What do you think?
Rate this book
Switchblade #3
Switchblade: Issue Three
The third installment of the newest hardboiled/noir anthology, the indie side of the New York Five. Issue Three marks the return of Switchblade veterans Charles Roland, J.L. Boekestein, and Preston Lang. With fiction work from Anthony Award nominee Eric Beetner, as well as short stories and flash from Joe Ricker, Michael Loniewski, Richard Risemberg, Calvin Demmer, Robert Smith, Ehren Baker, Morgan Boyd, and J.D. Graves. Featuring the frenetic poetic prose of Zakariah Johnson.
134 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 15, 2017
2 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Want to read
April 20, 2020Heads up that this one is free until 24th April.
December 13, 2017
I am absolutely loving "Switchblade"! Issue 3 is, once again, a beautifully hard and dark offering from the Switchblade house, and its editor, Scotch Rutherford.
Note: I actually read the paperback version, not the Kindle one.
Following my review of the Special Edition of "Switchblade" Issue 3, my copy of the normal Issue 3 arrived. There was a fair bit of commonality between the two versions of Issue 3, so I’ve included my earlier comments below for the pieces I read in the Special.
However, the pieces I hadn’t read before were a real treat. I was especially impressed with Robert Smith’s “Duke’s Birthday Bash” – the description of a certain class of Englishman was so on the money, and it was a great story. Going to go looking for more of Smith’s work, for sure. For the flash fiction extra, Joe Ricker’s “Baggage” managed a very dark look at some sad lives in just 3 pages – great work. And there was another poem, “Switchblade: A Screwdriver for the Skin”, this one by Zakariah Johnson. Whilst poetry and noir don’t seem like a match, this verse does it, and viscerally so – I even got a bit squeamish. But then I’m terrified of bloody needles, so a superb, poetic description of a blade doing its nasty work is guaranteed to set my skin on edge.
From my earlier review of the Special Edition...
I really, really enjoyed all the pieces in the collection. Personally, I prefer short stories over flash fiction, I think because there's more story development by definition, but everything here was very good indeed. The short story set opens with Preston Lang, already a firm favourite of mine, and he delighted darkly as always with "Press It Down". Nice twist as usual, loved it. "Crawdaddy" by J.D. Graves is noir at its best with great characters, bent cops, and twisted tragedy all round! And for more twisted mayhem with outstanding female sexual predators, Calvin Demmer's "The Lioness Must Hunt" is femmes fatales taken to a new level - I don't want to meet those ladies, ever! There were also great short stories from Charles Roland, Eric Beetner, Ehren Baker, and Morgan Boyd.
Then the flash fiction rounded it out, with pieces from J.L. Boekestein, Richard Risemberg and Michael Loniewski.
Yep, as we are coming to expect, if you love noir and hard-boiled, then "Switchblade" delivers, both barrels at once!
Great work again, Mr Rutherford! BRAVO!
And I've got some more authors to get hold of novels from!
Cheers,
ABP
Note: I actually read the paperback version, not the Kindle one.
Following my review of the Special Edition of "Switchblade" Issue 3, my copy of the normal Issue 3 arrived. There was a fair bit of commonality between the two versions of Issue 3, so I’ve included my earlier comments below for the pieces I read in the Special.
However, the pieces I hadn’t read before were a real treat. I was especially impressed with Robert Smith’s “Duke’s Birthday Bash” – the description of a certain class of Englishman was so on the money, and it was a great story. Going to go looking for more of Smith’s work, for sure. For the flash fiction extra, Joe Ricker’s “Baggage” managed a very dark look at some sad lives in just 3 pages – great work. And there was another poem, “Switchblade: A Screwdriver for the Skin”, this one by Zakariah Johnson. Whilst poetry and noir don’t seem like a match, this verse does it, and viscerally so – I even got a bit squeamish. But then I’m terrified of bloody needles, so a superb, poetic description of a blade doing its nasty work is guaranteed to set my skin on edge.
From my earlier review of the Special Edition...
I really, really enjoyed all the pieces in the collection. Personally, I prefer short stories over flash fiction, I think because there's more story development by definition, but everything here was very good indeed. The short story set opens with Preston Lang, already a firm favourite of mine, and he delighted darkly as always with "Press It Down". Nice twist as usual, loved it. "Crawdaddy" by J.D. Graves is noir at its best with great characters, bent cops, and twisted tragedy all round! And for more twisted mayhem with outstanding female sexual predators, Calvin Demmer's "The Lioness Must Hunt" is femmes fatales taken to a new level - I don't want to meet those ladies, ever! There were also great short stories from Charles Roland, Eric Beetner, Ehren Baker, and Morgan Boyd.
Then the flash fiction rounded it out, with pieces from J.L. Boekestein, Richard Risemberg and Michael Loniewski.
Yep, as we are coming to expect, if you love noir and hard-boiled, then "Switchblade" delivers, both barrels at once!
Great work again, Mr Rutherford! BRAVO!
And I've got some more authors to get hold of novels from!
Cheers,
ABP
April 28, 2020
With words like snit, cocaine, sucktastic, and goatee you know this train ride is going to be fast. It's conducted by a team of full throttle talent: Eric Beetner for one, but also Charles Roland and Morgan Boyd. Ticketed passengers get appetizers of deep cutting poetry by Zakariah Johnson.
Do this noir anthology a favor and buckle up first. Switchblade Issue Three is a bullet train.
Do this noir anthology a favor and buckle up first. Switchblade Issue Three is a bullet train.
January 2, 2018
This anthology of noir is just the right amount of in your face. Pure crime fiction, packed with action. A great mix of names you know and those you don't. This rag is required reading for anyone interested in the genre. It's the most fun I've had being kicked in the head with words.
October 14, 2020
Some decent stories marred by poor grammar and/or other errors. Really could use some editing. What a shame; stuff like this is not very easy to find these days and these stories would really benefit from patient editing.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews