Raegan Butcher's Blog - Posts Tagged "crime"
Necro Publications
It is official. I signed my contracts yesterday and Necro Publications will be releasing "Siege of Station 19" in February. This will be my first published novel. I am stoked to be breaking out of the poetry ghetto. Big shout out to David G.Barnett of Necro for taking a chance on me.
Raymond Chandler on Philip Marlowe
The passage below is quoted from an article in the New York Times:
One month before his death, Raymond Chandler wrote to Maurice Guinness, an English detective novelist, who suggested that Philip Marlowe marry. Chandler disagreed. “I think he will always have a fairly shabby office, a lonely house, a number of affairs, but no permanent connection.” he replied. “I think he will always be awakened at some inconvenient hour by some inconvenient person to do some inconvenient job. I see him always in a lonely street, in lonely rooms, puzzled but never quite defeated.”
Who can resist such characterization? I like the constant theme of loneliness and solitude. So much of the detective fiction that I enjoy is filled with melancholy and I am very drawn to that emotional state. After all, to quote Roger Ebert, “Film Noir is not about action & victory, but incompetence & defeat.”
Yep, I can relate.
One month before his death, Raymond Chandler wrote to Maurice Guinness, an English detective novelist, who suggested that Philip Marlowe marry. Chandler disagreed. “I think he will always have a fairly shabby office, a lonely house, a number of affairs, but no permanent connection.” he replied. “I think he will always be awakened at some inconvenient hour by some inconvenient person to do some inconvenient job. I see him always in a lonely street, in lonely rooms, puzzled but never quite defeated.”
Who can resist such characterization? I like the constant theme of loneliness and solitude. So much of the detective fiction that I enjoy is filled with melancholy and I am very drawn to that emotional state. After all, to quote Roger Ebert, “Film Noir is not about action & victory, but incompetence & defeat.”
Yep, I can relate.
Common Criminals Coming Soon
A Fistful of Pesos, the first in a six book series entitled "Common Criminals", is a cinematic, darkly humorous crime thriller.
Recently released from prison after serving seven years for dealing marijuana, American demolitions expert Zachary Taylor travels to Mexico City to help his old friend Pancho Sanchez and his motley gang rob a bank. However, the hapless would-be thieves arrive to find that another group of criminals has just robbed the same bank minutes earlier -- and they become trapped inside by the city police and the Mexican Army. Will they get out alive? Inspired by true events, believe it or not.
The second book, For a Few Pesos More, picks up mere hours after the disastrous bank robbery attempt, as Zach and Pancho aim to recoup their losses by kidnapping the daughter of a rich Mexican industrialist. But once again, things don’t go according to plan. Like the first book, it is fast-paced with plenty of black humor.
Jackson Ellis, editor-in-chief and publisher of Verbicide Magazine, had this to say about these books:
"The first novel is great, but this second one is simply fantastic. It moves along at a wonderful pace. It has one of the most interesting, twisting, unpredictable plots I’ve ever encountered. It has character development that is just deep enough, making the reader become emotionally invested in them, but also just superficial enough so that you aren't too bummed when horrible things go down. It's a great read for casual readers as well as bookworms -- accessible, but with substantial literary merit."
The remaining four books in the Common Criminals series take Zach and Pancho (plus their aging Communist sidekick Juan Gonzalez) all over the world, embroiling them in brutal, comical misadventures in the jungles of French Guiana, across the waters of the North Atlantic, and on the battlefields of Libya and Sudan.
The books in the series are as follows:
• A Fistful of Pesos and For a Few Pesos More: A disastrous bank robbery in Mexico City is followed by a botched kidnapping attempt.
• The Minimum Wages of Fear: In an effort to make easy money, the trio illegally transports trucks full of volatile rocket fuel through the harrowing tropical forests of French Guiana.
• Fight at the Top of the World: Zach, Pancho, and Juan are held hostage on an oil platform in the North Sea by a gang of multinational terrorists.
• The Dirty Half-Dozen: After escaping from terrorists, the criminals hunt for Gaddafi's gold during the Libyan Civil War.
• Red Sun of the Desert: Zach and his cohorts use an armored battle tank to protect Sudanese villagers from the predations of the Janjaweed in the War in Darfur.
Recently released from prison after serving seven years for dealing marijuana, American demolitions expert Zachary Taylor travels to Mexico City to help his old friend Pancho Sanchez and his motley gang rob a bank. However, the hapless would-be thieves arrive to find that another group of criminals has just robbed the same bank minutes earlier -- and they become trapped inside by the city police and the Mexican Army. Will they get out alive? Inspired by true events, believe it or not.
The second book, For a Few Pesos More, picks up mere hours after the disastrous bank robbery attempt, as Zach and Pancho aim to recoup their losses by kidnapping the daughter of a rich Mexican industrialist. But once again, things don’t go according to plan. Like the first book, it is fast-paced with plenty of black humor.
Jackson Ellis, editor-in-chief and publisher of Verbicide Magazine, had this to say about these books:
"The first novel is great, but this second one is simply fantastic. It moves along at a wonderful pace. It has one of the most interesting, twisting, unpredictable plots I’ve ever encountered. It has character development that is just deep enough, making the reader become emotionally invested in them, but also just superficial enough so that you aren't too bummed when horrible things go down. It's a great read for casual readers as well as bookworms -- accessible, but with substantial literary merit."
The remaining four books in the Common Criminals series take Zach and Pancho (plus their aging Communist sidekick Juan Gonzalez) all over the world, embroiling them in brutal, comical misadventures in the jungles of French Guiana, across the waters of the North Atlantic, and on the battlefields of Libya and Sudan.
The books in the series are as follows:
• A Fistful of Pesos and For a Few Pesos More: A disastrous bank robbery in Mexico City is followed by a botched kidnapping attempt.
• The Minimum Wages of Fear: In an effort to make easy money, the trio illegally transports trucks full of volatile rocket fuel through the harrowing tropical forests of French Guiana.
• Fight at the Top of the World: Zach, Pancho, and Juan are held hostage on an oil platform in the North Sea by a gang of multinational terrorists.
• The Dirty Half-Dozen: After escaping from terrorists, the criminals hunt for Gaddafi's gold during the Libyan Civil War.
• Red Sun of the Desert: Zach and his cohorts use an armored battle tank to protect Sudanese villagers from the predations of the Janjaweed in the War in Darfur.
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