Dime Store Riot

I don’t think it’s any secret that I’m a Shane Stevens fan. He’s my crime fiction idol and, in case you’ve missed noticing the tab at the top of this blog, he’s also my long-term research obsession. Recently, I was pleased to learn Richard Godwin is also a fan. If you head over to The Slaughterhouse , you can read a lengthy and very in-depth interview Richard conducted with me recently—one Stevens fan to another. He asked a lot of great, probing questions, really pushing me to think long and hard about Shane and his work. It was so engaging and exciting for me, I had to sweeten the pot and offer Richard one of the rarest things ever—a picture of the man himself.

On the way to work last week, I actually listened to the radio for a bit. The only worthwhile local station happened to play “Supernova,” the new song by Ray LaMontagne from the likewise titled album. I liked the song, thought it was catchy and a little bit more upbeat than his usual fare, at least what I’ve heard of his music. It’s so rare to hear something new on the radio that I like, I had to send the song to my wife. I searched on Youtube for what I thought was a vocal only track. Her vision is so bad now, I worried that if I sent the music video she’d strain to see it and that would upset her more, serve as a vicious reminder how much her sight has deteriorated. Soon as I saw this this one labelled: Supernova (Audio), I sent her the link. But I didn’t watch it. She texted me a few minutes later, said she liked the song and “that’s what I see.” I texted her back: ? She told me to close one eye and put my hand over, start the video and watch it up close w

The first volume of Veridical Dreams is now available from Beat To A Pulp. Using fragments from poet Kyle J. Knapp’s dream journals as their inspiration, The Lizard’s Ardent Uniform features brand-new fiction from Chris F. Holm, Terrie Farley Moran, Patti Abbott, Evan V. Corder, Steve Weddle, Hilary Davidson, and Garnett Elliott. I’ve been reading this on my lunch break, and it’s pretty damn good. Variety is always the appeal of an anthology, but’s also usually its drawback too. So far, however, every story has been top shelf. I hope you’ll take a moment and check it out. For the story behind the anthology, go here . For the ebook version, go here . For a print version, go here .