PWA Shamus Award Nominations 2020

The Shamus Award nominees are in. Excited to see favorites like James DF Hannah, Casey Barrett and Matt Coyle in there.



PRIVATE EYE WRITERS OF AMERICA SHAMUS AWARD NOMINEES 2020 for works published in 2019. (The lists below are in alphabetical order by author.) Congratulations for all!



Best Original Private Eye Paperback 



The Skin Game by JD Allen / Midnight Ink

Behind the Wall of Sleep by James DF Hannah / author

Paid in Spades by Richard Helms / Clay Stafford Books

Ration of Lies by M. Ruth Myers / author

The Bird Boys by Lisa Sandlin / Cinco Puntos Press



Best Private Eye Short Story 



“The Smoking Bandit of Lakeside Terrace” by Chad Baker in EQMM May/June

“Sac-A-Lait Man” by O’Neil De Noux in EQMM Sept/Oct

“The Dunes of Saulkrasti” by William Burton McCormick in EQMM Sept/Oct
“The Fourteenth Floor” by Adam Meyer in Crime Travel anthology from Wildside Press

“Weathering the Storm” by Michael Pool in The Eyes of Texas anthology from Down & Out Books



 Best Private Eye Novel 



The Tower of Songs by Casey Barrett / Kensington

Lost Tomorrows by Matt Coyle / Oceanview

The Shadows by Matt Goldman / Forge

Below the Line by Michael Gould / Dutton

Cold Way by Julia Keller / Minotaur

Jeremiah Healy (1948-2014)

Like many other writers I was shocked to learn Jeremiah Healy passed away recently. I loved his work, having picked up the first John Francis Cuddy books because I had read most Spenser books and was looking for something similar. Of course, besides the Boston PI thing there's little they really had in common. The Cuddy books had their own style and Cuddy wasn't the superman Spenser was.
So sad that now both Robert B. Parker and Jeremiah Healy have passed away.
I will always be grateful for the blurb he provided for my Noah Milano books:
 "J. Vandersteen takes us back to the glory days of pulp fiction. And I mean the genre, NOT the movie. His Noah Milano character rings completely true as a tough, lone-wolf private."

That goes to show you what a wonderful man he was and how friendly he was to his fellow writers, always ready to help them along.


He will be missed by readers, writer and family.

Scoundrel available for FREE

For just a few days SCOUNDREL (A Noah Milano novelette) is free!
Check it out here http://www.amazon.com/Scoundrel-Noah-Milano-Novelette-ebook/dp/B009L5Q8Q0/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1371034212&sr=1-3

THE STORY
A pregnant woman hires ex-mob fixer and security specialist Noah Milano to track down the man who got her pregnant. When it turns out this man is quite the scoundrel Noah gets involved with Russian gangsters and a murder case.

PRAISE
''The writing is fresh and vivid and lively, paying homage to the past while standing squarely in the present." -James W. Hall, author of Silencer.

''Great pop sensibility with a nod to the classic L.A. PIs.'' - David Levien, author 13 Million Dollar Pop

'Noah Milano walks in the footsteps of the great P.I,.'s, but leaves his own tracks." - Robert J. Randisi, founder of PWA and The Shamus Award

"J. Vandersteen takes us back to the glory days of pulp fiction. And I mean the genre, NOT the movie. His Noah Milano character rings completely true as a tough, lone-wolf private." - Jeremiah Healy, author of TURNABOUT and THE ONLY GOOD LAWYER

First Frank Boff novel for free!

Regular readers of my blog know by now how much I like the Frank Boff series... Well, good news: the first in the series is now available for free download! Get it here!

Free PI fiction from Nathan Gottlieb

One of my favorite new PI writers is Nathan Gottlieb, a boxing reporter who writes about ex-DEA legend-turned-PI Frank Boff. Both his novels were very positively reviewed by me.
Now, The Punishing Game, the second novel in the series can be yours for free this Monday and Tuesday! Pick it up here.

Guilt (A Noah Milano novella) for free!!!

Haven't read my fiction yet? The next four days offers a great opportunity for it. My newest novella, GUILT will be free for your Kindle.
Check it out here: http://www.amazon.com/Guilt-Noah-Milano-novella-ebook/dp/B00BC6F3Q2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1360269851&sr=1-1
Don't be afraid to spread the word about it!

The story:
Years ago Noah Milano was the son and bodyguard of gangster boss Robert Milano. He was forced to shoot Lisa Waxman's father, turning her into an orphan, saddling him with a lifetime of guilt.
Now, Noah Milano has broken off all ties to his father and tries to make an honest living as a security specialist. He finds out Lisa's stepfather is accused of being one of the vilest, most sadistic serial killers of California. This is Noah's chance to find redemption. He swears to prove his innocence. It seems not everyone agrees with his quest, though. Soon not only Noah but his dearest friends are in mortal danger...
What makes this one extra cool is the short flashback in the first chapter to Noah's past and the fact this is the longest Noah Milano story since the novel White Knight Syndrome.

SUBMISSIONS FOR THE SHAMUS SAMPLER ARE OPEN

Hi All,

I decided to set the deadline a few months later so more people can contribute to the Shamus Sampler.

SUBMISSIONS FOR THE SHAMUS SAMPLER ARE OPEN

What am I looking for?
Stories (5000 words max) featuring unlicensed and / or licensed private investigators. Sent me the story and a one line summary of it, as well as a short bio. I will look at reprints but original stories are preferred.
You can email it to me as a word document at jvdsteen@hotmail.com. 

Deadline?
september the 1st, 2013

What am I paying?
Nothing, but your work is showcased in this sampler designed to bring more attention to PI writers. You will keep all rights, digital and print.

What will it be?
It will be a 99 cent priced anthology on Kindle. I will be making it free a lot of times to make sure a lot of people read it.

Let me know if you want to contribute. Since I am a fan of your work you're pretty sure to have your story published.

best
Jochem Vandersteen
http://sonsofspade.blogspot.com/

Guest post at Pulp Pusher

Check out my guest post at Pulp Pusher where I offer some background to my writing over here http://pulppusher.blogspot.nl/2013/03/guest-blog-jochem-vandersteen.html.

SUBMISSIONS FOR THE SHAMUS SAMPLER ARE OPEN

SUBMISSIONS FOR THE SHAMUS SAMPLER ARE OPEN

What am I looking for?
Stories (5000 words max) featuring unlicensed and / or licensed private investigators. Sent me the story and a one line summary of it, as well as a short bio. I will look at reprints but original stories are preferred.
You can email it to me as a word document at jvdsteen@hotmail.com. 

Deadline?
April the 1st, 2013
What am I paying?
Nothing, but your work is showcased in this sampler designed to bring more attention to PI writers. You will keep all rights, digital and print.

What will it be?
It will be a 99 cent priced anthology on Kindle. I will be making it free a lot of times to make sure a lot of people read it.

New Mike Dalmas story available!

Read about the action hero that makes Jack Reacher look like Tom Cruise... For free!

FOR FANS OF LEE CHILD'S JACK REACHER, MATT HILTON, STEPHEN LEATHER, ANDREW PETERSON AND DAVID BALDACCI

Husband, father, vigilante... Mike Dalmas left Special Forces to become a dedicated family man, but when his daughter gets molested he had his revenge, killing the pervert who committed the crime.
Now the Bay City cops keep him out of jail if he takes care of their dirty work. The things their badge won't allow them to do but for which Dalmas has the right skill set.

When the Bay City police is blackmailed with a tape showing police brutality Mike Dalmas has to destroy the tape before a riot destroys the city. But shouldn't the cops involved get punished?

PRAISE FOR THE MIKE DALMAS SERIES AND AUTHOR...

‘An action hero with a liking for justice rather than law – Mike Dalmas
is my kind of guy.’ Zoë Sharp, author of the Charlie Fox novels

''The writing is fresh and vivid and lively, paying homage to the past while standing squarely in the present." -James W. Hall, author of Silencer.

New Noah Milano novelette is out now!

Behind a great cover by Big Kiss Productions lurks another great Noah Milano story....

FOR FANS OF ROBERT B. PARKER AND ROBERT CRAIS

A pregnant woman hires ex-mob fixer and security specialist Noah Milano to track down the man who got her pregnant. When it turns out this man is quite the scoundrel Noah gets involved with Russian gangsters and a murder case.

Praise by other authors:
''The writing is fresh and vivid and lively, paying homage to the past while standing squarely in the present." -James W. Hall, author of Silencer.

''Great pop sensibility with a nod to the classic L.A. PIs.'' - David Levien, author 13 Million Dollar Pop

'Noah Milano walks in the footsteps of the great P.I,.'s, but leaves his own tracks." - Robert J. Randisi, founder of PWA and The Shamus Award

"J. Vandersteen takes us back to the glory days of pulp fiction. And I mean the genre, NOT the movie. His Noah Milano character rings completely true as a tough, lone-wolf private." - Jeremiah Healy, author of TURNABOUT and THE ONLY GOOD LAWYER

 

Buy it here.

Action - Pulse Pounding Tales: Mike Dalmas returns!

Any of you enjoyed my Mike Dalmas stories? Doing the cop's dirty work this ex-Special Forces vigilante is a father and a husband who is blackmailed by the Bay City cops to do the stuff their badge prevents them from doing. His stories came out at Trestle Press before I decided to cancel the series. Now, he's back... Together with a whole bunch of other great action heroes...

37 Action-packed Pulse Pounding Tales!

That’s exactly what you get in this collection of action stories from top thriller authors, both established and on the rise.
Think back to the days when heroes were heroes and the action was furious and full-blooded. When often as not, the hero was quite the opposite: an anti-hero - but he needed to be, to bring the kind of violent justice to villains worse than him. When political correctness took a back seat, even as the bullets and karate chops were flying. Basically it was good old harmless fun.

It was a case of disengaging your moral compass and getting down with the hero as they took on all comers, and they did it with balletic grace and uncompromising violence. Gratuitous? Mostly. Realistic? Not always. Great fun? You betcha!!!
Then fast forward to the here and now: What if the current action and thriller authors set their minds to bringing back the action genres of old?

Well, that question is answered here.

Within these pages you will find secret agents, vigilantes (both just and insane), cops, villains, soldiers, veterans, gangsters, swordsmen, privateers, Ninja and even a crypto-zoological beast you might recognise. Some of the tales are delivered with shocking realism, some as lighter entertainment, some on the grittier side, but each and every tale included in Action: Pulse Pounding Tales Volume 1 is sure to get your heart racing.


Kick back and enjoy the ride!

Contents:
Introduction by Matt Hilton

Strangers on a Train by Stephen Leather

Satisfaction Guaranteed by Matt Hilton

Valley of Death by I S Paton

The Real Deal by James Oliver Hilton

Jingle Bells by Adrian Magson

Death By Licence by Joe McCoubrey

The Night Butterflies by Zoë Sharp

Gallance by Col Bury

Battle For Baghlan by Matt Hayden

The Stranger by David Barber

Expiry Date by Gavin Bell

A Most Honorable Death by Jochem Vandersteen

Jack Be Nimble by Steven Savile & Steve Lockley

At Close Range by Ian Graham

Cutter’s Law by James Hopwood

Angel Tough by Absolutely Kate

On Her Majesty’s Bloody Service by Iain Purdie

The Legend of Jimmy-The-Gimp by Keith Gingell

Blood Moon of 1931 by Terrence P. McCauley

Skinner Alive by Daniel Moses Luft

Jobs Taken by Asher Wismer

The Handler by Gavin Hunt

Blood on Their Hands by Les Morris

Issa’s Island Prison by Graham Smith

Eastern Fury by Andrew Scorah

The Liberator by Paul D. Brazill

The Tower of Marnir by Paul Grzegorzek

Bit Part Player by Theresa Derwin

The Judgment of Jean Lafitte by Evan Lewis

Avenged: Sixfold by Natasha Marie Thomas

Man or Mouse by Mark Dark

Stokey by Robin Jarossi

Savage Sun by Richard Godwin

One Flew Over the Policeman’s Bonnet by Pete Sortwell

Born of Woman by Laird Long

Chickens by K.A. Laity

*Bonus Story* Trench Warfare by Matt Hilton

Acknowledgements

Afterword by Matt Hilton


ACTION: Pulse Pounding Tales Volume 1, is now available as an ebook on all Amazon platforms. If you're in the USA you can get it here:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008082QP6
and in the UK here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008082QP6/ref=tsm_1_fb_lk


A portion of the proceeds from sales of this collection will go to the charity Help for Heroes http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/

Read these blogs if you like PI fiction

There's some things on the web you should check out...
Dave White starts a cool discussion about the popularity of PI fiction here.
Lawrence Block shares a chapter from "In Pursuit Of Spenser" here.

Three blogs where I appear

To promote Redemption I've had the honor to be interviewed here and talk about hardboiled prose here.
Also, this blog is about relationships from publicists with blogs like mine.

New appearances on the web

Two other cool sites were nice enough to have me appear... I'm interviewed here and I've got a new short story up at the awesome Shotgun Honey.
Go check them out!

Thanks for the support!

A note of thanks to everyone who had good things to say about Redemption and the people who invited me to guest blog. I appear here and here .

Available under a buck: Redemption (A Noah Milano novelette)

My new Noah Milano novelette is out now... I'm really happy with the cover and editing done by the fabulous Anne Tyler Duck... An excerpt of her husband's cool novel Triage is included in the novelette.
Here's the details about it...

REDEMPTION - a Noah Milano novelette
Twenty years ago he tortured and killed a young boy. Now he is out of prison, ready to find redemption confronting the victim's parents.
He hires Noah Milano, security specialist and son of LA's biggest mobster to protect him.
When the unexpected happens it's up to Noah Milano to do what he thinks is right and make sure justice is done.

Praise for Noah Milano and Jochem Vandersteen:

Jeremiah Healy, author of TURNABOUT and THE ONLY GOOD LAWYER: "J. Vandersteen takes us back to the glory days of pulp fiction. And I mean the genre, NOT the movie. His Noah Milano character rings completely true as a tough, lone-wolf private."

Wayne D. Dundee - author of the Joe Hannibal series: The difference is mainly in the character of Noah Milano himself, a man struggling both internally and externally to break free from his "Family" ties and to walk his own path toward what he deems Right and Just. This is good stuff. Read and enjoy."

Les Roberts, author of the Milan Jacovich series: "Noah Milano is all too human, which makes him more appealing."

"Terrific stuff.'' - Lori G. Armstrong, author of Snowblind

'Noah Milano walks in the footsteps of the great P.I,.'s, but leaves his own tracks." - Robert J. Randisi, founder of PWA and The Shamus Award

Jochem's deep and abiding love for classic pulp fiction comes through on every page, and his stories continue the time-honored tradition of the hardboiled American PI." -Sean Chercover, author of Trigger City.

''The writing is fresh and vivid and lively, paying homage to the past while standing squarely in the present." -James W. Hall, author of Silencer.

''Great pop sensibility with a nod to the classic L.A. PIs.'' - David Levien, author 13 Million Dollar Pop

It can be found here...

Silence Is Deadly Again!

My story Silence is Deadly featuring Noah Milano is reposted at Tony Black's Pulp Pusher.
One of my favorite authors, Wayne Dundee called it "Tight, tough stuff with a sad, tragic ending."
It's a bit darker than most Milano stories, but if you like hardboiled fiction you will like this one as well.
This story is also included in the Noah Milano collection, Tough As Leather, available here.

New Jack Tunney out by Wayne Dundee!

Here's another cool novella inspired by the old boxing pulps with Jack Tunney mentioned as an author. Each entry in this series is written by a different writer under the Tunney-name, however. They alreday has some great talent doing these (like Paul Bishop) and now they even got Wayne Dundee, one of my favorite writers (of the Joe Hannibal novels fame) doing one.

The story is set in Milwaukee, 1954, and features Danny "The Duke" Dugronski, an ex-Marine who's earned a respectable reputation as a solid regional heavyweight --- until the Mob tries to muscle in and force him into some rigged fights. Before it's over, they find out that Danny is a fighter who's willing to stand his ground and slug it out with any opponent, no matter who it is.

Check out Counterpunch here.

Hardboiled Collective: Truman Smith series by Bill Crider

Hardboiled Collective member Bill Crider has published his Truman Smith series in ebook-form.

Dead on the Island: Private-eye Truman Smith returns to his hometown of Galveston, Texas, to investigate the disappearance of his sister. He runs into people from his past, finds a cat, and gets into a lot of trouble. Publishers Weekly says that Smith is "another well-drawn protagonist, this time a moody, introspective PI in the finest tradition, who works in a seamy city smoldering with old and dangerous secrets. "

Gator Kill: Who'd investigate the killing of an alligator? Private-eye Truman Smith would. Publisher's weekly says: "Soon the brooding gumshoe is stumbling over the bodies of dead humans, is shot at and run down by a souped-up four-by-four as he's embroiled in a plot complete with crooked police, a possible land-grabbing scheme and bad guys who, but for their lack of redeeming good nature, could be Damon Runyon inventions."

When Old Men Die: Does anybody care when old men die? Private-eye Truman Smith does, and he's going to find out who's responsible, even if it kills him.

Since they're by a member of my handpicked Collective they all come highly recommended!