"We’re all lying in the gutter, but some of us are staring at the spaces between the stars…"

...is one hell of a sentence by Paul Brazill and already telling what kind of narrative he uses in his novella "Kill Me Quick". While there is an ongoing story, often times Brazill delivers more of a quick sketch of what is happening, so it is needed to look between the lines and see what is actually missing here. He doesn´t explain things as much, so the "painting a picture with words" isn´t really happening, but it moves the story along rather fast from one scene to the next.

Which also means any kind of motivation is up for me, the reader, to grasp why any characters do what they do. But when Brazill takes a closer look how and why for example Seatown has gone down the toilet he doesn´t need much but a short description to nail it. Which leads me back to the quoted sentence of the blurb which is extremely fitting, and the context even more, as everyone and everything is in the gutter. Some more, some less.

Mark Hammonds, former bass player of a band named Coronet Blue (big, very big in Poland - couldn´t have been "big in Japan" obviously) returns to Seatown - which is aptly named - after having been away for years. Alas, not everybody has a warm welcome for him as his encounter with some thugs at the beginning of the book shows. With a smashed hand playing music isn´t going to happen anymore, not that he has much going on in the first place. Out of luck his answer to everything is heading to the bar and getting pissed. Which sorta, kinda, eventually influences his decision making quite a bit too.

You have pretty much everything in Kill Me Quick. From a godfather like Don Corleone type to Eastern European strippers to a biker gang, who for some reason are wearing wolf masks, to shaddy drug deals to different scams and murder (and an rather interesting idea how to dispose of the body) and old acquaintances who want to harm him more often than not.

Kill Me Quick is a bit of an oddball crime book with all the pitch black humor and wordplay while the out of luck lowlifes run from one unlucky event to the next. It must be a British thing as everything is delivered with that dry kind of understatement only the Brits have mastered. Not Monthy Python exactly, but with this kind of absurd characters it goes into a similar direction. That kind of where even the strangest situations are funny even they are not funny at all.

Brazill uses a ton of songs and music references in his book. A bit like a soundtrack of an whole era, a neverending jukebox which spits out song after song after song. An era which like Seatown has seen better days. If there is a page without music I haven´t found it yet.

At the end of the book I was almost waiting for someone to sing "Guns Of Brixton", but THAT would have been a bit of a stretch.

(Full disclosure: I received a free pre-publication ARC of "Kill Me Quick" from the author, Paul D. Brazill)

 

After reading Steve Weddle´s ´Country Hardball´ I was looking for more stories by him, and found one, Broken Prayer, in All Due Respect #5, and other authors I wasn´t familiar with. Except Gabino Iglesias whose story in the ´Long Distance Drunks´ anthology already impressed me quite a bit. I can say this with all due respect ;-) that this is a pretty damn solid and fine collection of crime fiction. Impossible for me right now to pick a favorite story, as I have enjoyed them all a ton and some more. Extremely cool and great stuff all of them, and most certainly it makes me want to read more stories or novels by each of those guys. 

Broken Prayer by Steve Weddle

Broken Prayer is actually an excerpt from an upcoming novel, but works pretty damn fine as a short story as well. Very much like in ´Country Hardball´ Weddle´s language is sparse and bleak, and he aims more for the vibe and feeling of the place and time, rural and straight back into the 1950´s or thereabouts, than focusing solely on his characters and their actions. The characters play their roles accordingly as well of course, but what makes it great is the whole existence of a time and place coming back to life. Left me feeling haunted and slightly depressed (no complaints here on my part) due to Weddle´s use of language and story telling skills.

Alkaline by Keith Rawson

A second person narrative and while this is rather unusual it is a great way to tell a story as the permanent "you" makes a personal, even disconnected, connection to the "me". A Friday night trip to Vegas, gamblings, lots of drugs and while at times it seems there is something missing in the story it makes sense due lapses in our main character´s memory. This is it kids, don´t do drugs or you may end up in the desert after a delirious road trip. Drunken and stoned, without knowing what happened, even you might be able to remember the bouncers chasing after your ass. A paranoid story where it is hard to say where reality ends and insanity begins.

The Last Laugh by Paul D. Brazill

A revenge story first and foremost with one of the most merciless killers I have run into recently. Godard (Jean-Luc? probably not) isn´t afraid to pull a lot of punches to get back to old enemies and passers by who just stumble into him the wrong way. Also very much appreciated that is set in Spain and France. Gives a nice contrast to the rest of the stories which are solely based on American soil, with a lot of feelings and marvelous descriptions of Madrid. Including some very touching scenes, memories really, about a long lost love.

First Timer´s Club by Angel Luis Colón

The man with the angelic name, and yeap, I´m sure that joke was told a few times already, is telling a story about a gambling addict in the hand of the mob, who does everything that needs to be done to pay back his debts. And he does so fast and with the only way he can think of. Going after another gambling addict with his own debts to pay. ´First Timer´s Club´ is a short, sharp smack with a hammer. Fast and furious, full of grime but with a loving soul underneath all the cruel decision making that needs to be done. There is only double or nothing at all. Plus it has some beautiful and tender dialogue between our main character, Sean, and his girlfriend. What drives him to get out of the hell he is in is clearly his love for Connie, which makes him everything but a douchebag or loser, but someone really easy to relate to.

Second Chance Cleaners (Reprise) by Garnett Elliott

What happens when two cleaners stumble into an empty flat full of weed? A lot actually, especially when the weed is owned by gangsters. What makes this story funny is what happens before everything goes south. No one here is a prime example of a good citizen exactly, but everyone deserves a second chance. Shit stained carpets and all. You gotta love the felons as you love thy neighbor, including their bad decisions.

Seven Hours To Baton Rouge by Gabino Iglesias

Another gangster with a car full of drugs on the run, even the story itself is mostly set at a hotel room where he tries to figure out what happened to him. Too much booze and drugs most of all, but where is his broken nose coming from? Plus a mysterious woman, coz there is always a mysterious woman behind the scene, and you got a story that turns around its own axis. The only one which had me laughing out loud, having a conclusion that is far from what I expected it to be. Slightly on the bizarre but where there is violence there is lust.

Faces Of The Dead Ones by J.J. Sinisi

The most violent and disturbing story of all. A woman on the search for an old time lover and friend who was living the junkie life in a rundown appartment block full of other druggies. Thug life ain´t for sissies, if there is a lesson to be learned from it. An incredible intense story, dark as the night or a dumpster full of the dead. And then the sadness sets in like a sunset while dealing with demons past and present. This story doesn´t go down with a whisper, but with a bang, as loud as the roaring thunder of a gun.

Included in the magazine is also a bunch of non-fiction stuff. Several book reviews which didn´t particulary interest me, so I skipped those. Way more interesting was the longish and informative interview with Steve Weddle, done by Jedidiah Ayres (author of ´Peckerwood´, one of my fave books I have read this year). Meaty is the word to describe it. Weddle goes in full details about his novel ´Country Hardball´, what he wants to achieve as a writer, where his characters and ideas are coming from. As I already got the impression from his novel, Weddle is someone who has found his voice and writes and tells his stories with confidence and convinction. The interview is more like a conversation of two friends, full of mutual respect, and basically the icing on the cake of my new found love for Steve Weddle. 

Gumshoe - Paul D. Brazill Paul D. Brazill is brilliant. Smiling from ear to ear as I read the book. It's very entertaining. Gumshoe is the third book that I've read from Paul Brazill and I realized that there are 3 reasons why I love his stories: interesting protagonists, rich writing and excellent humor.

Roman Dalton is undoubtedly one of the coolest characters ever created! Love Paul D. Brazill's writing. The language is gorgeous and the atmosphere is just perfect. I'm not giving any spoilers here. Just read it :)

Snapshots - Paul D. Brazill I like these stories – there’s a large cross-over from Brit Grit, which is no longer available. I did recommend you buy that book – if you didn’t, for whatever petulant reason you may have had, then buy this one. It cost 77p on Amazon.There are some who turn their noses up at cheap books. I’ll tell you now that price is not a signifier of quality. No doubt if you were to measure the total quality of every book selling for less than two-pounds against the total quality of every book above that threshold the higher priced books would win out. If you did all your book buying based on that cut off you’d end up with some real stinkers and you’d miss out on books like this. If you buy this book, read it, and decide that your 77 pence could have been better spent elsewhere then walk away now, for you are an ape.The humour is the thing which stands out most for me. A very dark humour lingers below the one liners and the smart repartee. You laugh and then wonder why – because death is not funny and neither is eating murder victims – then you stop wondering and read on. There is also the ease – this man, Paul D. Brazill makes it look easy. He’s the Velvet Underground of short noir. Who will read this book without picking up a pen and trying to emulate him.