Ol’ buzzard smell the carrion rot, ol’ possum climb the tree, I’ll find your body in the night, I’ll put my gun to thee. I was a young man when I left Grant County to fight the Germans. I saw enough death to last ten lifetimes. But, somehow, when I got back, I wanted just […]
We are thrilled to release Bad Makes Bad by Ilyn Welch, the follow up to her debut novel Signs of Pain featuring Cherry Orozco. About the Book Cherry Orozco keeps slapping women—in her dreams. And she’s a sleep-deprived mess. Free group therapy at a neighborhood mental-health center steers her to confront issues of past and […]
My life is a set of routines and obligations. Which doesn’t give me much time to think for myself. The week before Christmas, I drove Winston’s silver Cadillac DeVille downtown to buy presents for his office staff and his mother. I’ll have to wrap them and sign his name on the card. I stopped by […]
Excerpted from an interview in the Hillsboro, TX, Beacon, October, 7, 1936. Behind the counter, the cook stands eyeballing the three of us as we come in. There’s a couple of farmers at a table to our left and a husband and wife drinking coffee on the far end. We march to the right and […]
The mouth heals quickly. In two or three days, this hole two-thirds of the way through the inside of my face will be gone. That is if I could just keep my tongue out of it. Ironically enough, I received this war wound preventing violence. Or, at least, attempting to prevent it. See, my drinking […]
March 10th Dear Highland Woods, You are the perfect neighborhood for us! You offer an ideal place for me and Alex to start over after her. We will leave the past behind as we settle down here in a lovely home with our very own garden. I can’t wait to live in bliss. With gratitude, […]
We’d gotten across the border with no problem. Patrol was lazy, as I’d barely been patted down. My assistant, they left her alone completely. I think age and beauty had something to do with it. Me in my seventies and her an intimidating sight you’d more likely see on canvas than walking down a street. […]
Over the last two years we’ve had the pleasure to release Bobby Mathew’s debut, LIVING THE GIMMICK, and sophomore release, MAGIC CITY BLUES. Once again into the breach with NEGATIVE TILT: Stories, a collection that is more than crime, but full of heart, hope, and sorrow. What to Expect inside… An out-of-work journalist finds a […]
“Baby, I like this new, kinky side of you,” I said, touching the cool cloth covering my eyes. “I thought you would,” she purred. “Did you miss me?” “You know it.” It’d been a few weeks since I’d seen her. Now here she was, lingering outside my usual haunt, tempting me to take a walk […]
They were married, but not to each other. Their destruction was mutually assured. You’re telling my husband? Not before I tell your wife. They met at a school drop-off, and were late for pick-up. During their third tryst they discovered they were also into guns. They took turns pulling the trigger on probably-empty cylinders, late […]
For as long as I remember, Eric Beetner has been a fixture of the crime writing community. He became part of the Shotgun Honey community with his story “A Measure of Time” back in 2011, our inaugural year. He’s contributed to our Shotgun Honey Presents series, kindly blurbed some of our novels, and is often […]
