Switchblade - Issue 10

Issue Ten of Switchblade is now available right here. Scotch Rutherford has done it again, gathering the kind of stories that promise trouble and then deliver it, in spades. A big thank you to Scotch for including me in this collection. The anthology description wraps it all up well...

"Rough riders, gangsters, hitters, stick up men, boxers and box crushers. From the west side all the way back to the east; featuring the bar flies, cheap motels and day-old diner coffee in between...From the A-bomb to the B-word (Betrayal) and it's all about Zulu Time. It's another motley crew of unusual suspects grinding out yet another set of premium gutter noir. This is Switchblade Issue 10, and it ain't just another black and blue issue with shades of gray. It's full color and absolute. Featuring the criminally good fiction work of Selena Jayne, Jim Wilsky, Eddie McNamara, Beaumont Rand, Gene Breaznell, N.W. Barcus, Tim V. Decker, Christian Goss, C.W. Blackwell, Jim Towns, Brian Beatty and Timothy Friend."

So, do yourself a favor. Get yourself a copy and give it a read. Take a little ride through blue hammered hell. - JW

A Grifter's Song - Print Editions

Down & Out Books has announced that the new A Grifter's Song covers are ready for Volume 1 and Volume 2 of the Subscriber Editions and they are gorgeous....

Volume 1 >        Zafiro ~ Rhoades ~ Kelter

Volume 2 >       Phillips ~ Conway ~ Wilsky

It's all right here. In addition, the print copies of all six episodes in Season 1 will be available at Amazon and BN within the week. If you haven't got on board with this Grifter series yet, you're missing out! - JW 

LOSING STREAK

NOW AVAILABLE!

My story, Losing Streak is the sixth episode and final edition for this season of A Grifter's Song is available starting today. You can get it right here or here.

If you haven't heard yet, this is a series you don't want to miss. Not with contributing authors like Frank Zafiro, JD Rhoades, Lawrence Kelter, Gary Phillips and Colin Conway. Get a copy today!  -JW

A Tribute to Sandra Seamans

I can't really do justice in trying to say how special Sandra Seamans was, so I'll keep it short and simply say here that it was with much sadness that I learned of her recent passing.

I visited her My Little Corner many, many times down through the years. Sandra helped me and everyone else find writing opportunities more times than be counted. I always tried to thank her and tell her how great of a service she was providing her fellow writers. I tried to express the gratitude I felt and my admiration of how unselfish she was. I just wish now I could tell her those things one more time.

She was an extraordinary person, one of a kind, and will be greatly missed.

Wrong Place, Write Crime

Frank Zafiro has posted an audio interview with me on his very cool Wrong Place, Write Crime podcast that he hosts. Frank was kind enough to include me and I consider myself lucky to get a spot, considering the talent level of the other folks he's had on the podcast. 

Check out my interview right here where Frank and I discuss the writing of Losing Streak as well as it's June 1 release by Down & Out Books. While you're there, be sure to check out the past interviews he's had with truly outstanding writers.

Losing Streak is the 6th and final episode of this season but Frank has already lined up a tremendous team of authors for Season 2 of his series. - JW  

Memory Lane

For some reason, the good folks over at Down & Out Books have decided to risk their good reputation and post an article I wrote on their main page. It discusses my challenge to contribute an issue for Frank's series of stories by himself and other authors called A Grifter's Song. I've been featuring the ongoing series in several posts below and you might be getting pretty tired of it...But maybe, there are one or two of you that aren't tired of hearing about it. I had a little Grifter story of my own, not my fictional one that will be coming in June, but a non-fictional story. A 100% true story. Trust me when I say it was necessary to leave certain details out. If that might interest you. See it right here at the bottom of the page.
-JW

The Beat Goes On

Lost in Middle America, written by Colin Conway, is Book #5 of the A Grifters Song series is now available right now at Amazon and all the usual outlets.

Colin keeps this series, that was created by Frank Zafiro, rolling right along with another great story featuring the exploits of Sam and Rachel. Below is the book description by Down and Out Books, the publisher for all the books of A Grifter's Song:

Sam is called to Lima, Ohio to help a former acquaintance, a pimp that helped him early in his career. This colleague wants revenge on the rival pimp who stole his business, his stable of girls, and his reputation. Another man’s redemption holds little interest to Sam, but the promise of a payday gets his attention.

Rachel doesn’t want anything to do with this job. It’s got too many things going against it, starting with the target they’re supposed to con. A pimp with a nasty disposition and a quick temper is not a man to cross. However, she jumps in with Sam when they learn just how that rival pimp has been hiding his ill-gotten gains. To keep his extra cash out of the banking system, he’d been buying and hoarding high-grade comics and gold bars. They’re kept securely in a safety deposit box. All Sam and Rachel must do is figure out how to get into that box and get away clean.

Now, the heat is turned up in mid-western Ohio as an untrusting pimp slowly realizes he’s being played for his fortune.

A Grifter's Song, Book #4

The newest edition of A Grifter's Song is here! The 4th book in the series is now out! Gary Phillips, who is a terrific writer, wrote The Movie Makers and it available now at Amazon. Pick it up today and keep track of Sam and Rachel on their wild ride around the country. 

-JW

A Grifter's Song

CAUTION - NOT READING THIS SERIES WILL RESULT IN EXTREME REGRET

A Grifter's Song, Season One is moving right along. Frank, the creator/editor of this new series got things rolling in January with The Concrete Smile, followed by JD Rhoades story, People Like Us and this month's installment, Lawrence Kelter's The Whale.

Next up starting with April, will be The Movie Makers by Gary Phillips, May will feature Lost in Middle America by Colin Conway and June will offer the first year finale, Losing Streak written by some shmuck that you've never heard of - unlike the other authors. Season Two which is already lined up, will feature more of the same. Terrific stories written by some great authors; Eric Beetner, Holly West, Eryk Pruitt, Asa Maria Bradley, Scott Eubanks and Frank again.

A Grifter's Song description in Frank's own words:

"The series features a pair of grifters, Sam and Rachel, who are lifelong grifters in their late thirties. Their past is as shadowy as their present, but we know that they pulled a major long con on the mafia in Philadelphia, and now they are on the run. While one or the other may speak longingly of that quiet life in a beach house somewhere at the end of the rainbow, we all know that the likelihood is that they will never leave this life, unless it is in a box. They are who they are, and so they continue to find and exploit marks, trying to stay one step ahead of the mobsters bent on vengeance." So do yourself a favor...Buy them, enjoy them. - JW












    

The Odds Are Against Us

After a long, long publishing ordeal, an anthology of Military Fiction that I contributed to is now available on Amazon. The Odds Are Against Us is a collection of great stories dealing with virtue, bravery and valor. Stories of life and death conflict. Tales of survival and struggle, both armed and emotional. I'm a little biased but I think you'll like it.

It's always a pleasure to be involved in a project with writers I know and respect greatly. Both Frank Scalise and John Floyd are writers that fit that mold perfectly. It's an honor to have my name alongside theirs.

I'm not acquainted with the other writers, but it quickly became clear to me that I was lucky to just be included in the mix.

Oren Litwin who masterminded and edited this project from the very beginning deserves a lot of praise for seeing this through to a successful conclusion. He never gave up and there were plenty of times where some might have. Pick up a copy today! You won't regret it. - JW  

SORT 'EM OUT lATER. Take a shot. Find it right here.