The Pulp Ink is Barely Dry
David Cranmer created the online zine Beat to a Pulp to fill a void of hardboiled fiction when other e-zines were folding. He and editor Scott D. Parker feature one pulp/hardboiled/noir story each week on the website, and the endeavor proved so popular the duo put together an anthology of stories from the website in October 2010 titled Beat to a Pulp: Round One. Now comes the good news that Beat to a Pulp: Round Two has just been released, and Cranmer promises you'll find "aliens, gangsters, drifters, mountain men, private dicks, gun molls, loners, misfits, drunks, thugs, booze-hounds, and more."
Stories include a Hemingway pastiche by mystery author Bill Pronzini (best known for his Nameless Detective series), a Raymond Chandler homage by Hard Case Crime publisher Charles Ardai, a post-war tale with a twist from James Reasoner, a zombie-horror nightmare by Bill Crider, and pulpy goodness from Glenn Gray, Patricia Abbott, Chris F. Holm, Vicki Hendricks, Sean Chercover, Vin Packer and more. You can buy a print copy through Createspace and soon, Amazon (both print and digital).
Here's something else to look forward to: Pulp Ink 2 from Snubnose Press. The first installment, Pulp Ink, was edited by Nigel Bird and Chris Rhatigan and featured 24 stories following on the tradition of the Tarantino movie Pulp Fiction by the likes of Reed Farrel Coleman, Hilary Davidson, Paul D. Brazill, Sandra Seamans, Patti Abbott, David Cranmer, Nigel Bird and Chris Rhatigan.
Anthony Neil Smith called it "a slice of the good stuff from those surviving the brutal sandbox of modern crime fiction and emerging, scraped and bruised, to turn around and spit in its eye," and Chuck Wendig added, "Tongue-piercings. Foot-fetishists. Murderous cinephiles. This gritty, grimy, giddy collection is as pulpy as they come, transcending the Tarantino reference material and stepping into its own." Pulp Ink 2 will take a little different turn and feature stories of crime and horror. I'm quite honored to be included in the company of 18 other terrific writers, the list of which you can find here. Look for Pulp Ink 2 later this summer.
