Dan Stout's "Titanshade" is a winning combo of cop investigating murder on an alien planet with magical elements

What do you get when you mix alien murder, dark world building, a retro 70’s aesthetic and elements of magic and science fiction?  If you are lucky, you will be reading “Titanshade”, Dan Stout’s entertaining debut novel which combines politics, murder, aliens, magic and a charging plot in a boomtown city on the edge of catastrophe. It’s a mix of cop cars and dying magic, disco music and necromancy.  And a great portrait of a cop who lives for the hunt and solving crimes.  Stout’s gritty hero is Carter, a homicide cop, who is always in trouble with the brass, but finds the investigation of the murder of a Squib diplomat has far reaching consequences for his city and the people who live there.  Stout’s writing is spot on and the noir detective story with magic and modern technology works really well.

The Squibs are an alien amphibian race who live and work in Titanshade, a boomtown, which has been awash in a sea of greenbacks from the discovery and oil drilling.  But what happens when the oil runs out.  Cities try to get a new investment and reinvent themselves. Titanshade is deep in negotiations with a Squib delegation, who are interested in making a new investment in Titanshade by turning the oil fields into wind farms, when one of the members turns up dead in a sleazy hotel. This is not a novel for the squeamish, as the victim seems to have been involved heavily with human and other alien prostitutes.

Carter has been joined on the case by Ajax, a young Mollenkampi, another alien race that made its home in Titanshade.  As part of the investigation, Carter calls on the services of DO Guyer, a magic user, who can, with the use of manna, examine the entrails of a dead person or even call up the dead through a type of necromancy.  Manna, a magical substance used to power spells, that once was abundant in Titanshade, is also disappearing from the city, making all magical spells much more expensive. As a reader, unless you are in a world of total magic, the less magic that is used in a world the more believable the world becomes. Magic is like having a superhero run rampant through your story. So Stout’s limited use of magic in the story increases the velocity of the cop elements of the story by focusing it on investigation and not miraculous cures.

The Titanshade elites want the investigation wrapped up quickly, but Carter will not be pushed into arresting the wrong perp.  And there are a lot of crimes going on. An entire family is murdered. Is it connected?  The elites want it to be.  And there are a lot of power players.  Ambassador Paulus, a leader, and prime magic user in the government and her assistant, the diplomatic envoy Gellica, who has her own secrets, soon reveal themselves to be involved in some way.  Harlan Cedrow, the current head of one of the old oil families, who has the most to lose from the oil field devastation,  and there is Flanagan, a disgraced ex-cop, who has fallen in with a religious cult.  Carter takes a flame thrower approach, everyone who touches the investigation is burned.

Stout mixes all of the elements well and sets his bulldog investigator to follow the clues to the killer. It’s a complex investigation, but Carter is not going to walk away. 

This is what we as readers want in a cop story set in an alien landscape peopled with interesting characters and situations.

It is a find. Go discover it.

Blind Blondie

Scarlet Blackwell
eXtasy Books
Reviewed by Nancy
4 out of 5 stars

Summary

Artist and playboy beach bum Sam's life is turned around when he meets blind Kieran and falls hard for him. Kieran is fiercely independent and doesn't need a man like Sam in his life. But Sam needs a man like Kieran and it's up to him to persuade Kieran he's worth a shot.

My Review

This story is told by Sam, who happens to be cruising down Main Street in the summer, catching glimpses of the gorgeous male bodies strolling around. Right away he spots Blondie, carrying a walking stick and using a sign to hail a taxi.

Sam pulls over and learns Blondie is on his way to the animal hospital. Blondie is gorgeous, but Sam doesn’t need the hassle of dealing with a blind guy or his dog, so he drops him off, never expecting to see him again.

Blondie knows Sam is no cab driver and calls the cops to prevent him from picking up other vulnerable people. After the cops pay him a visit, Sam is furious with Blondie and knows he should forget about him, but it’s just not happening.

Sam continues to pursue Blondie and is rejected at every turn. It takes a lot more than bribing a prickly concierge, a dog toy, flowers, and gifts to warm Kieran’s heart and melt his resistance. Kieran is perfectly capable of taking care of himself and knows that very few men are interested in dating a disabled guy. Sam is persistent, however, and won’t give up until Kieran relents.

Sam is a fun-loving, slutty guy with a big ego. He’s also a very talented artist who lacks ambition. He is starting to fall for Kieran and must prove to him that he can be the kind of man Kieran deserves. It’s a tough challenge for Sam, but he gradually changes and matures. Kieran is a tough nut to crack and it takes a tragedy to finally make him see that Sam is perfect for him in every way.

I loved Sam’s inner thoughts, his artistic expression, Kieran’s dog, and the kinky sex.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable, funny, sweet and heartwarming romance. Blind guys need love too.

When Korwa Fell

When Korwa Fell by James A. Moore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Read for free here

Korwa was the capital of the old empire and it's remains are within the blasted lands. The is a story from the people of the Seven Forges about the fall of Korwa.

On its own When Korwa Fell seems largely unimportant. Perhaps after finishing the series the details of this short story will take on greater importance. As it stands the short story seems to simply be a story shared between the people of the forges.

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"Crisis" by Felix Francis is a good murder mystery in the vein of Dick Francis, just not as good

What if Dick Francis never wrote novels and what you started with was a Felix Francis novel. When do we stop comparing the son to the father. Their styles are completely different. Dick Francis wrote in your face, mano a mano novels where the hero set out to defeat a evil plot in the horse racing world, typically taking the evildoers to the cleaners himself, but not before he faced extreme pressure to give up. As I have said before, a Felix Francis books lacks the early Dick Francis's pacing, wording and ties to horse racing, but he does know how to paint the numbers. He has overcome the stylistic differences between his writing in some instances. I felt, however, that this was not one of them.

"Crisis", Felix Francis latest murder mystery set tangentially in the English horse racing world, has a good little murder mystery at its heart and a decent hero sort, who shows some spine and lust. But this is just a good book, nothing spectacular and maybe that is what we should continue to look forward to.

There is a lot of good horse racing information. From a brief walk through of an auctioneer area, to morning gallops of the trainers and information about signing horses up for runs. But the information is dropped (info dump style) in as if we are observing from afar or reading something written just to be inserted therein. It lacks punch and vitality. In one instance, the info dump does not even advance the story at all.

Harrison Foster, the nattily dressed hero is a "crisis manager", who is investigating the death of seven horses trained by Ryan Chadwick at a training yard that used to be owned by his father Oliver Chadwick. Tony Chadwick is a jockey who rides for the family. The horses are owned by Foster's client Sheikh Karim. He soon learns that human remains were found at the scene of the fire, and picks up another client, Declan Chadwick, Ryan's brother who is suspected of killing the victim, who turns out to be a relative of the Chadwick men.

While the early going of the book establishes Foster's bona fides and that he knows nothing about the horse racing world, it takes a little time to do so, but reads okay.

But Francis's book bogs down in the middle because he telegraphs "Why" the victim of the crime was suffering psychotic episodes way too early and the "Who" is limited to just a small coterie  of the Chadwick men Also, the novel feels a little too soap opera like. Feuding brothers, dominating father, cowed mothers, women in their cups way too early in the morning, the tropes are standard mystery fare.

Its been said many times that Dick Francis mostly failed to have female love interests in his novels. But Felix Francis has never been shy to include some love interest, so this book also has Foster finding true love.

Foster will be stuck in a barn with a violent horse, and has all the spine of previous Francis heroes and will have to use some wit to figure out the killer but it takes a long time coming.

Not my favorite read.

But if you never read a Dick Francis novel, maybe you will be satisfied with this work.

But for the rest of us, its a good mystery, but not a "Dick Francis Novel"

With This Ring

J.M. Snyder
JMS Books
Reviewed by Nancy
4 out of 5 stars

Summary

Matt diLorenzo’s ex, Jordan, confesses all to a tabloid, telling the world Matt’s secret—something in his semen gives his sexual partners super powers. After the article appears, Matt expects all sorts of weirdos to try to track him down, but the only call he receives is from a research scientist at a local condom factory who claims to have a solution to his little “problem.”

The offer is tempting, since the powers Vic Braunson receives from Matt during their lovemaking sessions are unpredictable and scary. Matt wants to keep his lover safe, and is eager to hear what the scientist has to suggest. And Vic is willing to try the cure and lose his superhero abilities for his lover’s peace of mind...even if it means losing the special mental connection they share, a bond formed by the powers, a bond that has become such a part of their lives that neither is quite prepared when it suddenly disappears.

Then Vic discovers that the scientist has an agenda of his own. Can he protect Matt, even without his super strength or their mental bond?

My Review

After 5 years together, Vic grew accustomed to the superpowers bestowed on him every time he and Matt made love. Matt worried that his powers would eventually harm Vic. When an Indian researcher reads about Matt’s superpowers in a tabloid magazine, he contacts him and offers a cure. Matt wants to get rid of the powers and live a normal life, so he willingly accepts the offer.

The cure works, but neither man is prepared to deal with the fact that they can no longer communicate telepathically. Doubt and insecurity creep in until Matt decides to visit the doctor so he can make an adjustment to the “ring” that would allow Matt and Vic to keep the telepathic powers, while ridding themselves of the other undesirable ones.

As Matt will soon learn, the “doctor” is not what he appears to be. Vic will have to use every means at his disposal, minus his superpowers, to save Matt from a potentially dangerous situation.

I really enjoyed this fourth installment in the Powers of Love series. Vic's and Matt’s growing love for each other is always very sweet and satisfying. It was nice to see Vic’s boss has a softer and more compassionate side, and I loved how Matt fought off the security guards roughing up Vic.

The Wounded

The Wounded by James A. Moore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Read The Wounded here for free.

Kallir Lundt was mortally wounded on the expedition to the Seven Forges. One of the king's of the forge promises Merros Dulver that he will save Kallir's life. This is Kallir's story.

The Wounded was a quick and decent read. I imagine that at one point the author may have wanted to feature Kallir Lundt as a point of view character, but instead changed his mind. This reads like a chapter or two of the story. Anyone who read Seven Forges can easily imagine what happens to Kallir. Unfortunately the story doesn't extend past what can easily be predicted.

The Wounded is a nice free short story that expands the Seven Forges world a small bit more.

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AMERICAN PSYCHO BY BRET EASTON ELLIS

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

”...there is an idea of a Patrick Bateman, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there. It is hard for me to make sense on any given level. Myself is fabricated, an aberration. I am a noncontingent human being. My personality is sketchy and unformed, my heartlessness goes deep and is persistent. My conscience, my pity, my hopes disappeared a long time ago (probably at Harvard) if they ever did exist. There are no barriers to cross. All I have in common with the uncontrollable and the insane, the vicious and the evil, all the mayhem I have caused and my utter indifference toward it I have now surpassed. I still, though, hold onto one single bleak truth: no one is safe, nothing is redeemed. Yet I am blameless. Each model of human behavior must be assumed to have some validity. Is evil something you are? Or is it something you do?”

I let Keeten finish putting in that quote before I popped him in the head with his own tire thumper. Oblivious fucking bastard, so caught up in words that he didn’t even hear the soft tread of the boogeyman.

You want to talk to him? Well, fuck you. You’ve got me.

Anyway, he’s a little tied up right now. Hardy har har har!

If you are worried about him, you should be.

For now, I feel under control. I washed down a handful of Valium with a couple of J&Bs to create a euphoria of calm before I popped the lock on his sliding glass door.

I’m looking at this bum. Is this how normal people dress? He’s wearing black Timberland boots, faded Land’s End jeans, a crimson red Out of Print T-shirt of the Odyssey, and a purple, wrinkled Territory Ahead button-down shirt. Homeless people in New York dress with better class than this guy.

Fashion is everything, well, and great hair products.

Here’s an example of a guy who knows how to dress. I must confess I killed him. I mean, just having great taste in clothing is never going to be enough to save anyone...from...me.

”Paul Owen walks in wearing a cashmere one-button sports jacket, tropical wool flannel slacks, a button-down tab-collared shirt by Ronaldus Shamask, but it’s really the tie--blue and black and red and yellow bold strips from Andrew Fezz by Zanzarra--that impresses me.”

Or how about this fine description of a hardbody who has a fine eye for great clothes. You have to love those sculpted bodies of these rich bitches, who have all the time in the world to turn their figures into works of art.

”She’s wearing a red, purple and black hand-knitted mohair and wool sweater from Koos Van Den Akker Couture and slacks from Anne Klein, with suede open-toe pumps.”

For this visitation to the land of cows, I still dressed nice, even though I’m running the risk of getting blood on some very, very fine cloth.

“I’m wearing a six-button double-breasted chalk-striped wool suit and a patterned silk tie, both by Louis, Boston, and a cotton oxford cloth shirt by Luciano Barbera.”

I smell good, too. I just checked in the mirror, and my hair looks fucking amazing. I should buy this guy a nice suit. I’ll put it on my platinum American Express card. The rubes will pogo stick around the store when I bring that out of my. . . . Jesus, he needs a real haircut, too. I ask him, jokingly, if he cuts his own hair. He nods his head.

Unfuckingbelievable.

So why am I here in Kansas, you might ask? I’m choosing to make that a bigger question because I’m holding the tire thumper. Haha! Well my friends, I am drawn this way. I come out of the sickest depths of Bret Easton Ellis’s demented mind. In other words, I’m created in the image of God.

Who am I?
Who am I?
I’m you!

We are marginally different, but the rage that is in me is in you. Maybe you haven’t tapped into it yet, but you may when you least expect it. I do understand that we may see different things in clouds, for instance. ”When we look up at the clouds she sees an island, a puppy dog, Alaska, a tulip. I see, but don’t tell her, a Gucci money clip, an ax, a woman cut in two, a large puffy white puddle of blood that spreads across the sky, dripping over the city, onto Manhattan.”

I understand I’m a bit more depraved than you are, but I’m wealthy. I’m incredibly handsome. I’m a fashion intelligencia. I’m way smarter than you. I have a larger responsibility to approach the world with a greater degree of honesty.

”This is no time for the innocent.”

Everyone deserves to die, especially this moron reviewer who thought he was going to write a fucking review of my fucking book today.

WRONG!

Look at this passage he noted.

”If she likes me only for my muscles, the heft of my cock, then she’s a shallow bitch. But a physically superior, near-perfect-looking shallow bitch, and that can override anything…”

I don’t like him making notes about Courtney. I rip aside the duct tape on his mouth, which had to fucking hurt, and asked him, WTF?

“I was going to make a point about you complaining about the shallowness of what Courtney liked best about you, but you are a hypocrite because what you like about her is just as shallow as what she likes about you. Plus, you would need more depth for her to appreciate something else about you.”

Can you believe that? I’m writing it just like he said it; then I bash him with the club a couple of times. I think I heard something snap. Fuck! I’m really trying not to lose control here. I have to put the tape back on his mouth because he is hollering with too much volume. Whimpering is fine, even encouraged, but there is no sound proofing all the walls, so we can’t be screaming. I really much prefer the way women scream. The tenor of their voices trips the light fantastic in my head.

How many people have I killed? Well, too many to count. It is amazing what you can get away with when you have as much money as I do and look like I do. People are begging to spend time with me. It seems to me like they are begging to be dismembered, burned with acid, eviscerated.

We do have a few things that we need to get straight, and then I need to head back to New York. I’ve got some video tapes that need to be returned, and the late fees are fucking outrageous.

Huey Lewis and the News is the greatest American rock band...ever. Indisputable. I notice that Keeten has the greatest hits, which earns him a painful bash to the knee. You have to buy the complete albums. The rest of their songs are as important and fantastic as their hits.

Second, Donald J. Trump is a genius. I admire him more than anyone else on the planet. It takes a psycho to recognize a psycho. As far as I know, he is keeping it together, but I feel a kinship with him, a calling in the blood. Haha! did he ever pull the Art of the Deal on all of you.

Okay, so you see that I am fair. I let Keeten participate in the writing of this review, but I just can’t let him do it alone. I was sitting in my apartment, gazing with fascination at my favorite vagina, the one with the Hermes blue ribbon tied around it, and thinking, I’m not going to let this hayseed from Kansas write a review about me. I caught a plane, and here I am.

I’m thinking about taking one of his fingers to nibble on during the flight back, so... maybe... I can get to New York without murdering anyone.

You’d give up a finger if it meant saving some other poor innocent life, wouldn’t you Keeten?

So you think you want to read this book? HA! Ellis, the sick bastard, did not spare the grotesque descriptions of my activities. In fact, I read the damn book, and even I was starting to yawn a bit through all the blood and mayhem. I think he made his point about what kind of depraved monster, a true creature of God, I am WAY before he quit relating yet another senseless death. And yes, I know they are senseless because not one of my victims has quelled the beast. Blood only begets more blood.

Don’t hate me. I’m just a product of the entitlement system. I appreciate it that you all let me be me. Your ability to live with letting my madness run rampant means you are actually more insane than I am.

Something for all of you to keep in mind...Patrick Bateman is still out here. Yes, I’m alive and frankly very fit looking. The tanning bed is a wonderful investment. I bought the same one as Donald. If you have a hardbody, come to New York. Look me up. I’ll take you out on the town and show you something you’ve never seen before.

I see from the notes here on the desk that Keeten is going to call this a Masterpiece.

He isn’t looking so sure anymore. He’s looking a bit gray, and some blood has trickled out from beneath the duct tape. I used the tape from his garage. It obviously isn’t as good as the brand I normally like to use. *Sigh*

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Plan B

S.J.D. Peterson
Dreamspinner Press
Reviewed by Nancy
5 out of 5 stars

Summary

Danny Marshal has always lived his life out loud, but his androgynous appearance is only a small part of who he is. One night at a frat party, Danny meets Lance Lenard, football jock and apparent straight guy. Lance is shocked when he's immediately attracted to Danny's feminine side. Danny is happy to be the subject of Lance's first man-on-man experiment—until Lance begins to struggle with the fact that despite his appearance, Danny is indeed a man.

Lance's whole life has been focused on his goal of playing in the NFL, and he knows those dreams will be smashed if anyone finds out about his little secret. Although Lance has come to hunger for Danny's touch, he's not willing to give Danny what he's grown to crave: a boyfriend who's proud to love him for every flamboyant and snarky cell in his body.

Life sends Danny and Lance in different directions, each of them focused on his respective Plan A. But the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

My Review

Danny is such a girl:

“I grabbed my new white, waist-length coat with black fur trim around the hood and slipped it on. Yes, I’d bought it in the junior girls’ section and I fucking loved it. All soft and snuggly. Loved the way the fur felt around my face when I put up the hood. I’m a very tactile, as well as visual, guy.”

But there’s no question he’s all man:

“Sure, I took some ribbing for it, a few nasty insults tossed my way here and there when I walked by, even had some old guy ask me if I was a boy or girl. I answered by cupping the bulge in my pink skinny jeans and asking, “Would you like me to show you?””

After my disappointing experience with The Girl For Me, I was a little worried that I wouldn’t enjoy this story. There were lots of similarities in the plot, even in the main character’s name. It turns out my worries were unfounded. This story was told beautifully, with lots of humor and heart. Right from the beginning, I fell in love with Danny.

Danny is a busy theater major who doesn’t do relationships. He has big plans for the future, and no time for anything more than casual encounters. That all changes when he attends a frat party with his best friend, Bo, and is captivated by the rugged and muscular Lance, whose goal is to be a big football star.

Though Lance is very attracted to Danny, he sure has a funny way of showing it. He behaved terribly at the party and I’ll admit I didn’t like the way he treated Danny in the beginning. But Danny’s no pushover and he gave as good as he got. I love their relationship buildup and Lance’s conflicting feelings. He’s deep in the closet and not yet ready to take the next step in their relationship. It’s too late for Danny, as his heart is now involved.

Both men are young, selfish, and wildly immature at times. They make decisions hastily which creates a lot of unnecessary turmoil in their relationship, but what can you expect from 21-year-old college students? Since this story was told from Danny’s perspective, I could feel his emotions keenly, reminding me of the confusion and chaos of my own young life. I loved Danny and Lance, Bo and his girlfriend, Katie, and all the fully developed colorful supporting characters. The tense, heartbreaking and sad moments made the ending so sweet and satisfying. This story was a joy to read.

Seven Forges

Seven Forges by James A. Moore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Merros Dulver has embarked on an expedition that promises riches beyond his imagination should he return. He has led a group to the Seven Forges, a land believed to be uninhabitable, only to find a man there. This man wasn't simply lost near the forges, he was looking for Merros specifically. Merros meets with the man's people and heads for home with an escort of people from this desolate land. Merros isn't sure what to think of his escort except that they're incredibly dangerous individuals.

Seven Forges felt very much like a book that's only purpose is setting the groundwork for a series. The characters found themselves mostly involved in traveling and diplomacy. The people from the forges are incredibly devoted to their gods who were said to have saved them. Each of the forges is believed to be a different god and each of the people followed one of the gods primarily. They are a warring people that are all heavily scarred and battle hardened.

The story was interesting without having much happen. It didn't have the kind of massive conclusion I was expecting. There are still unanswered questions at the end and decisions were made that simply didn't make a lot of sense. It all felt like the vague and ominous prophecy given to Merros early in the book,

You will lose your hand, find your fist and gain an ally. You will meet your enemy face-to-face.

Seven Forges has peeked my interest and left me curious to see where the story heads next.

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NO BEAST SO FIERCE BY EDWARD BUNKER

No Beast So Fierce by Edward Bunker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

”I was going to war with society, or perhaps I would only be renewing it. Now there were no misgivings. I declared myself free from all rules except those I wanted to accept--and I’d change those as I felt the whim. I would take whatever I wanted. I’d be what I was with a vengeance: a criminal.

Society had made me what I was (and ostracized me through fear of what it had created) and I gloried in what I was.”


Dustin Hoffman is Max Dembo in the movie Straight Time(1978)

Max Dembo has a lot of reasons to hate society. The deck is stacked against him from the very beginning. He is just finishing an eight year hitch, and the outside world has moved on without him. ”A sense of unreality, so intense as to make me dizzy, swelled up. Everything was weird. The tinkling resonance of women’s voices, which I hadn’t heard in eight years was as alien as Chinese to my ears.”

Max is probably more scared than relieved to be finally back out in society. He is pissed off that he has been judged and found unworthy. He is pissed off that he has been locked away from women and forced to expend his desires on soft mouthed, pretty boys and feminine homosexuals. That isn’t who he is, but that is who he had to become.

Now that he is out on parole with $65 in his pocket, his primary concern is supposed to be to find a job, but of course, before he can even think about that, he has to find himself a woman. A soft, good looking woman will be great, but any woman will do. He tries to play the game as it has been dictated to him, but his ball busting parole officer doesn’t make it easy for him to even want to stay straight. Max may have paid his debt to society, but the striped suit of his incarceration is still itching in his skin like a tattoo that never heals.

Max may have been guilty, but he never felt the punishment fit the crime. We keep hearing these stories about people thrown in jail for long sentences who turn out to be innocent. We hear about nonviolent offenders who somehow end up in jail for decades. The whole system needs to be overhauled and reexamined. Why does the United States have more people incarcerated than the whole rest of the world combined?

Fortunately, I was not a hip cat back in 1973.

”A jazz musician I knew had served ten years for possessing a speck of marijuana so small that it had to be placed in a jar of clear oil and floated so the jury could see it.”

Seriously?

We create career criminals out of people who have struggled to find and keep gainful employment. We make criminals out of people suffering from addictions. We need to intercede in young men and women’s lives when they first start to get in trouble. We need to deviate their path, instead of becoming resigned to thinking that they are already lifetime members of the system.

It’s WAY too late for Max.

Max is going to take down a big score and ride the wave for as long as he can. He knows he will be gunned down or caught and thrown back into the hole his life has been in for most of his life. He doesn’t care. He doesn’t see any other alternative. Before he goes down though, he is going to tell you his story.

”So I began this memoir, which became grinding labor, especially when it fell short of absolute truth. The lack is not through deceit, but because truth is difficult. Fools think truth is a simple thing, but I”ve found that it is hard. The facts I’ve written are real, but facts and truth are cousins, not brothers. I’ve imposed a rationality rather than exposed truth.”

Edward Bunker wrote this book as a novel, but it feels more like the genuine confessions of a career criminal.

For those struggling novelists who need a glimmer of hope, this is the sixth novel that Bunker has finished, but the first to be published. The style of this book, written in the first person, is as sharp as curled barbed wire and so compellingly authentic that I feel like I was caught up in a moment by moment docudrama of the life of an active criminal. Bunker makes sure every punch he throws hits the reader in the jaw or in the stomach, making his breath whistle out through his gritted teeth. You will wince. You will cringe. You will shudder. Bunker KNOWS what he is writing about; he spent a good part of his life in jail. He suffered through several bullshit convictions that put him behind bars for way longer than what sanity would dictate. The punishment should fit the crime! The anger that the fictional Max Dembo feels and expresses is mainlined right out of the veins of the writer.


Edward Bunker as Mr. Blue.

I was reminded that I needed to read Edward Bunker’s work when I rewatched Reservoir Dogs. I actually smiled with secret joy when I saw Bunker cast as Mr. Blue. Quentin Tarantino was a big fan of his novels and his screenplays, so it was a true Tarantino homage to have a real criminal/writer cast in his famous heist film.

”Edward Bunker was dealt a rotten hand at the beginning of his life, and his days thereafter were largely those of a victim in society’s brutalizing institutions. That he emerged from these dungeons not a brute but an artist with a unique and compelling voice is a tribute to his own invincible will, besides being a sweet victory by the artist himself over society and its contempt for the outcast.”---William Styron

To prepare yourself for reading this novel, you need to practice saying MOTHERfucker and motherFUCKER. ”The all-purpose word is ‘motherfucker’, serving as noun, verb, adverb, and adjective--it’s meaning depending on context and intonation. Remove this word from the convict vocabulary and prisons would fall silent.”

What are you looking at motherfucker? Go buy this frilling book!

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