Book review: 12 Gauge – Dustin LaValley

  12 Gauge is a collection of three very different novellas from Dustin LaValley. Novella 1 was my favourite of the three; It ticked all the boxes for this reader. The other two were damn entertaining, particularly The Deceived, which came a close second. Let’s get stuck into what I thought… Spinner starts out as…

Book review: The Sea Was A Fair Master – Calvin Demmer

  Calvin Demmer’s debut collection features 23 stories in which the author leaves no stone unturned. Demmer runs the gamut of genre fiction and in doing so gives us a varied, often stunning journey through his imagination. Flash fiction is something that either works for you or it doesn’t. Unlike a recent drabble anthology I…

Book review: Manifest Recall – Alan Baxter

  The noir elements that were such a strong feature of Alan’s last book, Hidden City, remain prevalent in Manifest Recall. Published by Grey Matter Press, Manifest Recall is an uppercut of a novella that is sure to loosen a few teeth. I’m a big fan of Alan’s work and the novella is my favourite format to read….

It Happened in a Flash by Calvin Demmer

It Happened in a Flash By Calvin Demmer   When I started to submit my fiction to different markets, I was focused on the short story length, anything between 2,000 to 5,000 words to be more precise. I didn’t even really know what flash fiction was at that stage. I’d read the term on some…

Talking publishing and Stephen King with Max and Lori.

  It’s been a while since I last talked to Max and Lori, owners of the fabulous Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing. Since we last spoke, many books they have published, and as is often the case with PMMP variety is the spice of life. I caught up with them both recently to find out how…

Book review: Wrestle Maniacs – Anthology

I loved wrestling in the 80s and 90s. I loved the greats of that era, superstars like The Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, Legion of Doom. These guys were wrestlers with HUGE personalities that coincided with their obvious skill inside the ring. But how will a wrestling-inspired anthology work? Pretty damn good as…

Book review: A Particular Darkness – Robert E. Dunn

  Hurricane Katrina Williams is back in A Particular Darkness, the second novel that follows on soon after the excellent A Living Grave. Dunn’s first Katrina Williams novel was a book that sat a little outside of my comfort zone, though I was still willing to give it a go purely because I’ve enjoyed Robert’s…

Book review: Skull Meat – Tom Leins

I picked up this novelette after hearing good things about it from a crime fiction reviewer I respect. I don’t read a lot of crime/noir but at a little over 40 pages, Skull Meat wasn’t to be a huge investment in my time. I’m sure glad I did pick it up. I had little intention…

Book review: A Lesson in Violence (She Rides Shotgun) – Jordan Harper

Jordan Harper’s novel seems to have been through numerous name changes for whatever reason? Anyway, it isn’t really important, all you need to know is that this is one of my favourite books of the year and I can’t recommend it enough. The plot for the novel isn’t anything particularly new. A con gets released…

Book review: The Thief – Fuminori Nakamura

Much has been written of the talents of Fuminori Nakamura. This is my first read and I now count myself amongst his fans. The book’s title sort of gives away what the story is about…yep, it’s about a thief, a pickpocket actually, one roaming the streets of Tokyo delicately sliding his fingers into the clothes…