Showing posts with label Editor Rick Ollerman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Editor Rick Ollerman. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 24, 2024
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: Bullets and Other Hurting Things, edited by Rick Ollerman
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: Bullets and Other Hurting T...: From the description at Down & Out Books : In a career spanning nearly four decades, Bill Crider published more than sixty crime fiction...
Saturday, October 06, 2018
Six Questions For . . .: Six Questions for Rick Ollerman, Editor, Down And ...
Six Questions For . . .: Six Questions for Rick Ollerman, Editor, Down And ...: Down and Out: The Magazine publishes quality crime stories of 3,000 to 5,000 words, sometimes more. Read the complete guidelines here . S...
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Review: Down and Out Volume 1, Issue 2 Editor Rick Ollerman
Down and Out: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 2 offers a short welcome back note from Editor Rick Ollerman
before diving into the short stories. First up is the tale titled “One at a Time”
by Lissa Marie Redmond. The problem with a 1969 Ford Fairlane is that it is
old. Bad news if you are trapped in the trunk and being driven out to
somewhere out in the woods so that you can be killed and dumped. Being strapped
for cash and a beautiful woman was the combination that led to imprisonment in
a trunk with no emergency release.
“Family Business” by Andrew Welsh-Huggins comes next where a
man by Foley needs to take care of various issues. That includes ending his
relationship with Kelsey. A relationship that has had its benefits, but that
has also crossed too many of his self-imposed boundaries.
In a world where it is rare for a person to actually drive
a car, technology has the ability to record, for a fee, everything in your
loved one’s home after their death. “Closure” by Nick Kolakowski details a
small slice of that world where a VR recorder can move from room to room
scanning and collection the visual record in order to recreate the place later
for the family. It can also be used in other ways which the customer may never
see.
As he was in the first issue, J. Kingston Pierce of the
website, The Rap Sheet, is back with his
book suggestions column, “Placed into Evidence.” Just take a moment and go
ahead and get out your checkbook, your credit card, or your library card, as
there is reading to do.
A work by the late and deeply missed Bill Crider comes
next. “Tell the Bees: A Sheriff Dan Rhodes Story” features the good sheriff at
work in a mystery story with plenty of humor and Texas flavor. Note that the
next and possibly final installment in the long running Dan Rhodes series, That
Old Scoundrel Death, is scheduled for release in February 2019. I keep
hoping that his daughter, Angela Crider Neary, will pick up the Sheriff
Rhodes legacy as she is the only person remotely qualified to do so.
Timothy J. Lockhart is up next with his tale “Last Night at
Skipper’s Lounge.” It has been quite a few years, but the bar that
Mackey spent a lot of time in during aviation officer candidate school still
stands. Mackey is back in Pensacola as the bar will soon close for good. Back
to relive memories good and bad and maybe make some new ones.
Sam has a problem and he is pretty sure his current plane
ride is going to end badly for him and everyone onboard. In “A State of Decline”
by J. J. Hensley, Sam has to try to talk some reason into the man who just
killed everyone who could fly the plane. Not only has he got to figure out how
they are going to safely land the plane with the flight crew all dead, he has
to figure out a way to disarm the man who has proven more than willing to use
that gun.
“Say It with Lead: A Race Williams Story” by Carroll John
Daly comes next. This story originally appeared in the June 1925 issue of Black Mask Magazine and it is a good
one. Howel L. Foster knows that his life is about to be in serious danger. Mr.
Foster knows as he is a man of resources who has his fingers in a lot of
endeavors. He also knows who is most likely behind the threat and knows the
motive most likely would be revenge. He wants Race Williams around to prevent
his death. Should Foster die anyway, he intends to set up things so that the
person who captures or kills those responsible will get two hundred thousand
dollars. Foster hopes that by having Race Williams at his side and letting it
be known that if he is killed the well-known Race Williams would come after the
killer or killers for the two hundred thousand dollar reward just might keep
him alive. To make all this happen and to make sure the word gets out Foster
will pay him a significant sum of money know for Race to accompany him back
home and make his presence known. The deal is struck and soon Williams and
Foster are headed north out of NYC on the business of trying to keep Foster
alive. As always, the context introduction by Rick Ollerman is very helpful to
the reader.
Revenge is also a theme in the closing story, “A Calculated
Risk” by Ben Boulden. It has been six years, two months, and thirteen days
since everything changed. Most folks would have forgotten. He had lost it all.
But, like the proverbial phoenix, he is back with a vengeance and a plan. Harry
is ready to have his revenge.
A final word from Editor Rick Ollerman previewing the third
issue and a listing of other books available from the publisher brings the
second issue to a close. Building on the strength of the first
issue, the second issue is another solid and highly entertaining read. The book
column from J. Kingston Pierce is a definite winner as are the short intros to
each story that place the work in context while also making reading suggestions. Down and Out: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 2 is a
solidly good read and very much worth your time.
Down and Out: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 2
Editor Rick Ollerman
Down And Out Books
December 2017
ASIN: B077XYK2XV
eBook (also available in print format)
168 Pages
$5.99
Material was purchased by
way of a gift card from my oldest son late last December.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2018
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Review: Down & Out: The Magazine: Issue 1 (Volume 1) Editor Rick Ollerman
Edited by Rick Ollerman, Down & Out: The Magazine:
Issue 1 is packed full of lots of good reading. After a short introduction, it is on to the
stories. Each story has a brief introduction that explains a little bit of the
background of the author as well as placing the presented in the context of the
author’s work. Many of the tales in this issue tie into series work by authors.
Such is the case with the first author, Michael A.
Black. His tale that leads off this first issue features the author’s signature
character, private investigator Ron Shade. In “Dress Blues: A Ron Shade Story.”
Inspired by a real life case according to the introduction, Mr. Shade has to
find a boy who has run away from the Woodsen Academy.
Editor Rick Ollerman is up next with “Hit Me: A Scott
Porter Agency Story.” Amanda has been difficult for far too long. He needs her
gone. The only question is how to make it happen permanently. How do you go
about hiring a hitman?
Late September and the breeze off the Seine is
colder than it should be. For Inspector Alain Ducard of the Police Nationale it
was hard to leave his warm bed and the comforts of his wife, but when the boss
says go to the murder scene, he goes to the murder scene. He didn’t have
a choice even though he works Intelligence and not Homicide. He has no idea why he was called in, but will
soon find out in “The Solitary Man: A University Story” by Terrence McCauley.
Readers take a break from reading stories with
the next piece by J. Kingston Pierce titled “Placed Into Evidence.” Best known
for his highly entertaining site, The Rap
Sheet, Mr. Pierce gives readers the highlights on seven books coming up. He
also points out the fact, at least for some of us; the change in seasons does
not mean a change in what one looks for in a good book.
I have been a longtime fan of the work of Reed
Farrel Coleman. He hooked my parents who were avid readers and raved about the
early installments of the Moe Prager
series. I got hooked and used his work in reviews and FFB review
entries. The last couple of years Mom could no longer read much at
all due to her failing eyesight and memory issues, but she often talked about
how much she enjoyed the series. As I now again live in the house I grew up in
after inheriting it last year after my Mom passed from the consequences of a
massive stroke, reading “Breakage: A Moe Prager Story” had a strong emotional
impact. 1984 in Brooklyn and Moe has been doing very little detecting work. In
fact, he has done none in several months. That is until Mr. Israel Roth, forty
years Moe’s senior and a friend and far more, comes to see him. He needs Moe to
find a concertation camp survivor just might be the wife of a dying man.
“On the Job Interview: A Slick and Bo Story” by
Eric Beetner follows where Bo is glad he smoked on the way to the bar to calm
his nerves once he had seen the man known as “Slick.” The job is a
smash and grab. Slick is not about to go back to jail for anyone. Slick needs a
good partner so if the first job goes right there could be future work. One
also has to deal with the current partner as well.
It might be time to get a dog in “Trash: An
Andrea Vogel Story” by Jen Conley. A cop, a widow, and the depression is pretty
deep. A dog might help. Then there is the problem of Sheila Kemper.
2002 was a long time ago, but seeing her brings back the old fury.
After an introduction about Black Mask Magazine and the context of the story, “Rough Justice: A
Donahue Story” by Frederick Nebel. Donahue is in town and working a case that
has taken him from New York to St. Louis. Donahue is not happy. Not only is it
too damn hot, he has to rely on a local contact for information and support.
First up, Donahue needs a local cop with certain qualities.
Closing the fiction is a stand-alone story by
Thomas Pluck titled “Deadbeat.” Our narrator works the high steel
while trying to hide the extent of his knee injury. He chews pain pills so he
can keep working to pay his mounting bills. He is a supervisor and needs to do
what he needs to do to keep his job and also make sure that the union stays happy.
A final word from the editor and a listing of
other books available from the publisher close out the issue. There are a lot
of books so there plenty of reading suggestions. These suggestions are in addition
to the books already mentioned by way of the introductions to the various stories.
Down & Out: The Magazine: Issue 1 is a good one. Plenty of variety in stories, both old and
new, as well as the nice addition of the upcoming books by J. Kingston Pierce
make this first issue well worth your time and money. If the quality of content
in this first issue continues in subsequent issues, this magazine should be
able to find a steady if not growing audience.
Down & Out: The Magazine: Issue 1 (Volume
1)
Editor Rick Ollerman
Down And Out Books
Down And Out Books
July 2017
ASIN: B074CFW523
eBook (also available in print format)
168 Pages
$0.99
Material was purchased by
way of a gift card from my oldest son late last December.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2018
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