Andy Henion's Blog, page 3

"Keeping It Simple" by Barry Graham in Shotgun Honey

Then the kicking slowed down until the legs were still, and I smelled shit, and I knew that the guy’s bowels had voided because he was dead. Read story here.

When Your Main Character is Amoral

One of the reasons I wanted to publish The Devil in Snakeskins is that the professor is completely amoral. So often in current fiction we have bad guys that only kill other bad guys or serial killers like Dexter who have a moral code. Blah! I want a bad guy to be like Henry Fonda in Once upon the Time in The West. 100% evil and I think that’s what you’ve done with your creation.

From The Education of a Pulp Writer.

In Which I Am the Featured Interviewee on 'Education of a Pulp Writer'

The Devil in Snakeskins started as a short story I wrote for the now-defunct Thieves Jargon. I wanted to write about a bad-ass western gunslinger is all, something I hadn't done before. My imagination took it from there, filling in the odd world around him. As with most writers, I didn't purposely set out to make the story like anyone else's (and thankfully, several reviews have discussed its uniqueness), but looking back there were definite influences: Clint Eastwood's spaghetti westerns and Stephen King's Dark Tower chief among them.

Read complete interview here.

Best Mystery Story of the Year - 2015

Youngblood says he knows someone who can get me a gun, a white boy named Paul, a gambler, a loser, one of them who's always selling something. I tell Youngblood I'll give him twenty to set something up. Youngblood calls the guy, and the guy says he has a little .25 auto he wants a hundred bucks for. That's fine, I say. I have three hundred hidden in my room. It's supposed to be Mexico money, but there isn't going to be any Mexico if Leon puts a bullet in me.
-- From "Apocrypha" by Richard Lange in Best American Mystery Stories 2015

This one puts you smack dab on skid row. As real as it gets. Noir at its heart-wrenching best. The main character a loser you can't help but root for. 5/5 stars.

See 2014's best here.

"Cowboy Justice" by Andrew Bourelle in Best American Mystery Stories 2015

"It hurts," David said.

"Ah hell," Jack said, yanking the door open and getting in. He tossed the .357 on the seat. "Talk to me, Davey."

"Shot me in the head," David muttered.

Please, Jack thought. Please let it be one of those miracle shots where the bullet didn't hurt his brain. Please. 

Originally appeared in Law and Disorder. This is noir at a hundred miles an hour; two brothers out for revenge on a pack of drug dealers in the American West. My runner-up for best story in BAMS 2015.

"Football Season, 1989" by Shasta Grant in decomP

By lunchtime on Monday, almost everyone knows that Jason fingered Heather at the post-game party on Saturday. Read story here.

"You're That Guy" by Danny Gardner in Out of the Gutter

Once the Russians got frustrated, they grabbed the pliers and opened his mouth. They snatched out one molar, then another, and in the agony, he thought of Dustin Hoffman's performance in 'Marathon Man.' "Try acting, dear boy," he murmured. Read story here.

"Noche de Milagros" by Garnett Elliott in Shotgun Honey

She should’ve just given him enough to OD. But she’s tried that already, and there’s not enough heroin in the city to fill the fucking sinkhole of his tolerance. Besides, she didn’t want him to go out that way. She wanted him to feel it. Read story here.

"Little Troubles" by Steve Weddle in Beat to a Pulp

When he was done screaming, he turned back to her, saw her slack-jawed, staring where he'd been looking. The coffee table between the two overstuffed chairs and the overstuffed couch. Standing in the center, where most people in the neighborhood would have put a bamboo bowl full of pinecones or a giant book of Mary Cassatt paintings, was a glass jar. If you were a doctor, you might fill it with tongue depressors. Giant swabs.

"Is that—" Chrissy started.
 
Garrett said he thought it was.

Read story here.

"Boots" by Drew Piston in Shotgun Honey

“It’s not the box that’s so important,” said Boris. “It’s what’s in the box.” He rattled it again. “You want to know what’s in the box?” Read story here.