Edited by Dave and guest editor John Helfers, who oversees the Mystery Fiction line for Tekno Books, and packager of the Five Star Mystery line, this special edition of Hardluck stories will be open to any Five Star author who wishes to submit, whether they've published in the Mystery, SF/Fantasy, or Expressions lines.
Of course, stories must be noir, the darker the better, and the overarching theme of the edition will be Crime in the City. Stories should be no more than 5,000 words long, are due by July 1, 2007, and should be sent to dz@hardluckstories.com. Authors of the chosen stories will be notified by e-mail. For more information on Hardluck Stories, please visit the website at http://www.hardluckstories.com"
So why a Hardluck Five Star issue? For a lot of reasons, really. One is I have a book coming out with them July 18th. But that's only a small part of it. Without the support of people like Ed Gorman (who created the Five Star Mystery Line), Michael Black, Harry Shannon and Trey Barker, Hardluck wouldn't be what it is today. All of them have of them have been guest editors (in Michael's case, twice), all of them have been contributers, and they all helped shaped Hardluck's vision. There have been other links between Hardluck and Five Star--Jeremiah Healy, who gave Hardluck a much needed boost in the early days by guest editing a special issue of Hardluck, had one of his standalone books published by Five Star and gave me the privilege of publishing one of his stories in the Western Noir issue, as did Bill Crider, who's been a great friend of Hardluck, and also has a standalone coming out through Five Star. Other Five Star authors who've been published on Hardluck include Julie Hyzy and Dave Case. Anyway, Five Star is putting out some terrific crime fiction by some amazingly talented writers, and they deserve any attention Hardluck could provide it. Plus, I'll end up publishing a terrific collection of noir stories in the process. Can't beat that.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Bad and Beautiful
Bad as in the first word of the title for my upcoming novel Bad Thoughts, Beautiful as in the stunning cover my publisher settled on*. So far I've been lucky--both the Point Blank and Meridiano Zero covers for my first novel, Fast Lane, have been works of art. Now just waiting to see what Serpent's Tail comes up with for Small Crimes.
*the photo for the cover was taken by a good friend and an amazingly talented artist, Laurie Pzena.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Monday, March 12, 2007
Cast of Small Crimes, part 5
Clara Coakley, Phil Coakley's daughter. In this drawing, Jean-Pierre was experimenting with a more "Leonard Cohen" look for Joe Denton.Friday, March 9, 2007
250-word Flash Fiction
I originally posted this on the unfortunately now defunct Flashing in the Gutters. At less than 250 words I think it works well as a fully-realized story. One of these days I might look at rewriting this as a 60,000 word novel.
Danny Smith by Dave Zeltserman
I can’t get Danny Smith off my mind…
He was a good-looking kid. Well-mannered, soft-spoken, just an overall good kid. Only twenty-four years old. Six months ago he hired me to find his birth parents. You see, he was adopted, had great parents, but he wanted to know his roots. There was something familiar looking about him, made me think I had seen him before. The reason for that was his birth dad turned out to be Sam Lombardo, top guy in the Boston Mob. It didn’t take me too long to find that out. It turns out Lombardo had a one-night fling with a dancer, never knew he had this other son. When I told him about Danny, he told me what he would do to me if this kid ever bothered him.
That was six months ago.
Two weeks ago I heard Lombardo was on his death bed, dying of congestive heart failure, and word was he was going down fast. His goons brought me to to see him. Lombardo wanted to know about Danny. I thought he just wanted to make peace with his son before he died.
A week ago Danny’s parents called me. They were frantic. Danny had disappeared. They had no idea where he was.
Three days ago I heard through the grapevine that Lombardo had found a heart donor. A good match, too. Transplant looks like its going to be a success.
I can’t get Danny Smith off my mind…
Danny Smith by Dave Zeltserman
I can’t get Danny Smith off my mind…
He was a good-looking kid. Well-mannered, soft-spoken, just an overall good kid. Only twenty-four years old. Six months ago he hired me to find his birth parents. You see, he was adopted, had great parents, but he wanted to know his roots. There was something familiar looking about him, made me think I had seen him before. The reason for that was his birth dad turned out to be Sam Lombardo, top guy in the Boston Mob. It didn’t take me too long to find that out. It turns out Lombardo had a one-night fling with a dancer, never knew he had this other son. When I told him about Danny, he told me what he would do to me if this kid ever bothered him.
That was six months ago.
Two weeks ago I heard Lombardo was on his death bed, dying of congestive heart failure, and word was he was going down fast. His goons brought me to to see him. Lombardo wanted to know about Danny. I thought he just wanted to make peace with his son before he died.
A week ago Danny’s parents called me. They were frantic. Danny had disappeared. They had no idea where he was.
Three days ago I heard through the grapevine that Lombardo had found a heart donor. A good match, too. Transplant looks like its going to be a success.
I can’t get Danny Smith off my mind…
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Cast of Small Crimes, part 4
Toni, a stripper with not quite a heart of gold. For the movie version, think Eva Langoria.Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Femme Fatales on Hardluck Stories
The Femme Fatale issue of Hardluck Stories is now online. Guest edited by O'Neil De Noux, with original noirish femme fatale stories by Michael Bracken, Trey Barker, Pearce Hanson, Stephen D. Rogers, George Wilhite, John J. Wilson, Patricia Abbott, Matt Spencer, Garnett Elliot, T. P. Keating, Rafe McGregor, Mary Elizabeth Merrem Shaw and Terry White, and illustrated by Jean-Pierre Jacquet, this is one collection of Hardluck Stories you don't want to miss!
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Cast of Small Crimes, part 3
Manny Vassey, a 56 year-old local mobster who's dying of stomach cancer, and if the DA is able to coax a death-bed confession out of him, Joe and a lot other people are going away to prison.
Manny has long been a been one of my favorite bad guys, appearing in three earlier short stories: Next Time (Hardboiled #22), Triple Cross, and Nothing But Jerks. Here I've turned him into more of a flesh and blood character, taken him out of Chicago and moved him to fictional Bradley, Vermont.
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