Switchblade : Issue Twelve

by Jon Zelazny, E.F. Sweetman, Serena Jayne

Three months back there was a suicide bomb in Tunisia, a prison riot in Colombia, Ana Australia was on fire. Italy fought a losing battle with an insidious virus, which went on to engulf the planet in a worldwide pandemic. The first world shut down.

Then we watched a public execution, by a so-called peace-keeper. Then the rioting and looting began—and you know what came next, because you’re living it. The world in 2020 isn’t what it once was. The west is on fire with revolution and unrest. Violent crime and lawlessness are on the rise. Which is good news if crime is your business. And whether the world bounces back or burns down to ashes, there will always be storytelling.

For Switchblade, storytelling is our business, and business is good. This is the twelfth issue of the world’s only no-limit noir digest magazine. Featuring 13 reality-check, hard luck tales of the human condition, before and after Covid-19.

Genres: Crime

189 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 22, 2020

About the author

JON ZELAZNY spent his youth in theater and wrote and directed five short films. A graduate of the Newhouse School at Syracuse University and the U.S. Army Airborne School, he began his Hollywood career with producer Joel Silver, then spent a decade in creative support of acclaimed German director Uli Edel. As a screenwriter, he performed polishes, rewrites, and full rewrites on features and made-for-cable films, and was twice commissioned to adapt non-fiction World War II books. His short story "Constant at the 3 Deuces" won the 57th Short Fiction Prize from Jerry Jazz Musician and was nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

Reviews

[Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Something having a kindle has opened up for me is the chance to cheaply acquire some great story mags, it feels like how the supermarket has revitalised the craft beer market, Amazon does for a certain sort of literary product. Maybe writers will disagree, but before all this world (listen up kids), maybe you would see the odd Ellery Queen magazine in a specialist London bookstore, but that would be your only chance to tap into the US rich heritage of American short story magazines.

Felt very humbled reading this. Always fantastic to read an anthology, particularly of noir crime, the attraction is the characters at the edge of life, the settings, the twist, often best served as canapes than full blown meals. What a way to spend an evening with a beer, the family doing there own thing.

Humbling because the modern talent in genre fiction seems so deep, all 11 of the writers so talented, it's hard to get heard, but they certainly gave me pleasure. To go from swinging 60s London, Tijuana, 50 s LA, rural biker bars, all in an evening through unique voices and some thrills, all good. Recommend any fan of crime fiction to support these sort of anthologies.

[Suz Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s nothing subtle about Switchblade issue twelve and that’s exactly why it’s a must read. First of all, the cover is absolute fire, depicting the horror of 2020 in a picture easily worth a thousand words. Speaking of pictures, the saturated color photos throughout the ebook version are gorgeous, and translate well to the black and white paperback edition. The issue starts out with a stunner of a poem by Russell Highland and a candid commentary of the state of the world by managing editor, Scotch Rutherford, who states; “As the world falls apart, I create.” To me, that nicely sums up this issue, creation forged from chaos.

The person of interest in the crime writing community featured in an interview at the end of the anthology is Chris McGinley, who had stories in Switchblade issues #5 and #8. McGinley has some cool things to say about the noir genre and lists Gabino Iglesias as his favorite writer in the independent crime fiction community.

My favorite stories are as follows:

“From Dusk to Blonde” by C.W. Blackwell: Larceny, who first appeared in “Her Name Was Larceny” in Pulp Modern Volume Two Issue Four, is back in all her glory and on a quest for sweet, sweet revenge. Blackwell’s tale is packed with evocative imagery and pulse pounding prose. As a huge fan of his writing, I know what magic he’s capable of bringing to the page, yet I still manage to be blown away by each new work of his. I hope to see more of the unforgettable Larceny in the future.

“Henrietta’s Calming Way” by Patrick Whitehurst: As she makes a run to the corner store to restock something essential, a former Wally World employee has faith on her side as well as her trusty face mask. Henrietta’s voice and snarky world view makes this story an entertaining read. I’ve been digging Whitehurst’s stories online in Shotgun Honey and in the Shotgun Honey Recoil anthology.

“Sorry Not Sorry” by E.F. Sweetman: Mary, bartender, dog walker, and kleptomaniac, happily goes about her business carrying Covid. All of the characters including Lola the schnoodle, named after Barry Manilow’s favorite Copacabana showgirl, make the story a super fun read. Sweetman, a frequent contributor to Switchblade, always delivers a memorable story.

“Forwarded Mail” by D.K. Latta: An unexpected and unwelcome delivery comes in handy for a woman in an abusive relationship. I loved the dark humor and the protagonist’s pluck. Latta’s work is new to me, but after reading “Forwarded Mail,” I want to read more.

For me, this installment of Switchblade magazine is a four and a half star read rounded up to five.

[Patrick Whitehurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

Want things to get real? Want them rough? Duck into this alley and grab your vape, or whatever the term is... it's time to cut open the latest issue of Switchblade Magazine.
Switchblade Issue 12 dropped about a month ago and it's been infecting readers more than the... you know, that thing. I'm talking good infection. With stories by some of the best out there, from Serena Jayne's newest short story “Checking Out” (about an ugly trip to the grocery store during a pandemic) to C.W. Blackwell's tale of a young toughie named Larceny in “From Dusk to Blonde.” E.F. Sweetman, Jon Zelazny, Nathan Pettigrew, and more round this kicker of an issue. If you need the cream from your literary crop, look no further. These are some hard, sinister, deranged, and downright sweet stories.
They don't call it outlaw fiction for nothing.

[Jon Zelazny · Rating 4 out of 5]

God bless the new pulps. American crime fiction has always peeled back the illusion of social propriety to reveal the ugliness that hides in plain sight, and if there's a more appropriate book cover out there to stand in testament to this shit show of a year, I've yet to see it.

The gutter is laid bare throughout this ish, with my two faves being E. F. Sweetman's "Sorry Not Sorry," a Covid nugget Raymond Carver would have loved, and William Soldan's "Like a Diamond in the Sky," a home invasion saga whipped to perfection by an unerring command of pacing and detail.

My "Radio Sutch" is a wry, pseudo-detective romp around the backwash of Swinging London. I always loved when James Ellroy repurposed cultural obscurities like Dick Contino and Oscar Levant into his fiction, and I have the same fun here with such forgotten rock 'n roll footnotes as Chris Stamp, Anya Butler, Reg Calvert, and the great Screaming Lord Sutch.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

With twelve issues and two special editions Switchblade has become a dependable haven for hard-hitting independent fiction. Its list of authors provides a who’s who of rising stars of dark crime fiction. This edition adds further bloody evidence of its usual five-star killer status.

[Joe Surkiewicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

How's this for a lede: "The motel room smelled like cooked dope and sex." Kinda hard to stop reading. It's C.W. Blackwell again, this time with his short story "From Dusk to Blonde," a revenge tale that will leave you slackjawed. Yep, that good. "They Call Me Cuban Pete" by Andrew Miller is another keeper. What can you say about a hitman story featuring, of all people, Desi Arnaz? It resonates, like all the crime stories in this edition. Switchblade is my go-to source for dystopian, hard-hitting noir. Just in time for the end of the world.