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Slower Bear
"Fantastic. Like what would happen if Jack Reacher hit absolute rock bottom, lost an arm, woke up in a dumpster, and just decided, fuck it, I'm going to keep killing bad guys." – James Kestral, author of Five Decembers (winner of 2022 Edgar Award for Best Novel)
Micah “Slow Bear” Cross returns in another breathless slice of pitch-perfect pulp from noir legend Anthony Neil Smith.
After successfully faking his own death, we catch up with Micah “Slow Bear” Cross standing in a field in Nebraska with his boot on the neck of a Ukranian human trafficker.
So far, so Slow Bear.
After handing out some of his trademark summary justice, Micah finds himself the temporary custodian of two very young, and very scared victims of trafficking.
Along with his latest one-night stand Abeline, Slow Bear and the girls launch themselves into a desperate fight for survival as they do all they can to escape the clutches of the ruthless trafficking gang who are out for revenge and restitution.
What follows will absolutely delight fans of Anthony Neil Smith and pulp-noir lovers everywhere...
Praise for Slower Bear
“Slower Bear is hardboiled like a motherlover. Tough, terse, wildly wicked and wickedly entertaining.” – Gary Phillips, author of One-Shot Harry
“In Slower Bear, Anthony Neil Smith’s prose is a hammer; sometimes pounding, sometimes clawing out flesh, but always bludgeoning or yanking the reader through the bloody and break-neck story of lost soul-asshole Micah Cross’ search for redemption. Or maybe it’s just the search for a glass of pulpy orange juice across the counter from a girl with a nice rack, but it’s fast, graphic, obscenely funny, and I couldn’t put it down.” – Meagan Lucas, author of the award-winning novel Songbirds and Stray Dogs, and Editor in Chief of Reckon Review
"Dazzles with repellent wit. A sleazy queasy poetic punch from one of the masters of pulp" – Saira Viola, author of Jukebox and Crack, Apple & Pop
“I went into Slower Bear expecting to read a fine noir novel by a gifted author I respect. I got this in spades. But what I didn’t expect was to come away with a renewed belief in the power of new love to push through even the worst of circumstances, as Abeline’s caring for the girls is also a dynamic we see form right before our very eyes. Smith ultimately offers us a side dish with his crime the formation of an unusual family of four. I’ll take that with my shootouts every day of the week and twice on Sunday.” – Sheldon Lee Compton author of Brown Bottle, Alice and the Wendigo, and Dysphoria.
Praise for Slow Bear
"More happens in the first two chapters of Slow Bear than in some literary novelist's entire output.Thrills, spills. Twists, turns. Heart, soul. As good as it gets." - Mark Ramsden, author of Mistress Murder, Radical Desire and The Art of Serial Killing
"Anthony Neil Smith mixes dark humor, menace, mayhem and a washed-out, one-armed hero in a noirish tale that never stops to take a breath." - Linwood Barclay, author of No Time for Goodbye
"Slow Bear is everything I love about dark fiction and don't see nearly enough of. Anthony Neil Smith writes uncompromisingly dark fiction without sacrificing the humanity or entertainment value of his characters.
Micah “Slow Bear” Cross returns in another breathless slice of pitch-perfect pulp from noir legend Anthony Neil Smith.
After successfully faking his own death, we catch up with Micah “Slow Bear” Cross standing in a field in Nebraska with his boot on the neck of a Ukranian human trafficker.
So far, so Slow Bear.
After handing out some of his trademark summary justice, Micah finds himself the temporary custodian of two very young, and very scared victims of trafficking.
Along with his latest one-night stand Abeline, Slow Bear and the girls launch themselves into a desperate fight for survival as they do all they can to escape the clutches of the ruthless trafficking gang who are out for revenge and restitution.
What follows will absolutely delight fans of Anthony Neil Smith and pulp-noir lovers everywhere...
Praise for Slower Bear
“Slower Bear is hardboiled like a motherlover. Tough, terse, wildly wicked and wickedly entertaining.” – Gary Phillips, author of One-Shot Harry
“In Slower Bear, Anthony Neil Smith’s prose is a hammer; sometimes pounding, sometimes clawing out flesh, but always bludgeoning or yanking the reader through the bloody and break-neck story of lost soul-asshole Micah Cross’ search for redemption. Or maybe it’s just the search for a glass of pulpy orange juice across the counter from a girl with a nice rack, but it’s fast, graphic, obscenely funny, and I couldn’t put it down.” – Meagan Lucas, author of the award-winning novel Songbirds and Stray Dogs, and Editor in Chief of Reckon Review
"Dazzles with repellent wit. A sleazy queasy poetic punch from one of the masters of pulp" – Saira Viola, author of Jukebox and Crack, Apple & Pop
“I went into Slower Bear expecting to read a fine noir novel by a gifted author I respect. I got this in spades. But what I didn’t expect was to come away with a renewed belief in the power of new love to push through even the worst of circumstances, as Abeline’s caring for the girls is also a dynamic we see form right before our very eyes. Smith ultimately offers us a side dish with his crime the formation of an unusual family of four. I’ll take that with my shootouts every day of the week and twice on Sunday.” – Sheldon Lee Compton author of Brown Bottle, Alice and the Wendigo, and Dysphoria.
Praise for Slow Bear
"More happens in the first two chapters of Slow Bear than in some literary novelist's entire output.Thrills, spills. Twists, turns. Heart, soul. As good as it gets." - Mark Ramsden, author of Mistress Murder, Radical Desire and The Art of Serial Killing
"Anthony Neil Smith mixes dark humor, menace, mayhem and a washed-out, one-armed hero in a noirish tale that never stops to take a breath." - Linwood Barclay, author of No Time for Goodbye
"Slow Bear is everything I love about dark fiction and don't see nearly enough of. Anthony Neil Smith writes uncompromisingly dark fiction without sacrificing the humanity or entertainment value of his characters.
160 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 18, 2022
About the author
Anthony Neil Smith
63 books192 followersI write crime novels. PSYCHOSOMATIC, THE DRUMMER, plus the Billy Lafitte series--YELLOW MEDICINE, HOGDOGGIN', THE BADDEST ASS, and HOLY DEATH--and the Mustafa & Adem series--ALL THE YOUNG WARRIORS and ONCE A WARRIOR, in addition to WORM, CHOKE ON YOUR LIES, and the SLOW BEAR trilogy.
I'm an English Professor at Southwest Minnesota State University, and editor of the online lit mag Revolution John.
I'm an English Professor at Southwest Minnesota State University, and editor of the online lit mag Revolution John.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 6, 2022
Another whirlwind of a ride from Anthony Neil Smith. There's really no time to adjust to what you're reading because from the opening pages you're thrust into situation after situation that gets your heart racing. Dark twists around each corner and characters that take relentless abuse - these are the signature Anthony Neil Smith traits. Slow Bear himself is seemingly caught between hope and hell in every choice he has to make and hope really doesn't ever last long. Throw in a couple of children that need saving and the emotions start to run ever higher. I couldn't put this one down!
November 26, 2022
This book picks up where Slow Bear left off, only it is a lot more violent and a whole lot funnier ( mostly very dark humor. Oh and it takes place at the beginning of the Covid pandemic!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews