An Evening Of Mystery At Ben McNally Books

The fabulous Ben McNally Books downtown Toronto, along with ECW Press, hosted a fun evening with some of Canada's coolest crime writers.

John McFetridge entertained everyone reading an excerpt from his latest book, Tumblin' Dice.

John's a great guy and a fantastic writer. Check out the review I did recently for Tumblin' Dice over at Spinetingler.

John McFetridge has written a number of crime novels all based in Toronto: Dirty Sweet, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Swap and now Tumblin' Dice, which was just released in March. His writing style has been compared to Elmore Leonard and he indeed writes some dark and gritty stuff with lots of swearing. Love that. You can never have too much foul language in a crime book. You've got to be able to offend your grandma if you want to do it right.


David Whellams, author of Walking into the Ocean, also read to us.

David is an Ottawa based writer and has a background in criminal law. His book, Walking into the Ocean is a mystery novel set in Britain and features Veteran Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Peter Cammon who, while investigating the murder of a woman, discovers and even

bigger mystery involving a number of deaths that might be the work of a serial killer. Sounds like fun to me. Who doesn't love serial killers?

Toronto author Brent Pilkey read an interesting excerpt from his book; a humorous little part that went into detailed descriptions of cop's underwear. I'll never be able to look at them without thinking about what might be in their pants, I mean under their pants. Under wear? Their pants. Yes, that's it. I got cop's briefs on my brain now.

Brent is a Toronto cop himself so when he talks about cops (and their boxers) he knows what he's saying. Savage Rage is Brent's second book set in Toronto, featuring the character of officer Jack Warren. You can read my review of Savage Rage over at Goodreads. It's a pretty cool book, as is Brent's first one, Lethal Rage.

Another Toronto writer, Dorothy McIntosh, author of The Witch of Babylon was at tonight's event, showing her support. Dorothy chatted me up about the new book in her trilogy coming out soon and it sounds fantastic. I've got a review of The Witch of Babylon on my blog. It's a page turner.

Ben McNally's is a great little book store on Bay Street, with a really elegant atmosphere. Check it out if you're in the Toronto area. And be sure to visit ECW Press for a list of all the books of tonight's featured authors.

A Tattoo And A Review, Featuring Drunk On The Moon

Werewolves are always getting a bad rap. In movies and in stories the werewolf is typically portrayed as a vicious creature to be feared and loathed. But according to Eric, who came into Malefic Tattoos today to continue the work on his reverse tribal full leg piece, werewolves are just misunderstood.

"As long as they only kill the bad guy, it's fine," says Eric as he paused from reading Paul D. Brazill's Drunk On The Moon, werewolf PI anthology.

Eric said he liked how Drunk On The Moon has an interesting twist on the stereotypical werewolf.

Indeed it does. The werewolf in Drunk On The Moon is Roman Dalton, a hard drinking, dark and brooding Private Investigator who, when the moon is full, changes into a werewolf. That's when things get really interesting as he does battle with zombies and other unsavoury monsters. What? Yes, you read that right, that's what I said. Zombies. Nasty things they are, the undead.

There is no cure for the lycanthropy surging inside the pages of this book. There is no amount of wolfbane potent enough, no exorcism strong enough, no silver bullets pure enough to stop this shape shifting, whiskey loving Canis Lupus creature of the night. And that's a good thing, because it's a damn good collection of noir-meets-horror stories written by some fine writers.

Some of my favourite stories in this collection are Katherine Tomlinson's "A Fire in the Blood" where Roman goes to see a necromancer after having nightmares and learns that a particularly nasty Persian fire demon is after him. "Blood and Alcohol" by horror writer Frank Duffy is another that stands out for me. It's no secret I'm a big fan of Duffy. His novella Mountains of Smoke is simply brilliant. I also enjoyed Richard Godwin's "Getting High on Daisy". Godwin has this interesting dark and provocative style that boarders on erotica.

Jason Michel's "Back to Nature" story is also pretty cool. As are all the others by such excellent authors Allan Leverone, K.A Laity, B.R. Stateham, John Donald Carlucci, Paul D. Brazill, and myself.

While Eric might not have lycan in his blood, he's certainly got ink. Ink transforming him from just another average white guy into a fascinating human canvas. I don't think he's ever howled at the moon after one too man whiskeys down at Duffy's bar as Roman has, but Eric did mention something to me about moon dust (whatever that is) so I think he might have more in common with our werewolf PI than he's letting on. Eric isn't afraid of any big bad wolf either because... well, I think he is one.

Check out Eric's review of Heath Lowrance's Dig Ten Graves.

Eric also reviews Julie Morrigan's Show No Mercy

Drunk On The Moon, get it on Amazon and Amazon UK. Available in ebook and hard copy.

Paul D. Brazill blogs over at, You Would Say That Wouldn't You?

Two Killer Anthologies...

I'm honoured to have stories in both of these amazing anthologies with some very hot crime writers.

The first one is Burning Bridges, A Renegade Fiction Anthology. It's a compilation of fifteen short stories featuring writers:

Allan Leverone, Paul D. Brazill, Julia Madeleine, Heath Lowrance, K.A. Laity, Mark Cooper, Darren Sant, George S. Geisinger, McDroll, Edith M. Maxwell, Benjamin Sobieck, Tace Baker, Joshua J. Mark, L. Vera, and B.R. Stateham

You can get Burning Bridges on Amazon for 99 cents with the proceeds donated to the non-profit group, Literacy for Incarcerated Teens. Or you can get it free on Smashwords. Whichever you choose, just get it because it's awesome.

The next one is Paul D. Brazill's Drunk On The Moon, the story about a werewolf P.I., or werewolf noir as we like to call it. It's written by a number of fantastic crime writers:

Paul D Brazill, Allan Leverone, K.A. Laity, B.R. Stateham, Julia Madeleine, Richard Godwin, John Donald Carlucci, Frank Duffy, Jason Michel, and Katherine Tomlinson.

Find Drunk On The Moon on Amazon and Amazon U.K.

Please consider writing up a review on Amazon when you've read them. Reviews are like gold to writers.

A Tattoo And A Review Featuring, Allan Leverone

One of our favourite clients, Teresa, was back today at Malefic Tattoos for some more inking on her Japanese sleeve by Fabien. Teresa enjoyed a few stories from Allan Leverone's dark collection Postcards From The Apocalypse.

Teresa said she really liked that Allan's stories are all so varied. Her favourite story in the collection is Suspicions, about a serial killer.

"It reminds me of the TV series Dexter, with that twist at the end," says Teresa.

Teresa works as a prison guard in Toronto. So of course I wanted to know if there are any serial killers housed in her prison.

But, fortunately the serial killer is a rare breed, and there are none currently incarcerated there. Interestingly, Teresa says the murderers she does have in her jail are some real sweet talkers and make the best inmates because they're doing long time.

"It's the ones in for drug charges or DUIs that act like punks," says Teresa. Makes sense to me to be polite to your prison guard, murderer or not.

On the subject of penatentuaries, it was just announced that the legendary two-hundred-year old Kingston Pen is slated to close it's doors, and so is Teresa's prison as Ontario turns Mimico jail into a superjail in Toronto at a price tag of $1.1 billion. I bet there will be a serial killer or two doing some time in there, now that all the jails are getting amalgamated.

Allan Leverone is an awesome writer (and a cool guy). I really enjoy how he's got these little forwards to each story in Postcards From The Apocalypse, that give you a little background, where he got his inspiration from, where the stories first appeared, and the awards he's won for some of them. Allan's novel The Lonely Mile is a serial killer story by the way, and it's fabulously intense.

Teresa's sleeve is coming along nicely. Today they worked on some colour and detail in the geisha on the inside of her upper arm. We told Teresa that when it's completely finished she's going to be the envy of the slammer.

You can see more of Teresa's ink in her previous reviews of The Lost Children's Charity Anthology and Keith Rawson's The Chaos We Know.

On May 1st, Allan and I will be sharing a book title with some other hot crime writers. Burning Bridges, a renegade anthology, available for your e-reader. The great thing about this collection of kick-ass stories is that it's going to be absolutely free. Yes, that's right, I said that four letter word, and I'll say it again. Free. As in complimentary. Cause that's just the kind of nice people we are. So don't forget to check that out.

Be sure to stop by Allan's website. He's also on a virtual book tour at the moment over at Partners In Crime for his latest release, Paskagankee.

Check out his Amazon Page if you'd like to learn more about his books. He's got lots!

The Truth About Scarlet Rose Killer Blog Tour Schedule

April 16th: Cafe of Dreams - book review
April 18th: Life In Review - book review
April 19th: Daz's Place - interview
April 23: Psycho Noir - interview
April 26: Crime Fiction Lover - book feature
April 27th: Jersey Girl Book Reviews - book review and guest post
April 30th/May1st: Musings of an All-purpose Monkey - book review and guest post
May 1st: Chin Wag At The Slaughterhouse - interview
May 4nd: Limerence Magazine - book review
May 7th: Lynnette's Book World - book review
May 10th: The Eclectic Reader - book review and book giveaway
May 11th: Indie Author News - book feature and interview
May 12th: Booksie's Blog - book review
May 14th: The Road To Here - book review
May 14th: Let’s Book It - book review
May 15th: Book Junkie - book review
May 16th: Book Reader's Heaven - book review and guest post
May 21st/May 22nd: Colloquium - book review and guest post
May 28th: My Life In Stories - book review, guest post, and ebook giveaway
Unscheduled Apperences: Ginger Nuts of Horror - book review
I Meant To Read That - book review
Dead End Follies - book review

A Tattoo And A Review Featuring, R. Thomas Brown

On Friday, one of our favourite customers David, came by Malefic Tattoos for a six hour session. Yeap, that's right, I said six hours. David is a fiend when it comes to getting tattooed. He'd be in every day if he could.

During his tattoo David read from R. Thomas Brown's collection of dark stories, Mayhem

I think it did help to distract him, not so much from the thirteen magnum needles penetrating his skin at 120 times per second, but from how pissed his was at the guy who's suppose to be painting his bike (David does have a sweet bike too). Seems they're a bit colour blind and can't get the shade quite right.

So, as David tried to put all the frustration out of his mind, he enjoyed R Thomas Brown's story titled, The Lesson. David said the story was creepy and what made it so was that there was so much truth in it. I'd have to agree with that assessment. The Lesson is quite a creepy little story, delightfully disturbing as well. Interestingly there's another story in this collection called Hurt that seems to be almost the mirror image of The Lesson, told from the victim's point of view. It's a suspenseful tale about a woman who hunts down her assailant and takes back the power she gave away to him. Love it when that happens.

David said he'd like to teach that bike painter of his a lesson, although without the knife (that's from the story). Don't get between a boy and his bike, that's what I always say. Okay, I've never actually said that. What I've really said about boys and their bikes, those expensive custom Harleys in particular, is they need to get sold for parts because they're too expensive to keep as PAPER WEIGHTS!

David works as a manager of a gym, hence the physique. He also works as an actor and has played roles in episodes of Rookie Blue, Covert Affairs, and Breakout Kings. He's also done commercials for LePage Glue and apparently he's the national LePage caulk holder (spelled caulk). His wife said he was a really good caulk holder too. We told David, though, that if he keeps getting tattooed he's only going to get the bad guy roles from now on like the heavily tattooed actor Robert LaSardo.

The sleeve tattoo was completed about a year or so ago, and today he continued with the work on the piece that covers his ribcage from the front of his stomach around to the middle of the back. It depicts an intense demonic battle scene. Next time he comes in, we'll get some pictures and hopefully have him read and comment on some more sick little stories.

R. Thomas Brown has a number of books and story collections available. His latest book, Hill Country, published by Snubnose Press, was just released in February and is getting some amazing reviews. It's available in kindle edition as well as paperback. Love that cover, gives me a bit of vertigo when I look at it. Check out his Amazon Page to learn more.

R. Thomas Brown is also the flash fiction editor for Spinetingler Magazine. Be sure to stop by his blog, Criminal Thoughts.

A Tattoo And A Review, Featuring Paul D. Brazill

British author Paul D. Brazill has a fantastic new collection of noir short stories out called Snapshots, published by Pulp Metal Fiction.

Today, one of our favourite customers, Bill, came by Malefic Tattoos for more ink and got to read some of Paul's dark and twisted little tales of suspense. The first story in this collection, my personal favourite, is called "Seeing Blue".

Here's the opening line: "First, it all turns red. And then it goes black for a very long time. After that, everything is a searing white. Until I see Blue. Then everything hurts. Everything."

Bill read the opening line and immediately said, "I can relate. Yes, everything hurts." Well, we don't need to wonder why. It only got worse for Bill when Fabien accidentally reached for the alcohol bottle instead of the soap bottle to wipe his tattoo. Ouch! Sorry dude.

Bill says that Paul's a terrific writer with a lot of style and every story was great. I would most definitely agree with that statement. I'm a fan of Paul D. Brazill. He's got some serious grit. Ah, those British noir writers, they make me jealous they're so good. I swear they're invading North America like the 60s British rock invasion.

There is something about British noir though that I really enjoy. And Paul D. Brazill is one of their greats.

Coming next month, Paul's phenomenal Drunk On The Moon series, featuring a werewolf P.I. and a ton of contributing writers (myself included) published by Dark Valentine Press. It's a really fun series that combines werewolves and zombies with the classic noir/detective story. Who would have thought that could ever happen.

Bill still has some work to be done on his tattoo before it's complete. The nice folks up at his cottage aren't going to be please. They might have to start locking their doors at night now that the rumour about Bill's new awesomeness is out.

You know you just can't trust those tattooed people. We're liable to murder you in your sleep or eat your children if you turn your backs. Well, if you leave the little carpet demons running around unsupervised, then who can blame us. They're probably tasty in the odd cheese and onion pie or maybe with a little Pot Noodles and whiskey. Lots of whiskey that you take to bed like a teddy bear. Oh, but you'll have to read Snapshots if you want to know what the hell I'm talking about.

Check out Bill's review of Nigel Bird's short story collection. He's another one of those British noir types.

Do visit Paul D. Brazill at his popular blog, You Would Say That, Wouldn't You?

You can buy Snapshots for a mere 99 cents on Amazon or if you're from across the puddle Amazon UK