Knockout Raves for
Hardcore Hardboiled
AND
Thuglit
“So good, it’s almost dangerous.”
—Crimespree
“So hard-boiled, the shell is still on.”
—bn.com
“Solid…will appeal to those with a taste for explicit violence.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A showcase of new and exciting talent.”
—Charlie Stella, author of Shakedown
“Thuglit has become one of only a small handful of must-read sites for devotees of dark, tough, mean crime fiction.”
—Charles Ardai (Richard Aleas), Edgar-and Shamus-nominated author of Little Girl Lost
“You have to look hard to find two consecutive pages that don’t deal with sex or violence, but why would you want to? If you’re man enough, you’ll love this book. If you’re not, give it to your girlfriend. If she accepts it and enjoys it, never turn your back on her.”
—Otto Penzler
Also by Todd Robinson
Hardcore Hardboiled
Published by Kensington Publishing Corporation
sex, thugs, and rock & roll
EDITED BY TODD ROBINSON
INTRODUCTION BY SARAH WEINMAN
KENSINGTON BOOKS
http://www.kensingtonbooks.com
CONTENTS
Introduction
Sarah Weinman
A Message from Big Daddy Thug
Todd Robinson
Double Down
Jason Starr
Like Riding a Moped
Jordan Harper
Viddi and the Bucharest Brawler
Jónas Knútsson
A Flood of Mexican Porn Star Tits
Justin Porter
Markers
Albert Tucher
Bullets and Fire
Joe R. Lansdale
Judy’s Big Score
Patrick J. Lambe
Killing Billy Blain
D. T. Kelly
Buddha Behind Bars
Daniel Hatadi
The Days When You Were Anything Else
Marcus Sakey
Cramp
Anthony Neil Smith
Private Craps Shooter at Dawn
Steven M. Messner
The Trouble with Trolls
Patricia Abbott
Eulogy for a Player
Richard J. Martin Jr.
Politoburg
Jedidiah Ayres
Haermund Hardaxe Was Here
Allan Guthrie
We All Come from Splattertown
Hugh Lessig
The Switch
Lyman Feero
Big Load of Trouble
Greg Bardsley
Violated
Mike Sheeter
Black Sun
Gary Carson
Customer Service
Matthew Baldwin
High Limit
Scott Wolven
About the Authors
Raise Your Glasses…
Introduction
Sarah Weinman
It’s a strange time to be a writer of short mystery fiction. On the one hand, print magazine outlets have dwindled to the point where longtime stalwarts Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock are still just about the only places to get paid a decent wage. On the other hand, thanks to Akashic’s “City Noir” series and upstart small presses like Busted Flush Press and Bleak House Books, the anthology market is so glutted that I pity anyone judging the short story category for the Edgar Awards.
But if you’re a writer and your voice and style doesn’t fit EQMM or AHMM’s guidelines, if you don’t have an in with specific editors or if you’re still not known enough to be picked up by one of the themed anthologies sponsored by the major crime writing associations, where do you go?
For the last few years, the answer is online.
It took a while for that answer to gain any sort of traction. Like any new medium, the Web was greeted within publishing circles and by would-be authors with skepticism and scorn, and often for good reason: poor presentation, questionable editing, and seeming instability. Many heralded early players like Blue Murder, HandHeldCrime, and Plots with Guns no longer exist; others have severely curtailed activity or dropped fiction altogether. For those that remain, creating their own distinct presence, adopting strict editorial guidelines and producing quality fiction, what still remains a sticking point is the lack of cash—the equivalent of a couple of high-priced beers if the writer’s lucky.
So why go online?
Several reasons. First, it gives undiscovered writers a wonderful opportunity to get their unique voices heard and distributed to, potentially, a bigger audience than a tiny print magazine that goes out of print after a month. Second, because of the dwindling print markets, more publishing professionals are looking to the Web for talent and quality. I can name example after example: Scott Wolven, whose stories have almost exclusively been published online, has been included in six consecutive editions of the Best American Short Stories, published a collection of short stories with Scribner, and has a novel in the works with Otto Penzler’s imprint at Harcourt. Allan Guthrie, who went from publishing his first story online to three-book deals with Harcourt and the Scottish publisher Polygon. Ray Banks, following Guthrie’s trajectory almost note-for-note; and Dave White, moving from critical acclaim for his Jackson Donne short stories to similar acclaim for his Jackson Donne novels published by Three Rivers Press.
The Web has become a haven of experimentation and risk—of stories that don’t quite fit a particular mold. It’s inspired a new wave of noir and allowed younger writers to have their voices heard, and there’s no better example of this than Thuglit. From the moment Todd Robinson launched this online magazine in late 2005, I’ve been impressed with the caliber of stories, the quality of prose, and the gut-wrenching emotions that pulsate on the virtual page. No wonder Thuglit made the jump to print format, mixing all manner of dark doings originally published online with original stories by the brightest (or is that blackest?) stars of contemporary noir like Wolven, Guthrie, Joe R. Lansdale, Jason Starr, and Marcus Sakey.
The big guns may be the draw to entice readers to open this anthology’s pages, but the reprints—from Jónas Knútsson’s knucklebuster tale of a Budapest brawler to Justin Porter’s depiction of Mexico City at its seediest to Patricia Abbott’s