Contemporary Authors

• Criminal Economics - 2013 self-published,
• The Year I Died Seven Times - 2015 BEAT to a PULP,
• Rumrunners - 2015 280 Steps,
• Over Their Heads - 2015 Down & Out Books,
• The Backlist - 2015 Down & Out Books,
• Unloaded: Crime Writers Writing Without Guns - 2016 Down & Out Books,
• The Devil Doesn't Want Me - 2016 280 Steps,
• The Short List - 2016 Down & Out Books,
• When the Devil Comes to Call - 2016 280 Steps,
• The Lawyer: Blood Moon (Volume 4) - 2016 BEAT to a PULP,
• Leadfoot - 2016 280 Steps,

• IMDb -

  Editor:

  2010s
  2000s
  1990s

  "The Amazing Race" (70 episodes, 2013-2016)
  ... aka "The Amazing Race: All-Stars" - USA (eleventh season title (promotional title)), USA (twentyfourth season title)
  ... aka "The Amazing Race 13" - USA (thirteenth season title (promotional title))
  ... aka "The Amazing Race: Family Edition" - USA (eighth season title)
  ... aka "The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business" - USA (eighteenth season title)
  - The Only First That Matters (2016) TV episode
  - That's Money, Honey (2016) TV episode
  - Monkey Dance! (2016) TV episode
  - Salt That Sand! (2016) TV episode
  - I Have a Wedgie and a Half (2016) TV episode
  (65 more)
  Killing Happy (2014)
  "The Bachelorette" (21 episodes, 2012-2013)
  - After the Final Rose (2013) TV episode
  - The Final Rose (2013) TV episode
  - Episode #9.10 (2013) TV episode
  - The Men Tell All (2013) TV episode
  - Episode #9.8 (2013) TV episode
  (16 more)
  "Robot Combat League" (2 episodes, 2013)
  - Episode #1.8 (2013) TV episode
  - Wild Card Fight (2013) TV episode
  The Bachelorette: Ashley and JP's Wedding (2012) (TV)
  "Bachelor Pad" (2 episodes, 2012)
  - Episode #3.4 (2012) TV episode
  - Episode #3.3 (2012) TV episode
  "The Swell Life" (2011) TV series (2011)
  "Take the Money & Run" (3 episodes, 2011)
  - No! No! No! Yes! Yes! Yes! (2011) TV episode (lead editor)
  - Who's Playing Whom? (2011) TV episode
  - Oh Brother! (2011) TV episode (lead editor)
  "Million Dollar Decorators" (2011) TV series (unknown episodes)
  "Kirstie Alley's Big Life" (2 episodes, 2010)
  - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (2010) TV episode
  - Swimmin' in the Rain (2010) TV episode

  "Wipeout" (6 episodes, 2009)
  - Episode #2.13 (2009) TV episode
  - All Stars (2009) TV episode
  - Episode #2.6 (2009) TV episode
  - Episode #2.5 (2009) TV episode
  - Episode #2.1 (2009) TV episode
  (1 more)
  "Bollywood Hero" (1 episode, 2008-2009)
  - Episode #1.2 (2009) TV episode
  "Obsessed" (1 episode, 2009)
  - AJ/Vanessa (2009) TV episode
  "The Phone" (2009/I) TV series (unknown episodes)
  Raw Footage (2007)
  One Sung Hero (2006)
  Taking Your Life (2005)
  "Fear Factor" (3 episodes, 2003-2004)
  ... aka "Factor miedo" - USA (Spanish title)
  ... aka "Fear Factor: The Series" - USA (alternative title)
  - All Female #4 (2004) TV episode
  - All Female #3 (2004) TV episode
  - Miss USA Fear Factor (2003) TV episode
  MTV Special: Dirty Dancing - Havana Nights (2004) (TV)
  "Military Diaries" (2002) TV series (unknown episodes)
  "Temptation Island" (2001) TV series (unknown episodes)
  ... aka "Temptation Island 2" - USA (second season title)
  ... aka "Temptation Island 3" - USA (third season title)
  "Totally Hoops" (2001) TV series (unknown episodes)

  "The New Adventures of A.R.K." (1999) TV series (unknown episodes)
  "The Adventures of A.R.K." (1998) TV series (unknown episodes)
  ... aka "Animal Rescue Kids" - Japan (English title)
  "ARK, the Adventures of Animal Rescue Kids" (1997) TV series (unknown episodes)
  The Mysterious World: Search for Ancient Technology (1997) (TV)
  "Saturday Night Special" (1996) TV series (unknown episodes)
  "Field Trip Starring Inspector Gadget" (1 episode, 1996)
  ... aka "Inspector Gadget's Field Trip" - USA (promotional title)
  - Native American Culture: Plymouth Plantation (1996) TV episode

  Editorial Department:

  2010s
  2000s
  1990s

  "Take the Money & Run" (lead editor) (1 episode, 2011)
  - Oh Brother! (2011) TV episode (lead editor)

  "Fear Factor" (senior editor) (1 episode, 2006)
  ... aka "Factor miedo" - USA (Spanish title)
  ... aka "Fear Factor: The Series" - USA (alternative title)
  - Disaster Fear Factor (2006) TV episode (senior editor)

  "The Crew" (post-production coordinator) (1 episode, 1995)
  - The New Pilot, Literally (1995) TV episode (post-production coordinator)

  Writer:

  2000s
  1990s

  Taking Your Life (2005)
  "The New Adventures of A.R.K." (1 episode, 2000)
  - Days of the Dolphin (2000) TV episode (writer)

  "Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad" (1 episode, 1994)
  ... aka "SSSS" - USA (short title)
  ... aka "Superhuman Samurai" - USA (short title)
  - Portrait of the Artist as a Young Virus (1994) TV episode (written by)

  Director:

  Taking Your Life (2005)

  Casting Director:

  Taking Your Life (2005)

  Producer:

  "Fear Factor" (story producer) (1 episode, 2004)
  ... aka "Factor miedo" - USA (Spanish title)
  ... aka "Fear Factor: The Series" - USA (alternative title)
  - All Female #4 (2004) TV episode (story producer)

• Big Thrill - http://www.thebigthrill.org/2015/09/the-backlist-by-eric-beetner-and-frank-zafiro/

  The Backlist by Eric Beetner and Frank Zafiro
  September 30, 2015 by Jeff Ayers
  15 0

  backlistBy Jeff Ayers

  When the mob finds itself on hard times and has to lay people off, the boss decides to give two different hitters separate lists of “overdue accounts”—a backlist—to see who distinguishes themselves enough to remain on the payroll.

  In their first collaborative effort, Eric Beetner and Frank Zafiro bring readers the sharp-tongued Bricks and the hapless, eager-to-please Cam—two very different protagonists who find themselves faced with challenges they never imagined when they got into the business.

  THE BACKLIST is [[a fast-paced crime novel full of action, twists, verbal jabs, and mayhem]]. Lots of mayhem.

  This month, Beetner and Zafiro chatted with The Big Thrill about the book that appears to be the beginning of a thrilling partnership.

  Frank, could you talk about River City? Also, why the pseudonym for your crime writing?

  River City is a thinly-veiled Spokane. Spokane is a city of about two hundred thousand peple. We’re the second largest city in the state and the biggest city between Seattle and Minneapolis…all of which means that we have all of the problems of a large city and yet still retain some of the small town attitude (which can be good and bad, depending).

  I started calling Spokane River City, and using a pseudonym for crime fiction, because I was an active law enforcement officer in Spokane at the time my first book was coming out. I wasn’t really sure what my bosses would think of my work, since there are some dark events and not every cop is portrayed in a positive light. So I went with the pen name. As it turned out, the brass were very supportive, but by that time I had a few dozen short stories and two books out under this name, so I decided to keep it for crime fiction. The last name Zafiro comes from the name a few of us used to name our film “production” company during a high school independent study on filmmaking.

  What sparked the idea for THE BACKLIST?

  Eric: Frank and I had been toying with the idea of writing together for a while since we both knew the other had successful collaborations before. When we started kicking around ideas this was one we both sparked to. I honestly don’t remember who had the initial spark, but we each developed our characters solo and then presented them. I love the way Frank’s character, Bricks, turned out. She’s so different from someone I would have come up with, I think. And she and Cam are different, so the readers get two totally different perspectives as they go through their trials and tribulations.

  Frank: I clearly have a better recollection than Eric here…HE came up with a majority of the idea and the plot framework. I was responsible for all of Bricks, and as we moved through the broad strokes of the plot, we both suggested a tweak here or there and bounced ideas off of each other. But if Beets hadn’t come out of his corner swinging, there wouldn’t have been much of a fight…which is my awkward metaphorical way of saying he is mostly responsible.

  How did you end up collaborating?

  Eric: I design book covers here and there and I had done a few for Frank with a publisher I worked with. I guess I did something right because I ended up doing a few of his self-published works as well. Some of my favorite covers I’ve ever designed, by the way. I’d liked what I read of Frank’s, and we got along well over email so it grew from there.

  Frank: That is exactly what happened. All I can add is that I read Eric’s book The Devil Doesn’t Want Me prior to us writing together and I knew we’d be a good fit. He’s a terrific writer, and has some of the same dark humor as I do. Plus it’s clear how much he likes to explore the human condition by rolling up his sleeves and plunging into the muck, which I enjoy, too. So it’s a pretty good partnership.

  How do you write together? I understand THE BACKLIST alternates first person with each of your characters telling the story, but you still had to make it flow well together.

  Eric: We batted the outline back and forth a few times, each one adding on more about their character but knowing how the final act would play out, basically. Once the outline was set, we dug in and each wrote our chapters and then would send them off. I am always so afraid of writing this way, but I end up loving it because you get to write a book and read a book at the same time. I love being surprised by what came in Frank’s next chapters. I would know the basic from the outline but all the detail and flavor and character would be new to me.

  Once we had a draft we would go through and do minor edits, which went off without a hitch. Neither one of us ever suggested anything that pissed the other guy off, which is easily where it could all break down.

  Frank: Eric was the third writer I’d collaborated with, and my books with Colin Conway (Some Degree of Murder) and Jim Wilsky (The Ania Trilogy—all of which have covers designed by Eric) were in the same format—dual first person narrative with alternating viewpoint chapters. The process Eric describes has worked well for me in those previous projects, and I knew they’d work for him and I, too. It helped that he came up with a great story idea to start things off!

  The actual process was a blast, and here’s why. You know when you get coffee with another writer and brainstorm an idea and flesh it out a little, and then you’re motivated as hell? Well, that’s the way it was every few days. I’d get a chapter back and read what Eric had done with Cam, and get excited about that. Then I’d want to make sure I did his chapters justice with my own, so I’d put in my best effort…which was easy to do, because I was super motivated.

  When we got to spots where we had to coordinate story points or plot pieces, usually a quick email or two was enough to handle that. One of the great things about working with Eric is that he isn’t rigid, or at least not unnecessarily so. The other piece that worked out so well was that neither of us seemed to have ego issues at play with each other, which is not only nice, but it lends itself to better editing.

  Since you have both written with others, how was your collaboration together in comparison?

  Eric: My other collaborations with JB Kohl have been an excellent experience. I was wary to try to duplicate that. I figured it would never happen so easily again, but I’m happy I was wrong. Funny thing is, I don’t like being in the same room and collaborating. In both cases I have never met my co-author in person nor ever spoken on the phone. It’s all over email. I feel like I know a lot about Frank and JB (Jennifer) even though I’ve never spent any time with them. Getting a look at someone’s creative process and first drafts of their writing ends up being a very intimate process. You have to have a lot of trust. I couldn’t be more pleased with how both books with Frank have gone (yes, we already wrote the sequel!) or all four of my books with Jennifer.

  Frank: In addition to Colin Conway and Jim Wilsky mentioned above, I wrote The Trade Off with Bonnie Paulson in this same format. And I’ve got a finished first draft with fellow Thrilling Thirteen author Lawrence Kelter, which we wrote in the first person but with a single protagonist and no set number of writing blocks as we went along. We each wrote about half of the book, though. Both of those collaborations went great, and I give full credit to my co-authors. I make it a point not to pick assholes to write with. (Can I write that? I guess I just did.)

  Why write about crime?

  Eric: I write and I read to be taken out of my day-to-day life. I’m very far from a criminal, so it fascinates me. I also think it lends itself to exciting, life-or-death stories. I embrace the seedy underbelly of society so I don’t like getting the white washed good guy image of heroic fiction or movies. I’d rather see a story about real people with flaws and weakness. I especially love stories of ordinary guys put to the test against criminal elements or confronting their own desires and testing the limits of their lawfulness. That’s classic noir stuff and that’s what really excites me as a reader.

  Frank: When I started writing fiction again in 2004 after a long hiatus, crime fiction is simply what came out. I think that given my career at the time, it was some of the “write what you know” sort of thing (or “write what you’re comfortable with,” which is a little bit different). But additionally, crime fiction has some of the same qualities as science fiction, in that there are a great number of possibilities that really let you explore the human condition, especially the baser elements. Understanding those parts of each other and ourselves makes for a great story most of the time.

  What is next for you both separately and together?

  Eric: It’s been a busy 2015 and it doesn’t look to be letting up any time soon for me. I still have a novella, Nine Toes In The Grave, coming out this year with All Due Respect. I have a Western novella out at the end of the year with Beat To A Pulp, part of the Lawyer series. I’m really thrilled to be able to announce that I’ve signed on with publisher 280 Steps, who put out my novel Rumrunners, to re-release my novel The Devil Doesn’t Want Me and to finally let the sequel see the light of day. Those will be out in 2016 and then the third in the trilogy will be probably early 2017. Also in 2016 will be a prequel to Rumrunners. Somewhere in there I’ll write another in The Lawyer series and hopefully finish the novel I started earlier this year but had to set aside to do all this other stuff.

  I’m also excited about an anthology that Down & Out is doing that I put together called Unloaded. It’s crime stories with all the grit and action we love about them but written without any guns. Proceeds will go to a gun control non-profit and if all goes well we can spark a reasoned discussion about common sense gun legislation in this country.

  Frank: Eric and I just finished the sequel to THE BACKLIST (The Short List, due Sept 2016 from Down & Out Books). I’m working on Friend of the Departed, the third novel in my Stefan Kopriva series. I am projecting an October release, maybe November. After that is finished, I’ll either dive into the next River City novel, or a stand-alone I’ve been thinking about lately.

  Normally, I’m more prolific, but I’ve been teaching a lot this year, so my output is down. I suspect things on other fronts will slow down by the end of the year, and I project 2016 to be a bigger year for Zafiro releases.

  *****

  Eric Beetner writes hardboiled crime fiction. A lot of it, with more to come. Many folks have said nice things about his books. He’s won a few awards like the 2012 Stalker award for Most Criminally Underrated author. He lives in Los Angeles where he co-hosts the Noir At The Bar reading series.

  To learn more about Eric, please visit his website.

  Frank Zafiro was a police officer from 1993 to 2013. He is the author of numerous crime novels. In addition to writing, Frank is an avid hockey fan and a tortured guitarist. He lives in Chattaroy, Washington.

  To learn more about Frank, please visit his website.

• Mystery People - https://mysterypeople.wordpress.com/2015/11/24/mysterypeople-qa-with-eric-beetner-2/

  MysteryPeople Q&A with Eric Beetner
  November 24, 2015 mysterypeopleblogLeave a comment
  9788293326489
  eric beetner

  Interview by Crime Fiction Coordinator Scott Montgomery

  Eric Beetner’s new novel The Rumrunners is packed with fun action, perfect for those of us who grew up watching the Duke Boys and The Bandit outrun the law. The story concerns Tucker McGraw, a man from a long line of men who transport illegal goods – usually liquor or drugs – who has decided to go straight.

  Soon enough, he gets pulled back into the business, when his father disappears with a mysterious shipment. The redneck ring of criminals employing the McGraw family force Tucker and the McGraw family patriarch, Calvin, to pay off the debt as drivers. Full of car chases and colorful characters, it is a fast paced, run ride. I caught up with Eric to talk about the book, its inspiration, and how he wrote a book that moves as fast as Burt Reynolds in a Trans Am.

  MysteryPeople Scott: Rumrunners is a much more rural crime novel compared to most of your other work. Did the setting effect your writing at all?

  Eric Beetner: I was born in Iowa and although I only lived there a very short time it has stayed with me as part of my identity so when I thought of this crew I wanted to put them in Iowa. Plus, I like the small time crooks. Beyond the fact that New York and L.A. and Chicago have been done before and done so well, I like the small fish. Guys who aspire to be bigger but never stand a chance. Criminals who are deluded in thinking they are big time when they are anything but. Those make interesting characters to me. So, yes, setting was very important in this story. I don’t think it would have worked the same if it were a big city crime family. There’s a different dynamic there. And the McGraws in general just want to do what they do and not be bothered. To me, that’s a more rural or Midwestern attitude. They just want their slice of land and to live their lives how they want to. They don’t have to be top dogs.

  MPS: You are dealing with three generations of a family trying to save a member from another generation. What did you want to explore with this tribe?

  EB: I latched on to the idea of multiple generations and thought it would be interesting to explore what happens if someone rejects their criminal lineage and tries to go straight. Of course, he’s drawn into the family business out of his loyalty to his father (and the threat on his life) but I thought it made an interesting arc to see how Tucker tries to stick to the straight and narrow but is forced to bend and how he discovered what is dormant inside him.

  And I love old guys who still kick ass. [[Calvin has turned out to be a fan favorite]] and I can see why. [[A criminal with a strong moral code, deep family ties and the ability to still mix it up in his eighties. What’s not to love?]] He force feeds a guy a crack pipe for heaven’s sake!

  MPS: Most of the main characters are tested by their skill with cars as opposed to guns. How was dealing with that challenge?

  EB: I think I’ve fooled a few people with this book, but I’m not a car guy. I love the artistic qualities of cars. I love vintage Ferraris and the aesthetics of auto design, but I don’t know squat about engines. I don’t even know how to change my own oil. Sad, but true. Also, I drive a hybrid. The secret is out. Sorry.

  But for these guys, the cars in their life are as important as girlfriends. They are their office, their companion, the things that might save their life. And then there is the cool factor on top. When I write about a car like the Superbird, with its crazy wing on the back, it’s like porn to someone like the McGraws.

  And for Tucker, it becomes a measure of his manliness. For him to excel at driving makes him more of an adult in his grandfather’s eyes. It’s his lineage and his birthright.

  But for the cars in the story, I did my research. I learned what engines they had, what year they came out, what colors they came in. That part was fun.

  And I love old guys who still kick ass. Calvin has turned out to be a fan favorite and I can see why. A criminal with a strong moral code, deep family ties and the ability to still mix it up in his eighties. What’s not to love? He force feeds a guy a crack pipe for heaven’s sake!

  MPS: This book appears to be somewhat influenced by the hicksploitaion films like Dixie Dynamite and White Lightning. Do you a particular favorite in this genre?

  EB: Of course you have Smokey and the Bandit. There is Vanishing Point, Gator, Grand Theft Auto, Dirty Larry and Crazy Mary. Plus the films with kick ass car chases like The Seven Ups, French Connection, Double Nickles, Bullit. (I’ve written about this before).

  I was drawn to the story more about the people than the cars or the action, though. I could have written all the crazy car chase action in the world and if it isn’t grounded in character then it won’t work, like many of these films. Some of what came out in the 1970s in the wake of great car chase movies was just an excuse to wreck a bunch of cars. Those aren’t the ones that have endured. The best of the bunch were character based and just happened to have some kick ass car driving action in them.

  MPS: Your books move fast. What advice would you give to a writer wanting to pick up his or her pace?

  For him to excel at driving makes him more of an adult in his grandfather’s eyes. It’s his lineage and his birthright.

  EB: For this one the phrase “cut to the chase” was never more appropriate. For me, characters are defined by action. It’s the old ‘actions speak louder than words’ idea. I don’t need to waste a lot of time explaining character motivation in prose if their actions speak for them. How someone reacts, how they deal with a situation of pressure or stress – all this says a lot about a character in very few words.

  I feel it is the reader’s position to ask an author, “What happened?” Ok, let me tell you a story. At the end of that story the author should be able to ask the reader, “Ok, why did that happen?” And if the reader can’t answer, then the writer didn’t do their job.

  I read a lot of books where there is what I see as extraneous information, whether it is describing the streets someone drove on to get somewhere, the exact layout of a room instead of just the important highlights, a detour into backstory that doesn’t really need to be there. I know I’m an impatient reader, though, and some readers love the rich detail so good for them. I like to keep it upbeat and fast paced though because I know a reader will fill in the gaps with their own ideas and experiences. I don’t need to go into detail about settings in a lot of cases because if I lay out the basics, the reader will fill in the rest and in doing so they are more deeply engaged. I personally don’t want it all laid out for me.

  For Rumrunners we did cut a lot in the edits. I had a lot more with the ex wife and the son, but ultimately it slowed down the main story. I balked at first seeing all these cuts – almost 5000 words worth – but I came around because it made the story move better and I didn’t miss the stuff once it was gone.

  As you revise that is the test. If you’re in the fence – cut it – then see if you miss it a few days later. Chances are you won’t.

  I’ve often thought I should start a business where I take manuscripts and cut 15% of them away. I think at least half of the books I read could use a trim. But I know that’s just my preference as a reader. But hey, shorter books = more books read in a year. I’m all for that!

  MPS: Your publisher told me you’re working on a prequel to Rumrunners. What makes the McGraws so fun to write about?

  EB: The next one, Leadfoot, takes us back to 1971 when Calvin is a much younger man and Webb is off on his first solo job. It was great fun to dig into the early lives of these characters and see them develop a little bit. I like that they have their moral code. There is a lot in Leadfoot about Calvin setting rules for what he will and will not do in his capacity as a driver. He doesn’t want to get involved in the violence and turf wars. He just wants to drive. But, like Tucker in Rumrunners, he comes up against situations where he has to decide and has to balance his own family’s safety in that decision.

  But really it comes down to these people I can relate to in that they are small time, quiet and humble folks. They just happen to live on the other side of the law. I try to infuse them with likability. To root for a crook they need to be lovable, in a way.

  And driving fast cars on the run from the cops and other criminals is cool, man. The boys get up to some serious shenanigans in Leadfoot. Lots of action, lots of unexpected turns. And the same way people reacted to seeing a kick ass octogenarian, I think they will really love a certain badass female in the book who really shows what she made of when the chips are down.

• Terribleminds - http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/01/03/eric-beetner-the-terribleminds-interview/

  Eric Beetner: The Terribleminds Interview

  I met Eric Beetner recently when he and Monsignor Blackmoore were kind enough to have me read some Miriam Black at the LA Noir at the Bar, and Eric read a slam-bang piece of grimy, gritty crime fiction that assured me he’d be a natural fit to talk about his work here at the site. I’ve hooked the car batteries up to his manly components — let’s see what he says when we turn up the juice, yeah? (You can find Eric at his site, or on Twitter @ericbeetner.)
  This is a blog about writing and storytelling. So, tell us a story. As short or long as you care to make it. As true or false as you see it.

  I’ve been thinking about this true story since my recent birthday. See, when I was born, I nearly died. I had a fairly common disorder where both my parent’s blood types got into my system, despite being different types. Basically this means my blood is passing by what it sees as a foreign substance as it flows through my veins and it attacks. Red cell vs. red cell. It can be fatal, especially in a tiny baby. There is no telling blood to just get along.

  So I was plucked out of utero early. My dad loves to recall the day. This was 1969 (yeah, I’m old. What of it?) right after it became commonplace for dad’s to be in delivery. On the day it so happened that a half dozen med students were there as well to see the possibly tragic birth. Apparently when I emerged all the students collectively leaned forward with their notepads to gawk at the freak.

  There was a wall chart for the new-to-the-process dads. It ranked your baby on a scale of 1 to 10. I was a 1. I had my fingers and toes – that was it. I didn’t cry, didn’t respond to stimulus, which at the time was still a hearty smack on the rump. I was discolored, limp, and generally sad to look at. So sad, in fact, the good folks at the hospital chose to dispense with routine and not take a photo of me for the records since they thought there would be no way I’d survive.

  Little did they know my Nana was a nurse for an OB/GYN. She enlisted the help of Dr. Frost and they set about swapping my blood through transfusions. In my 20s I found a clipping my dad saved from the local paper in Iowa City where the hospital put out a call for blood donations. Kinda like a pre-internet Craigslist ad. So my blood was replaced with donations from family friends and some total strangers.

  It ends with my favorite thing that has ever been said about me. After many transfusions, but no guarantee I would come out of this anything more than a vegetable if I lived at all, my parents met with Dr. Frost. Keep in mind she was a family friend.

  They asked what the prognosis was. Dr. Frost said, and I quote, “Well, at this point, Eric is salvageable.”

  I life my life in a daily struggle to justify the hard work and sacrifice of total strangers and the feeling I’ve let them all down by not becoming president or a doctor or astronaut. They all banded together to save a floppy little fetus so I could go on to make up stories and make TV shows. I’m grateful and guilty in equal measure every day.
  Why do you tell stories?

  I spent a lot of time alone as a kid. My parents divorced when I was 3 or 4. I went with my Dad and he worked full time. My sister and I were the classic “latch key” kids, with hours alone at home after school to fill with some sort of self-created entertainment. In a pre-internet, pre-cable TV world I had to invent my own escape. I’ve always seen storytelling as a way to take myself to other places and other times. I guess that notion has stuck with me. I’m never bored. I know how to entertain my brain if nothing else in my environment is doing it for me. That leads to storytelling, at least it did for me. I subscribe to the notion that if you’re bored then you’re boring.
  Give the audience one piece of writing or storytelling advice:

  I hate giving advice on writing. I know you love it, Chuck, and I know a lot of people have benefitted from your advice. The thing I like about what you tell people is that it is all practical. You don’t tell people how to come up with stories, because you can’t teach that.

  That said, I think any advice I’d give is along those same lines. If you want to write – write. Don’t fucking talk about writing. Write. Don’t talk about what you’re planning on doing or what you’re in the middle of doing. My rule is you’re only allowed to speak of it when it’s done. Nothing in the world is more tedious to me than someone talking about a project they’ve been “working on” for years.

  And when you finish that thing you’ve been toiling over, start again. Keep writing. Don’t stop and wait for people to discover what you’ve already written. Try to take the stance that the best thing you’ve ever written is the next thing you will write.
  What’s the worst piece of writing/storytelling advice you’ve ever received?

  Write what you know. That story up top there is about the most interesting thing that has happened in my real life and that all transpired before I was a week old. If I only wrote what I knew I’d be fucked.
  What do you like writing more, short fiction or novel-length? And, the obligatory: why?

  If I had to pick I’d probably end up somewhere in the middle, like novella length. I’m an impatient person. Not like, prescription for Ritalin impatient, but I like my stories to move along. I blame TV and movies. I work in TV as an editor so my whole job is to sit and watch images moving quickly all day, and to make them move even more quickly. To trim the fat. And with movies, it is possible to see how a fully fleshed story can be told so economically. So most of my books are on the shorter side, relatively speaking. I doubt I’ll ever write anything at 100,000 words or above. On a solo novel I’ve only ever gotten to just over 70K, and I like it that way.

  I’ve written a few novellas like Dig Two Graves and my Fightcard books around 25-27 thousand words and those feel right to me in many ways. Not that I could have done The Devil Doesn’t Want Me in that amount of time.

  Shorts are fun, but the novel is a more engrossing experience to read and to write. I do like being able to take a character through many paces and develop the changes characters go through. Ultimately I’ll fall back on the idea that a story is the length it “should” be in order to get the idea across. I’ve read flash fiction that does that and many people seem to think George R.R. Martin needs all those pages to tell his story. Both are valid. My preference is to go a little shorter though.
  Most underrated crime author nobody’s reading?

  Hey, I’m perfect for this since I was voted Most Criminally Underrated Author in this years Stalker Awards. So, the real answer is probably someone even I don’t know about. I’d love more people to discover Jake Hinkson, but that’s only a matter of time. He just announced a new novella which had me so excited I squealed like a little girl. There are several writers on the cusp who don’t have novels out yet, but will, like Keith Rawson, Matt Funk, Jimmy Callaway. [I second that emotion. — c.]

  I’m always amazed Steve Brewer isn’t a best seller. He writes so much I haven’t been able to keep up, but I’m such a fan of his standalones like Bullets, Boost, Bank Job. It seems like every writer at some point gets compared to Elmore Leonard, but Brewer should be on anyone’s shelf if they like Leonard.

  Of course I still wish there was more of an appetite for classic pulp writers beyond the big three of Cain, Chandler and Hammett. Guys like Harry Whittington, William Ard, Fredric Brown, Day Keene. Even writers still with us who started in that era, or the tail end of it anyway, like Robert Randisi, Ed Gorman, the early Lawrence Block novels.
  Your protagonists are, as they should be, troubled folks — what’s the trick to making an unlikable protagonist work?

  It is tricky. In one of my early novels, One Too Many Blows To The Head (cowritten with JB Kohl) I had a guy who did some very morally questionable things and I got worried that people would be turned off by him. But everyone who read it (all six of them) really rooted for Ray and were on his side. I think if you give readers enough of a real life emotional hook to latch on to, they will adapt to the character’s particular moral code pretty quickly. Lars in Devil kills people for a living, but no one has ever told me they think he’s a sadist or a psychopath. His actions in rescuing a young girl and using his skills to protect her give the reader a reason to be on his side. Plus, if the person is funny, charming and fun to be around you can get away with a lot. I can write the head of a charity for blind monkeys and orphans and make him an unsympathetic asshole as much as I can write a criminal who you’d want to sit down and have a beer with.

  The master right now of this is Johnny Shaw. His novel Dove Season literally made me teary with the father/son relationship he built with what could otherwise be a potentially jerky character who makes bad choices. I’m reading his second novel Big Maria now and he’s doing the same damn thing, making me feel so unbelievably deeply for some of these characters that I’ll follow them anywhere down whatever criminal path they take and still be rooting for them to make it out on top. He’s like a magician. I’d say he underrated too, but he selling like hotcakes filled with crack.
  Where does The Devil Doesn’t Want Me come from? Why is it a book only you could’ve written?

  I think it does come down to that notion of writing about a guy with a big moral deficit, in that he’s a killer, and making him sympathetic, relatable, human. I like to think its one thing I’m good at. I had so much fun in the book with the other hitman, Trent, who is a douchebag. He’s the opposite of Lars as a person and he gets punished for it in the course of the story. I just abuse this kid to humiliating levels, and it was a blast. And the readers, I’ve been happy to learn, are loving his humiliation. Does that make the readers evil people who want to see a guy get his nose ring torn out? No. They just know who they like better (Lars) and who deserves to get a kick in the balls (Trent).

  Could it only have been me? I like to think my voice comes through. I don’t know that I’m 100% unique in any way, really, but in the same way that I’m average height, average weight, brown hair, brown eyes, I get mistaken for other people a lot, I’m not unique in any way. But to people who know me, I’m one of a kind. I’d like to think if people read my work, they find something unique about it.
  What goes into writing a great character? Bonus round: give an example.

  Relatability maybe? Every character has to have something a reader can latch onto. It doesn’t mean they have to like your character, they just have to recognize some sign of real human life in that person.

  As an example I’d go with Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me. You don’t like at all the things that Lou does in that story, but his actions are explained and justified enough in the twisted logic of his own brain, that you relate to his sick world view.

  Likewise people from another era like Old Red and Big Red from Steve Hockensmith’s Holmes on the Range series. Here is a narrator from a time and lifestyle that I have no relationship with, but the voice in those books is so wonderfully rendered that I end up completely relating to them.

  And OH! a perfect example is Megan Abbot’s The End of Everything. I have not been a thirteen year old girl ever in my life, but by the end of that book I felt like I knew what it was like to be that girl. A blend of perfect little details and universal truths made that a great example of making me, the reader, relate to someone completely different from myself.
  Recommend a book, comic book, film, or game: something with great story. Go!

  I’ve worn out my recommendations of Hell On Church Street by Jake Hinkson, so I’ll avoid that. (whoops) I’ll give another shout out to Sunset & Sawdust by Joe R. Lansdale

  Why didn’t more people get into Carnivale on HBO? I loved that show. More people need to discover that one.

  I love a good documentary and I was completely blown away by Life In A Day. And you might not expect it from me, but I think the Dixie Chicks documentary Shut Up and Sing is brilliant.
  Favorite word? And then, the follow up: Favorite curse word?

  I love words for their sound as much as meaning. Discombobulate. Reticent. Curmudgeon spring to mind.

  I blame Samuel L. Jackson (or maybe Tarantino) for Motherfucker completely eclipsing the more simple and refined “Fucker”. Try that some day, pull out a plain old “fucker” and see if it doesn’t get much more of a reaction than motherfucker.
  Favorite alcoholic beverage? (If cocktail: provide recipe. If you don’t drink alcohol, fine, fine, a non-alcoholic beverage will do.)

  I am, sadly, one of those jerks who doesn’t drink the booze. I am a serious hot chocolate snob though. I make my own at home and it’ll put hair on your chest as fast as any bathtub hooch you’ve ever had. I use good chocolate (Valrhona, Green & Blacks, Vosages) and I use a lot of it. It’s more like a melted cup of chocolate mousse. I also like to add extras like a few butterscotch chips, a crushed graham cracker for thickness, sometimes a shot of hazelnut syrup. Seriously. I’ll make you one. It’ll change your life. You’ll never touch that Swiss Miss crap again. Oh, and I use half and half. Not water. Not simple milk. I’m in it to win it. I drink a lot of this when I write late at night.
  What skills do you bring to help the us win the inevitable war against the robots?

  In many ways I am as cold and calculating as our robot overlords. I don’t get overly emotional or sentimental so I’m good in a crisis. I’ll do what needs to be done and not lose my head, even if the right thing to do is leave your ass behind while the rest of us go for higher ground.
  What’s next for you as a storyteller? What does the future hold?

  Just tonight before I started this I finished another novel. That makes five that are as of now unpublished. So I got the goods to go on for a long while. I get annoyed at the glacial pace of publishing so I need to relax. My new novel The Devil Doesn’t Want Me needs to live a life out there without another book stealing its thunder. But soon . . . very soon . . .

  I do have more stories coming out in anthologies. I’ll be in the Atomic Noir collection they are giving out at Noircon this year (and selling on Amazon) I’ll be in a new antho called Hoods, Hot Rods and Hellcats that is coming soon as well as Beat To A Pulp: Hardboiled Vol 2 and the upcoming Crimefactory anthology Lee, which is all stories about Lee Marvin.

• Eric Beetner Web log - http://ericbeetner.blogspot.com/

  My blogs

  Crime Covers
  60 second book reviews
  The Red List
  Eric Beetner

  Blogs I follow

  Killer Covers

  About me
  Gender MALE
  Industry Communications or Media
  Location Los Angeles, CA
  Introduction Hardboiled crime author of The Devil Doesn't Want Me, Dig Two Graves, White Hot Pistol, The Year I Dies Seven Times, Stripper Pole At The End Of The World, Split Decision, A Mouth Full Of Blood and co-author (with JB Kohl) of One Too Many Blows To The Head and Borrowed Trouble. Award-winning short story writer, former musician, sometimes filmmaker, film noir nerd and father of two.

• Eric Beetner Home Page - http://www.ericbeetner.com/

  [[I write hardboiled crime fiction. A lot of it, with more to come.]] People like Owen Laukkanen, John Rector, Megan Abbott, Kelli Stanley, Scott Phillips, Sean Doolittle, Rebecca Cantrell and more have said nice things about my books. I've won a few awards like the 2012 Stalker award for Most Criminally Underrated author. I seem to end up on a lot of lists about the best writers you've never heard of.

  My books include Rumrunners and its sequel Leadfoot (out in November), The Devil Doesn't Want Me, When The Devil Comes To Call and book 3 in the trilogy, The Devil At Your Door (out in 2017), Dig Two Graves, White Hot Pistol, The Year I Died Seven Times, Stripper Pole At The End Of The World & the story collection, A Bouquet Of Bullets.

  I've co-authored The Backlist and The Short List (With Frank Zafiro) And also (with JB Kohl) the novels One Too Many Blows To The Head and Borrowed Trouble and the standalone novel Over Their Heads. I've also written two novellas in the popular Fightcard series, Split Decision and A Mouth Full Of Blood and two novellas in The Lawyer series of Westerns.

  I live in Los Angeles where, among other things, I co-host the Noir At The Bar reading series.

  I've toured as a musician, painted, written screenplays, acted in short films, been to China twice, fished in the Mississippi, once met Barry Manilow, directed films and music videos, my name's been on TV over a hundred times, I own a real human skull and my kids think I embarass them. A life well lived, I'd say.

  I also design book covers. For samples of my 50+ covers visit crimecovers.blogspot.com

• Publisher -

  Eric Beetner is the author of Rumrunners, The Devil Doesn’t Want Me, Dig Two Graves, White Hot Pistol, The Year I Died Seven Times, Stripper Pole at the End of the World and the story collection A Bouquet of Bullets. He is co-author (with JB Kohl) of the novels One Too Many Blows To The Head, Borrowed Trouble and Over Their Heads. He co-wrote The Backlist and The Short List with author Frank Zafiro. He has also written two novellas in the popular Fightcard series, Split Decision and A Mouth Full of Blood. He lives in Los Angeles where he co-hosts the Noir At The Bar reading series.

• Steph Post - http://stephpostauthor.blogspot.com/2016/10/were-all-outlaws-interview-with.html

  Friday, October 28, 2016
  We're All Outlaws: An Interview with Rumrunner's Eric Beetner
  Bouchercon 2016 in New Orleans was a blast and for so many reasons. One of the highlights of the event for me was participating in my very first Noir at the Bar, hosted by Eric Beetner. Rumrunners, Beetner's latest novel, had been on my radar for some time and so, of course, after meeting Beetner in person, I just had to snatch it up. And after reading this interview, I think you will too....

  https://www.amazon.com/Rumrunners-Eric-Beetner-ebook/dp/B00TQYTMQ4/ref=pd_cp_351_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00TQYTMQ4&pd_rd_r=7PE6ZB0WD9X33CVXF20G&pd_rd_w=o892z&pd_rd_wg=SJMkZ&psc=1&refRID=7PE6ZB0WD9X33CVXF20G

  Steph Post: Let me just start out by saying that Rumrunners is a hell of a fun book. Crazy families, fast cars, a classic crime- it’s just an all-around good time. Do you think that Rumrunners exemplifies your “style” as a writer?

  Eric Beetner: I do think it is indicative of [[what I do best]], which[[ is center a story on the “bad guys” and yet make you like them]]. I have no interest in writing about hero cops or the ultimate assassin or a government agent backed by the moral high ground. I like[[ the little guys making their way in the world slightly to the left of the law]]. But I think to draw readers in, they can’t be all bad. We all have a little outlaw in us so I strive to bring that out in my characters and make them relatable even when they engage in actions the reader would (hopefully) never do.
  I’ve gotten great feedback on the character of Lars from The Devil Doesn’t Want Me and the sequels to that, and he’s a professional killer. People love the guy, though, and that’s when I know I did my job right.
  I’ve also been called a funny writer, though I rarely do it consciously. I like a light touch in the absurdity of situations rather than trying to write funny lines, which I am no good at. But I think a dose of humor now and then really helps with the pace of a book. A reader needs a little relief after the intensity of some of the violence.

  SP: As an author who also writes about the weaving web of crime families, I obviously related to, and appreciated, the relationship between the McGraws and the Stanleys. Tucker McGraw is the one family member spanning both groups who has done his best to avoid the criminal lifestyle. Even if most of your readers haven’t grown up with a kingpin parent, do you think they can relate to Tucker’s plight throughout the novel?

  EB: We all struggle to build our own identity, don’t we? Tucker is someone who has to rebel kind of in the opposite direction. His rebellion is to fly the straight and narrow. He doesn’t commit crimes and that makes him an outcast within his family. So in that sense I think he is relatable.
  Whether it’s that day you move out of the house or the day you stand up to your parents and tell them you don’t want to go into the family business, being an adult is making that choice. I think many of us never quite recover from the consequences of that tipping point. It can effect the rest of your life if it alienates you from your family or if it is a decision you end up regretting.
  Tucker’s slow awakening to who he is really meant to be is intended to be a happy story, even if he breaks bad in a way. He’s sort of going through a very late in life coming of age.

  SP: Calvin McGraw, Tucker’s grandfather, is my favorite character in Rumrunners. He’s an eighty-year-old badass and the novel’s opening scene with Calvin versus a cocky hipster in a donut shop is one of my favorite first chapters. Was Calvin based on someone you know or met in real life?

  EB: Calvin has definitely been the breakout character from Rumrunners, and I’m glad. I think older characters are underserved in stories. I wish I could say he was based on someone I know, but he isn’t really. I used elements of my grandfather in other novels of mine, specifically that he was a pro boxer in the 1930s and I wrote about a boxer living in that era for two novels. But Calvin is maybe a bit of fantasy on my part of what I hope I can be like at his age. Not the criminal stuff, but the attitude. The guy just doesn’t give a crap anymore. That’s admirable on the one hand and it also makes him a formidable foe on the other, even to people a quarter his age.
  And his loyalty is unsurpassed. That gets back to being relatable. Calvin in an unrepentant outlaw. He’s lived his whole life on that side of the fence. But he’s fiercely loyal to his family, and that shows the stand up guy beneath the outlaw exterior. I think most people respect a trait like loyalty more than they do to strict lawfulness.

  SP: Rumrunners takes place in Iowa and the Midwestern setting is referenced throughout the novel, especially as the Stanley family is one of territory. Yet I could have very easily see the Stanleys and McGraws in a showdown with the Cannons (characters from my novel Lightwood, set in north Florida). Is Rumrunners uniquely Midwestern?

  EB: I also think the Midwest is an underserved locale for fiction. I’ve seen the book called Southern noir or country noir and I think people tend to picture more of a deep south when they hear about characters like this, but the Midwest can be just as backwoods, just as dangerous, just as redneck as the South. Some of the worst meth problems are in the Midwest. Hell, our worst heroin problems today are way up in New England, and that doesn’t fit what most people picture in their prep school/ivy league ideas of what New England can be like. So I think the more different areas of the country are represented with the truth of it, the better.
  That said, I hope it’s not an unflattering portrait of Iowa. I was born there, but only lived there briefly. I still have family there and spent a lot of time there visiting while I grew up moving to different places on both coasts. Iowa has always had an outsized impression on me, mostly because I think the vast majority of Americans don't know what it’s really like. I know when I lived in Connecticut and wore my Iowa Hawkeyes hat around, the kids who’d never been out of Fairfield County thought I must have been born on a farm and slept with pigs in my bed. They were that clueless about Iowa beyond cornfields and barnyards. But I have a deep affection for Iowa. Some of my favorite memories are there. I’ve written about it a few times and although I always write about some crime taking place there, I think the setting itself comes off well.
  But could the saga of Rumrunners have been set elsewhere? Sure. You have my permission to have the McGraws drive through the background in one of your Florida novels. They wouldn’t be entirely out of place, I don’t think.

  SP: I had the privilege and pleasure of being part of your Noir at the Bar at Bouchercon this past September. How did you get started with this event?

  EB: I knew of the events being held in St. Louis, unaware that it started in Philadelphia. The Philly events weren’t happening any more, but Jedidiah Ayres and Scott Phillips had a regular thing going in St. Louis that I’d heard great things about. When a place called the Mystery Bookstore closed down here in Los Angeles, we lost the hub and central meeting place for crime writers in town. I wanted that back so I called up Jed and Scott to ask if I could do a Noir at the Bar in LA. I reached out to a few LA writers to see if there would be interest and everyone was very excited about it.
  That was already 5 years ago and since Jed and Scott gave me their blessing, I think other writers in other cities saw it as a franchise opportunity so now there are regular events all across the country and even in the UK. Everyone does it independently, each event is a little different, but the core concept is the same and that’s to give writers a place to come and get in front of an audience, and a place for writers and readers to interact in the flesh. It’s been a real boon to the indie crime community, the younger writers especially. It’s a right of passage now to read at a Noir at the Bar. We’ve hosted national bestsellers and guests from other countries right on down to unpublished authors. We’ve seen several people do their first ever public reading at Noir at the Bar LA and several have gone on to now be published authors. It’s immensely gratifying and as much work as it is for no money and no gain, really, outside the satisfaction of doing it and the fun times at the event, I can’t see stopping any time soon.

  https://www.amazon.com/Leadfoot-Rumrunners-Novel-Book-2-ebook/dp/B01LO3PX1W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477659309&sr=8-1&keywords=eric+beetner

  SP: I’d ask you what’s coming up next for you, but I already know- Leadfoot, the prequel to Rumrunners. What prompted you to go back to 1971 and explore the roots of the McGraws?

  EB: Well, as you said, Calvin was the star of the show once Rumrunners came out. I had a loose plan for a trilogy starting with the action right after Rumrunners, but the publisher suggested maybe a prequel and I thought it was a great idea. So I went back to when Calvin was in his prime and pushed him front and center. I also gave Webb, who vanishes right at the start of Rumrunners, his moment in the sun. So the story is about Calvin getting caught up in a big turf war between the Stanley family and rival gang from Nebraska, all while grooming Webb for the job and sending him out on his first assignment which does not go as planned.
  Hopefully people find it as high octane and supercharged as the first book.

  SP: And finally, to spread the love (and because you have killer taste), who are some authors you’d recommend to readers interested in the crime and thriller genres?

  EB: Not to blow smoke but I’m so glad I got to read your books this year. A Tree Born Crooked was great and Lightwood just went in my bag for me to start at lunch tomorrow.
  It’s actually been a great year for dark female writers, which I’ve had a hard time finding in the past. Neliza Drew, Marietta Miles, Sarah Chen. I love having more answers now for when people come asking for female crime writers who don’t do cozies.

  Looking back over what I read this year some of my below-the-radar favorites have been Cold Quiet Country by Clayton Lindemuth (you would love it!) A Better Goodbye by John Schulian, All Involved by Ryan Gattis, Gunshine State by Andrew Nette, Revolver by Duane Swierczynski. I discovered Larry Watson this year and I loved Montana, 1948 and American Boy. I read a ton of vintage crime too and really dug deep into the work of Charles Williams and William P. McGivern, who everyone should seek out.
  http://www.ericbeetner.com/

  So now, including Rumrunners and Leadfoot, you have even more books to check out! So many thank to Eric Beetner for stopping by and be sure to pick up a copy of Rumrunners. Don't forget- Leadfoot hits the shelves on Nov. 1st and you'll want to throw that in your bag as well. Happy Reading!

• Amazon -

  Eric Beetner is the author of Rumrunners, Leadfoot (Nov 2016), The Devil Doesn't Want Me, When The Devil Comes To Call, Dig Two Graves, The Year I Died Seven Times, White Hot Pistol, Stripper Pole At the End Of The World, the story collection A Bouquet Of Bullets, co-author (with JB Kohl) of the novels Over Their Heads, One Too Many Blows To The Head and Borrowed Trouble. He co-authored The Backlist and The Short List with Frank Zafiro and he has written the novellas FIGHTCARD: Split Decision and FIGHTCARD: A Mouth Full Of Blood under the name Jack Tunney.

  His award-winning short fiction has appeared in Kwik Krimes, Trouble In The Heartland, Mama Tried, Blood On The Bayou, Pulp Ink, Pulp Ink 2, D*CKED, Reloaded, Beat To A Pulp Hardboiled Vol 2, Atomic Noir, Thuglit, All Due Respect, Hoods, Hot Rods and Hellcats, Discount Noir, Grimm Tales, Off The Record, Needle magazine, and the Million Writers Award: Best New Online Voices.
  He was voted Most Criminally Underrated Author by the Stalker Awards, which he takes as a compliment.

  When not writing he lives and works in Los Angeles where he edits and produces TV shows, helping to be both a part of the solution and a part of the problem of people not reading as much as they used to.

  For more information, free stories and random thoughts visit ericbeetner.com

Leadfoot: A Rumrunners Novel
Publishers Weekly. 263.40 (Oct. 3, 2016): p101.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:

Leadfoot: A Rumrunners Novel

Eric Beetner. 280 Steps, $15.95 trade paper (220p) ISBN 978-82-8355-004-7

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Set in Iowa in 1971, Beetner's prequel to 2015's Rumrunners combines brutal violence with sympathetic characters. Calvin McGraw, a gifted driver whose talents are much in demand, can't shake his affiliation with the Stanleys, "a family who would call themselves a criminal empire." The Stanleys are enmeshed in a blood feud with their hated rivals, the Cantrells, and the bodies have begun to pile up. Hugh Stanley, the clan's leader, assigns Calvin to pick up a package in St. Louis that's actually a young woman, Joni, who's 20 years old at most, but circumstances force Hugh to pass that duty on to his 19-year-old son, Webb. This is the first solo mission for Webb, who finds it more challenging than he anticipated once he develops feelings for Joni. The stakes rise after Joni gives Webb the slip. Various characters display unexpected but plausible depths, and Beetner effectively balances action scenes with quieter moments. Readers, especially fans of the TV series Fargo, will want to seek out his other work. (Nov.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Leadfoot: A Rumrunners Novel." Publishers Weekly, 3 Oct. 2016, p. 101. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA466166584&it=r&asid=a276c3d2730ff75890089f33bdffedd3. Accessed 21 Jan. 2017.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A466166584
The Short List
Publishers Weekly. 263.22 (May 30, 2016): p40.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:

The Short List

Eric Beetner and Frank Zafiro. Down & Out, $15.95 trade paper (224p) ISBN 978-1-94340228-1

In Beetner and Zafiro's stirring sequel to 2015's The Backlist, co-narrators Paula "Bricks" Brickey and her partner, Cam, who are kill-for-hire "button men," find themselves in perilous situations resulting from previous assignments--Bricks in New York, Cam in Boston. Though Cam has stumbled onto some backup in the form of the steadfast Vincent the tailor, and Bricks is left with just her wits (and her worries, when she can't reach Cam), their experiences are so similar that sometimes the reader has to recheck whose reportage they're reading. But that doesn't dampen the entertainment in any way. Though there are some grisly scenes, a shoot-out that's unexpected for both its violence and outcome, and a rather stereotypical representation of the Mafia in the form of the Fazzio father-and-son team, Bricks and Cam are two of the most resourceful and likable paid killers one is ever likely to meet. [[The suspense and action keep the reader transfixed to the end.]] (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Short List." Publishers Weekly, 30 May 2016, p. 40. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA454270580&it=r&asid=f7191457a2f76029143c26a4bb37c2a8. Accessed 21 Jan. 2017.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A454270580
Unloaded: Crime Writers Writing Without Guns
Publishers Weekly. 263.8 (Feb. 22, 2016): p69.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:

Unloaded: Crime Writers Writing Without Guns

Edited by Eric Beetner. Down & Out, $16.95 trade paper (327p)

The 25 short stories in this thought-provoking theme anthology prove that clever crime writers can generate just as much mayhem, weirdness, and chills without the use of firearms. Many of the best selections are character driven, such as Joyce Carol Oates's strangely hypnotic "Lorelei" and Rob Hart's "Creampuff," which offers a warm slice of New York City life. Hilary Davidson's "Swan Song" is filled with snappy dialogue and provides a disturbing look at the seamy side of the movie business. In "Stark Raving," Patricia Abbott slips in the homicide quietly over a cup of tea, while in "The Old Man in the Motorized Wheelchair," Joe R. Lansdale gives the concept of armchair detective a new spin. Other contributors include Reed Farrel Coleman, Alison Gaylin, and Kelli Stanley. All have donated their work, with the proceeds from sales going to States United to Prevent Gun Violence. (Apr.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Unloaded: Crime Writers Writing Without Guns." Publishers Weekly, 22 Feb. 2016, p. 69. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA444400944&it=r&asid=cddc990e2620e39ab53b5bb955518473. Accessed 21 Jan. 2017.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A444400944

"Leadfoot: A Rumrunners Novel." Publishers Weekly, 3 Oct. 2016, p. 101. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA466166584&asid=a276c3d2730ff75890089f33bdffedd3. Accessed 21 Jan. 2017. "The Short List." Publishers Weekly, 30 May 2016, p. 40. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA454270580&asid=f7191457a2f76029143c26a4bb37c2a8. Accessed 21 Jan. 2017. "Unloaded: Crime Writers Writing Without Guns." Publishers Weekly, 22 Feb. 2016, p. 69. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA444400944&asid=cddc990e2620e39ab53b5bb955518473. Accessed 21 Jan. 2017.

• Out of the Gutter
  http://www.outofthegutteronline.com/2016/09/review-backlist-by-eric-beetner-and.html
  Word count: 367

  Review: The Backlist, by Eric Beetner and Frank Zafiro
  Tuesday, September 20, 2016
  Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook
  Posted in: book review, books, Derrick Horodyski, Eric Beetner, Frank Zafiro, Review Tuesdays, reviews

  Seeing how Eric Beetner is one hell of a prolific author, it is a bit tough to keep up with all his new books. But that’s okay right now, because I find myself in the enviable position of being able to read The Backlist and soon thereafter, jump into its sequel. Both this offering and its sequel are coauthored with Frank Zafiro, who is a new author to me. Some authors just seem to have a knack…no matter what book you pick up from their library you recognize that their books are always fun to read, the books flow with a natural pace, the characters come to life, and the reader always feels satisfied. Beetner is one such author and I was anticipating this being a worthwhile read and it sure was.

  The Backlist, coauthored with Frank Zafiro, has alternating chapters, narrated by two hitmen; Bricks, a woman who finds herself fighting for a spot in a man’s world, and Cam, [[a hitman who can’t seem to keep a simple job simple.]] The two hitmen find themselves each taking orders that are simple…eliminate some loose ends for their handlers, or find themselves eliminated. Knowing they must keep their handlers happy to keep their jobs, and maybe their lives, each are put to the test. But when their handlers push them into jobs that set them on a collision course, they need to determine if a friend can really be an enemy, does it stand to reason that an enemy can be a friend?

  I thought the alternating chapters were seamless and I was left wondering who wrote which parts. But in the end it doesn’t matter because[[ the book was a fun, engaging read that begs for a seque]]l…isn’t it great that I have it locked and loaded and I am ready to jump in.

  Recommended.
  Reviewed by Derrick Horodyski.

• Criminalelement.com
  http://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/2016/11/review-leadfoot-eric-beetner
  Word count: 1151

  Tue
  Nov 1 2016 12:00pm
  SU: Submit
  Add to goodreads
  f: share
  retweet
  email
  bookmark
  Post A Comment
  Fresh Meat
  Review: Leadfoot by Eric Beetner
  Thomas Pluck

  Leadfoot by Eric Beetner is the 2nd fast and furious thriller featuring the McGraws—a family who will transport anything you require and won't ask any questions.

  The Dukes of Hazzard. “Thunder Road.” White Lightning. The moonshine-running driver hitting the backroads with suped-up Detroit iron and a trunkful of corn liquor, racing the revenuers, the sheriffs, and the competition…

  The Rumrunners series by Eric Beetner takes this into Iowa corn country with the McGraw family, who’ve got hard driving in their blood. Unlike the archetype of The Driver as a silent motorhead who is magic behind the wheel and under the hood but can’t or won’t deal with people well—as in classics Sallis’s Drive and Vachss’s The Getaway Man—in Beetner’s hands, Cal McGraw is a country-fried combo of Parker with a little smart-ass Grofield in there.

  “Slow it down, McGraw.”

  Calvin McGraw, in his natural element—behind the wheel—turned his eyes to the rearview mirror and looked at his passenger through narrowed lids.

  “You have any idea who you’re talking to?”

  The man in back turned away and watched the flat Iowa fields race by out his window.

  In the passenger seat beside his father, Webb McGraw grinned to himself. He’d grown up in this seat, hanging on around hairpin turns, getting to know the sound of a V8 as keenly as his own dad’s voice. He knew who the man in back was talking to: [[the best outlaw driver in the Midwest]]. Maybe anywhere.

  The story kicks off with McGraw already speeding down the highway for a job with his son Webb in tow, to bring him into the business. Things go sideways and send Cal’s comfortable world as [[a rumrunner with a garage full of classic ‘60s muscle cars]] into a blood-filled ditch of backwoods gang warfare. The Westlake/Stark comparison is more than a compliment, it’s apt. Much like how the master Don E. painted colorful characters in quick bold strokes and never let a description slow down the story, Beetner keeps things moving along while giving us a full picture of Cal’s family life and ambitions. He’s not a pulp cartoon character; he’s been offered a job managing a pit crew for a stock racing outfit, but his loyalty to the Stanley family, who distill the moonshine he runs, keeps him in the outlaw life while they deal with a challenge from a more violent upstart crime family, the Cantrells.

  These good ol’ boys definitely mean some harm, bringing in cocaine and hard drugs. The story’s set on the cusp of the ‘70s and Cal argues with his son Webb about his long hair and Hendrix tapes. Webb gets his first job doing a pickup down south, and the cargo turns out to be a bit more than he can handle, a feisty call-girl named Joni:

  When his door shut she took off running. Webb scrambled to get out. By the time he stood she was across the lawn and headed into the neighbor’s yard. He ran.

  After all that driving it felt good to stretch his legs, but he hadn’t planned to do it this way.

  Joni’s high heeled boots made it difficult moving across grass damp with midnight dew. He caught her before she made it to the next yard. He didn’t know what to do so he tackled her from behind.

  They rolled and he came up on top of her, the macrame bag between them, her breasts threatening to spill out of her top.

  “Careful, boy, a ride ain’t free y’know.”

  Webb felt his cheeks blush. He rolled off and hauled her to her feet. Both their jeans were grass stained and they each fought to catch their breath. As Webb marched her back to the car he thought how nice it was that bundles of dope or cases of hooch didn’t talk and couldn't run.

  I liked Webb a lot, maybe even a hair more than cool Cal; because he’s still learning the ropes, he gets into more sticky predicaments, and I hope we get a spin-off if Calvin ever retires. Not that Cal and his wife Dorothy aren’t fun enough. Dot keeps the home fires burning but she handles herself well when the gang war gets ugly. Because Calvin may have outlaw blood, but he’s no cold-blooded killer. That’s a refreshing bit of reality in a hardboiled crime novel, where the bodies often pile up like firewood for winter. He just wants to drive, and knows that when you kill somebody, their friends and family don’t take kindly. Punch enough people’s tickets, and eventually someone will show up at your front door looking to punch yours.

  But don’t worry, Calvin’s no pacifist, either. Once his family is threatened, he pulls out all the stops. He’s just not a crack shot as well as an ace driver. He has other plans, and the tension gets tauter than a garrotte wire before the story’s done.

  The sensible man would gather his wounded friend and leave. Lou demonstrated his lack of sense by firing three rapid shots at the empty doorway. Two bullets went through the linen closet door and one pierced the wall.

  “You boys better get the hell out of my house.” Dorothy made her voice loud and commanding. “Your friend is hurt bad there. You’d best get him some attention.”

  “Bitch, all you had to do was sit still and wait,” Lou said.

  “McGraws don’t sit still and wait for anybody.”

  And that’s how we like it. The McGraws and the Stanleys are old-fashioned and care about the community; that community just happens to like home-made corn liquor of which the government disapproves. The Cantrells just see more territory to carve up. The new post-Vietnam ruthlessness gives them a strength over the Stanleys, but they learn that loyalty and blood ties can be just as potent an advantage. As a big fan of classic Detroit muscle and fast and fun storytelling, I really enjoyed this venture into the Rumrunners series, and hope there are many more coming. This is [[good pulp fun with a good hard edge to it]], that left me grinning and laughing like Roscoe P. Coltrain.

• Spinetingler
  http://www.spinetinglermag.com/2012/08/08/criminal-economics-by-eric-beetner-review/
  Word count: 413

  Criminal Economics by Eric Beetner – review
  August 8, 2012
  By Nerd of Noir

  Criminal Economics opens with armed robbers Slick and Bo sitting in the back of a paddy wagon on its way to prison, i.e. the place the two will call home-sweet-fucking-hell for the next quarter century. Bo ratted on Slick when he was caught shortly after their last job where they took $642,000 off a bank, so you better believe Slick is looking to stick a shiv up Bo’s ass first chance he gets. When the paddy wagon, making its way through a heavy storm, suffers a brutal crash that leaves the two cops in the cab dead, Slick is able to break free and shove the transport van over the edge of the cliff on which it has come to rest, Bo still trapped inside.

  Slick wants to make it back to his girlfriend Emma’s place and take off for the Caymans with her and the stashed dough, but getting there will be a far more Herculean task than he could ever have imagined. Also, Emma herself has different plans upon hearing Slick has escaped, thinking she should get the fuck outta dodge before Slick can reach her, but a pervy half-wit housemate and a horny cop keep getting in her way. Meanwhile, Bo has survived the fall and has a horrifying odyssey of his own to survive before he can snatch up his share.

  If you read Eric Beetner’s Dig Two Graves (which, you know, you fucking should) you’ll know dude serves up crime just the way Nerd likes it: down, dirty and dripping with fucking blood. Over roughly twenty-four torturous hours our three main characters are constantly making it out of one frying pan of sizzling piss only to land tits up in a blazing shit-fire, chapter after chapter. The body count hits two from the first pages and steadily rises from there until its glorious final confrontation, every death more depraved and gross than the last. Beetner writes with tension to spare and the story is fucking marinated in his sick sense of humor, making this [[gleefully nasty]] noir fly by in just a few sittings. If this bloody beast ain’t your cuppa, the Nerd is tres-fucking-confused as to why you read his reviews in the first place. Now if you excuse me, all these half-thought-out food metaphors have made me hungry as hell…

• October Country
  https://theoctobercountry.wordpress.com/2015/05/20/review-rumrunners-by-eric-beetner/
  Word count: 529

  Review: ‘Rumrunners’ by Eric Beetner
  May 20, 2015 by blugilliand

  Rumrunners by Eric Beetner
  280 Steps (May 2015)

  RRCoverCriminal empires share many commonalities with more legitimate businesses; including the fact that they are often built on the backs of blue collar workers, the faceless worker bees and foot soldiers that bear the brunt of the labor and receive little or no glory. In Rumrunners, the empire is the Stanley family, and the worker bees are the McGraws. The Stanleys and McGraws have worked together since the early bootlegging days, but as time has moved on things have changed. For one, it’s no longer a few cases of booze the Stanleys want moved; it’s high-dollar inventory at higher stakes. For another, the current McGraw generation – i.e. Tucker McGraw – wants nothing to do with the old family business. And he’s determined to keep his son, Milo, away from it as well.

  When Tucker’s father, Webb, goes missing after a job gone wrong, Tucker finds himself being drawn into the situation against his will. The Stanleys want to know what happened to Webb, and of course they have a strong interest in the cargo he was handling. Calvin McGraw, Webb’s father and Tucker’s grandfather, wants to know, too; but more than that, he sees this situation as a way to get himself back in the action, and to maybe get his reluctant grandson in on it, too.

  Family (and the tension that goes along with family) is a major theme in Rumrunners. The new generation of the Stanley family is having to deal with dangers and consequences that reach far beyond anything they faced in the old bootlegging days. The McGraws are facing new challenges as well; for Tucker, it’s the challenge of remaining true to his family, but in his own, non-criminal way; for Calvin, it’s the challenge of ensuring his family’s legacy and purpose didn’t disappear with Webb.

  Now, it may seem at this point that the novel we’re talking about is some kind of quiet, introspective meditation on family. Make no mistake, it’s a crime novel first and foremost, and [[all this family tension is taking place in the midst of some brutal fights and plenty of car chases]]. Beetner works hard to create well-rounded characters, and then places them in
  increasingly dicey situations. He also tries to fit in a little comic relief now and then, mostly in one crew’s bumbling attempts to reclaim a car Calvin took from them. Comedy in the midst of crime is hard to pull off, and Beetner’s efforts don’t always work, but they don’t detract from the meat of the story, either.

  Rumrunners is a quick, fun read with some characters I wouldn’t mind revisiting in the future. There are times when I felt like the writing could use a little more grit and authenticity, but overall I think it was a good introduction to Beetner’s work, and I look forward to reading more of his stuff in the future.

• Mysterious Reviews
  http://www.mysteriousreviews.com/mystery-book-reviews/kohl-beetner-over-their-heads.html#.WIMvaVyhqJc
  Word count: 399

  Over Their Heads
  by J. B. Kohl and Eric Beetner

  Over Their Heads by J. B. Kohl and Eric Beetner

  Review: Clyde McDowd owns an off-site car rental business at Richmond International Airport in Virginia. He also runs a side business from it, one that generates cash that he keeps off the books. When his pregnant wife goes into labor and he has to rush her to the hospital, he tells his sole employee Brent to make sure that a certain customer gets a certain vehicle later that day. Of course, Brent doesn't know about the side business and gives the certain vehicle to another customer, setting off a chain of events in which everyone is Over Their Heads, a stand-alone crime novel by JB Kohl and Eric Beetner.

  The certain customer is a gofer named Skeeter, who, when he discovers he's been given the wrong vehicle, decides to drive it into the McDowd Rentals building, completely destroying it. Just to make a point. He threatens Brent with all sorts of bodily harm if he doesn't get the vehicle promised him, but Brent tells him a customer named Sean Griffin and his family have it, and he has no idea where they were headed. When Clyde finds out what's happened, he pleads with Brent to find the Griffins and retrieve that vehicle. But it turns out Sean Griffin has troubles of his own …

  Over Their Heads is a most interesting crime novel with some dark comedic elements to it. The narrative alternates between Clyde, Brent, Skeeter, and Sean, with short, crisply written chapters giving their perspective on the rapidly developing (and deteriorating) situation. And just when it seems things couldn't get worse, they take a turn for the worse. An intriguing and well-considered aspect to the story is that what happens to one has a ripple effect on the others, drawing each closer together in working towards a solution but at the same time further away from a successful resolution. That each of them differs on what a successful resolution might be is part of the problem. The story tends to drag a little towards the end — how much worse can it get for these four principal characters? — before being rapidly wrapped up in a slightly too tidy manner. Even so, this is a journey well worth taking.

• Bookloons
  http://www.bookloons.com/cgi-bin/Review.asp?bookid=15539
  Word count: 249

  The Devil Doesn't Want Me by Eric Beetner Amazon.com order for Devil Doesn't Want Me by Eric Beetner
  Order: USA Can
  Dutton, 2012 (2012)
  e-Book
  * * * Reviewed by Wanda Plourde
  For seventeen long years Lars, a professional hit man, has been hunting for Mitch the Snitch, who is in the Witness Protection program. Lars got the contract from a very prominent East Coast crime family.

  But as time goes by, there are changes in the crime family. First they send a young hit man, Trent, to take over the contract. Within a week, the target has been killed and Lars is on the run with the victim's sixteen-year-old daughter. Lars lives by rules and not killing innocents is one of them.

  Now, with the daughter in tow, Lars needs to stay one step ahead of his pursuers. Lars discovers that he does have a conscience and will die protecting this teenager. On the run, Lars and Shaine get to know one another and begin to behave like partners in crime. So they trek across the country with both the FBI and mobsters on their trail.

  [[I found the story awesome, with characters you will love to hate and hate to love.]] It's fast paced right from the start with very graphic violence throughout. I cheered Lars on even though he is a killer. This well done tale of hide and seek has the makings of a good movie.

• Bookreporter
  http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/the-devil-doesnt-want-me-a-dutton-guilt-edged-mystery
  Word count: 623

  The Devil Doesn't Want Me: A Dutton Guilt Edged Mystery
  by Eric Beetner

  The Dutton arm of Penguin Group (USA) has revived its venerable “Guilt Edged” imprint. Part of this initial rollout is an engrossing one-sit read titled THE DEVIL DOESN’T WANT ME by Eric Beetner. It is no surprise to learn that Beetner has an extensive background in editing and producing television shows; there is a cinematic feel to this book that causes every page --- actually every paragraph --- to roll right along like a series of fast-moving still frames. A lazy elevator pitch for the novel might be The Mechanic meets Midnight Run; though somewhat inaccurate, [[the mood that permeates the story]], [[one of dark humor balanced perfectly by grim action]], puts one in the mind of both of those movies.

  "[[Every word matters here, and the edgy characterization will stay with you long after the final paragraph]] is read. THE DEVIL DOESN’T WANT ME isn’t just great crime fiction --- it’s great fiction, period."

  Lars is a veteran hit man who has been tasked long-term with eliminating a turncoat accountant known as Mitch the Snitch. The book opens with an interesting parallel: Lars, who has been after Mitch for 17 years, is to put some new blood on the assignment, a brash gun for hire named Trent. The order has come from The Family back East, which is going through some changes of its own. Lars’ long-time employer, Nikki Senior, is in poor health, and his son Junior is rapidly taking the reins of power from his dad, who in turn is in no mood to relinquish them. Senior and Lars are both old-school runners who value loyalty, while their respective erstwhile replacements value results. Trent is singularly unimpressed with the aging Lars; while the feeling is mutual, it seems (at least initially) that Trent, not to mention Nikki Junior, may be correct in their assumptions.

  What develops is that Trent is able to locate Mitch within a week, something that Lars could not do in 17 years. Trent and Lars almost immediately have a serious falling-out at the scene of the hit. As a result, Lars finds himself on the run with Shaine, Mitch’s 16-year-old daughter, and with Trent in hot if somewhat inept pursuit. Lars is a fish-out-of-water as a guardian --- he freely admits that he has never so much as taken care of a cat --- and their dangerous position as they race from New Mexico to California is somewhat alleviated by some humorously uncomfortable moments.

  Beetner very deftly takes any issues of impropriety off the table --- the age and gender issues that inevitably arise in such close quarters are quietly but credibly resolved --- and a couple of neat twists and surprises near the end provide a satisfactory lagniappe atop a meaty and violent story. While the theme is a classic one --- age, guile and experience vs. youth, energy and impulsiveness --- Beetner sets this tale a cut or three above similar stories by deftly comparing and contrasting what is occurring on the East and West coasts and suddenly turning placid scenes into violent ones without batting an eye in advance.

  Up to this point, Beetner has been primarily recognized for his shorter fiction. Still, no one ever gets the sense that this is a short story on steroids. Every word matters here, and the edgy characterization will stay with you long after the final paragraph is read. THE DEVIL DOESN’T WANT ME isn’t just great crime fiction --- it’s great fiction, period.

  Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub on January 10, 2013

Word Count