“Rough and abrasive and unrelentingly coarse …”
Kevin Burton Smith weighs in on Beast of Burden (buy it now at your local emporium of all things bookish and readable):
This is contemporary noir at its absolute ground zero finest: dark, disturbing and nasty, but tempered with surprising acts of friendship, loyalty and honour and just plain humanity so moving and real that they’re a spit in the face of the glib cynicism and shallow posturing that currently taints too much of the genre.
He says loads more nice stuff, so follow the link and bask in my reflected glory.
Full disclosure needed, perhaps, but while Kevin might not have “discovered” me or my massive, veiny talent, he and Gerald So were key players in the early short stories days. Just like Plots with Guns, Thrilling Detective’s fiction reputation is based on the fact that it has editors who edit. And that, for a fledgling writer, is like fucking gold dust.
So thank you, Kevin and Gerald. Again.
