Mystery Melange

The new digital eBook publisher Blasted Heath launches this week by giving away a copy of the five launch novels, All The Young Warriors by Anthony Neil Smith, Dead Money by Ray Banks, Phase Four by Gary Carson, The Long Midnight of Barney Thomson by Douglas Lindsay, and The Man in the Seventh Row by Brian Pendreigh.

Speaking of eBooks, Gerard Brennan's novella The Point, about two Irish brothers tied together by crime, is now available for the Kindle in both the U.S. and UK. Brennan is a fellow blogger over at Crime Scene NI and writer of gritty short stories. Brian McGilloway says of Brennan's novella, that it's "the real deal—the writing is razor sharp, the characters engaging, the ending a blast. From start to finish it's true Northern Noir, crafted with style and wit." 

Omnimystery News is back with its monthly "firsts on the first," a listing of crime fiction novels with new series characters being released during the upcoming month. November's featured "firsts" are by authors Marc Cameron, Diane Kelly, Piper Maitland, Q. R. Markham, Amy Patricia Meade, Alexei Maxim Russel and Rochelle Staab.

From the Zine Scene: Zoom Street's November issue is a special Noir Edition, with art by John Nickle, noir book reviews and a hard-boiled detectives quiz. Beat to a Pulp: Hardboiled was released this week, a new anthology billed as "a compilation of uncompromising, gritty tales following in the footsteps of the tough and violent fiction popularized by the legendary Black Mask magazine in its early days." Authors with stories include Garnett Elliott, Glenn Gray, John Hornor Jacobs, Patricia Abbott, Thomas Pluck, Brad Green, Ron Earl Phillips, Kent Gowran, Amy Grech, Benoit Lelievre, Kieran Shea, David Cranmer, and Wayne D. Dundee. And Noir Journal 46 features the No Frills Book Review Marathon, Part 2.

Speaking of Beat to a Pulp: they're now open for submissions again.

The next full Love is Murder conference won't be held until 2012, but they're starting early with two mini-conferences at Chicago-area libraries in mid-November. Featured authors include Featured authors are Andrew Grant, Shane Gericke, Tasha Alexander, Luisa Buehler, Raymond Benson, Michael Harvey, Jeffrey Small and Robert Goldborough. And they're free! (Thanks to Omnimysteries news for the info.)

Crime Scraps had a "Who is your favourite male Swedish crime writer" poll. Although results are in, you may find some new authors there to interest you. And who received the most votes? You might just be surprised.