Thomas Pluck's Blog, page 40

My friend & sparring partner Jody-Lynn Reicher

My friend and occasional training partner Jody-Lynn Reicher was interviewed by a local paper about what it’s like being a kick-ass MMA fightin’ mom.

I weigh almost three times as much as Jody, and she fights me like a rabid wolverine defending its kill from a lumbering lard-ass grizzly (aka me). When I talk about heart, she is forefront in my mind. If anyone’s got a Steel Heart, it’s Jody.

She just turned 50, and tours the country to fight opponents half her age. When she can find someone who’ll get in the cage with a rampaging stone-fisted little dynamo. Read on, she’s led a very interesting life, from the Marines to ultramarathons, and she’s a damn fine example of a human being.

 

Tagged: Advanced Fighting Systems, Mixed Martial Arts, Phil Dunlap

Interview with Thomas Pluck

Reblogged from Tony's Thoughts:

I am a big fan of Thomas Pluck. He has a style that manages to be right up in your face and nasty without being Offensive. Well not offensive to me. Pluck is a an active advocate for the rights of abuse survivors and the prosecution of the abusers. His work with Protect included an anthology that sent all the profits directly in to campaigning for the betterment of all.

Read more… 1,226 more words

I'm interviewed by Tony Lane about PROTECT, Blade of Dishonor, and the zombie apocalypse:

Pulling for Pudster’s and their grilled cheese cheeseburger!

While I was away on vacation, Devil Gourmet published my review of Pudster’s for The Big Eat.

The unfortunately named Pudster’s is a hot dog and burger hut, home of an excellent grilled cheese cheeseburger.

Tagged: Burgers, Devil Gourmet, Hot Dogs, Pud, Pudster's

Pushing the Pulp

Today I’m over at Tony Black’s Pulp Pusher, talking Scotch and steel and heart.

Tony is the author of the Gus Dury series and many more gritty novels set in Edinburgh. His Gus Dury tale “Last Orders” is in Protectors.

Would you say I have a bevy of burgers?

Today at The Big Eat, I introduce you to my favorite local pub and burger joint, The Cloverleaf Tavern, where they offer a new burger every week. Some of them are a little odd, many are phenomenal, but none of them are boring.

The Cloverleaf’s classic comes perfectly cooked with a good sear on a chewy Italian roll with some of the best fries in the area- the “Trail cut” steak fry/fried potato hybrid, which gives you crisp and pillowy in every bite.

Check them out.

Tagged: Beer, Burgers, Cloverleaf Tavern, Devil Gourmet

Not Rude At All…

The letter I received from Harlan Ellison made it into Flavorwire’s “Rudest letters sent by celebrities to their fans.” For the record, I didn’t find Mr. Ellison’s letter one bit rude; I impinged on his time, ignored his vocal plea to fans to not write him, as he has an obvious compulsion to respond to all correspondence, and he answered my question and directed me to an incredible book that influences my writing to this day. We have chatted back and forth on his web forum since, and it was an honor to hear from him. He writes with a power few of us could wield so accurately.

You can read the letter in its entirety here.

 

 

Tagged: Harlan Ellison

The Big Eat – Senorita’s Mexican Grill

For this week’s The Big Eat, I drop by Senorita’s Mexican Grill for plates of pork chipotle, fresh guacamole, margaritas and burritos.

Tagged: Devil Gourmet, Mexico

Doing Some Damage

Thanks to Steve pedal-to-the-metal Weddle, I dropped by Do Some Damage to talk about what heart means, in every day life and in crime fiction.

 

Tagged: Do Some Damage, Steel Heart, Steve Weddle

Baconfest!

Sorry, you missed baconfest. But I went for you, so your cholesterol count is safe.

Zeppelin Hall, a Jersey City biergarten with tons of space for outdoor dining, added a one-night baconated menu to their usual spiel of currywurst, spaetzle, pretzels, and blau speck burgers:

Candied Applewood Smoked Bacon with Pecans.

Bacon skewers with caramelized onion & bourbon dipping sauce.

Steakhouse bacon, a grilled slab of pork belly.

Bacon-wrapped shrimp. Bacon-wrapped hot dogs.

Bacon Mac & Cheese. Bacon Meatloaf. BLTs.

The Elvis Presley Bacon sandwich, peanut butter, bananas and bacon!

The Bacon-Bacon Cheeseburger!

Bacon French Fries! (Okay, they had Bacon Salt on them)

and… Chocolate Covered Bacon!

Now pair this with a beer hall serving 144 taps (albeit maybe two dozen or so beers on those taps) and you have a night to remember. It was my friend Mike Dross’s pre-birthday, and the only thing he loves more than bacon is bacon. So we baconed him up.

With a beer mug the size of an artillery shell in hand, we sailed the seas of bacon and enjoyed killing our hearts and livers at the same time. My favorites? The chocolate covered bacon and the BLT, which was appropriately overladen with delicious, crisp bacon.

bacon being saucy!

The chocolate bacon was twirled around a skewer and then coated, with a cherry on top. They did a good job. Zeppelin Hall is no gastropub- they serve down-home German specialties like wienerschnitzel and authentic currywurst well, if a tad pricey, but they also serve the biggest beer in the region. They aren’t my #1 choice, but in Jersey City, they are a great choice for beer lovers, who want space to breathe and enjoy good food. They also have plenty of parking, something rare in the JC area. And they made a damn decent burger, a memorable one with a good sear and beefy flavor, solid bun, properly cooked to order.

The Bacon-Bacon burger was good, if not quite the amazing Baconeator Burger served at Morris Tap & Grill. I could’ve eaten the bacon skewers all evening, but the Elvis was a sad sandwich, thin, with only a few strips of bacon that seemed like the thin, microwave variety, and barely a spread of peanut butter. I ordered it late, so maybe they’d run out of the great bacon I had on the skewers.

So is there such a thing as too much bacon? Maybe there is. But there’s never too much beer. They serve Oktoberfest brews all year round from Hofbrau and Hacker-Pschorr, and I really enjoyed the Commodore Perry IPA from Great Lakes brewing as well. Great Lakes is becoming one of my favorite breweries.

Tagged: Bacon, New Jersey, Zeppelin Hall

Steel Heart: 10 Tales of Crime and Suspense

Presenting ten unflinching stories with heart.

What does Steel Heart mean? It means hard-boiled thrillers with heart. And here are ten of my best and most popular, most of which have only been available in print until now.

I tarried a bit in getting a story collection together. Many have asked for one. I wanted to do it right. Then my friend JW Manus, who designs beautiful e-books–if you think that’s an oxymoron, see what she’s done for Lawrence Block, the Protectors anthology, and Hoods, Hot Rods, and Hellcats, among many others–prodded me, asking why I didn’t have a collection of my best stories out there. My wife Sarah made the cover. Jaye and I edited the stories anew, and Jaye designed the book, which when you take a free peek on Amazon or Smashwords, exceeds her reputation.

Right now the book is available on Amazon for Kindle, and Smashwords in all formats, and you can also read it there online. With Kindle Cloud Reader, you don’t need a Kindle to read the book either. Barnes & Noble is taking their sweet time. It is also available for Kobo e-reader, but I am waiting for it to be available through Watchung Booksellers Kobo program before sharing that link. Then the sale will support my local indie bookstore. I will update this page, and the official Steel Heart page when it is available there.

And here are the stories:

Gumbo Weather – Jay Desmarteaux confronts his own past as he spars with a ruthless crime boss to rescue a child from a hellish home.

A Glutton for Punishment – Terry is an MMA fighter who’s never backed down from a fight, but this one might be his last.

Legacy of Brutality – Denny the Dent ain’t smart, but he listens good. When a woman at his gym tangles with her abusive boyfriend, it’s 300 musclebound pounds of street justice to the rescue.

The Forest for the Trees – A street racer finds the love of his life as he escapes from the cops. But how long will he live to love her?

Six Feet Under God – A wise-cracking existential P.I. takes on the ultimate murder case: Who killed the Almighty?

Tiger Mother – in 1950s Harlem, Caldonia Peele hunts down her missing son. It’s the toughs who better be afraid when tiger mother’s on the prowl.

Freedom Bird – Vietnam Vet Harve Chundak battles to teach his unruly son to walk the straight and narrow, but will he lose the war?

Black-Eyed Susan – A bad joke comes to all-too-real life for the denizens of a mill town gin mill.

The Last Sacrament – The dangerous life of an unlikely altar boy.

Kamikaze Death Burgers at the Ghost Town Cafe – Jay Desmarteaux is just trying to get by, running contraband in his voodoo Cadillac. When he tangles with a psycho trucker and the red hot lawyer for a violent biker gang, he fights a battle worthy of the Road Warrior in the Utah desert for his very soul.

Praise for these short stories:

“Thomas Pluck doesn’t flinch and he doesn’t pull punches. He writes with passion, grit, heart, and his prose cuts as clean as a scalpel.” –Wayne D. Dundee, author of RECKONING AT RAINROCK and the Joe Hannibal PI series

“If you don’t know who Thomas Pluck is, you will soon enough. He combines jabs of clever humor with full-impact gut shots.” –Johnny Shaw, author of DOVE SEASON and BIG MARIA

“To read a Thomas Pluck story is to be enmeshed in atmosphere that completely takes over the body and the heart. A place of honesty, brutal but true. Pluck is described best in one word: Storyteller.” –Les Edgerton, author of JUST LIKE THAT and THE PERFECT CRIME

“Black-Eyed Susan by Thomas Pluck is short and mean and well-written. I don’t think I’ve read anything by this author before, but I’ll be on the lookout for his name now.” –James Reasoner, author of THE CIVIL WAR SERIES

“These stories prove that Pluck ain’t here to f**k around.” –Chuck Wendig, author of BLACKBIRDS and THE BLUE BLAZES

10% of the proceeds of this book will be donated to PROTECT: The National Association to Protect Children.

While your waiting for my editor to finish with BLADE OF DISHONOR, and me to finish editing BURY THE HATCHET, have a taste of the MMA fighter who inspired “Rage Cage” Reeves of Blade, and two Jay Desmarteaux stories, plus Denny the Dent and several more. Sorry it took so long to get this together, but I think you’ll agree that it was worth doing right.

Steel Heart: 10 Tales of Crime and Suspense  is available at the following e-book retailers.

Kobo, through Watchung Booksellers (soon)

Amazon for Kindle

Barnes & Noble for Nook (soon)

Smashwords, in many formats, including to read online.

Soon for Apple iPad

 

Tagged: Chuck Wendig, ebooks, James Reasoner, Johnny Shaw, Les Edgerton, short stories, Steel Heart, Wayne Dundee