A Big Thank You to 'Kindle Customer" for the new 4 STAR Amazon Reader Review of Gary Phillips' Hollis P.I. from Pro Se Productions. It was quite the honor to write Gary's characters.

"Overall, I thought this was a good collection of short stories. The first story was entirely forgettable for me. The rest were good to very good. Of course, the story by Derrick Ferguson was very good. I'm a big fan of his. Seemed more gritty and hardboiled than the others. A little Dillon in Nate? Didn't think he was hardboiled enough throughout the book. Maybe the authors were a little timid writing about a badass black private investigator? Derrick pulled it off the best with his customary action and humor."

Read the full reviews at www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B00Q80PLYG and pick up a copy of Hollis P.I. today!

My story in this collection is called"Naomi." Hollis has been hired by the parents of a missing young woman who came to Hollywood to become an actress, Hollis finds her, but it's too late. The hard life she fell into chewed her up and spit her out onto the hard, cracked asphalt streets of Angeltown. He might not be able to save her, but there is one thing Hollis can do, he can find Naomi's killers and make them pay for the life they took.

Thanks again for the 4 STAR review.

Bobby

Learn more about Hollis P.I. below.

Noir At The Bar - L.A. is back and we're on a mission. All across the country the last week in October Noir at the Bar chapters will band together to host events to support #TeamEvie and our friend, author Duane Swierczynski and his family. Duane's daughter, Evie, is bravely battling leukemia and the crime fiction community is coming together to help and to raise some funds. In addition to the stellar lineup of authors, we'll be holding raffles and auctioning off prizes including a few from yours truly. Check out the full line up and raffle prizes at www.facebook.com/events/147841259502193 and https://twitter.com/ericbeetner.

If you're in LA, join authors Sara Gran, Attica Locke, Gary Phillips, David J Schow, Aaron Phillip Clark, Anna Snoekestra (all the way from Australia) Dennis Palumbo and the man himself, Duane Swierczynski for a stellar evening hosted by Eric Beetner and Steve W. Lauden. Although I can't be there in person, I am thrilled to be there in spirit to support #TeamEvie

If you can't attend and want to help, a GoFundMe page has been set up to help at www.gofundme.com/pcsv88-team-evie.

Bobby

I love seeing comic book art hit my inbox.
This is a sneak peek at a long-awaited, upcoming book featuring characters I have written before.

Any guesses?

Bobby

Pretty Hot Books takes a look at Pulp's hottest heroine, the Domino Lady as she takes on corruption, greed, and political assassins in "Money Shot" a novel by award-winning author Bobby Nash. Published by Moonstone Books. Learn more about Domino Lady "Money Shot" HERE.

Domino Lady "Money Shot" is available in paperback, hardcover, and on Kindle.

Cover painted by Mark Wheatley

Art: Nik Poliwko

I am over the moon to announce that the long-delayed The Ruby Files Vol. 2 anthology from Airship 27 Productions is now available in paperback at Amazon and Createspace, with a Kindle ebook edition to follow soon.

I love this character and have fond memories of creating this book’s amazing cast of characters with my partner in crime, Sean Taylor. After all, if you’re doing a series about Bad Girls, Good Guys, and Two-Fisted Action, who better to team up with, right?

In volume two, Sean and I are joined by writers Alan J. Porter and Ron Fortier, themselves no strangers to pulpy noir tales. Nik Poliwko provides the book's beautifully noir-inspired interior illustrations. Mark Wheatley returns with an

Art: Nik Poliwko

amazing cover that should make this book leap off the stands. Join us as we dive once more into the seedy underbelly of the pulp-strewn big city with Rick Ruby and company for four slam-bang tales of action, danger, sex, booze, and random gunfire.

Welcome to The Ruby Files.

The 2nd Annual Sci-Fi and Fantasy Festival was, as advertised, a 3-day event with 3 times the geeky, nerdy fun as last year's event. This year the Hoover Library partnered with my friends from the Alabama Phoenix Festival and Kingdom Comics to bring Alabama a Festival weekend they wont soon forget. I know I won't.

Bobby

Learn more about this event and see more photos by clicking Read More... below.

I join authors Tommy Hancock, Derrick Ferguson, Ron Fortier, and Nikki Nelson-Hicks on Sean Taylor's Bad Girls, Good Guys, and Two-Fisted Action blog for THE STEREOTYPE WORE BLACK: AVOIDING THE CLICHES THAT STAIN YOUR PULP AND NOIR MYSTERIES. We talk all about cliches and how to avoid them in your writing.

You can read the full blog post here.

From the site:
Sure, we all know that good pulp and Noir fiction (like any good genre fiction) is built on the recurring types of characters that inhabit the classic stories. But how do authors avoid complete stereotypes and cliches while being true to the tropes that are
necessary for good pulp and Noir?
 
To find out, I went to a few hand-picked authors I really respect who handled their fiction deftly and with originality among the tropes. 

You can read the full blog post here.

Thanks for inviting me along for the fun, Sean.

Bobby

I wrote a guest blog post for author Nicole Givens Kurtz's website where I talk about my work on Gary Phillips' Hollis P.I. anthology published by Pro Se Productions. I also talk about how sneaky that darn Tommy Hancock can be. You won't want to miss that.

Gary Phillips' HOLLIS, P.I. gets a mention on The Thrilling Detective website. We're in some good company. 

GARY PHILLIPS’ HOLLIS P.I.
A Hard-Boiled Detective Anthology

An innovative Publisher of cutting edge Genre Fiction and New Pulp, Pro Se Productions announces the release of a short story collection featuring one of the best modern hard boiled private investigators to ever grace a page. Birthed full-blown several years ago in the comics mini-series Angeltown, L.A. private eye Nate Hollis, created by noted Genre Fiction author Gary Phillips, makes the jump to prose in six new short stories in Gary Phillips’ Hollis, P.I.

New York Times bestseller Juliet Blackwell (the Witchcraft Mystery series), acclaimed up-and-coming crime writer Aaron Philip Clark (A Healthy Fear of Man) new pulp luminaries Derrick Ferguson (Four Bullets for Dillon) and Pulp Ark award winner Bobby Nash join Phillips in penning these new gritty tales. Five stories feature Nate Hollis with a sixth featuring his sometimes ally, bounty hunter Irma Deuce. The streets are mean, but they don’t hold a stick of dynamite to Gary Phillips’ Hollis, P.I.

GARY PHILLIPS’ HOLLIS P.I. can be purchased at the following:
Amazon (paperback)                            Amazon UK (paperback)
Amazon (Kindle)                                  Barnes and Noble (Nook)
Amazon UK (Kindle)                           Amazon CA (Kindle)
Smashwords (ebook) multiple formats  And more…

Learn more about Nate Hollis here.

My comp copy of Gary Phillips Hollis P.I. arrived today from Pro Se Press. Beautiful looking book. Have you picked up a copy yet?

Bobby

GARY PHILLIPS’ HOLLIS P.I.
A Hard-Boiled Detective Anthology

An innovative Publisher of cutting edge Genre Fiction and New Pulp, Pro Se Productions announces the release of a short story collection featuring one of the best modern hard boiled private investigators to ever grace a page. Birthed full-blown several years ago in the comics mini-series Angeltown, L.A. private eye Nate Hollis, created by noted Genre Fiction author Gary Phillips, makes the jump to prose in six new short stories in Gary Phillips’ Hollis, P.I.

New York Times bestseller Juliet Blackwell (the Witchcraft Mystery series), acclaimed up-and-coming crime writer Aaron Philip Clark (A Healthy Fear of Man) new pulp luminaries Derrick Ferguson (Four Bullets for Dillon) and Pulp Ark award winner Bobby Nash join Phillips in penning these new gritty tales. Five stories feature Nate Hollis with a sixth featuring his sometimes ally, bounty hunter Irma Deuce. The streets are mean, but they don’t hold a stick of dynamite to Gary Phillips’ Hollis, P.I.

GARY PHILLIPS’ HOLLIS P.I. can be purchased at the following:
Amazon (paperback)                              Amazon UK (paperback)
Amazon (Kindle)                                    Barnes and Noble (Nook)
Amazon UK (Kindle)                             Amazon CA (Kindle)
Smashwords (ebook) multiple formats    And more…

Gary Phillips

Cover Art: Jeffrey Hayes

Pro Se Productions has released the much anticipated Gary Phillips’ Hollis P.I. anthology. This anthology features “Naomi” by me. It was a lot of fun to play with these characters whose adventures I’ve enjoyed reading previously. When Tommy Hancock and Gary Phillips talked to me about this project back at Pulp Ark in 2013, it was hard to say no to-- and believe me I was so busy at the time that I tried. But Nate Hollis and his crew are just too cool to walk away from and I’m so glad they invited me along for the ride.

This is a little more adult than my usual fare with amped up language, sex, and violence. It was fun to visit the hard-boiled side of the street. I’ll definitely have to visit again.

I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it.

Bobby

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-

COMIC PRIVATE EYE LEAPS TO PROSE IN NEW COLLECTION!
“GARY PHILLIPS’ HOLLIS P.I.” DEBUTS FROM PRO SE PRODUCTIONS

An innovative Publisher of cutting edge Genre Fiction and New Pulp, Pro Se Productions announces the release of a short story collection featuring one of the best modern hard boiled private investigators to ever grace a page. Birthed full-blown several years ago in the comics mini-series Angeltown, L.A. private eye Nate Hollis, created by noted Genre Fiction author Gary Phillips, makes the jump to prose in six new short stories in Gary Phillips’ Hollis, P.I.

“I couldn’t be more pleased that Hollis returns in prose from Pro Se Productions,” Phillips said. “Readers are in for some hardboiled thrills as we put the redoubtable private eye through his paces -- from a ritual killing, the hunt for long-hidden swag, attack dogs in the dark, to the machinations of crooked politicians…tough guys and tougher women.”

Gary Phillips has penned short stories for Moonstone’s Kolchak: The Night Stalker Casebook, the Avenger Chronicles, the Green Hornet Casefiles and The Spider: Extreme Prejudice anthologies. His most current novel is Warlord of Willow Ridge. He also has out the eBook novella, The Essex Man: 10 Seconds to Death, a homage to ‘70s era paperback vigilantes. Additionally he is one of the editors for Pro Se's BLACK PULP volume, and any and all follow ups to that collection. In addition to editing and contributing to Hollis, P.I. for Pro Se, he also has for the press stories upcoming in Asian Pulp and Black Pulp II. He recently wrote the graphic novel Big Water, about the fight by a municipality to save its water from privatization; has a steamy story not for kids in 50 Shades of a Fedora; and is editor and contributor to the upcoming Day of the Destroyers, a collection of linked stories wherein Jimmie Flint, Secret Agent X-11 battles to stop internal forces out to overthrow the presidency of FDR during the Great Depression.

New York Times bestseller Juliet Blackwell (the Witchcraft Mystery series), acclaimed up-and-coming crime writer Aaron Philip Clark (A Healthy Fear of Man) new pulp luminaries Derrick Ferguson (Four Bullets for Dillon) and Pulp Ark award winner Bobby Nash join Phillips in penning these new gritty tales. Five stories feature Nate Hollis with a sixth featuring his sometimes ally, bounty hunter Irma Deuce. The streets are mean, but they don’t hold a stick of dynamite to Gary Phillips’ Hollis, P.I.

“PI Nate Hollis,” says T. Jefferson Parker, author of The Famous and the Dead, “originally sprang from the rich imagination of LA-based writer Gary Phillips, but he’s so real and tactile he could climb off the page and buy you a bourbon. Now, four other authors are getting a piece of Nate, too, and this latest collection of Nate stories is wonderful. This is contemporary noir at its best, offering all the familiar pleasures of the genre, but giving them a modern makeover. Yes, this is a violent world that Nate inhabits, but he steers a true and moral course through the layers of deception, skullduggery and sometimes worse that make these stories such high-density entertainment. Nate’s a great character and these stories do him justice and more. “

Gary Phillips’ Hollis P.I., features evocative and action packed cover art and logo design by Jeffrey Hayes. With print formatting by Percival Constantine, the collection is available from Amazon and Pro Se’s own store for $12.00. This modern mystery collection is also available as an eBook for the Kindle and in most formats from Smashwords for only $2.99.

For more information on this title, interviews with the author, or digital copies for review, contact Morgan McKay, Pro Se’s Director of Corporate Operations, at directorofcorporateoperations@prose-press.com.

To learn more about Pro Se Productions, go to www.prose-press.com. Like Pro Se on Facebook.

Bobby’s story in Hollis, P.I. is called “Naomi”

Read a free sample here.

GARY PHILLIPS’ HOLLIS P.I. can be purchased at the following:
Amazon (paperback)
Amazon UK (paperback)
Amazon (Kindle)
Smashwords (ebook) multiple formats
Amazon UK (Kindle)
Amazon CA (Kindle)
And more…

Get yours today!

Hmmm... I wonder who one of those five writers could be... :)
Stay tuned.

Doing some writing today. I can't really say much about the project yet as the publisher hasn't announced it, but it was put together by a talented writer and editor whose work I've admired for years. I'm having fun with the story and look forward to finishing it up tonight or tomorrow. It's my favorite genre as well, crime fiction with a pulpy flair. That's always a fun sandbox to play in. I'll say more about the project when I can.

Here's a sneak peek at today's work. It's all first draft so this might change a bit between now and when it sees print.

Enjoy.

Bobby
-------
I held up a finger so he wouldn’t reach for the weapon he no doubt carried. I hadn’t come to this little meeting unarmed and I doubt he did either. I pointed toward my pocket and slowly, carefully reached inside and pulled out an envelope I had folded in half and tucked inside. “You mean this?”

“Hand it over.”

“Well, you see, that’s the things,” I said, stalling for time. “I was hired by my client to get this information. I really shouldn’t hand it over to anyone but her.”

He sneered.

“I mean, how would you feel if you hired me and I gave the goods over to someone else just on their say so. I’ve got a reputation to uphold, you know. A p.i. who can’t be trusted is an unemployed p.i. and I’ve gotten kind of used to living indoors. I’m sure you understand.”

He didn’t.

Art: Nik Poliwko

Art: Nik Poliwko

Artist Nik Poliwko is doing an amazing job illustrating stories for the upcoming second volume of Rick Ruby anthology for Airship 27 Productions. Here’s a sneak peek.

The award-winning The Ruby Files returns for a second volume of pulpy detective yarns in 2013 from Airship 27 Productions. The Ruby Files Vol. 2 features stories by Ruby Files creators Sean Taylor and Bobby Nash and authors Alan J. Porter and Ron Fortier. Interior illustrations provided by Nik Poliwko under a cover by Mark Wheatley. Rob Davis returns as book designer.

Keep watching http://rickruby.blogspot.com for more The Ruby Files vol. 2 news as it becomes available.

Illustrator, Nik Poliwko shared a new rough sketch for an upcoming illustration for the upcoming The Ruby Files Vol. 2, a companion to the illustration at left.

The award-winning The Ruby Files returns for a second volume of pulpy detective yarns in 2013 from Airship 27 Productions. The Ruby Files Vol. 2 features stories by Ruby Files creators Sean Taylor and Bobby Nash and authors Alan J. Porter and Ron Fortier. Interior illustrations provided by Nik Poliwko under a cover by Mark Wheatley. Rob Davis returns as book designer.

Keep watching http://rickruby.blogspot.com for more The Ruby Files vol. 2 news as soon as it becomes available.

Art: Nik Poliwko

Here’s your first look at one of artist Nik Poliwko’s finished illustrations for the story "Mars McCoy is Dead" by Alan J. Porter, appearing in Airship 27 Productions' upcoming detective noir anthology, The Ruby Files Vol. 2. Other stories in this volume are by Sean Taylor, Ron Fortier, and Bobby Nash.

The award-winning The Ruby Files returns for a second volume of pulpy detective yarns in 2013.

Keep watching http://rickruby.blogspot.com for more The Ruby Files vol. 2 news as soon as it becomes available.

Vol. 1 cover: Mark Wheatley

The Ruby Files Vol. is still available in paperback and ebook editions at the following:
Amazon (paperback)
Indy Planet (paperback)
Createspace (paperback)
Airship 27 Hangar (PDF ebook)
Kindle (ebook)

Art in progress at artist Nik Poliwko's digital rendering.

A closer look at Poliwko's art.

Airship 27 Productions has shared a sneak peek behind the curtains of illustrator Nik Poliwko’s first illustration for the upcoming The Ruby Files Vol. 2.

The award-winning The Ruby Files returns for a second volume of pulpy detective yarns in 2013 from Airship 27 Productions. The Ruby Files Vol. 2 features stories by Ruby Files creators Sean Taylor and Bobby Nash and authors Alan J. Porter and Ron Fortier. Interior illustrations provided by Nik Poliwko under a cover by Mark Wheatley. Rob Davis returns as book designer.

Keep watching http://rickruby.blogspot.com for more The Ruby Files vol. 2 news as soon as it becomes available.

Vol. 1 cover: Mark Wheatley

The Ruby Files Vol. is still available in paperback and ebook editions at the following:
Amazon (paperback)
Indy Planet (paperback)
Createspace (paperback)
Airship 27 Hangar (PDF ebook)
Kindle (ebook)