MainCategory: CONTEMPORARY

Fifty-to-One (Hard Case Crime Book 50)

Related Posts
Pulp Modern

Uncle B. Publications and Larque Press, LLC, present the triumphant return of PULP MODERN. Volume Two, Issue One features fiction from multiple genres, including crime, horror, and science fiction. Pulp Modern resumes its mission to publish the very best fiction Read more

Pinup noir (2book of hard-boiled short stories)

Everybody loves the femme fatale; the tough-as-nails dame with the smoky voice and the legs that go on forever – almost as much as they love the cynical gumshoe with the strict moral code and the tiniest soft spot in Read more

Fifty-to-One (Hard Case Crime Book 50)
Date:
MainCategory:
Type:
Genre:
tropes: ,
Lenght:
Author:
Reception:

CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF HARD CASE CRIME!

Okay, not really. But what if, instead of having been founded 50 books ago, Hard Case Crime had been founded 50 years ago, by a rascal out to make a quick buck off the popularity of pulp fiction? Such a fellow might make a few enemies – especially after publishing a supposed non-fiction account of a heist at a Mob-run nightclub, actually penned by an 18-year-old showgirl. With both the cops and the crooks after them, our heroes are about to learn that reading and writing pulp novels is a lot more fun than living them…

Death Comes Too Late

Death Comes Too Late
Date:
MainCategory:
Type:
Genre:
trope:
Lenght:
Author:

CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF HARD CASE CRIME –
20 UNFORGETTABLE STORIES BY HARD CASE CRIME FOUNDER CHARLES ARDAI
“A MASTER OF THE SHORT STORY.” – STEPHEN KING

Since debuting 20 years ago, Hard Case Crime has won acclaim for publishing the best in hardboiled crime fiction – not least of all the work of founding editor Charles Ardai, which has won the Edgar, Shamus and Ellery Queen Awards, been selected for ‘Best of the Year’ anthologies, and earned praise from everyone from the Washington Post and Chicago Tribune to Megan Abbott and Stephen King.

Collected here for the first time anywhere are the author’s 20 finest stories, including his Edgar-winning “The Home Front,” about death and repentance during World War II; the Shamus Award finalist “Nobody Wins,” about a brutal gangland enforcer searching for the woman he loves; and year’s-best selections such as “A Bar Called Charley’s,” about a traveling salesman’s most grueling night on the road. From Brazil at Carnival to Times Square at midnight, from Tijuana, Mexico to history’s first gunshot in 11th-century China, Ardai will take you to some of the most dangerous places in the world – and the darkest corners of the human heart.

Red Harvest (The Continental Op)

Red Harvest (The Continental Op)
Date:
MainCategory:
Period:
Type:
Genres: ,
tropes: , , ,
Lenght:
Seriesize:
Author:
Narrator:
Reception:

The steadfast and sturdy Continental Op has been summoned to the town of Personville—known as Poisonville—a dusty mining community splintered by competing factions of gangsters and petty criminals.

The Op has been hired by Donald Willsson, publisher of the local newspaper, who gave little indication about the reason for the visit. No sooner does the Op arrive, than the body count begins to climb . . . starting with his client. With this last honest citizen of Poisonville murdered, the Op decides to stay on and force a reckoning—even if that means taking on an entire town.

Red Harvest is more than a superb crime novel: it is a classic exploration of corruption and violence in the American grain.

The Thin Man

The Thin Man
Date:
MainCategory:
Period:
Type:
Genres: ,
tropes: , ,
Lenght:
Author:
Narrator:
Reception:

Nick Charles seems to find trouble wherever he goes. He thinks his sleuthing days are behind him when Julia Wolf, a former acquaintance, turns up dead. Nick—thanks to some persuasion from his enchanting wife, Nora—finds himself falling back into old habits and making a few polite inquiries.

The prime suspect, Julia’s lover and boss Clyde Miller Wynant, has vanished without a trace. Everyone is after him, but Nick is not so sure Wynant is the culprit. And when another dubious figure bursts into their bedroom, waving a loaded handgun, it seems Nick and Nora’s adventure is only just beginning.

Nick and Nora Charles are among Dashiell Hammett’s most alluring creations: a rich, glamourous couple who solve homicides in between wisecracks and martinis. At once knowing and unabashedly romantic, The Thin Man is a murder mystery that doubles as a sophisticated comedy of manners.

The Perfect Assassin: A Doc Savage Thriller

The Perfect Assassin: A Doc Savage Thriller
Date:
MainCategory:
Type:
Genre:
Lenght:
Seriesize:
Authors: ,
Narrators: ,

Prof. Brandt Savage—grandson of the legendary action hero—is forced into a top-secret training program where he discovers his true calling…as the perfect assassin.

Dr. Brandt Savage is on sabbatical from the University of Chicago. Instead of doing solo fieldwork in anthropology, the gawky, bespectacled PhD finds himself enrolled in a school where he is the sole pupil. His professor, “Meed,” is demanding. She’s also his captor.

Savage emerges from their intensive training sessions physically and mentally transformed, but with no idea why he’s been chosen, and how he’ll use his fearsome abilities. Then his first mission with Meed takes them back to her own training ground, where Savage learns how deeply entwined their two lives have been. To prevent a new class of killers from escaping this harsh place where their ancestors first fought to make a better world, they must pledge anew : Do right to all, and wrong to no one.

Z-Burbia: A Post Apocalyptic Zombie Adventure Novel

Z-Burbia: A Post Apocalyptic Zombie Adventure Novel
Date:
MainCategory:
Type:
Genre:
trope:
Seriesize:
Author:

When the zombie apocalypse hits the quiet Asheville, NC subdivision of Whispering Pines, the residents don’t turn to the police or the military. Nope. They rely on their iron-fisted Home Owners Association! Which Jace Stanford and his family aren’t too keen on.

Undead hordes are hard enough to deal with in a post-apocalyptic hellscape, who needs HOA fines too?

 

Filled with blood, gore, plenty of bad jokes, cannibals, dreaded HOA covenants, and a whole lot of snark, Z-Burbia is guaranteed to thrill and entertain!

 

Welcome to life in Z-Burbia!

Altered States: a cyberpunk sci-fi anthology

Altered States: a cyberpunk sci-fi anthology
Date:
MainCategory:
Type:
Genre:
Lenght:
Seriesize:

Take a flight of the imagination to near-future cyberpunk worlds, travel beyond the stars, and to divergent universes like and unlike our own. Travel to the enigmas of science and time…travel to the altered states of the mind.
Stories by upcoming and established cyberpunk/sci- fi authors, curated by Roy C Booth and Jorge Salgado-Reyes.

This anthology represents the very first publication of science fiction by Indie Authors Press.

Cyberpunk City Book One: The Machine Killer

Cyberpunk City Book One: The Machine Killer
Date:
MainCategory:
Type:
Genre:
Lenght:
Seriesize:
Author:

Sprawling megacities, rogue AIs, black market tech, modded mercenaries, and a pulse-pounding story filled with unexpected twists!

A notorious data thief thinks his life of cybercrime is behind him. He couldn’t be more wrong.

Forced by a powerful executive to steal a priceless dataset, Blackburn Maddox uncovers the shocking truth of a secret war between AIs, raging inside the digital universe known as virtual space. Plunged headlong into the deadly conflict, he’ll have to use every trick he’s ever learned—and a few he’s never tried before—if he wants to survive.

If you love gritty, near-future scifi, you won’t want to miss this series!

Liquid Cool: The Cyberpunk Detective Series (Liquid Cool Book 1)

Liquid Cool: The Cyberpunk Detective Series (Liquid Cool Book 1)
Date:
MainCategory:
Type:
Genres: ,
trope:
Lenght:
Seriesize:
Author:

The Sci Fi Detective Thriller Gets Cool…Liquid Cool!
Liquid Cool Book #1 is the action-packed (and funny) FIRST-IN-SERIES.

Meet Cruz — a private detective with a cool hat, laser gun, and attitude. But don’t touch his red hovercar — or you could get shot!

Science fiction and crime fiction blend in the high-tech, low-life world of Liquid Cool as he faces off neon gangsters, sinister cyborgs, corporate samurai soldiers, and laser-gun shootouts solving cases in the rainy supercity of Metropolis.

It isn’t a bad place, but it isn’t a good one either. Uber-governments and megacorporations fight for control of the supercity, but so does crime.

It’s here we meet our unlikely hero in this supercity of a million victims and perpetrators.

In the novel that started it all, author Austin Dragon shows why you never want to meet a cyborg in a dark alley.

Grab Liquid Cool today and begin your action-filled and funny sci fi detective adventure with Cruz and company!

˃˃˃FIVE STAR REVIEWS

“Lots of shooting, lots of crazy maniacs, lots of action and fun!”

“I loved this book. It takes place in the future, and what a weird future.”

Into the BeanStalk: Book One of the Jack: Cyberpunk Series

Into the BeanStalk: Book One of the Jack: Cyberpunk Series
Date:
MainCategory:
Newstuffs: ,
Type:
Genre:
Lenght:
Seriesize:
Author:
Protagonist:

Winner of the 2023 Best Indie Book Award in Cyberpunk!
Winner of the 2023 American Fiction Award in Sci-Fi / Cyberpunk!

A corrupt megacity. A broken world. A girl who can no longer afford to hide from her past.

Jack is a techie and long-time shut-in, driven to save her father from corporate servitude. That means getting her hands on scrip, and lots of it. Going into debt with the most violent bikers in Hope Megacity will get her the cybernetic limbs she needs to overcome her disabilities, but that’s only the beginning.

A vicious betrayal, a lethal cyberattack, and some broken neural hardware has Jack seeing things — namely a huge column of light climbing all the way to the Global Corporations’ city in the clouds. She’ll need to join up with the city’s most notorious hacker to find out what the elite are hiding from the millions of people living under their feet.

Action, suspense, and wit, presented in an accessible take on the genre. If you like complex worlds of near-future tech, dystopian struggle, and memorable characters, you’ll love Into the BeanStalk!