Switchblade

by William Dylan Powell

The Jacket is off, and with one thumb jab at the button the blade is out; whitening your throat at the tip, just below the jugular. Switchblade is back for another stab at 12 sharp & deadly hard luck-tales from some authors you may know, and a few you’ve yet to discover. It's coming at you; quicker than the eye can see, the second cut of Switchblade.

114 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2017

Reviews

[A.B. Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the first issue of Switchblade, as you know from my blog about it, and the second issue has convinced me that I have found a fabulous source of noir and hard-boiled crime fiction. I am going to become a rusted-on subscriber to this one!
Scotch Rutherford again does a truly great job editing this collection and it stays faithful to the hard-boiled noir world. He also turns a mean pen himself!
Aside from loving the entertaining writing in this collection, once again I have new authors to track down and get their work. This I always find is one of the great joys of reading anthologies. Last time around I discovered Preston lang, and have now bought all his work available, and loving it! This is really the essential joy of reading well-edited anthologies - all those authors you would not have met otherwise!
If you like this style of crime for your reading pleasure, as I certainly do, then this is a 5 star read.
Mr Rutherford, you are doing a stellar job, do please continue! And I say that on behalf of all the Australian fans of Switchblade. Bring on more Switchblade!

[Susan Cornford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love noir; you always know what you’re going to get. But, no, not always. In this Second Issue of Switchblade, Scotch Rutherford has managed to give us variety. This ranges from Ashley Erwin’s hillbilly noir to Rob T. White’s character desperately seeking meaning in philosophers when all meaning is gone. Needless to say, there is everything in between, including Scotch’s own, “Oops, I shouldn’t have done that!”story.
The formatting problems of the First Issue have gone and the art work includes images that you don’t want to look at before going to bed. All in all, worth taking his front-cover invitation to, “Come and get it!”

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A solid second issue of a welcome new crime digest. The upgrade in design looks great on paper, or in pixels--but the stories are the main event. Collectively, a five-star rating, with Charles Roland’s “Profski Gets It” the standout, S.E. Bailey’s “A Talent for Killing” worth extra points, and Scotch Rutherford and Stephen D. Rogers in a dead sweat for best flash.