Brit Grit Alley features interviews, news and updates on what's happening down British crime fiction's booze and blood soaked alleyways.
A few recent Brit Grit publications that should be of interest:
Gerard Brennan – Breaking Point.
The blurb: Brian Morgan's relationship with his weed dealer has moved on to the next level. Stony Tony is a kung fu enthusiast with ambitions to become a master in his own style. But first he needs to establish a loyal following of students. Brian could use some time away from Rachel O'Hare to figure out whether he loves her or is afraid to leave her, although it's hard to focus on anything after a few tokes of Tony's Blueberry Cheesecake. Rachel is as indecisive about their relationship as Brian, but she knows that no good can come of a strange little pot-head getting involved in their lives. Meanwhile, a goon with a bad ear a big grudge also has eyes for Brian...
Ryan Bracha – Paul Carter is a Dead Man.
The blurb: In 2009 a bomb exploded, killing over 400 British citizens, including three generations of heir to the throne. Religious extremists took responsibility and the country went into meltdown. The British government was overthrown, and its troops withdrawn from overseas. The one-time empire closed its doors to the rest of the world. Law enforcement as it was no longer existed. The power was returned to the British people, and criminals were placed in online public courts for twenty four hours, to be judged.
The sentence for murder, death. The sentence for anti-British behaviour, death. The sentence for swearing, death.
In 2014 Paul Carter kills a man, and is now on the run. The thing is, Paul is smart. He's had enough of the new regime, and he's not the only one. He finds himself as an accidental revolutionary, and the voice of the disillusioned masses. He must learn to embrace the responsibilty that has been thrust into his lap, and kick hard against a system which has failed everybody.
Paul Carter is a Dead Man is a horrifying glimpse into the future from the Amazon best-selling author of Strangers Are Just Friends You Haven't Killed Yet and is set to be the first book of theDead Man trilogy.
Aidan Thorn - Criminal Thoughts.
The blurb: Criminal Thoughts is the first collection of short stories from Aidan Thorn. Inside you'll find 11 hard boiled tales of revenge, deceit, extortion and murder. Take a look inside the minds of hit men, gangsters, policemen, prisoners and more as they wade through the underworld.
Aidan's Fiction has been Published in the Near to the Knuckle Anthology: Gloves Off and in the Byker Books Radgepacket series. His work has also appeared online at Near to the Knuckle, Thrillers, Killers N' Chillers and Thrills, Kills, N' Chaos.
Andy Rivers – The Spy Who Bluffed Me!
The blurb: The name's Palmer...Pagga Palmer...
Neville 'Pagga' Palmer is an over-sexed, run-of-the-mill doorman with delusions of grandeur. Despite being terrified of his local rivals and thicker than a whale omelette he's convinced that he's a highly trained spy who is simply 'sleeping' until needed by the security services. This isn't a scenario that anyone who has ever met him would think likely...until one day an upper-class, blonde-haired spook asks him to sign the official secrets act and tells him that his services are required for Queen and country...
Bad guys beware 'cos Pagga's coming to save the world!
Andrew Scorah – The Strange Days Of Eddie Crow.
As a private investigator and former policeman, Eddie Shannon is used to dealing with the darker side of human existence, but when he is bequeathed a fortune from, Alexander Crow, a dead grandfather he never knew about. Eddie learns he is not who he thought he was. He was born Eddie Crow, the hunter in the night, the last one alive to defend against the old ones, devils and demons, who dwell in the eldritch dark of the crawling chaos, and want to invade our world. He has to come to terms with who and what he is, because a thrall of the old ones has been disturbed at an archaeological dig and wants to feed. As he learns what it means to be the last hunter, Eddie soon discovers life can be very dark indeed.
The blurb: In 2009 a bomb exploded, killing over 400 British citizens, including three generations of heir to the throne. Religious extremists took responsibility and the country went into meltdown. The British government was overthrown, and its troops withdrawn from overseas. The one-time empire closed its doors to the rest of the world. Law enforcement as it was no longer existed. The power was returned to the British people, and criminals were placed in online public courts for twenty four hours, to be judged.
The sentence for murder, death. The sentence for anti-British behaviour, death. The sentence for swearing, death.
In 2014 Paul Carter kills a man, and is now on the run. The thing is, Paul is smart. He's had enough of the new regime, and he's not the only one. He finds himself as an accidental revolutionary, and the voice of the disillusioned masses. He must learn to embrace the responsibilty that has been thrust into his lap, and kick hard against a system which has failed everybody.
Paul Carter is a Dead Man is a horrifying glimpse into the future from the Amazon best-selling author of Strangers Are Just Friends You Haven't Killed Yet and is set to be the first book of theDead Man trilogy.
Aidan Thorn - Criminal Thoughts.
The blurb: Criminal Thoughts is the first collection of short stories from Aidan Thorn. Inside you'll find 11 hard boiled tales of revenge, deceit, extortion and murder. Take a look inside the minds of hit men, gangsters, policemen, prisoners and more as they wade through the underworld.
Aidan's Fiction has been Published in the Near to the Knuckle Anthology: Gloves Off and in the Byker Books Radgepacket series. His work has also appeared online at Near to the Knuckle, Thrillers, Killers N' Chillers and Thrills, Kills, N' Chaos.
Andy Rivers – The Spy Who Bluffed Me!
The blurb: The name's Palmer...Pagga Palmer...
Neville 'Pagga' Palmer is an over-sexed, run-of-the-mill doorman with delusions of grandeur. Despite being terrified of his local rivals and thicker than a whale omelette he's convinced that he's a highly trained spy who is simply 'sleeping' until needed by the security services. This isn't a scenario that anyone who has ever met him would think likely...until one day an upper-class, blonde-haired spook asks him to sign the official secrets act and tells him that his services are required for Queen and country...
Bad guys beware 'cos Pagga's coming to save the world!
Andrew Scorah – The Strange Days Of Eddie Crow.
As a private investigator and former policeman, Eddie Shannon is used to dealing with the darker side of human existence, but when he is bequeathed a fortune from, Alexander Crow, a dead grandfather he never knew about. Eddie learns he is not who he thought he was. He was born Eddie Crow, the hunter in the night, the last one alive to defend against the old ones, devils and demons, who dwell in the eldritch dark of the crawling chaos, and want to invade our world. He has to come to terms with who and what he is, because a thrall of the old ones has been disturbed at an archaeological dig and wants to feed. As he learns what it means to be the last hunter, Eddie soon discovers life can be very dark indeed.
Martin Stanley – The Curious Case Of The Missing Moolah.
The blurb: Eric Stanton has a big problem. Three armed robbers have stolen ten grand of his boss’ money from him. So far, so bad.
However, his boss isn’t the kind of man who will take that kind of loss lying down. If Eric can't get the money back, then it becomes his debt. And his boss isn't the kind of man he wants to owe money to, especially when he can’t afford to pay. So Stanton has one option: get the money back before anybody notices it’s gone!
But when he realises that he’s been set up, and that this is part of a bigger picture, he does the one thing he can think of to even up the score – he brings in his brother, Derek. Now, Derek might not be the smartest man on the planet, or the most reliable, but he’s six-feet four, strong as an ox and handy with his fists.
So the brothers decide to play detective, and take a trip around the seamier parts of Teesside in search of the money – upsetting the locals, breaking bones and trading quips, right up until the brutal finale.
Foul-mouthed, fast-moving and bone-crunchingly violent – this is one Case that’s bound to make you Curious
The blurb: Benedict Jones’ novella Skewered takes us onto the mean streets of South East London. An Asian business tycoon has been kidnapped and Charlie ‘Bars’ Constaniou, just out from a third stretch in prison and stuck working in his uncle’s kebab shop, is more than ready to hand over the ransom money for a cut of the action. But simple plans never pan out and soon Charlie is up to his neck in a crooked family feud that involves a stellar cast of misfits including a psychotic torturer and a classic femme fatale. David Goodis meets Get Carter by the Thames in this Noir feast. Five down and dirty short stories accompany Skewered into the British capital’s criminal underbelly.
There'll be more carryings on down Brit Grit Alley very soon, sorta kinda thing, like.