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On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology
Our world is changing dramatically before our eyes.
Increased average global temperatures have wreaked havoc on ecosystems, economies, and people’s lives. Fires rage. Flood waters rise. Storms and heat waves are occurring out-of-season and are becoming increasingly more dangerous and more frequent.
Neighborhoods are being destroyed. People are losing their lives and livelihoods. Still, some politicians, some pundits, and some corporate oligarchs continue to deny reality and refuse to take responsibility and necessary action to mitigate this existential crisis.
Those who did the least to cause this crisis will suffer the most from its consequences.
In On Fire and Under Water , the new crime fiction anthology from Rock and a Hard Place Press, we explore the intersection of climate change and crime, through the lens of fifteen short stories from some of today’s best crime fiction writers. Edited by Anthony Award-winning author Curtis Ippolito and the editorial team at RHP Press, the stories contained within this anthology peel back the curtain on the ways in which climate change impacts real people in their most desperate hour.
Some say the world will end in fire. Some say flood. In On Fire and Under Water , you get both.
Increased average global temperatures have wreaked havoc on ecosystems, economies, and people’s lives. Fires rage. Flood waters rise. Storms and heat waves are occurring out-of-season and are becoming increasingly more dangerous and more frequent.
Neighborhoods are being destroyed. People are losing their lives and livelihoods. Still, some politicians, some pundits, and some corporate oligarchs continue to deny reality and refuse to take responsibility and necessary action to mitigate this existential crisis.
Those who did the least to cause this crisis will suffer the most from its consequences.
In On Fire and Under Water , the new crime fiction anthology from Rock and a Hard Place Press, we explore the intersection of climate change and crime, through the lens of fifteen short stories from some of today’s best crime fiction writers. Edited by Anthony Award-winning author Curtis Ippolito and the editorial team at RHP Press, the stories contained within this anthology peel back the curtain on the ways in which climate change impacts real people in their most desperate hour.
Some say the world will end in fire. Some say flood. In On Fire and Under Water , you get both.
259 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 30, 2025
7 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
About the author
Curtis Ippolito
14 books33 followersCurtis Ippolito is an Anthony Award-winning, and Macavity and Derringer award finalist. He is the author of the crime novel Burying the Newspaper Man. Additionally, his short stories have appeared in numerous prominent publications, including Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Tough, Dark Yonder, Vautrin, Mystery Tribune, and Shotgun Honey, as well as being included in several anthologies including Rock and Hard Place's The One Percent: Tales of the Super Wealthy and Depraved; the Anthony Award-nominated Trouble No More; and Shotgun Honey Presents: Thicker Than Water.
Curtis lives in San Diego, California, with his wife. He is a member of Sisters in Crime Mystery Writers of America, and is the vice-president of Partners in Crime, the San Diego chapter of Sisters in Crime. To learn more about him and what he is working on, visit him at the following links.
Website: curtisippolito.com
Bluesky: curtisippolito.bsky.social
Instagram: @curtis_SD
Curtis lives in San Diego, California, with his wife. He is a member of Sisters in Crime Mystery Writers of America, and is the vice-president of Partners in Crime, the San Diego chapter of Sisters in Crime. To learn more about him and what he is working on, visit him at the following links.
Website: curtisippolito.com
Bluesky: curtisippolito.bsky.social
Instagram: @curtis_SD
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 24, 2025
A flood erases a town from the map. A wildfire transforms a neighborhood into an ashen hellscape. In a disaster’s wake, the survivors show up on the evening news and the front page. They are the faces we see, but the people we never know, because headlines change faster than the weather.
“On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology,” fixes this problem, with a criminal twist. It presents the horrors wrought by climate change – there is no other word than horror – through the eyes of characters caught between forces of nature and their own dysfunctional or ruined lives. It isn’t neatly packaged with pithy soundbites. It is ugly and raw and necessary. It presents the heroes, the conflicted and the doomed. You can’t look away.
Edited by Curtis Ippolito and published by Rock and a Hard Place, it features contributions from some of the finest crime writers around. The collection succeeds by following a hallmark of good journalism: show the big picture through smaller pictures. These stories will make you move to higher ground, stock up on MREs and brown liquor and fear the sight of distant smoke. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but here are a few.
“Poison is the Wind That Blows,” by C.W. Blackwell focuses on a prisoner/firefighter dealing with a crooked boss, an asshole billionaire and AI. Props for the cameo of Iron Butterfly and “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.” The story is gem.
“Hot Child in the City: 1995” sent me down a research hole to find out what really happened during the Chicago heat wave of that year. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t remember. It really was that awful, and it wasn’t that long ago. Mary Thorson creatively frames a sequence of events that brings it all back.
Zakariah Johnson shows us the how lingering toxins affect wildlife, and the lengths to which government bullies will stop truth-seekers in “Novel Entities.” With the local newspaper gone out of business, it’s up to a dedicated farmer to find the facts. (Wait for when his cell phone starts acting up.)
The insurance industry comes under the microscope in “The Origin and the Truth” by Christian Emecheta. It follows a local reporter trying to trace the path of wildfires that seem, well, not so wild and more directed. It’s all about plausible deniability.
“Bad Egg” takes readers to the Everglades where locals live with unchecked construction that leaks chemicals into the water, which cause algae blooms, which suffocate wildlife. Add in intense heat, the escalating threat of hurricanes and invasive species. Then introduce a bad-ass woman who can kill pythons, but who faces a bigger threat from her brother and cousin. When all the dominoes fall, it isn’t pretty.
The anthology ends with “What you Lost” by Megan Lucas, which tracks three women attempting to flee a hurricane. It’s the most sweeping story in this collection, and I find it hard to summarize in just a few sentences. Suffice it to say the story is as relentless as the driving rain, as overwhelming as a mudslide and a fitting exclamation point to a great collection.
February 19, 2026
Okay, look. We read for entertainment, right? At least I do. But if I can be entertained AND be made to consider important matters at the same time, I’m all about that too. On Fire and Under Water is a superb crime anthology, just on that basis. But it’s more. It is, as it says on the cover, “A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology.” Now, I know what you’re thinking. This could be a collection of soapboxing, ham-fisted allegories. And that’s where you’d be wrong. Each and every story crackles with tension appropriate to crime fiction. Make no mistake, this is a top-notch collection of crime stories. They just happen to weave around a very important theme. That being said, if you are a climate change denier, you may want to give this one a pass. It’ll just piss you off.
One of my favorite aspects of the book is that given the unifying theme, there is a great variety of stories. A bit of extrapolative dystopia. A bit of desperate people cornered into doing desperate things. Some dark humor. Some not-as-dark humor. And then some just really dark. Editor Curtis Ippolito deserves heaps of credit for assembling such a successful Rubik’s Cube of stories into a cohesive whole.
Among my favorite stories, I’d have to shout out Poison is the Wind That Blows, by C.W. Blackwell. As a Californian who understands fire season, it hit close to home. Refugees, by Colin Brightwell. A well crafted tale of a climate change underground, a group not too unlike that found in One Battle After Another. Kendal Brunson’s Bad Egg, one of the darker stories. Michael Downing’s Burn. A kind of classic Noir setup where an individual with nothing to lose faces untenable choices. Richie Narvaez’ The Skies are Red, an absolutely hilarious send-up of TV cop franchises. And the final absolute gut punch of Meagan Lucas’ What You Lost.
Highly recommended. Five manhattans, up!
One of my favorite aspects of the book is that given the unifying theme, there is a great variety of stories. A bit of extrapolative dystopia. A bit of desperate people cornered into doing desperate things. Some dark humor. Some not-as-dark humor. And then some just really dark. Editor Curtis Ippolito deserves heaps of credit for assembling such a successful Rubik’s Cube of stories into a cohesive whole.
Among my favorite stories, I’d have to shout out Poison is the Wind That Blows, by C.W. Blackwell. As a Californian who understands fire season, it hit close to home. Refugees, by Colin Brightwell. A well crafted tale of a climate change underground, a group not too unlike that found in One Battle After Another. Kendal Brunson’s Bad Egg, one of the darker stories. Michael Downing’s Burn. A kind of classic Noir setup where an individual with nothing to lose faces untenable choices. Richie Narvaez’ The Skies are Red, an absolutely hilarious send-up of TV cop franchises. And the final absolute gut punch of Meagan Lucas’ What You Lost.
Highly recommended. Five manhattans, up!
September 23, 2025
On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology, Edited by Anthony-Award-Winning Curtis Ippolito and published by Rock and a Hard Place Press.
This collection of 15 stories is a must read for crime fiction, noir, and mystery lovers or anyone else who gives a damn about the planet. This anthology sets the anthology bar for breadth and depth of voice, style, variety, and approach. These 15 authors are here to show you how it is, and they bring it. Hard. Every story is excellent. Some of them are stellar. Kudos to Curtis Ippolito and RHP and the authors themselves for making this collection happen. They’ve humanized the planet’s plight through the lives of relevant characters across the globe.
The collection opens with C.W. Blackwell’s stellar Poison Is the Wind That Blows, dropping us in the middle of California wildfire season and a world where prisoners are the new front line against the relentless burn. Where some prisoners just want to do their job, stop a fire and reduce their sentence. Where the convict next to you or the man in charge is looking to take advantage; to steal from soon-to-be-victims; a metaphor for the billionaires and politicians who profit from denial? Perhaps. This is a story of man on the fire line who refuses to take the easy path, resists giving in to the weak, greedy men around him; he might even turn the tables on the worst of them and find a spot of redemption down the road.
Marching To Jerusalem by Ed Barnfield anchors the ~middle of the collection. A haunting tale that’s not really about climate change, except that it is. One hundred percent. It’s also a masterpiece about deception and betrayal. The story of a man visiting Sheffield, England, 30 years after he helped plot ecological rebellion when he was known as Darren Matthews. And Charles Cromwell. Or, Undercover 24, as his handlers and we, the reader, come to know him. The steady unveiling of the protagonist and his misdeeds and how he views them 30 years later is chilling and superb.
The final story is What You Lost by Megan Lucas, told through the eyes of three women. It opens with Bunny, on a search chopper, newly rescued from a massive flood and attacking the pilot for passing over a young boy who needs to be rescued. We learn of Bunny’s abusive husband, Phil, and the secrets that shame her. Lucille, an older lady determined to save her extensive seed collection as flood waters creep ever higher in her kitchen. And Jupiter, a teen girl and her selfish boyfriend, Canyon. These women struggle and persevere. Battle personal demons and nature’s wrath, every bit of it exacerbated by men. Three excellent character arcs tied together by a giant flood. This is the longest story in the anthology and worth every page.
Every story in the collection is excellent and worthy of your attention.
This collection rocks.
Give it a read!
Thanks to Curtis Ippolito and RHP for the eARC to read and review.
This collection of 15 stories is a must read for crime fiction, noir, and mystery lovers or anyone else who gives a damn about the planet. This anthology sets the anthology bar for breadth and depth of voice, style, variety, and approach. These 15 authors are here to show you how it is, and they bring it. Hard. Every story is excellent. Some of them are stellar. Kudos to Curtis Ippolito and RHP and the authors themselves for making this collection happen. They’ve humanized the planet’s plight through the lives of relevant characters across the globe.
The collection opens with C.W. Blackwell’s stellar Poison Is the Wind That Blows, dropping us in the middle of California wildfire season and a world where prisoners are the new front line against the relentless burn. Where some prisoners just want to do their job, stop a fire and reduce their sentence. Where the convict next to you or the man in charge is looking to take advantage; to steal from soon-to-be-victims; a metaphor for the billionaires and politicians who profit from denial? Perhaps. This is a story of man on the fire line who refuses to take the easy path, resists giving in to the weak, greedy men around him; he might even turn the tables on the worst of them and find a spot of redemption down the road.
Marching To Jerusalem by Ed Barnfield anchors the ~middle of the collection. A haunting tale that’s not really about climate change, except that it is. One hundred percent. It’s also a masterpiece about deception and betrayal. The story of a man visiting Sheffield, England, 30 years after he helped plot ecological rebellion when he was known as Darren Matthews. And Charles Cromwell. Or, Undercover 24, as his handlers and we, the reader, come to know him. The steady unveiling of the protagonist and his misdeeds and how he views them 30 years later is chilling and superb.
The final story is What You Lost by Megan Lucas, told through the eyes of three women. It opens with Bunny, on a search chopper, newly rescued from a massive flood and attacking the pilot for passing over a young boy who needs to be rescued. We learn of Bunny’s abusive husband, Phil, and the secrets that shame her. Lucille, an older lady determined to save her extensive seed collection as flood waters creep ever higher in her kitchen. And Jupiter, a teen girl and her selfish boyfriend, Canyon. These women struggle and persevere. Battle personal demons and nature’s wrath, every bit of it exacerbated by men. Three excellent character arcs tied together by a giant flood. This is the longest story in the anthology and worth every page.
Every story in the collection is excellent and worthy of your attention.
This collection rocks.
Give it a read!
Thanks to Curtis Ippolito and RHP for the eARC to read and review.
October 1, 2025
On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology, edited by Curtis Ippolito, features short stories by fifteen seasoned crime fiction authors set against the backdrop of climate change. They present a world characterized by extreme heat, intense storms, mudslides, government overreach, and corporate greed. Some of the stories imagine a dystopian near-future, whereas others depict disasters that resemble actual events.
For example, “Poison is the Wind That Blows,” by C.W. Blackwell, could be taking place during the Palisades Fire of January 2025 (or one of countless other California wildfires that have, unfortunately, become almost commonplace). “What You Lost,” by Meagan Lucas, could be about the Asheville, North Carolina, floods that occurred in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in 2024 as residents struggle to salvage what is left of the community and the lives they once knew. “Hot Child in the City, 1995,” by Mary Thorson, documented a real heat wave that occurred in Chicago thirty years ago.
Some stories show how climate change is upsetting the balance of nature by addressing its impact on other species. For example, in “Long Night of the Polar Bear,” by C.E. McKenna, a bear falls victim to a landslide caused by melting permafrost in Svalbard. In “Bad Egg,” by Kendall Brunson, the protagonist hunts pythons, an invasive species destroying the ecosystem in the Everglades.
Since this is a crime fiction anthology, the stories all have a connection to crime. In some cases, the criminals thrive in the chaos. Sometimes, they think they’re getting away, until they don’t. (After all, no one can escape Mother Nature.) Sometimes, an opportunity arises for an otherwise “good” character to let go of someone who “needs killing,” such as in “The Place Where The Dead Things Go,” by Jim Ruland, or “Ice Out” by Priscilla Paton. As with any disaster, extreme conditions bring out the best and the worst of humanity.
This anthology is not an upbeat read. In fact, some of the stories are downright disturbing. It might make you feel uncomfortable, but I suspect it was intended to. Even the stories with somewhat “happy” endings, such as “Burn,” by Michael Downing (a David vs. Goliath triumph), or “The Origin And The Truth,” by Christian Emecheta, where the little guys expose insurance fraud, gave me the feeling of winning the battle but losing the war.
Despite its pessimistic tone, this book sends an important message. Even if you don’t believe things will get as bad as they are presented in some of these stories, it will make you think.
For example, “Poison is the Wind That Blows,” by C.W. Blackwell, could be taking place during the Palisades Fire of January 2025 (or one of countless other California wildfires that have, unfortunately, become almost commonplace). “What You Lost,” by Meagan Lucas, could be about the Asheville, North Carolina, floods that occurred in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in 2024 as residents struggle to salvage what is left of the community and the lives they once knew. “Hot Child in the City, 1995,” by Mary Thorson, documented a real heat wave that occurred in Chicago thirty years ago.
Some stories show how climate change is upsetting the balance of nature by addressing its impact on other species. For example, in “Long Night of the Polar Bear,” by C.E. McKenna, a bear falls victim to a landslide caused by melting permafrost in Svalbard. In “Bad Egg,” by Kendall Brunson, the protagonist hunts pythons, an invasive species destroying the ecosystem in the Everglades.
Since this is a crime fiction anthology, the stories all have a connection to crime. In some cases, the criminals thrive in the chaos. Sometimes, they think they’re getting away, until they don’t. (After all, no one can escape Mother Nature.) Sometimes, an opportunity arises for an otherwise “good” character to let go of someone who “needs killing,” such as in “The Place Where The Dead Things Go,” by Jim Ruland, or “Ice Out” by Priscilla Paton. As with any disaster, extreme conditions bring out the best and the worst of humanity.
This anthology is not an upbeat read. In fact, some of the stories are downright disturbing. It might make you feel uncomfortable, but I suspect it was intended to. Even the stories with somewhat “happy” endings, such as “Burn,” by Michael Downing (a David vs. Goliath triumph), or “The Origin And The Truth,” by Christian Emecheta, where the little guys expose insurance fraud, gave me the feeling of winning the battle but losing the war.
Despite its pessimistic tone, this book sends an important message. Even if you don’t believe things will get as bad as they are presented in some of these stories, it will make you think.
October 2, 2025
On Fire and Under Water, edited by the crime fiction author, Curtis Ippolito, is a collection of noir and crime stories focused relentlessly on climate change. The authors create all-too-real "what-ifs" where heat, flood, fire and scarcity push people beyond their limits. The writers selected here are talented and show just how inventive (and unsettling) this anthology is. Here are a few that stood out and continue to replay in my mind:
Poison Is the Wind That Blows by C.W. Blackwell
A prison wildfire crew member learns that the out-of-control flames aren’t the only threat as a billionaire’s power play turns deadly. A great intro to this collection where nature and greed collide.
Hot Child in the City, 1995 by Mary Thorson
A harrowing, multi-POV look at Chicago’s lethal heatwave and the human cost of a city unprepared for extreme weather.
Ice Out by Priscilla Paton
On a Maine lake, "ice-out" is the spring thaw that opens the water for boats. It's coming earlier and less predictably each year and the shifting season puts a family’s guiding business at risk. Then it draws them into a dangerous confrontation with a longtime client.
The Skies Are Red by Richie Narvaez
Told as a darkly satirical behind-the-scenes oral history, this story exposes the doomed production of a climate-crime TV show that never made it to air. Confessions reveal cutthroat rivalries, a mysterious on-set death, and wildfires creeping closer as the project spirals into disaster. I loved the author's premise here.
What You Lost by Meagan Lucas
Three women, each fleeing a past they can’t outrun, are forced together when a catastrophic hurricane bears down, testing their secrets and their will to survive.
Throughout the book, climate change itself becomes motive (The Devil Doesn’t Live Hand-to-Mouth by Puja Guha), weapon (Bad Egg by Kendall Brunson), and alibi (Long Night of the Polar Bear by C.E. McKenna). These carefully curated stories show how quickly climate disaster can push ordinary people to their breaking point and into crime.
On Fire and Under Water is urgently topical. The perfect choice if you love crime writing mixed with the looming consequences of environmental neglect. Highly recommended.
Poison Is the Wind That Blows by C.W. Blackwell
A prison wildfire crew member learns that the out-of-control flames aren’t the only threat as a billionaire’s power play turns deadly. A great intro to this collection where nature and greed collide.
Hot Child in the City, 1995 by Mary Thorson
A harrowing, multi-POV look at Chicago’s lethal heatwave and the human cost of a city unprepared for extreme weather.
Ice Out by Priscilla Paton
On a Maine lake, "ice-out" is the spring thaw that opens the water for boats. It's coming earlier and less predictably each year and the shifting season puts a family’s guiding business at risk. Then it draws them into a dangerous confrontation with a longtime client.
The Skies Are Red by Richie Narvaez
Told as a darkly satirical behind-the-scenes oral history, this story exposes the doomed production of a climate-crime TV show that never made it to air. Confessions reveal cutthroat rivalries, a mysterious on-set death, and wildfires creeping closer as the project spirals into disaster. I loved the author's premise here.
What You Lost by Meagan Lucas
Three women, each fleeing a past they can’t outrun, are forced together when a catastrophic hurricane bears down, testing their secrets and their will to survive.
Throughout the book, climate change itself becomes motive (The Devil Doesn’t Live Hand-to-Mouth by Puja Guha), weapon (Bad Egg by Kendall Brunson), and alibi (Long Night of the Polar Bear by C.E. McKenna). These carefully curated stories show how quickly climate disaster can push ordinary people to their breaking point and into crime.
On Fire and Under Water is urgently topical. The perfect choice if you love crime writing mixed with the looming consequences of environmental neglect. Highly recommended.
November 19, 2025
Crime fiction is conservative in the way that all genre fiction is conservative in that it adheres to the conventions of the genre that set it apart from other forms of writing. Many contemporary writers take this as a cue to write conservatively, in other words to conform, reinforcing the tropes of crime, mystery, and suspense. This bores me. What I like about themed anthologies is that they challenge writers to consider other constraints. Instead of being limiting, this extra incentive encourages the writer to become more imaginative and expansive with respect to what crime fiction can do. I feel like the majority of the writers in On Fire and Under Water were more than up to the challenge. (Full disclosure: I have a story in this anthology.)
What I love about these stories is the crimes are often against an entity using climate disasters to usurp power and property, i.e. government and corporations in bed with the government. That resonates with me and is part of a tradition that goes back to the crime novels I fell in love with 30 years ago that featured anti-heroes whose rebellion against the status quo was de rigueur. Not the copaganda that is the hallmark of crime fiction of the late 20th and early 21st century.
I also enjoyed the international scope of these stories. These aren’t tales about white people of privilege picking fights at the recycling center. There are tales set all over the world, including the Caribbean, Mozambique and Norway. (My story is also set in the Caribbean and though it's not named it was inspired by a trip to Barranquilla, Colombia, the birthplace of Shakira.) The message, although I’m reluctant to call it that, couldn’t be any clearer: climate change impacts everyone. With catastrophes unfolding all over the globe, none of us are safe.
One Fire and Under Water is not just an important book, but an exceptionally well-written one with superlative editing by Curtis Ippolito and the team at RHP Press.
What I love about these stories is the crimes are often against an entity using climate disasters to usurp power and property, i.e. government and corporations in bed with the government. That resonates with me and is part of a tradition that goes back to the crime novels I fell in love with 30 years ago that featured anti-heroes whose rebellion against the status quo was de rigueur. Not the copaganda that is the hallmark of crime fiction of the late 20th and early 21st century.
I also enjoyed the international scope of these stories. These aren’t tales about white people of privilege picking fights at the recycling center. There are tales set all over the world, including the Caribbean, Mozambique and Norway. (My story is also set in the Caribbean and though it's not named it was inspired by a trip to Barranquilla, Colombia, the birthplace of Shakira.) The message, although I’m reluctant to call it that, couldn’t be any clearer: climate change impacts everyone. With catastrophes unfolding all over the globe, none of us are safe.
One Fire and Under Water is not just an important book, but an exceptionally well-written one with superlative editing by Curtis Ippolito and the team at RHP Press.
November 12, 2025
From double crosses to our world overheating to a revolution. From a farmer pushed too far and an undercover cop posing as an activist, there is plenty to love in this anthology. However, and like most anthologies, some stories spoke to me more than others. It’s just the nature of the beast. The backdrop of this book, but most times the forefront, is a real world problem we cannot ignore. Curtis Ippolito understands this, as do the writers collected here, but trust me, there is no preaching, just straight up entertainment entwined with real world issues. Go forth, seek out, purchase and enjoy. Tell ‘em another lover of putting the Earth first sent you.
December 18, 2025
Crime fiction of the absolute highest caliber. The stories in this collection range from dystopian future scenes to hyper-realistic depictions of what it's like to live through the ravages of climate change. It's a dream list of authors and was edited by the brilliant and award winning Curtis Ippolito. Climate change affects everyone and has many faces. That's why an anthology that jumps back and forth across time and places is the perfect vehicle for describing what is happening to our world. This book is really a stand out. It will make you think without ever preaching or dumbing down the deadly serious issues it tackles.
January 21, 2026
I read a lot of short crime fiction, and this has to be one of the best anthologies I've read. All stories are stellar and deftly navigate climate change and its impact without getting preachy. There were several familiar names, but also a handful I hadn't heard of, and I now have on my list, to look for their work in the future.
All stories were excellent, but a few really stuck with me long after reading: Ban Yun Belly by Raymond J. Brash, Mary Thorson's Hot Child in the City, 1995, and Poison is the Wind That Blows by C.W. Blackwell.
If crime fiction is your genre, this anthology is a must-read.
All stories were excellent, but a few really stuck with me long after reading: Ban Yun Belly by Raymond J. Brash, Mary Thorson's Hot Child in the City, 1995, and Poison is the Wind That Blows by C.W. Blackwell.
If crime fiction is your genre, this anthology is a must-read.
December 23, 2025
From Rock and a Hard Place, the leading indie purveyor of socially conscious crime anthologies, comes this volume set at the intersection of crime and climate change. Edited by Anthony Award-winner Curtis Ippolito, On Fire and Under Water pits the helplessness of ordinary people against the grim reality of a planet rapidly becoming uninhabitable, featuring standouts from the abovementioned CW Blackwell, Mary Thorson, and Richie Narvaez, among others.
January 26, 2026
I don't normally review the books that I'm involved in, but the importance of the subject matter and the exceptional quality of my co-writers' remarkable contributions across all genres of crime fiction compel me to recommend this most highly to everyone.
February 10, 2026
Short story collections feel a bit like whiplash to me. You just start to get into the story and then it’s over. Also with a collection, some of these are better than others. Editing could have been better, came across several mistakes.
October 3, 2025
Loved this anthology!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews