Hello, Vacation!

So, tomorrow morning, we're leave for the Florida keys where we will spend our Christmas vacation. I can't wait. I've got my swimming shorts packed, plenty of short and t-shirts, my camera (for plenty of pictures I plan to share with you all), my cell phone, which also has my Kindle app (so I can read plenty of crime fiction), and my laptop so I can finish working on The Old Royal, which, by the way, is near completion.

Currently, I'm reading Victor Gischler's Suicide Squeeze. So far, it's freaking awesome! Gischler's the man! I've also packed Duane Swierczynski's paperback, The Wheelman, which sounds like a kick-ass book. I hope I'm not disappointed by it. Something tells me I won't be.

I've been looking at pictures of Key West and they look beautiful, an island paradise. I imagine there will be plenty of photo opportunities. We'll see. Like I said, I plan to share a lot of the pictures I take with everyone when we return, but I don't want to even think of coming back when I haven't even left yet.

While there, I'll wrap up the first draft of The Old Royal. I worked on it quite a bit today and have reached the climactic end. I'm giddy with anticipation of its conclusion and I doubt you'll be disappointed. Of course, once I finish it, I'll start in on the editing. Yuck. That's the part I dread the most, but I'm excited about getting it out of my head and onto the page. I want it to be the best story yet. Let's keep our fingers crossed that I do it justice in the editing phase. Right now, I'm just daydreaming of sitting on the beach as the sun sets over the ocean (snapping some pictures, of course) and working on my story. Reminiscent of Ernest Hemingway, but with more of a Raymond Chandler twist. What can I say? I love crime fiction.

So, here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Kwanza, Happy Chanukkah...(whatever your preference, please don't be offended if I left one out) from the Keys.

Victor Gischler's The Deputy, FREE!

I'm not sure if this is for a limited time (Victor didn't say if this would change), but Victor Gischler's The Deputy is free. According to his blog post, you can find it anywhere ebooks are sold.

Now, if you're not familiar with Mr. Gischler's work, let me just say that I bought his novel, Gun Monkeys, sometime ago because I heard it was a hard-boiled tale with hitmen. Hitmen? Hard-boiled? Those are two things right up my alley, so you better believe I got a copy. At that time, I was reading the likes of Raymond Chandler, Ross MacDonald, and Dashiell Hammett. I wanted to see if this Gischler-guy could write entertaining hard-boiled, hitman, crime fiction. He did! I absolutely loved that book. Since then, I've picked up a few of his other books: The Deputy and Shotgun Opera. I you're a fan of hard-boiled crime fiction, you should do yourself a favor and read Gischler. I doubt you'll regret it.

A couple of links you might find useful:
Victor's Blog
Amazon author page

Book Review (in progress): These Guns For Hire

Disclaimer: I have not finished reading this book. I'm currently half way through it. This is an anthology edited by Joe Konrath. Even though I have not finished reading this book, I already give it 5 stars. If you're a fan of the crime genre, especially the sub-genre of hit men, then you really need to read this book. There are 31 stories inside from authors you've heard of and some you probably

haven't. Lawrence Block, David Morrell, Ed Gorman, Victor Gischler, Max Allan Collins, J.A. Konrath, and many more.

As of yet, I haven't read a story I didn't like. They range from the most calculating, professional killers to the comical. There's even a story where a lemur is the target of a hit! I know. At first, when I read that, I thought, Really? A hit man is supposed to take out a lemur? How good can it possible be?


Trust me. It's that good! I must admit, I was skeptical when I read that the stories were an eclectic bunch, taking place in foreign locales, involving supernatural elements, and lemurs. As I've mentioned, so far, every story I've read has been stellar. If you haven't already read this book, buy it. You won't regret it.