Every Shallow Cut

My new noirella EVERY SHALLOW CUT is due out from Chizine Pubs on March 15th. You can order a paperback, signed limited hardcover, or ebook here: http://chizine.com/chizinepub/

Some nice advance reviews/blurbs have come in over the past couple of weeks.

"Written in the sparest prose, Every Shallow Cut can easily be read in 90 minutes—and it should be. Doing so makes Piccirilli's matter-of-fact portrait of utter despair more compelling and drives home its austere beauty. Inspired by current economic hardship and possibly by his own worst nightmares, Piccirilli dedicates the book to readers who share such fears. Ninety minutes spent with Every Shallow Cut will sting for years."—Thomas Gaughan, Booklist

"Sometimes we write in blood, sometimes in tears, and in EVERY SHALLOW CUT Tom Piccirilli has done both. It's a book that is profoundly moving and astonishing, his most vulnerable, shining, stunning hour."–Ken Bruen, author of The Guards and London Boulevard.

"It's the rare and gifted writer who can convincingly relate abject despair and be funny without diluting the impact."—Eddie Muller, Founder and president of the Film Noir Foundation.

"Every Shallow Cut is bloody brilliant. So many emotional wallops in so few pages."—Sarah Weinman, Crime fiction columnist for the LA Times

"I love the writing here. It is stripped down to a kind of Charles Willeford-Charles Williams simplicity that is all the more effective for its bluntness and accessability. The dialogue is dead-on....Tom Piccirilli has written many fine books and stories but at this point in his career, for me anyway, I would call Every Shallow Cut his masterpiece."–Ed Gorman, author of The Day the Music Died.

While the World Freezes

Baby, it's cold outside. We've had a balmy autumn and winter thus far, but last night we hit negative numbers and still haven't come out of them. It would make for good writing time except a new story I just started takes place in summer, and I just can't even remember right now what summer feels like.

So while the world freezes, here's a bit of what's been happening here:

My noirella FRAYED is now available via Amazon Kindle. Thi sis one of my earlier attempts at writing an offbeat crime story at the novella length, with some slight (possible) brushes of dark fantasy.

From the jacket:

“Are you the one who helped him kill the angel?”

Twenty years of repressed anger and memories. A bitter knot of hatred that binds and divides two friends. The dark secret that fuels and devastates them both.

“He killed it. I only helped him to bury it.”

Eddie's doing his best to get by, but every day the good fight just gets harder. And now there's a new burden to shoulder. Gray - his best friend and nemesis in literature, romance, and life - has landed in a bizarre mental hospital, known for its radical treatments, because Gray couldn't bear the weight of an unspeakable trauma. The last time they met, Gray almost killed Eddie, but it seems that all is finally forgiven. Tonight, there's a wild hootenanny up at Gray's house. The nuthouse. And Eddie's invited.

A new interview with me is now up at Spinetingler, focusing on the e-publication of NIGHTJACK.

Another nice review of NIGHTJACK can be found HERE.

The one and only Ed Gorman had some generous comments for my upcoming noirella EVERY SHALLOW CUT, due out in March from Chizine Publications. Ed states: "I love the writing here. It is stripped down to a kind of Charles Willeford-Charles Williams simplicity that is all the more effective for its bluntness and accessability. The dialogue is dead-on....Tom Piccirilli has written many fine books and stories but at this point in his career, for me anyway, I would call Every Shallow Cut his masterpiece."

Here's the product description of EVERY SHALLOW CUT: "He's nameless, faceless, and has nothing left to lose - and now he has a gun! Alone except for his beloved bulldog, Churchill, a man who's failed at his career, his marriage, and his own simple hopes makes his way across the American landscape and the spectacle of his own bitter past, heading home to his brother when he knows there's no home left for him. Tom Piccirilli brings us a story for our current struggling times, taken directly from a broken heart. It is full of realism, grit, and a depth that gives voice to the fears most of us can barely imagine. The terror of loss, the overwhelming dread of failure, the horror of missed-out, mediocre dreams. And the all-too average explosive rage."

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Also: Still doing critiques for those who are interested. $250 for 5-10 single-space critique of a full manuscript or $50 for up to 40 pages of a short story, novella, or opening chapters of a novel, 2-3 page critique. Drop me a line here or at PicSelf1@aol.com.

Cabin Fever

Suffering through a touch of cabin fever since the weather's been less than peachy with snow and wind storms the past few days. But it looks like it'll be rather balmy today. Man, I can use a stroll around the lake or at least a visit to B&N. Anybody else feel like they're going out of their frickin' heads this winter?

But being locked away inside has at least kept me busy working steadily on THE LAST WHISPER IN THE DARK, the tentatively-titled sequel to THE LAST KIND WORDS, my next novel due out from Bantam...some time this year, hopefully. About 20k words in and pleased with the feel and direction of the book.

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The first generous comment has come in for EVERY SHALLOW CUT, via Twitter: "ESC is bloody brilliant. So many emotional wallops in so few pages."--Sarah Weinman, Crime fiction columnist for the LA Times. This noirella is due out from Chizine Publications on March 22.

Comin' at ya this February, a new anthology from Joe R. Lansdale and Tachyon Books. Crucified Dreams looks like another great compilation from Hisownself, and I'm proud to be part of it. Also included are: Stephen King, Harlan Ellison®, Joe Haldeman, Norman Partridge, David Morrell, Charlie Huston, Lewis Shiner, Jonathan Lethem & plenty of other talented folks. This one will feature a reprint of my lengthy piece "Loss."

Also, due out in Oct. from St. Martin's, is The Monster's Corner ed. by Christopher Golden. The theme of this anthology is that all the stories are from the monster's point of view. Included here are: Jonathan Maberry, Kevin J. Anderson, Sharyn McCrumb, David Moody, Kelley Armstrong , Dana Stabenow, Chelsea Cain, Heather Graham, Tananarive Due, Michael Marshall Smith, Gary A. Braunbeck, and Simon R. Green. My own offering is entitled "The Cruel Thief of Rosy Infants."

Critiquing

I've been critiquing the novels of friends and professional colleagues for years, and now I'm going to offer my services to others. $250 for 5-10 single-spaced pages of critique pointing out strengths and weaknesses of narrative voice, characterization, plot, dialogue, and what bestseller Steve Berry calls the "oomph factor." What I won't do: red-pen your ms. where grammar/typos are concerned or help you find an agent or publisher. Depending on what kind of a response I get, the return time could be anything from a couple of hours to a couple of months. If you're interested, drop a line here, on my Facebook, or privately at PicSelf1@aol.com. Keep in mind I've written everything from cozies, noir, occult, horror, dark fantasy, and erotica in my twenty-year career. Don't send me romances. Not because I'm biased against them (I'm not) but I haven't written in the form and so don't feel comfortable offering advice in the genre. Otherwise, have at it.

The Last Deep Breath

My noirella THE LAST DEEP BREATH, which was originally published by Tasmaniac and went out of print in short order, is now available in digital format from Crossroad Press. Only $2.99. You'll find it up on Amazon Kindle in a day or two.

Thank Christ that 2010 is Fucking Over

Or almost so. Man, I don't think I know anyone who had a truly good year. Every kindness was tempered with some vicious blow to the kidneys. Everybody was pretty wrecked financially, took a shellacking personally and professionally, and more than a little emotionally. Most of us made it through though, singed around the edges as we might be.

Those of you paying attention know my wife Michelle suffered a heart attack back on April 1st (prompting me to actually tell the 911 operator, "This isn't an April Fool's joke, man, send an ambulance pronto.") After a spookyass ride to the hospital where I followed behind the ambulance and watched as it stopped at all the stop signs, casually drove the speed limit, and waited patiently at red lights, only to see them finally turn on the siren about a half-mile from the hospital, they finally got to the ER and zipped her inside. (Ambulance driver drove around the parking lot twice looking for the ER entrance--seriously). In any case, she came through surgery with flying colors. She handled a few days in ICU and months of physical rehab like a trooper. She's now much healthier than me. And you, for that matter.

At least three of my buddies saw the dissolution of their marriages, and several watched as their careers took a major step backwards for one reason or another. For the first time in something like 11 years I didn't have a novel come out in print, although NIGHTJACK did see its digital and audiobook release.

For more on the beatdown, you can check out my essay "Dead Mower Dreams & the Weeds of Boo Radley."

But some good stuff did occur in 2010, so let me focus on that from now until we usher the nasty bitch right out the door:

A ton of my stuff was released on Kindle through Crossroad Press, including NIGHTJACK, THE FEVER KILL, ALL YOU DESPISE, FUCKIN' LIE DOWN ALREADY, SHORT RIDE TO NOWHERE, LOSS, and THE NOBODY.

Bookgasm noted FUTILE EFFORTS as Collection of the Year.

The audiobook of THE MIDNIGHT ROAD became available.

THE COLDEST MILE won the International Thriller Award for Best Paperback Original.

And of course, in the end, the best thing I can say about 2010 is that I survivied it, and so did you. We're both still here, my friend, trying to hold onto our faith. It's not always easy. In fact, often its impossible, but somehow we find ourselves still moving forward, trying our damnedest to collect the dream and haul it in close for a bear hug. Here's hoping 2011 is a little easier on us all. In the meantime, thanks for being here and sharing this bizarre thing called life with me.

The Midnight Road Audiobook now available

The Blackstone Audio release of THE MIDNIGHT ROAD is now available. Seriously dig the reader, Donald Corren, who brings a real life to the story without indulging in theatrics. My thanks to Blackstone and Don!