You’ve been planning how to kill him all night. There’s not much else to do when you’re sitting on a straight-backed chair, your arms tied behind you, your legs cuffed, a gag in your mouth, tape over your eyes. He left you here without a backward glance. You listened to the door slam, the car […]
One of the beauties of being part of the Shotgun Honey team, of the internet in general, is having had the privilege of “rubbing” shoulders with writers from around the world, and a true gentleman like Nigel Bird. I first “met” Nigel when he caught one of my first stories online and did the darnedest […]
It was Mason’s idea to clean pools. More to the point, it was Mason’s idea for me to clean pools while he drove the van around doing jack shit. Most of Mason’s ideas involved me working my ass off so he didn’t have to, but this job servicing the pools of the rich and infamous […]
“We gotta get outta here, Butler! Fast!” Ralston stood in the open doorway, one foot on the sidewalk, looking like he’d just seen a ghost. Butler rapped his pistol against the cellar door leaving five fresh dimples in the wood. “Let’s move Bonnie! We gotta vamoose, girl!” He stalked across the room and peeked through […]
He paused at the rooftop door. Deep breath. Last chance to focus. Last chance to think about quitting. The breath held, he opened the door. Bent over, he ran towards the edge. Body low, almost on the ground. Like a snake hugging the roof. At the edge he sat, pulled the rucksack off his back. […]
I put my size nine in the door and it splits in a shower of particleboard and cocaine residue. There’s two boneheads on the couch and the sight of my blue eye and .38 launches them out of their seats. The first, a big skinhead with a beer gut, gets two in the chest, one […]
“I need the balls.” “I’m sorry. You need the…” “The balls, the nuts, the testicles.” We were standing in one of Dr. Victor’s examination rooms. Metal table, sink, wood cabinets, pet-sized scale, a box of tissues for when things didn’t turn out well. The air smelled like bleach and sterilization. “We don’t…” Dr. Victor’s eyebrows […]
I’ve always hated hospitals. Saw too many people die in there and ended up too much times up there myself. My work as a bounty hunter frequently makes me end up stabbed, shot or even driven over once. That makes me visit the ER most of the time. This was my first time at the […]
Frank was being a little rougher than he had to be, but from what he heard, Block had been a marine once so he didn’t want underestimate the man. He even had two guys as back-up out in the car. He followed up his right cross with a punch to Block’s stomach. Air left Block’s […]
We dug in the weeds for the body of Baby Dawkins until full moons of dirt opened under our fingernails and our skin wore quilts of sweat. Even traffic cops dug. Amos Dawkins stared through a nailed-shut window. I couldn’t tell if he was looking for his missing daughter or watching to see if we’d […]
Last week saw the release of Chris F. Holm’s first novel DEAD HARVEST, a multi-genre mash-up that walks the line between Heaven and Hell, literally. With an engaging protagonist, Sam Thornton, attempting to unravel the complexities of a job gone wrong and not get in too deep with the boss, it looks as though Holm […]
“Not a whole helluva lot of time left Missus Jupe.” Bev waits like she should and then finally turns the key again. The car whines, sputters and coughs twice. She taps the pedal in and out with an even rhythm. Her eyes are closed and she’s gritting her teeth so hard I think she’s gonna […]
