All Grit, No S__t

Try out these journeys to the dark side of our fat and sassy  nation. Visit people and places where the pedal hits the metal and probe super heated themes of lust, greed and power-hunger made just right for your delicious, unchaste thrill. Click the links to buy these great books.

For the latest grit fiction, news, and reviews — including the throwback flash piece Tattooed Love Boy by moi — all for free go to FFO at Out Of The Gutter. Take Me There!>>

POETRY by Daniel Snethen, Yellow-Mama archives

Prolific poet with a taste for the sordid, Snethen has multiple pieces waiting for you in the Yellow-Mama archive. Start with Strawberry Snow, a heartbreaking narrative with breathtaking images.  Go to the Yellow-Mama Archive >>

CRIMINAL ECONOMICS – novel by Eric Beetner

Busted loose by a hurricane on route to hard time, Slick & Bo go their own ways and head, of course, to the never recovered loot. encountering exquisite, amoral characters and enduring vicious, sometimes hilarious, predicaments. And guess who ends up with all the money? Great exurban grit with snappy dialogue and frothy action. Buy It On amazon >>

SHOTGUN HONEY – Ezine periodical

Still publishing in 2020 (I like this logo), Shotgun Honey champions the flash fiction form in crime thrillers. Regularly publishing new works from burgeoning and established authors, along with associate features, Can be hit or miss but,man, they are on the express grit track.  Read It Here >>

AMERICAN STATIC – novel by Tom Pitts

Every scene hurries this sordid story ahead with uncompromising twists and compelling action. Believable insane villains and every day Joes and Janes tangle in corrupt big city San Francisco crime and politics. Solid effective story telling that could use more character development and less ‘they lived happily ever after’ finale.  Buy It On Amazon >>

L. A. CONFIDENTIAL – novel by James Elroy

No mercy shown, no quarter given. Dark, corrupt characters a-swirl in ambition, lust and greed, sent spinning into a vortex of chaos by a vicious mass murder, the Night Owl Massacre, in 1950’s Los Angeles. An epic telling. One part of Elroy’s L. A. Quartet. Buy It On Amazon >>

PIMP, THE STORY OF MY LIFE – novel by Iceberg Slim

Allegedly autobiographical, “Pimp” rings true exploring the psychology of a whore master manipulating his stable and besting the competition. The vicious and unrepentant narrative starts well, then goes balls to the wall when Iceberg moves to Chicago. Ends in a whimper. Brutal and believable.  Buy It On Amazon >>

CALUMET CITY- novel by Charlie Newton

Classic cop with a secret that comes back to haunt during a current investigation. Chicago PO Patti Black has climbed a high ladder so has far to fall when a series of unrelated episodes-the attempted assassination of the Mayor, the murder of a states attorney, the recovery of a body long hidden in a tenement wall, shatter her tough guy armor and drive her into a desperate journey into the past and present. Really well executed by author Newton. Buy It On Amazon >>

RED HARVEST-novel by Dashiell Hammett

Hammett’s Continental Op, short, fat and unattractive, faces down and decimates a small city’s corrupt power elite and reaps the red. Real Americana crime, Red Harvest illuminates the blood thirstiness of the country’s psyche. Buy It On Amazon >>

SKIN TIGHT-novel by Carl Hiaasen

Hilarious grit by South Florida’s master of mayhem, featuring the most memorable of incompetent hit men, Chemo. Try, also, Hiaasen’s novels Tourist Season and Double Whammy. Take a chance on his others. Buy It on Amazon >>

IN COLD BLOOD-non-fiction by Truman Capote

Lit Grit? Cold, stark and prosaic. A game changer. Telling of the senseless slaughter of the Clutter family in rural Kansas mid-1950s and the following investigation, trial, and executions. For better or worse, Capote lifts the true crime genre out of the pulp magazine rack.  Buy It On Amazon >>

Honorable Mention

THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE – novel by George V. Higgins

The first ‘mean streets.’ Small time hood, Eddie Coyle, is between a rock and a hard place facing life in prison. Will he rat?  What will Boston’s underworld do? Anything by Higgins is a crime fiction lover’s must read. Buy It On Amazon >>

IN SUNLIGHT OR SHADOW – anthology, edited by Lawrence Block

Thrilling short stories inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper,

Saucy stories by a bevy of pros, including Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Stephen King and Jill D. Block, associate American icon Edward Hopper’s works with winding narratives. Each ends with an expert twist. Curiously, many are  set outside the United States. Edited by crime thriller veteran Lawrence Block (Borderline, The Sins Of The Fathers, Hit Man)

Buy it on Amazon >>