Keith Rawson Interviews The Author Who Brings The Pain

I have been lackadaisical about blogging as of late, but here is tidbit to make up for that via Keith Rawson.



He interviewed Duane Swierczynski and survived!


At least I think he did. Come to think of it, someone else could be posting as Keith, and Brother Raw might have met his demise a couple of months...naw, that all sounds too Ludlum.

Anyway, meet the man who brings the pain in every sense of the word. We're talking the author whose writing is so hard-boiled, that he makes Spillane and Hemingway look like a pair of weak sisters, Duane Swierczynski.

Nigel P. Bird's Interviews

Over at Sea Minor, Nigel P. Bird came up with a unique idea. Why not let people interview themselves and he would post it?

He has already put up some fine ones with Keith Rawson and The Drowning Machine's Naomi Johnson. Not to mention that ones with Jedidiah Ayers and Megan Abbot are forthcoming. Today, he is one with writer, columnist and super editor, Katherine Tomlinson.

Check it out.

Needle Magazine is here!

Well, the big day has arrived and it came much sooner than expected. The Premiere Issue of Needle Magazine is here!

Steve Weddle, Scott D. Parker, Naomi Johnson, Daniel O'Shea and John Hornor Jacobs have covered the crime fiction and noir spectrum from A to Z, literally. From Patti Abbott, to David Zeltserman.

We're talking Sandra Seamans, Paul D. Brazill, Christopher Grant, Eric Beetner, Keith Rawson, Chad Rohrbacher, Kieran Shea, Hilary Davidson, Jedidiah Ayers, Eric Nusbaum, Nathan Singer, Kent Gowran and yours truly.

Needle Magazine will be offered in a print only version on Lulu. Please click here for the details and buy your copy today!

Crimefactory Issue #2 is here!

Looking for fine crime fiction?


You have no excuse now, because Issue #2 of Crimefactory is here! We have fiction from:

Ray Banks

David Zeltserman

Kieran Shea

Patti Abbott

Josh Converse

Stephen D. Rogers

Gerard Brennan

And it comes in three different formats-

In PDF

In Kindle

In Nook and Sony Reader

So no excuses, check out Crimefactory, today!

Crime Factory is live!

Give it up, see!

Yeah, ya mug, Crime Factory Magazine has got you covered and you don't stand a chance! Whether it's in PDF, or as a Kindle format, they've got you surrounded!

Ken Bruen has the shilelagh, Hilary Davidson is pointing a derringer at your temple, Dave White has a stiletto at your throat, Frank Bill has you in the sights of his Beretta, and Steve Weddle is riding shotgun, with both of his barrels pointed at you.*

All the while, Keith, Cameron, and Liam laugh as they orchestrate this killing. It's curtains for you, curtains!

*How are we all fitting in the same car? I have no idea.

Keith Rawson interviews Charlie Huston!

It seems these days that no crime or mystery author would dare swing through Arizona and not be interviewed by Keith Rawson, he is becoming an essential part of the southwestern book tour experience. BSC has just posted Part One of Keith's interview with author Charlie Huston!



Not to mention that Alan Ball ("Six Feet Under" and "American Beauty") and HBO are going to produce "The Mystic Arts Of Erasing All Signs Of Death." Life...or death, as it were, is good.

Links and the return of Astonishing Adventures Magazine

Well, first things first. John Donald Carlucci emailed me from the road to tell me that Scarlett is coming back!

No, this has nothing to do with Hester Prynne, we are talking about Scarlett, the mascot of Astonishing Adventures Magazine. John has had a change of heart. He's decided to resurrect AAM, and that he will again take up the mantle of Editor.

Keith Rawson and company are readying a crime magazine that will be ready any minute. It will be called "Crime Factory Zine," and if you love crime fiction like I do, you know that Keith's name means quality.

The one announcement that has held this post up for a couple of days will have to wait for another day, no problem. Think Rod Serling, think Ray Bradbury and now think Katherine Tomlinson, with "The Sin Eater."

Keith Rawson Interviews Joseph Wambaugh!

I've been doing a fairly good impression of The White Rabbitt, as of late. So, let me do this bit of catching up right now, as this is at least five days late.

Keith Rawson has been doing some pretty tremendous interviews lately with some major authors, including the likes of Michael Connelly and Ken Bruen. His latest one is no exception, Joesph Wambaugh.

I must confess that I haven't read a lot of Wambaugh and the only book of his that I still own is "Hollywood Station."




That doesn't mean I don't appreciate who he is and what he's done. In terms of the modern police procedural, he is the biggest influence on my influences. Just ask Robert Crais, Michael Connelly, and James Ellroy, as to who inspired them. You can also Michael Mann, David Simon, Stephen J. Cannell and David Chase, because virtually every cop show drew from the Wambaugh well as a source of inspiration.

Every crime novel, tv show and graphic novel for the past thirty five year or so, has a little of Joesph's touch in it. So Ladies and Gentlemen, please pop over to BSC Review and check out Keith's interview.

Flash fiction challenge: Walmart, I Love You. "Acceptance"

"Acceptance"

Ante Scriptum: This story has been removed in order to honor a contract with Untreed Reads. When the contract is up, this story will be reposted here.

This was for a flash fiction challenge and I have an alternate story that I did for this same challenge that I'll save for mid-December. This act of arson is allegedly based on an alleged incident that a supermarket allegedly pulled to get rid of a union warehouse. They allegedly did this so that they could move everything to a warehouse in the boonies, that was outside of the union's jurisdiction and in a the county didn't recognize the union's rules.

I don't know the particulars beyond the alleged forklift "accident" and the alleged sprinkler "failure." Everything I've heard about alleged incident was third-hand, so don't ask me to comment on it.

Quoth the Patti-

Steve Weddle recently posted a link on facebook to this. (People of Wal*Mart) and suggested along with Keith Rawson) that Aldo, Gerald and I host a flash challenge using this site as our inspiration.

What I would like to propose is a 750-800 word story that is set, or at least partially set, in a Wal*Mart Store.It could also be a story that refers to such a store in a meaningful way. If you take exception to Walmart, name it something else. We'll know what you mean.

Post the story on your own blog or on Aldo's Powder Burn Flash. I'm thinking of November 30th. Please don't post your story ahead of time--it throws things off. Let Aldo know if you want him to post it. Let Gerald or me know if you're "in" as soon as possible.

Walmart shoppers: beware.

Keith interviews Michael Connelly!

Keith "Rawdog" Rawson interviewed Michael Connelly over at BSC Review!

And please, ignore that disrespectful idiot who wouldn't honor Michael Connelly or the video camera, and kept taping and wrapping packages! May you get a particularly painful paper cut that becomes mildly infected!

Get Plugged In #1

Walter Conley put together a beautiful online magazine called "Disenthralled," and it also happens to feature a story from my favorite unpublished author Quin Browne.

Pamila Payne brings nuance to crime writing, that's right, nuance. I'm not saying that other crime writers tell a story without it (big glass house, right here), I'm just saying she understands it perfectly...right before she hits you with the denouement.

Speaking of hitting you,Paulie Decibels sucks you in and then hits you with a sucker punch.

Keith Rawson finishes things up with whipped cream and a cherry, via an interview with Reed Farrel Coleman and Ken Bruen.

Keith interviews James Sallis

Keith "Rawdog" Rawson interviews crime writer James Sallis, check it out!

The winners of The Watery Grave Invitational!

In 3rd place, "Inspired Love" by Keith Rawson.

In 2nd place, "At Least I Felt Something" by Sophie Littlefield.

And The First Watery Grave Invitational Award goes to "Beast" by Hilary Davidson.

Congratulations to the winners!

Monday's Shorts

First with a quasi-NSFW link, (cue Don Adams soundbite) "missed it by that much."

Next comes two great sets of Six Sentences, one by Paul D. Brazill and another by Frieda Bee.

Though it is a brief a mention as possible, I finally (site decorum) got my (site decorum) name up on The Rap Sheet, whoo!

Damn...I spoke too soon, here comes Sandman Sims to give me the hook.

Doc has kicked off Friday Flash Fiction right, with "Grandpa's Last Blast."

Last but certainly not least, Keith "Awesome," a.ka. "Raw Dog" Rawson has a new gig reviewing short crime fiction at Fantasy Book Reviews. Not to mention he has been added on as a finalist for the Watery Grave Invitational and as I said before, you the reader will benefit the most...now, even more so.

"Beetner Me To A Pulp, Redux"

What was that tagline for "Alien?" Oh yeah, "In space...no one can hear you scream."

Well on the Internet, you can't tell whether I'm joking or not, unless I do my job as a writer. Obviously I didn't.

I mean...


...even she knows that my tongue was in cheek.

And even Clark Kent knows when I'm winking so hard that it looks like I'm having a stroke.

So when I say that I'm hiring Betty White to pull a hit? I hope that you understand that in no way am I being serious, okay? I was using the most absurd thing I could think of...it's what I do...that, and ellipses. Obviously poorly, but it's what I do.

Eric Beetner wrote a terrific story and it's up at A Twist of Noir. It features a bunch of writers that you might know from Powder Burn Flash, A Twist of Noir, Crooked Magazine and so many other crime zines. Go check it out.

You Can't Beat That

In case you didn't know, there's another pulp magazine other than the one I'm always pushing and it's called Beat To A Pulp. Just like football, David Cranmer and Elaine Ash deliver the good stuff for your enjoyment every Sunday.

Some of my faves are: "Whiskey, Guns, And Sin?" Charles Gramlich gives you plenty of each.

Patti Abbott puts a different twist on child care back in the day, with Esther Meaney.

Keith Rawson shows we don't know about everything that came over from the Land O' Green. I know that the link isn't green, but the story is called "Marmalade," damn it.

Believe you me when I say Paul D. Brazill gives Poe a run for his money with "The Tut."

Albert Tucher will change the way you look at crime solvers forever with "No Hands."

Coming soon: Sandra Seamans shoots to kill with “Midnight Showdown.”

Read On, Read On

I'm going on a quick blogging vacation at least until Wednesday, but that doesn't mean that there isn't abundant content to be read.


Keith Rawson won the First A Twist of Noir's Story Contest with "In The Shower, Thinking."

Eric Beetner was in second place with the neo-noir "Past Due."

Kevin Michaels points out why it's not a good idea to flash your cash in "Hard Streak."

Paulie Decibels writes about the horror, the horror, at Thrillers Killers 'n' Chillers, with "This Old House." Think more Halloween British style, than Bob Villa.

Last but not least, mi amica, Pyzhan tries to get me and everyone else hip to other hardboiled MacDonald, John. D. If you only saw how big my TBR pile was, Pyzahn, you'd cry like a baby.

Paul D. Brazill Is In Flashshot

Me mate Paulie Decibels, is in today's Flashshot with a bullet he calls "Swamplands." It's a beaut about "The King." Take a gander and you'll see why Keith Rawson calls him "the English Bukowski."

The Second Issue Of Crooked Magazine Has Arrived!

The second issue of Crooked Magazine is here!

We're talking the best Bo Flexler story ever, from Clair Dickson. Then there's "Thirteen Questions" with Anthony Bourdain's long lost brother and author, Sean Chercover-



Eric Beetner has wonderful story on the logistical problems that come after a hit, an area so seldom explored and that is more or less glossed over in crime fiction. Jake Hinson writes a truly haunting tale in which all is not it apparently seems.

Patti Abbott tells a tale of a man that has turn his life around from two major tragedies and find redemption for a lost love one. An aside, if an Upper Peninsula inhabitant is a "Yooper," what is a Lower Peninsula resident, a "Looper?"

Keith Rawson relates a piece of fiction that depicts a detective a little closer to real life, than the trench coat stereotype you typically read about. Then the whole tale takes a turn that even if you have read thousands of detective stories? You never saw this one coming.

Did you ever have one of those friends that no matter what you did, you just couldn't help them straighten up and fly right? Michael S. Chong spins a yarn about the inertia involved when you get in the gravitational pull of those that are falling and drag everything else with them. The protagonist unfortunately, does a pretty fair job of plummeting all by himself.


Barry Baldwin finishes up the issue with cop's tale. Take a gander at Issue #2 of Crooked Magazine.