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Jacked: An Anthology of Crime Fiction
Edited by award-winning crime-fiction author Vern Smith, JACKED runs the gamut in crime fiction. From hard-boiled to humorous to gritty noir to straight-up mystery, the anthology promises to please the most diverse and discriminating reading audience. With offerings from heavy-hitters like Matt Witten, Andrew Miller, Meagan Lucas, Eric Beetner, and Allison Whittenberg, and equally impressive contributions by relative newcomers to crime fiction, like Paul Alexander, Zephaniah Sole, and Meredith Craig, JACKED is a debut anthology not to be missed.
258 pages, Paperback
Published July 1, 2022
1 person is currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Vern Smith
9 books38 followersVern Smith’s novel Scratching the Flint was named Best Indie Novel of 2023 by Crime Fiction Lover. He is also author of the novels Under the Table and The Green Ghetto. Winner of the Chinaski Award as editor of the Jacked crime fiction anthology, Smith is a former newspaper reporter, magazine editor, radio host, and political staffer. His novelette, The Gimmick—a finalist for Canada’s highest crime-writing honor, the Arthur Ellis Award—is the title track to his second collection of fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 25, 2022
Jacked presents to the reader a varied collection of crime fiction short stories running the gamut from dead serious to comedic. Clichés be damned, there's something here for everyone. Reliable scribes Andrew Miller and Joseph S. Pete deliver in their unique styles, Miller proving yet again he is the closest thing to a legitimate heir apparent to Hemingway the world has thus far produced. Meagan Lucas demonstrates an understanding of the genre's fundamental engine: poverty and the struggle to overcome it. I will not forget her contribution any time soon. And Ricky Sprague closes the show with a mini epic filled with humor and predicated on a premise whose time is long overdue. All the writers provide short, sharp jabs of entertainment only those without a pulse will fail to enjoy.
October 12, 2022
Not a clunker in this great anthology of crime thrillers. I had a few I loved more than others but (again) not one story I had to skim through or not finish, which is rare in a collection of stories by different authors. I even found a couple of new authors to follow along with on future stories, too. Recommended.
October 28, 2022
This anthology casts a wide net, and the catch does not disappoint. It runs the gamut on crime fiction, and Smith--presumably, intentionally--pushes the boundary of what is considered crime fiction with the addition of stories that go beyond the widely accepted limitations of genre fiction. You won't be getting the same-old same-old with this collection--in neither content nor authors--making it a fresh take on an old idea. Kudos to Smith and the cast of excellent authors he has gathered here.
July 27, 2023
Dynamite!
An excellent crime anthology. I enjoyed all these stories, but my favorites were "Picking the Carcass," "Apples and Trees," "Living the DolceVita," and "Mitsubishi Murder Ballad." Highly recommended!
An excellent crime anthology. I enjoyed all these stories, but my favorites were "Picking the Carcass," "Apples and Trees," "Living the DolceVita," and "Mitsubishi Murder Ballad." Highly recommended!
August 21, 2022
video review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmyoU...
This anthology is something else! I’ve read Anthologies before that I’ve liked and I’ve enjoyed a lot but there was always a story or 2 that I couldn’t really get into no matter how hard I tried. I honestly don’t think I had that issue with JACKED.
From the first story “Shorty Cocked His Gun” from Paul Alexander, all the way through the final entry, “The Gryfters,” by Ricky Sprague, I was hooked, and drawn in, and tied to the pages. Each story through this collection brings a whole new spin and different point of view to different situations. The writing of each is superb. All of the writers bring a gritty feel, these bleak and brutal actions. Quite a few of them I found myself grinning with a little tongue-in-cheek humor mixed in. There are also a handful that you will notice your heart pumping a little faster as you grip the pages tighter and tighter with anticipation of is about to happen.
I think there is something for everyone in this collection if you are a fan of stories about life and surviving the hand you’ve been dealt and making the best out of horrible situations and possibly deciding to do a thing or 2 that may be frowned upon in order to just keep living for one more day.
I want to touch on a few of the stories just to give you a feeling of the assortment of entertainment you will get. Not saying these are better than any of the others, just showing the range of topics.
"Picking The Carcass" from Meagan Lucas brings us a situation we see all the time, a family in poverty, parents are toxic and users, but there is still a part of the mother who wants the best for her kids, so when her situation changes a little, she finds herself doing whatever she needs to in order to keep this new source of income. I’ve read a lot of Meagan’s work over the years and she really knows how to write real life situations without being over descriptive. She is very selective with her words giving you an understanding of the situation right away.
Eric Beetner’s selection, "First Timers," brings to life something I think every teenager has thought about or maybe even has done, stealing a car. But everything has consequences and our two teens find themselves in a whole different world they were not ready for.
Matt Witten brings us "The TikTok Murder," tying in the trend of tiktok of today and the need to be popular and constantly growing your following with social media and how it can get out of hand quickly. This one is also educational. Did you know Coke Heads have a Calcium Deficiency? I did not know that.
"Live, Like a Suicide," from W.C Gordon feels like an opening to a movie. I could see it being developed into something else.
I don’t like to go through every story when I talk about an anthology because I don’t want to stray anyone's opinion about their favorite story. I think it’s cool when people have different favorites and how different stories hit them.
I do want to touch on the final story in the collection though. "The Gryfters," by Ricky Sprague. This is the longest of the collection I believe. I think this could be more of a beginning of a novel or a long novella. It feels like it has a different presentation, a different story-telling mode. And I can see places that it could be expanded and we can go a little deeper creating a much longer story. It just seems like it has the chops to be bigger.
So do yourself a favor and take a look at all of these stories and you will find your favorites. It’s a collection full of gripping action, transgression, humor, battles to survive, double crossing, jealousy, rage, greed, I could go on and on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmyoU...
This anthology is something else! I’ve read Anthologies before that I’ve liked and I’ve enjoyed a lot but there was always a story or 2 that I couldn’t really get into no matter how hard I tried. I honestly don’t think I had that issue with JACKED.
From the first story “Shorty Cocked His Gun” from Paul Alexander, all the way through the final entry, “The Gryfters,” by Ricky Sprague, I was hooked, and drawn in, and tied to the pages. Each story through this collection brings a whole new spin and different point of view to different situations. The writing of each is superb. All of the writers bring a gritty feel, these bleak and brutal actions. Quite a few of them I found myself grinning with a little tongue-in-cheek humor mixed in. There are also a handful that you will notice your heart pumping a little faster as you grip the pages tighter and tighter with anticipation of is about to happen.
I think there is something for everyone in this collection if you are a fan of stories about life and surviving the hand you’ve been dealt and making the best out of horrible situations and possibly deciding to do a thing or 2 that may be frowned upon in order to just keep living for one more day.
I want to touch on a few of the stories just to give you a feeling of the assortment of entertainment you will get. Not saying these are better than any of the others, just showing the range of topics.
"Picking The Carcass" from Meagan Lucas brings us a situation we see all the time, a family in poverty, parents are toxic and users, but there is still a part of the mother who wants the best for her kids, so when her situation changes a little, she finds herself doing whatever she needs to in order to keep this new source of income. I’ve read a lot of Meagan’s work over the years and she really knows how to write real life situations without being over descriptive. She is very selective with her words giving you an understanding of the situation right away.
Eric Beetner’s selection, "First Timers," brings to life something I think every teenager has thought about or maybe even has done, stealing a car. But everything has consequences and our two teens find themselves in a whole different world they were not ready for.
Matt Witten brings us "The TikTok Murder," tying in the trend of tiktok of today and the need to be popular and constantly growing your following with social media and how it can get out of hand quickly. This one is also educational. Did you know Coke Heads have a Calcium Deficiency? I did not know that.
"Live, Like a Suicide," from W.C Gordon feels like an opening to a movie. I could see it being developed into something else.
I don’t like to go through every story when I talk about an anthology because I don’t want to stray anyone's opinion about their favorite story. I think it’s cool when people have different favorites and how different stories hit them.
I do want to touch on the final story in the collection though. "The Gryfters," by Ricky Sprague. This is the longest of the collection I believe. I think this could be more of a beginning of a novel or a long novella. It feels like it has a different presentation, a different story-telling mode. And I can see places that it could be expanded and we can go a little deeper creating a much longer story. It just seems like it has the chops to be bigger.
So do yourself a favor and take a look at all of these stories and you will find your favorites. It’s a collection full of gripping action, transgression, humor, battles to survive, double crossing, jealousy, rage, greed, I could go on and on.
November 6, 2022
This is a fantastic collection of really well-written crime stories! I highly recommend!
November 6, 2022
great collection of crime- lots of different styles and lots of surprises! The story "Living The DolceVita" by Meredith Craig in particular was a standout!
September 10, 2022
A terrific collection of crime fiction. Eclectic too. If there is a Jacked 2 somewhere on the horizon, I'll be all over it.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews