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Switchblade #5
Switchblade: Issue Five
A tsunami-sized crime wave of hardboiled noir from some of the most enduring names in crime fiction, outside of the New York Five. This is the biggest, most robust issue of Switchblade yet. An all-star lineup, brimming with hard luck tales from some of the best outlaw fiction storytellers in print. Court Merrigan and Rob Pierce are in this issue. Indianapolis crime writer, and managing editor of Pulp Modern, Alec Cizak, has a story in this issue. Switchblade usual suspects Preston Lang, Jack Bates, Robb T. White, Rick Risemberg, and Lisa Douglass, are back and sharper than ever. New prospects Tom Andes, Tony Genova, E.F. Sweetman, David Rachels, Danny Sophabmisay, Chris McGinley, Timothy Friend, and Tom Barlow, have been jumped in to the fold. Sharp and deadly, quick and dirty; it’s the fast action gutter mag that fits into your back pocket. Featuring the soul-searing poetry of Lisa Douglass
190 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 29, 2018
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4 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 26, 2018
Oh, yes! Another volume of hard-boiled and noir that should be on every crime connoisseur’s shelf, and looking well-read! All the pieces are really good, as we've come to expect from Switchblade. I've highlighted my personal favourites, but must stress at the outset that I loved them all.
Lisa Douglass opens the volume with a superb piece of noir poetry, “The Hidden”.
Then we’re into the 12 short stories, all a damned fine read.
“A Good Week’s Work” by Rob Pierce: Card games, money, guns, greed and doublecrossing. Not every one can walk out a winner, that’s for sure.
“Nasty Habits” by Alec Cizak: And habits don’t come any nastier than paedophilia. To use a quote from this piece: “A toucher. Lower than a chunk of petrified dog shit loitering between Satan’s toes.” Well, in this town, you really, seriously need to be careful what you ask for. And what you actually get? Dark, violent justice here. It’s great writing by Cizak, and definitely one of my top choices from this excellent Switchblade collection.
“Discretion” by Court Merrigan: Giving a blow-job without your hubby watching can be a problem. But with your hubby watching – this is one violent and twisted tale – excellent!
“Play Your Hand” by Danny Sophabmisay: An adultery case for a nasty PI with a gambling problem. What could go wrong? So much, and it’s so well written. A sample: “…he stopped to put a song on the jukebox. ‘Come on Eileen’. It was a bold choice for someone whose wife had been covered in frat semen.” My first taste of Sophabmisay’s work, but one of the highlights here for me.
“Chemo Queen” by Tom Barlow: Everyone has secrets, some are just much dirtier than others. And what do you get when two con artists go up against each other? A hell of a story.
“Daughter of Diamonds” by Jack Bates: Competing women, hungry for diamonds, and a gun thrown into the mix. Our man here is in serious trouble.
“The Comforter” by Rick Risemberg: The comfort of revenge, one you never see coming. What happens when you mess it up with organized crime.
“Crossing Lines” by Tony Genova: When you’re paid to transport bags, don’t let your curiosity get the better of you. The bags are closed for a reason.
“China Township, MI” by E.F.Sweetman: A sociopathic college dropout, discreet package deliveries, and a neo-Nazi guy wanting a blow-job. Yep, the motto is not to run out of petrol. This piece by Sweetman, my first read of her work, is right up there for me.
“These Hills” by Chris McGinley: Misery and addiction in Appalachia, poaching, death, musings on heaven, and a preacher who says he’s never going to get there. This is a bitingly dark look at a small town.
“Vanishing Girl” by Robb T. White: Strippers, spiked drinks, rapists, clueless cops, and serial killers. A nice girly joint, this one, and a terrifically twisted noir tale. And this is up there with my favourites, too.
“Bad Dog” by Timothy Friend: Canine noir? Yes, and the bite is well worth the bark. This is an out-there POV shift that works beautifully.
Then we round the issue out with three flash fiction pieces.
“The Big Blind” by David Rachels: A card game with the ultimate high stakes.
“Lama Todd” by Preston Lang: Religion, fraud, and a lovely twist. Mr Lang is one of my favourite indie crime authors.
“Lights of San Francisco” by Tom Andes: Delicious double deals, and then say goodbye to those lights.
Switchblade’s editor, Scotch Rutherford, again excels himself with his curation of superb hard-boiled and noir crime writing. This anthology really has grown into a haven of some of the best indie crime writing around, and it’s a crime reader’s wet dream!
Can’t wait to get my hands on Issue #6.
Cheers,
ABP
Lisa Douglass opens the volume with a superb piece of noir poetry, “The Hidden”.
Then we’re into the 12 short stories, all a damned fine read.
“A Good Week’s Work” by Rob Pierce: Card games, money, guns, greed and doublecrossing. Not every one can walk out a winner, that’s for sure.
“Nasty Habits” by Alec Cizak: And habits don’t come any nastier than paedophilia. To use a quote from this piece: “A toucher. Lower than a chunk of petrified dog shit loitering between Satan’s toes.” Well, in this town, you really, seriously need to be careful what you ask for. And what you actually get? Dark, violent justice here. It’s great writing by Cizak, and definitely one of my top choices from this excellent Switchblade collection.
“Discretion” by Court Merrigan: Giving a blow-job without your hubby watching can be a problem. But with your hubby watching – this is one violent and twisted tale – excellent!
“Play Your Hand” by Danny Sophabmisay: An adultery case for a nasty PI with a gambling problem. What could go wrong? So much, and it’s so well written. A sample: “…he stopped to put a song on the jukebox. ‘Come on Eileen’. It was a bold choice for someone whose wife had been covered in frat semen.” My first taste of Sophabmisay’s work, but one of the highlights here for me.
“Chemo Queen” by Tom Barlow: Everyone has secrets, some are just much dirtier than others. And what do you get when two con artists go up against each other? A hell of a story.
“Daughter of Diamonds” by Jack Bates: Competing women, hungry for diamonds, and a gun thrown into the mix. Our man here is in serious trouble.
“The Comforter” by Rick Risemberg: The comfort of revenge, one you never see coming. What happens when you mess it up with organized crime.
“Crossing Lines” by Tony Genova: When you’re paid to transport bags, don’t let your curiosity get the better of you. The bags are closed for a reason.
“China Township, MI” by E.F.Sweetman: A sociopathic college dropout, discreet package deliveries, and a neo-Nazi guy wanting a blow-job. Yep, the motto is not to run out of petrol. This piece by Sweetman, my first read of her work, is right up there for me.
“These Hills” by Chris McGinley: Misery and addiction in Appalachia, poaching, death, musings on heaven, and a preacher who says he’s never going to get there. This is a bitingly dark look at a small town.
“Vanishing Girl” by Robb T. White: Strippers, spiked drinks, rapists, clueless cops, and serial killers. A nice girly joint, this one, and a terrifically twisted noir tale. And this is up there with my favourites, too.
“Bad Dog” by Timothy Friend: Canine noir? Yes, and the bite is well worth the bark. This is an out-there POV shift that works beautifully.
Then we round the issue out with three flash fiction pieces.
“The Big Blind” by David Rachels: A card game with the ultimate high stakes.
“Lama Todd” by Preston Lang: Religion, fraud, and a lovely twist. Mr Lang is one of my favourite indie crime authors.
“Lights of San Francisco” by Tom Andes: Delicious double deals, and then say goodbye to those lights.
Switchblade’s editor, Scotch Rutherford, again excels himself with his curation of superb hard-boiled and noir crime writing. This anthology really has grown into a haven of some of the best indie crime writing around, and it’s a crime reader’s wet dream!
Can’t wait to get my hands on Issue #6.
Cheers,
ABP
May 11, 2018
I was lucky enough to receive a copy from the editor. My honest review follows.
If you want to read some of the best crime fiction being written today, you owe it to yourself to pick up this issue of SWITCHBLADE magazine. More than good time girls and hard luck guys, the stories in SWITCHBLADE shows humanity at its most desperate but stops short of being voyeuristic. Each of the broken souls in the stories remains, at the end of the day, human, and to their credit, each of the authors featured zoom in on that characteristic and challenges the reader to not sympathize but definitely empathize with the characters contained within. There are stories of rotten luck and worse choices, of unintended consequences and occasional moments of grace.
Some personal favorites from this edition:
“A Good Week’s Work” by Rob Pierce. Truly no plan survives contact with the enemy… and that goes double when you get a group of criminals together, each with their own agenda. End of the day, when blood is spilled and money is on the line, is there anyone you can trust?
“Nasty Habits” by Alex Cizak. There are worse addictions to have then heroin, and even the bottom rung of society has ways of looking out for the vulnerable.
“These Hills” by Chris McGinley. What do you do when there’s no work and nothing left to steal? What do you do when even the local preacher knows theirs no salvation waiting for them based on the things they’ve done? A story about the weight some men carry for years, and sometimes the best part of us is long gone and buried, just a white cross at the side of a mountain road to mark our passing.
“Bad Dog” by Timothy Friend. A unique story from a dog’s perspective about love, and loyalty, and ultimately how we perceive ourselves. IF this doesn’t tug at your heart strings, I’m going to have to assume you’ve got no soul at all.
That said, all of the stories featured showcase excellent writing, at times visceral, gritty, and grime covered, but also emotional, tension filled, and with stakes that grab the reader and won’t let go.
If you want to read some of the best crime fiction being written today, you owe it to yourself to pick up this issue of SWITCHBLADE magazine. More than good time girls and hard luck guys, the stories in SWITCHBLADE shows humanity at its most desperate but stops short of being voyeuristic. Each of the broken souls in the stories remains, at the end of the day, human, and to their credit, each of the authors featured zoom in on that characteristic and challenges the reader to not sympathize but definitely empathize with the characters contained within. There are stories of rotten luck and worse choices, of unintended consequences and occasional moments of grace.
Some personal favorites from this edition:
“A Good Week’s Work” by Rob Pierce. Truly no plan survives contact with the enemy… and that goes double when you get a group of criminals together, each with their own agenda. End of the day, when blood is spilled and money is on the line, is there anyone you can trust?
“Nasty Habits” by Alex Cizak. There are worse addictions to have then heroin, and even the bottom rung of society has ways of looking out for the vulnerable.
“These Hills” by Chris McGinley. What do you do when there’s no work and nothing left to steal? What do you do when even the local preacher knows theirs no salvation waiting for them based on the things they’ve done? A story about the weight some men carry for years, and sometimes the best part of us is long gone and buried, just a white cross at the side of a mountain road to mark our passing.
“Bad Dog” by Timothy Friend. A unique story from a dog’s perspective about love, and loyalty, and ultimately how we perceive ourselves. IF this doesn’t tug at your heart strings, I’m going to have to assume you’ve got no soul at all.
That said, all of the stories featured showcase excellent writing, at times visceral, gritty, and grime covered, but also emotional, tension filled, and with stakes that grab the reader and won’t let go.
April 3, 2018
This issue of Switchblade features mobsters, con artists, serial killers, junkies, game wardens and a whole raft of great characters from the best and brightest writers in indie crime today. It's teeth-breakingly hardboiled and each story leaves a mark as though you've been stuck by an actual switchblade. There's a host of twist and turns augmented with great fulfilling storytelling.
Scotch Rutherford frontloads the issue with some of my recent faves in Rob Pierce, Alec Cizak and Court Merrigan who set the tone for the issue and it doesn't let up from there with authors old and new (to me) delivering great and memorable yarns.
If you love great crime fiction, it's time to get woke and get Switchblade in your life.
Scotch Rutherford frontloads the issue with some of my recent faves in Rob Pierce, Alec Cizak and Court Merrigan who set the tone for the issue and it doesn't let up from there with authors old and new (to me) delivering great and memorable yarns.
If you love great crime fiction, it's time to get woke and get Switchblade in your life.
October 22, 2018
Switchblade issue five is chock full of criminal awesomeness.
I thoroughly enjoyed each poem, flash, short story, and photograph. My favorites of the collection are "Chemo Queen" by Tom Barlow, "Bad Dog" by Timothy Friend, and "The Big Blind" by David Rachels.
Barlow's story provides a cautionary tale about a con artist whose epic fail involves the violation of a basic rule of decorating: matching the carpet to the drapes. Friend shows how a loyal, old dog can perform the greatest trick of all. Rachels gives the phrase "going all in" a whole new meaning.
I thoroughly enjoyed each poem, flash, short story, and photograph. My favorites of the collection are "Chemo Queen" by Tom Barlow, "Bad Dog" by Timothy Friend, and "The Big Blind" by David Rachels.
Barlow's story provides a cautionary tale about a con artist whose epic fail involves the violation of a basic rule of decorating: matching the carpet to the drapes. Friend shows how a loyal, old dog can perform the greatest trick of all. Rachels gives the phrase "going all in" a whole new meaning.
November 22, 2018
Altogether a kick ass collection of stories. Noir to the bone. Dirty deeds and rat bastards doing rat bastardy things. Great lineup of authors. Congrats to all those involved.
I recommend it without question. Especially loved the cover and pulpy vibe of the inside design.
Switchblade has got somethin' here and you should get it too. Don't miss out.
I recommend it without question. Especially loved the cover and pulpy vibe of the inside design.
Switchblade has got somethin' here and you should get it too. Don't miss out.
April 13, 2018
Understand that I have a story in this issue and are therefore prejudiced, but it offers a splendid variety of hard-core crime fiction.
August 6, 2023
One of the best grit lit/crime fiction/hard boiled anthology series imo, every issue/book finds me a new writer to further read, even the ads are worth paying attention too.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews