Eric Beetner

Carter McCoy is still alive, but not for long. A man with nothing to lose, he can help the helpless. A reluctant killer, his skills are used by the police now to balance the scales of justice. But killing doesn't sit well on Carter and he wants to live out his last days in peace. Detective Brian DeFore is using Carter for his own gain, and almost destroys both of them. When the old man refuses to help any longer, DeFore wonders how hard it can be to kill someone who needs killing. Then a woman asks Carter for his help to hunt a monster-her husband. The search for justice will take him deep into the snowy woods with his faithful dog, Chester, at his side. His end is coming soon, but maybe even sooner than he thought.

When Carter McCoy learns he hasn't got long to live, it's time to take care of something he has wanted to do for years--kill the man responsible for his daughter's death. But Carter has no experience killing and isn't even sure he can do it. Breanna needs to escape her toxic home life or end up living a life of regret. When she happens upon the old man with a rifle, she sees a light at the end of her dark tunnel. Carter may be the answer to her problems, if he lives long enough to help her. Carter is a man on borrowed time, and what he does with the rest of it could change who he has been his whole life. With the police closing in one step ahead of death, Carter has the opportunity to change Breanna's life and give her the chance his daughter never had. With his trusty dog, Chester, at his side, Carter's last act will be the one that defines who he is.

Long time grifters Sam and Rachel love two things: each other and the grift. On the run from the mob, the two lovers move from one con to the next, winning some and losing others, but always finding a way to survive. Episodes 10-12 of Season Two begins with The Sound of Breaking Bones by Eric Beetner. In Mississippi, Sam and Rachel pose as a godly couple running an adoption service, but they quickly run afoul of a local deacon whose tendencies run more to the Old Testament than the New. Scott Eubanks penned Episode 11, Still Life with Suitcase. This debut author's work finds Sam and Rachel in Florida, working a variation of the fiddle scheme. Their targets are new money but the art involved is from an old master. The danger itself, however, is elemental. Episode 12, Down Comes the Night, officially closes out season two. Series creator and editor Frank Zafiro picks up with Sam and Rachel right where they left off in Episode 11. Deciding to face the threat of pursuing mobsters head on, the couple devises a plan to finally be free and safe. The life of a grifter, however, holds little hope of either.

This is it, Switchblade: Tech Noir, the ultimate cutting edge cyberpunk anthology-and that's only the half of it. One of a two volume set, featuring hard boiled gutter noir, with a sci-fi twist. Presented alongside the ultimate cyber Pulp companion issue, Pulp Modern: Tech Noir. Ten hard-hitting no luck tales from dystopian doomsayers. With fiction from Callum McSorley, James Edward O'Brien, Mandi Jourdan, Hugh Lessig, Rob D. Smith, John Moralee, along with Switchblade veterans, Matt Gomez, Nick Kolakowski, Eric Beetner, and Alec Cizak.

Never before has killing someone benefitted such a good cause... In 2014, Crimespree Magazine held an internet-based flash fiction contest. The rules were simple: somewhere in the story you had to "Kill Dan Malmon." That was it. The story had to be brief, inventive, and somewhere, Malmon had to die. Now, thanks to Down & Out Books, those original stories, plus a few more, are being collected into one volume with all proceeds going to the MS Society. If you hate MS as much as we do, and if your feelings towards Dan Malmon are rather ambivalent anyway, then this is the volume for you. Featuring stories by Hector Acosta, Eric Beetner, Dana Cameron, Sarah M. Chen, Matthew Clemens, Angel Luis Colon, Hilary Davidson, Cory Funk, Danny Gardner, Paul J. Garth, Rob Hart, Ed Kurtz, S. W. Lauden, Russel D. McLean, Jeff Macfee, Erin Mitchell, Erica Ruth Neubauer, Brad Parks, Thomas Pluck, Bryon Quertermous, Todd Robinson, Alex Segura, Jeff Shelby, Nathan Singer, Josh Stallings, Jay Stringer, R. D. Sullivan, Bryan VanMeter, Holly West and Dave White. Praise for KILLING MALMON: "I've never quite understood why people keep killing off Malmon. But they make a good case. Several cases. Many, many cases-for a good cause Killing Malmon for fun and non-profit " -Lori Rader-Day, Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author of The Day I Died "You can't spell marvelously grisly and a funky good time without K-I-L-L-I-N-G M-A-L-M-O-N. Do yourself a favor and dive in." -Shaun Harris, author of The Hemingway Thief "Look, I like Dan Malmon, so I feel kinda guilty enjoying the hell out of his many untimely demises. But this collection, which features some of the best crime writers on the planet, is a gonzo pulp confection that hits your system like a sugar high and leaves you smiling the whole way through." -Chris Holm, Anthony Award-winning author of The Killing Kind and Red Right Hand "Your mom is going to hate this." -Kristi Belcamino, author of the Gabriella Giovanni thriller series "Killing Malmon is an incredibly satisfying crime fiction sampler. Read it. I guarantee you'll leave with at least three new writers to check out (plus an inexplicable desire to protect and nurture Dan Malmon)." -Jess Lourey, TEDx presenter and Anthony- and Lefty-nominated author of the Witch Hunt thrillers and the Murder by Month mysteries "Come for the death of Dan Malmon, stay for the super-group of authors letting it all hang out, dropping tasty cut after tasty cut of pure noir." -Matthew FitzSimmons, author of the Gibson Vaughn series "Killing Malmon is like Murder on the Orient Express except (spoilers ) it's not by Agatha Christie, or on a train, or on its way to the Orient. Still, there's something wonderful and sweet watching thirty talented mystery writers line up to shoot, strangle, poison, dismember, and otherwise spell the demise of the one of the genuinely nicest guys in the business. If you're into that kind of thing like I am, read Killing Malmon." -Matthew Iden, author of the Marty Singer mystery series and The Winter Over "Life sure is hard for you." -Judy Malmon, Dan's mom "I love these stories " -Diane Hackbarth, Kate's mom

The Lawyer should have heeded the ominous signs: a forest fire raging in the distance and the undertaker's wagon carrying away two knife-stabbed bodies. But he's a man obsessed, methodically hunting down the gang members who murdered his family, and Big Jim Kimbrough, his latest target, isn't far from the hell-blazing inferno. In a surprise turn, Kimbrough gets the jump on The Lawyer and leaves him for dead; though fortune is in his corner when a trio of frontier women find him and nurse him back to health. It's not long before Kimbrough learns The Lawyer is still alive. Desperate to rub out the man who's been dogging him, the outlaw goes gunning for The Lawyer again, determined this time to finish the job. Eric Beetner (The Year I Died Seven Times) writes the Old West with the same terse, action-packed grit as his crime fiction. BLOOD MOON is his second riveting "Lawyer" tale following the highly praised Six Guns at Sundown.

Seething hatred spurs The Lawyer forward, with a burning vengeance for his family slaughtered by seven hardened gunslingers. He's tracking them down, one by one, until every killer is in the ground. His next target, Big Jim Kimbrough, left tracks to the small town of Sundown, Arkansas, where The Lawyer learns his prey has already moved on. But he can't leave after he witnesses a black man named Josiah being dragged behind a horse, the man's only crime is allegedly taking food from a white man's table, and is about to be lynched. The Lawyer takes up arms to save Josiah, realizing Kimbrough is slipping from his grasp with every minute he spends in Sundown. None of that will matter, though, if The Lawyer doesn't survive the next twelve hours in the wake of a racially charged mob, fueled by the town's tyrant and cheap liquor. Eric Beetner (The Year I Died Seven Times) is no stranger to writing terse, action-packed storylines. He shifts his gifted prose from modern crime tales to the gritty world of the Old West without missing a beat. SIX GUNS AT SUNDOWN is a riveting Western that continually tightens its grip to the last provocative page.

Hollywood, 1941 Ray Ward spends his nights thinking about his brother's death and the blood-soaked days that followed. Dean Fokoli is off the force, disgraced by his dirty dealings, left to scrape for pennies as a private eye. When Ray receives a mysterious package from his sister containing a plea for help and a reel of 8mm film, there's a problem - Ray doesn't have a sister. Now two former enemies must team up, travel halfway across the country to search the dark shadow of Hollywood's spotlight. In for more than they bargained for, Ray and Fokoli plunge behind the silver screen to unearth tinsel town's dirty secrets. And two men with nothing left to lose can stir up some serious trouble. "Meticulous historical detail slams you into the hard boiled world of Ray Ward and Dean Fokoli as they use hard fists and cold steel to knock the shiny off Hollywood's glitter. Borrowed Trouble is like a talented fighter - powerful, quick, and hard to put down." Rebecca Cantrell, NYT best selling author of the Hannah Vogel mysteries "For a knockout punch of hardboiled, look no further than Borrowed Trouble, sequel to the period noir One Too Many Blows To The Head. You'll want to go the distance with Ray Ward, a tough-luck protagonist who knows how to hit where it counts " Kelli Stanley, author of City of Dragons and City of Secrets "Everyone has a short list of books that stayed with them long after they turned the last page-add Borrowed Trouble to mine. Eric Beetner and J. B. Kohl have vividly re-created 1941 Los Angeles, ripping apart the city's glamorous fa ade to reveal the cold noir heart beneath. With sharp writing, head-spinning twists, and pair of protagonists haunted by memory and loss, this is pulp fiction at its finest." Hilary Davidson, author of The Damage Done and Blood Always Tells "Borrowed Trouble is the hard hitting sequel to Kohl & Beetner's noir knockout debut One Too Many Blows To The Head. It grabs you by the lapels from the first page and drags you out of the murky corners of Kansas City's underbelly and into a glittering Hollywood where the bright lights cast sordid and sinister shadows." Paul D. Brazill, crimewriter, The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime "An intriguing tale of two outsiders thrust unwillingly into the dark side of 1941 Hollywood. A seamless collaboration, rich with explosive dialogue and scenes so vivid, Kohl and Beetner takes the reader on a compelling journey. Rich with prose that packs a powerful punch, Borrowed Trouble is not to be missed." Deborah J Ledford, author of Staccato and Snare "It's 1941 and noir's hot new duo, Kohl and Beetner, return with another sure-fire winner. Borrowed Trouble is a relentlessly tough and lean novel, packed full with memorable characters. United by their troubled pasts, the unlikely pairing of PI Dean Fokoli and troubled boxing promoter, Ray Ward, head from Kansas City to Hollywood to untangle a dark tale of greed and exploitation, but ultimately one which offers them both a shot at personal redemption. They don't write them like this anymore. Jump onboard now." Nick Quantrill, author of Broken Dreams and The Late Greats

Kansas City, 1939. In a world of fixed fights and mob influence Ray Ward and his brother Rex are two of the only clean fighters in town. With Ray in the corner and Rex in the ring they are headed for the big time. Until that fateful night. Now Ray has a score to settle using a lifetime of lessons in how to fight back. Dean Fokoli is a detective with a new partner, an alcoholic wife and a guilty conscience. At least the boxer on the radio who just got beat to a pulp won't end up in his homicide file. But when the dregs of the crooked fight world start turning up dead, Fokoli is on the hunt for the killer. The chase will take him to the underbelly of the Kansas City night and hopefully keep him one step ahead of his past. A razor-edged story of revenge, redemption and what happens when you confront the ghosts of the past. "One Too Many Blows to the Head feels like a long-lost pulp you find in a favorite bookstore. A delicious mix of classic hardboiled grit and the heart-heavy world of film noir, it's a one-sitting read that sends you back to a lost time of fight halls, Chicago boys and last chances." -Megan Abbott, author of Dare Me and Queenpin "A powerful tale of vengeance, rife with pounding action and colorful, complex characters. One Too Many Blows To The Head is a first round knock-out " - Stephen Jay Schwartz, LA Times best selling author of Boulevard and Beat "The prose is hardboiled and lean, and there's plenty of violence. There's a surprise or two along the way, and you'll want to know what happens to Fokoli and Ray. They're deeply flawed, but Beetner and Kohl keep them human, which is quite an accomplishment when you consider the circumstances." - Bill Crider, author of the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series "The writing is crisp, the characters finely drawn. Ray's motivation to avenge his brother's death, murder really, may seem to be simple, but in actuality is deeply complex. One Too Many Blows To the Head is quite remarkable in how it takes a relatively simple story and develops an intricate, compelling tale of two men on a mission to identify who killed Rex Ward . . . but also on a search for their own." -Mysterious Reviews (FOUR STARS) "Boxing and noir once went hand in glove, but you don't see many boxing novels anymore, and that's a shame. Here's one that dredges up all the blood and spit and sweat and money of the fight game, and wraps it around a tough noir storyline full of revenge and dark secrets. Kohl and Beetner get it exactly right." - Steve Brewer, author of the Bubba Mabry series "One Too Many Blows to the Head is a novel set in the fight world of Kansas City 1939 and it's everything you love about classic film noir only bound and printed." - Hardboiled Wonderland