Posts Tagged: Go Down Hard

A Brash Holiday Season is Coming

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The holiday season is upon us, and it's that time of year for gratitude and reflection. In this edition of the Brash Books newsletter, we share our fond remembrance of a beloved Brash author, along with another amazing award, a fresh new story, a rave review—and an abundance of upcoming releases for your reading pleasure. DOUBLE WIDE WINS AGAIN! The awards keep coming for DOUBLE WIDE and Leo W. Banks! Banks' debut thriller just received the 2018 Best Mystery Novel award from the New Mexico Book Co-op, announced at a gala awards banquet in Albuquerque on November 16th. Along with this latest honor, DOUBLE WIDE also has received two Western Writers of America 2018 Spur Awards and Best... more

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Keep the Jetsam…You Could be Tossing an Award

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On the morning that my novel Go Down Hard was published,  I expected the day to be filled with social media tasks. Early reviews had been positive (the American Library Association's Booklist said, "It's a crime novel dream."), friends had been supportive, and my publisher Brash Books had been enthusiastic and generous with marketing initiatives (a rare trait in a publisher these days). But my plans were quickly, and pleasantly, derailed by the news that I had been nominated for an Anthony Award for a short story called Honeymoon Sweet. For the uninitiated, the Anthony is given out every year at Bouchercon, the world's largest crime writing convention, which takes place this year in... more

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You’ve Got To Open with a Grabber…

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Bang out of the gate.  Or else. Are you one of those readers who scan the first paragraph of a book and puts it down if it doesn't grab you?  I am.  If I'm feeling ornery, I'll give the author only one line to snag me.  So, as a writer, I make a point of trying to write openings that pop in order to avoid losing those readers who are as quick to judge as I. The first line has to be a grabber. A lot of writers like to set the scene before diving into a story, but most readers aren't interested in what a character feels or how a setting looks unless they're already invested in that character or wonder about that setting.  As Elmore Leonard famously advised, "Never open a book with... more

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Writing Noir & Crime Fiction: It’s All In The Voice

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I write noir.  To me, noir is all about voice.  A lot of noir writers go to great lengths to imitate the voices of the greats.  I have neither the memory, the critical analysis skills, nor the patience to do that. So my voice is, by default, my own.  I consider my work neo-noir because it adds a certain psychological and emotional realism and depth that the classics lack but today's readers have come to expect. I wrote my first novel, Go Down Hard, and am writing my novel-in-progress in first-person present tense, which gives the work a feeling of urgency.  My novella and the short story that spawned it, Dead End (which was just nominated for an Anthony Award), are in third-person... more

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