Benjamin Sobieck's Blog, page 39
April 25, 2012
Coming Soon: Maynard Soloman Takes the Bus to a Strip Club
Number six in the Funny Detective Stories series, it's Maynard Soloman Takes the Bus to a Strip Club. Coming soon. Very soon.
April 19, 2012
Coming Soon: Burning Bridges Anthology
This FREE anthology, set to drop May 1, will feature short stories with a "burning bridges" theme by these talented authors:
Julia Madeleine
K.A. Laity
Mark Cooper
Darren Sant
Allan Leverone
Paul D. Brazill
George S. Geisinger
McDroll
Edith M. Maxwell
Benjamin Sobieck
Tace Baker
Joshua J. Mark
L. Vera
B.R. Stateham
Heath Lowrance
Ten virtual bucks to whomever can leave a comment to say how all these authors are related (besides being in this anthology).
April 17, 2012
Another Fantastic Review of "Cleansing Eden - The Celebrity Murders"
Allan Watson left this fantastic review of Cleansing Eden - The Celebrity Murders on Amazon:
"One of the most enjoyable novels I've read for a while. A tightly focused tale of a moralistic, crusading serial killer using a new designer drug `Bluegrasse' to recruit and enslave a lost-cause junkie to act as his strong right arm when targeting celebrities on his hit list. Ben Sobieck draws a neat parallel between the rampaging killers and the blood-sucking media reporters who parasitically feed upon and drain the life from these self same celebrities. Does one group hold the moral high ground over the other? When the dust settles on this gem of a story it's difficult to say. Deftly written characters with sharp-as-a-tack dialogue, coupled with a real sense of pace. Don't cross the road when this book is motoring towards you. It'll knock you flat on your arse......... and then reverse back over your broken bones to finish the job. "
April 16, 2012
A Tale of True Crime: "A Cop, His Dog and Some Gun Thugs"
Over at Fingerprints, Leroy Vaughn writes about the incredible dog who stayed loyal to his master to the very end during a brutal Mexican gang war. As editor of this 'zine, this short piece of crime non-fiction blew me away. It's a must-read.
Click here to read A Cop, His Dog and Some Gun Thugs.
April 11, 2012
Major Announcement: Partnership with National Kidney Foundation
Earlier this month, I announced a fundraising effort for my favorite charity, the National Kidney Foundation. Its goals of increasing donor numbers, educating patients and helping kidney disease research hit close to home. I received a kidney transplant in 2010, and feel it's important to help others who need kidneys.
As an incentive to donate to this trustworthy charity, I'm offering my entire catalog for free to anyone to donates any amount to the National Kidney Foundation. Just e-mail me at bsobieck [at] journalist [dot] com with a donation receipt.
Today, I received an e-mail from the NKF endorsing my idea. Staff will even give it promotion online. This makes the partnership official, and I couldn't be happier about it.
To keep things simple, I've compiled my catalog into a single e-book, Pick Your Poison: 1 Nefarious Novel & 12 Stirring Short Stories. Here's what you get for a donation of any amount to the National Kidney Foundation:
Crime Novel
Cleansing Eden - The Celebrity Murders
Humor Short Stories
Maynard Soloman Solves the War on Drugs
Maynard Soloman Fixes Social Security and Eats a Pony
- Bonus: How to Cuss Like Maynard Soloman
Maynard Soloman and the Job-Nabbin' Illegal Immigrants
- Bonus: Maynard Soloman's Two-Beer Critter Marinade
Maynard Soloman Proves Santa Claus is Real
- Bonus: Maynard Soloman's Guide to Milk and Cookies
Maynard Soloman Legalizes Gay Knot Tying
- Bonus: 10 Signs Your Kid is in a Cult
- Bonus: Best of Maynard's Facebook Page
Crime Short Stories
Wine Into Water
Purgatory at the Pump 'n' Loaf
10 Drunk People in a House (rerun)
Use the Pillow
You're the Boss
True Crime Stories
Stomach > Brains
Sleepwalking a Thin Line
Click here to donate to the National Kidney Foundation. Then e-mail me at bsobieck [at] journalist.com [dot] com with the receipt.
April 9, 2012
A Tale of True Crime: "The Real Bruce Lee"
How would you react if you turned on the TV and found out someone you knew was killed in a terrible way? That happened to retired law enforcement officer Leroy B. Vaughn. He writes about the experience in a short piece over at Fingerprints.
Click here to read The Real Bruce Lee.
* Fingerprints is the Web's first online journal of crime flash non-fiction.
April 7, 2012
Why I'm Giving Away My Entire Catalog for Free
In 2010, a living donor gave me a kidney. It's the only reason I'm writing today. The donor is still happy and healthy. I was lucky. Roughly 113,000 are hoping they will be, too, but there aren't enough organs to go around. It's my mission to write the highest quality crime fiction and use it as a platform to help transplant patients.
If you click here and donate any amount to the National Kidney Foundation, I'll give you my entire e-book catalog for free. Just e-mail me at bsobieck@journalist.com with a donation receipt.
P.S. Click here to see NKF's profile on Charity Navigator. It has four stars, the highest rating possible.
April 6, 2012
Free Crime Novel E-Book Alert
Cleansing Eden - The Celebrity Murders is free today and tomorrow (4/7) exclusively on Amazon.
So stop reading this and start clicking here to pop this crime novel into your Kindle.
April 5, 2012
A Great Review of "Cleansing Eden - The Celebrity Murders"
Dana King, who I coincidentally reviewed earlier this week, happened to read Cleansing Eden - The Celebrity Murders at about the same time I was deep in his Worst Enemies. Great timing is not one of my fortes, so the stars must have been extra aligned this week.
Here's the thing, though. King is not a fan of serial killer novels. Despite multiple body counts, he still enjoyed Cleansing Eden.
April 2, 2012
Review: A Fresh Take on "Strangers on a Train"
Comparisons between Dana King's new crime novel, Worst Enemies, and the classic Highsmith work, Strangers on a Train, are more than apt. Both begin with two men plotting to kill the other's wife. Perhaps out of concern for wary readers' suspicions, author King acknowledges the similarity in several references, although he places his jaded husbands in a strip club.
At first, it seems King is making a literal update of the classic story. The first man, Tom, breaks into the other man's house and kills the wife as promised. King gets the reader geared up for the next murder, then throws in a huge twist.
No, it's not the same deus ex machina that Strangers on a Train uses. But it's so arresting, I was hooked deep. Worst Enemies opens wide from a pedestrian quasi-homage into a rabbit hole of crime. The more you find out, the less you know. Not in a "where the heck is the story going?" sort of way. More of an "I have to keep reading to find out what happens" way.
That King can put the many pieces together in a such a compelling way speaks to the character management he displayed in his debut, Wild Bill (read my review here). The cast is large, but it never feels that way. King keeps the story grounded in police detective Ben Dougherty, a military veteran trying to shed his hard bark.
By the end, Worst Enemies was miles from Strangers on a Train. A careful reader might notice similarities between certain characters and the real-life author Highsmith, but they don't distract from the experience. When a crime novel goes above and beyond a mere interpretation of a classic, the reader is left as satisfied as the author.
Click here to get Worst Enemies from Amazon for the Kindle.
Click here to get Worst Enemies from Barnes & Noble for the Nook.
