The U.S. edition of Allan Guthrie's Hard Man is out today, and I strongly recommend you obtain a copy of your own, lest he send El Muerte after you. (Bolivian hit men are not to be trifled with.) Today is also Mr. Guthrie's birthday; he turns 107. What keeps him so young and apple-cheeked? Huge vats of skin cream. I watched him apply it. It's unsettling. So let's all make sure we support Mr. Guthrie's work so he can buy more skin cream. Of course, it also helps that Hard Man is hilarious, disturbing and full of surprises that come when you least expect them. It's the perfect Father's Day present. If you have that kind of dad.Want to win a copy of Barry Eisler's Requiem for an Assassin? Head on over to CHUD.com and prepare to be bad. Real bad.
Seth Harwood, recently featured on a special edition of Shannon Clute and Richard Edwards' Behind the Black Mask, just launched his latest podcast a few days ago: Jack Palms II: This Is Life. I'm still catching up with the first 'cast, but I like the cut of this young man's jib. (Or something like that.) Check it out.
Surely I can't be the only one who's been digging Simon Spurrier's hit man/zombie epic Contract, which is available online, in huge weekly chunks, for free?
And while you can also read David Wellington's excellent hardboiled vampire epic 13 Bullets online for free, I recommend picking up the trade paperback from Three Rivers Press, the cover of which makes stunning use of silver and gore.
I just picked up HARD MAN and just finished 13 BULLETS. Wellington's MONSTER trilogy is crack-like in its addictiveness.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads-up with CONTRACT; looks like an auto-buy. Brains, hitmen, duh.
Thank you!
ReplyDeleteIndeed. That skin cream is pricey. In fact, I can only afford enough to apply it to select areas of my person. So whilst my face is clearly that of a 22-year-old, my buttocks look a good 80 years older.
ReplyDeleteShould we be concerned with what the skin cream is made out of? The only confirmed ingredient is the tears of dying orphan children.
ReplyDelete"...Hard Man is hilarious, disturbing and full of surprises that come when you least expect them."
ReplyDeleteAll true, all true. And even though it's full of action and violence, there's some incredibly good, subtle characters in there. When May finally shows up it's... okay, wait, read it yourself, it's worth it.
And the nail on the cover is embossed, c'mon, that is so cool.
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ReplyDeleteAnd brilliant thanks for pointing out Simon Spurrier's site.
ReplyDeleteAlready engrossed.