Fantastic News About UNLOADED
I was in Banff, Alberta, last week, so I missed some amazing news: superstar reviewer Oline Cogdill published her list of the best mystery fiction of 2016, and she included UNLOADED: CRIME WRITERS WRITING WITHOUT GUNS. I’ve been in plenty of collections, but this one is especially close to my heart. The concept behind it was to have crime writers pen dark and disturbing stories, only without guns in them. It was Eric Beetner’s brainchild, and while it took a long time for the project to find a home, in the end it found a perfect one with Down & Out Books. All of the writers donated stories, with the proceeds of the books going to the nonprofit States United to Prevent Gun Violence. As Eric wrote in his introduction:
From best sellers and writing legends to the brightest stars of the next generation of crime writers, the twenty-five authors here have taken pen in hand to say enough is enough. Gun violence has got to stop and this is our way of speaking out — by showing that gun violence can be removed from the narrative, and maybe from our lives.
It’s not anti-gun, it’s pro-sanity. And above anything else, these are thrilling crime stories that will surprise and shock, thrill and chill — all without a gun in sight.
If you haven’t checked out UNLOADED, I hope you will now. My contribution to the collection, “Swan Song,” is particularly twisted, and so are the contributions of the other writers, including Joyce Carol Oates, Joe R. Lansdale, Reed Farrel Coleman, Alison Gaylin, Rob Hart, Joe Clifford, Holly West, Thomas Pluck, Tom Pitts, and a host of terrific talents. UNLOADED is available in print and as an eBook; buy it from Amazon, Nook, Kobo, IndieBound, or at your favorite independent bookstore. It makes a great holiday gift!