It's Easter weekend, gang, and what this weekend means for yours truly, is that my overall writing/reading time will be severely curtailed due to family obligations and visiting relatives. (My mom drove in from California yesterday and will be spending the week and my brother and his family will be here soon.) Not that I won't be writing, I'll just be pulling the hour here, an hour there routine, and chances are I won't be doing much in the way of blogging.
But I figured I'd stop in to old Bloody Knucks and raise a glass or two to some friends who's little bastard short story children are raising Hell all over the Internet.
First up is Frank Bill.
Yeah, Frank's been all over the place for the past year or so, and this week has been particularly kind to the man. First up, to start the week off, Frank made his second appearance in Pulp Pusher and then the guy gets himself the first ever double issue of Beat to a Pulp (The link's not live yet folks, the "Double Bill" of Frank Bill won't be going live until Sunday, but make sure to check out the other cool stories already posted there.) and last but not least, the brother went ahead and started himself a blog. Frank's little piece of the Internet pie is called Frank Bill's House of Internet Grit and looks like it's going to be pretty damned entertaining.
Alright, next up, I'm sure you noticed last week, but if you didn't, the thirtieth issue of Thuglit went live and as usual the zine is its usual super special self, but what else makes the issue extra special like a short bus of psychotics singing ring-around-the rosy is Screenwriter/short story writer/media blogger extraordinaire Jedidiah Ayres
makes his second appearance in Thuglit with his story 1998 was a bad year. It's the only story in the issue I've had a chance to take a gander at yet, but the issue looks pretty solid overall.
Also, as you know, me and Old Bloody Knucks are pretty big fans of A Twist of Noir
e-zine, largely because Christopher publishes some of the best Noir/Crime stories on the web right now. (Plus he's just a pretty all around nice guy.) But I tend to get really excited when Twist puts up stories by Homies like my man Chad Eagleton.
Me and Chad appeared in the debut issue of Bad Things. His stories are always entertaining as Hell, so give it a gander when you get the chance.
Alright, two more things and then I'm gone.
First: Geoff Eighinger, editor of Crooked e-zine and Eastern Standard Crime is a huge wrestling fan, and the man also writes a wrestling fantasy league blog called ACE
and the man turned me and Paul Brazil into a tag team called the Wise Guys. Check out the Carnage of April Showers HERE
And, Aldo "the Mystery Dawg" has created a new URL for Darkest before the Dawn
the new site looks awesome so make sure to check it out!
And it wouldn't be a proper blog post without pushing my own stuff.
Recently over at Patrick Shawn Bagley's blog, a fierce debate was held on the overall value of flash fiction
Now I'm not going to restart the debate, but what our little discussion did was get me thinking about flash fiction and about stretching the overall boundaries of the sub-genre. So, most likely starting this Easter Sunday, I'll start my little experiment based off of THIS story.
Anyway, gang, cheers and all that happy shit.
Breathless after that! Lots of goof stuff there. Jed & Chad's stories are top stuff and dig into the other stuff after(or during!) the Easter. booze up!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the mention Keith. One small change is that we have Jake Hinkson's "Maker's and Coke" this week and then The Frank Bill Double Bill next.
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter.
Happy Easter.
ReplyDeleteI've arrived too late to the party, to comment on Shawn's blog and everyone else has pretty much forth the same arguments that I would have. Yet let me say this, flash gives a voice that might have not ever had one and just like the pulps of yesteryear, more good than bad will come of it.
If we never had magazines like Black Mask, how would you have a Hammett? And if you didn't have a Hammett, a certain frustrated poet named Raymond Chandler might not have discovered his voice.
People forget just how much of the pulp era was complete and utter dreck. I bought an old pulp magazine just for a Cornell Woolrich story and it had exactly two good stories. To call the rest "filler" would a compliment to the marmosets that they used to run across the typewriters for that. Though as with that era, the cream will eventually rise to the top.
Thanks for the kind words sir
ReplyDeleteDavid-I love giving BTAP the shout out, the site has been featuring some of the best writing on the net. Each week has been an exciting and worthwhile read.
ReplyDeleteJed-You're welcome, Sir.
Cormac-Don't get me started again! But I'll agree with your point. All of the flash sites provide a valuable proving ground for young writers.
Brazil--I'm coming at you with a steel chair, brother! Rawson-mania is going to run wild on you!
Man, thanks for the kind words. Been busy with the yard. A short story and a novel. Elaine wrote me back and told me it'd be another week before the double Bill hit. Keep slobbering ......
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the kind words. Now I wonder if I'm doing something wrong after reading all the comments on Shawn's blog concerning Flash Fiction. Maybe I show close down the site and do something different? But then again, the number of submissions are up and the quality is getting better....
ReplyDeleteAldo--You're doing nothing wrong. And after participating in the discussion, I started to re-think flash fiction and the boundaries of it and what can be done with it as an art form. My overall feeling is that flash serves a purpose and so does PowderBurn Flash. Keep doing what you're doing, Sir.
ReplyDeleteHey, great to have a source for what's going on. Are you on crimespot? You should be.
ReplyDeletePatti--No, not yet, but I've been thinking about it a lot lately, but I know how to go about doing it. And thanks for the compliment Patti
ReplyDelete