Dime Store Riot

If you participated in the Indiegogo campaign for Hoods, Hot Rods, and Hellcats , one of the donation level gifts was a paperback copy with a bookplate signed by all the writers except Mick Farren. Now that all the gifts have been shipped and received, it turns out that I’ve got an extra book plate. So a paperback copy signed by all the writers can be yours and here’s how:   Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran Purchase a copy of Hoods, Hot Rods, and Hellcats . Message me proof of purchase, either through email, Facebook, or this blog by April 17th, 2014. Make sure the subject line reads: HHH — SIGNED COPY. On April 18 th , I’ll pick a name at random, contact you to get your mailing address, and then drop your plated book in the mail. Why April 17 th ? The first person to guess correctly, gets an entry.

Hoods, Hot Rods, and Hellcats is finally available at Amazon . Seeing this through from idea to development to crowdfunding to final release in the world proved to take a lot longer than I thought, but that’s okay. I learned a great deal and, ultimately, the length of time only affects me and my overdeveloped sense of obligation. I hope you’ll take the time to check it out. The ebook is $1.00 and the paperback is $7.50, though if you buy the paperback you can get the ebook free as part of the match program. (If you’re looking for the epub version, message me directly.) There’s some great stories in there. Any one of them is worth the price of the book and the late Mick Farren ’s introduction is pretty amazing.

Some time ago, I started a project called Hoods, Hot Rods, and Hellcats . Besides wanting the experience of self-publishing something, I wanted to put together an anthology of crime fiction that I’d like to read. Not only was I tired of all the modern crime fiction squalor porn set in trailer parks and meth houses, but I was sick of everything that took place in the past being all fedoras and jazz music. For me, the 1950s was an easy choice of time periods. It’s close enough to be familiar but distant enough to allow a bit of freedom, while still managing to carry a conflicting set of images. The 1950s is both A Rebel Without A Cause and Leave It To Be Beaver —which says a great deal about the time period, I think. Far better than I ever could, the legendary Mick Farren, one of my personal heroes, provides in his introduction a far more eloquent and succinct overview of the Eisenhower years as the clash of a newly crowned superpower’s love of placid consumerism with the dis