Tuesday, December 03, 2013

Review: "Thuglit: Issue 7" Edited by Todd Robinson

Reviewing collections and anthologies can be tricky due to the nature of the short stories involved. One does not want to say too much and ruin the reads. Such is the case here with Thuglit: Issue 7 where the reading is once again very good.

Kim wasn’t really obtainable in “Mouthbreather” by Joe Gifford.  The man known as “Slim” has always been at her beck and call since they grew up together in different trailers in “Copperhead Canyon. A bond that even his wife Rene doesn’t understand will cause him late one night to once again come to her aid.

Poke had a plan and true to form like everything Poke did, the plan was crazy bad. “Pegleg” by Ed Kurtz points out in detail just how crazy bad an idea it was.


Corporate theft and espionage are just a couple of things at work in “The Last Job” by Justin Ordonez.  It takes skill to steal from major corporations and this particular thief is good at it.  But, skill isn’t everything.


Chad wanted out of the drugs and more in “Two Sides of the Same Coin” by Christopher E. Long. While he wants out, his girlfriend Jen wants totally into his life. A trip to Vegas and their very lives is at stake.


Mitch has got his gun and his club and is going to chase down Ruby Jean. Nobody is ever going to come into his house and hurt his brother.  She and others will learn hard lessons in “Cinders” by Marie S. Crosswell.

Sid Hartsell can really throw it and the other boys in Harrison County can’t handle his pitches. In “Quiet Dell, 1914” by Benjamin Welton at the beginning there isn’t much known about Sid.  Reporter Thaddeus O’Connor knows the real story, most of it anyway, and is glad to tell you what happened that horrendously hot summer of 1914.

Considering the nature of his wife’s behavior, he has to be careful when he talks to the new young neighbor. She has two dogs and that might be a conversation starter in “The Neighbor’s Dog” by Edward Hagelstein. Mira seems worth getting to know for a variety of reasons, but, he should be thinking how much in common he has with the dog.

He just wants to go catch a shark in “Chum” by Michael Sears. It has been a bad day and he just wants a shark if the guy in the bar will just accept his money and cooperate.

As in previous issues in this series, the eight stories here are about dark deeds. Crime stories full of people often at the edge doing desperate things because of fate and/or personal stupidity.  Each tale pulls you in and slaps you around awhile before you are drop kicked from behind into the arms of the next author. Simply good stuff that will remind you again that humanity is about as bad as you think it is most days.



Thuglit: Issue 7
Edited by Todd Robinson
Thuglit Publishing
August 2013
ASIN: B00EWS12L2
E-book (also available in print)
144 Pages
$0.99

Material obtained by purchase using funds in my Amazon Associates account for an objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2013

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