Darrin Doyle’s short story collection, Scoundrels Among Us, hit shelves this week and Darrin is here to talk about the common thread that ties these stories together. “A lot of fiction contains somebody doing something bad or wrong, but often they’re making bad decisions for themselves (or to themselves). My collection features many folks (mostly men) behaving in creepy, questionable, violent, or otherwise unseemly ways.”
I found the collection to be a celebration of the absurd and highly entertaining. Darrin also shares what’s on his TBR pile – including works such as Louise Erdrich’s The Plague of Doves, Christine Schutt’s All Souls, Christine Sneed’s The Virginity of Famous Men and Katie Chase’s Man & Wife.
Hunter Shea admits his love for Real Housewives and talks about the scariest night of his life and inspiration for Creature. Hunter also talks about his cats, Iris and Salem, in this author assistant feature.
Judy Penz Sheluk talks about her writing companion, a pup named for a character from NCIS: Gibbs
Reviews:
Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse reviewed by Sandra Ruttan
Scoundrels Among Us by Darrin Doyle reviewed by Sandra Ruttan
Solemn Graves: A Billy Boyle World War II Mystery by James R. Benn reviewed by Theodore Feit
The Sinners by Ace Atkins reviewed by Theodore Feit
A Book To Look Up
What is ‘voice’ anyway?
Thoughts on Horror
I suspect there could be as many conversations about what horror is as there are about what noir is. Laura Lauro’s tweets pointed me to the Aeon.co article by M.M. Owen, which is well worth a look.
“Horror is what anthropologists call biocultural. It is about fears we carry because we are primates with a certain evolved biology: the corruption of the flesh, the loss of our offspring. It is also about fears unique to our sociocultural moment: the potential danger of genetically modifying plants. The first type of fear is universal; the second is more flexible and contextual. Their cold currents meet where all great art does its work, down among the bottomless caves on the seabed of consciousness. Lurking here, a vision of myself paralysed in the dirt, invisible to those I love.”
Quinn Colson finally is going to tie the knot, but events tend to interfere with the planning, much less the ceremony itself. It’s a good thing Maggie Powers, his betrothed, is an understanding woman. As sheriff ofTibbehah County, Mississippi, Colon is hoping for some quiet, but an invasion of a couple of gangsters, a drug war and assorted underworld internecine strife tends to interfere.