Sharp Knives Loud Guns

Sharp Knives & Loud Guns is the brand-new collection of Paignton Noir Case Files from cult crime writer Tom Leins, featuring the novelettes Slug Bait, Smut Loop and Sweating Blood. Traumatised and brutalised after a grisly encounter with a warped sex killer, Slug Bait finds cut-price private investigator Joe Rey licking his wounds at a decrepit caravan park on the cliff path high above Paignton. Violence has a way of finding Rey, however, and an altercation involving local amusement arcade tycoon Raymond Coody sees him dragged back into town—where his name is now on all of the wrong people’s lips. Rey’s reckless disregard for his own safety quickly wins Coody’s trust, but his new associate harbours some dark secrets, and things are about to get very bloody, very quickly. Joe Rey has been hired by so many queasy middle-aged men in his time, an assignment from Frank ‘The Wank’ Farris barely registers. In Smut Loop Rey is forced to get reacquainted with Cherry, a middle-aged sex worker who has more unsavoury connections than he does. When she proposes an elaborate blackmail scheme, Rey is suckered in, but the job quickly spirals out of control—and they are forced to perform an unhinged job for an extremely powerful man. Rey is out of luck, and out of his depth. With friends like this, who needs enemies? After a series of violent misadventures, Joe Rey has blood on his hands and murder on his mind. Now working as a security guard at Paignton Cliffs Caravan Park, Rey finds himself dogged by unhinged cop Carver, who is desperate to know where the bodies are buried. When a sinister figure from Rey’s past re-emerges, determined to force him to participate in a sick new game, Rey is forced to confront his past—if he still wants to have a future. As the temperature rises, so does the body-count, and Rey finds himself Sweating Blood. Will he see it through to the bitter end, or has his luck finally run out? Praise for SHARP KNIVES & LOUD GUNS: “Imagine Jim Thompson and Edward Lee had a baby and that baby did a bunch of steroids and meth. That’s what Tom Leins’ powerful pulp is like. Nobody, and I mean nobody, writes like Leins. He is the master of his own genre.” —Andy Rausch, author of American Trash and Bloody Sheets “For hammer-to-face smashing, nothing could be better than Sharp Knives and Loud Guns. Viciously brutal and wickedly funny, to my mind this is the best Tom Leins book yet.” —Rob Pierce, author of the Uncle Dust trilogy

Three criminals on the run, not just from the law but from other criminals. Two of them are lovers, the third her former lover. Where does love lie, except in the grave? Deria is the psychotic woman who prefers to work with a guy who’s good in bed. Vern is her violent ex, who let her go because he thought she lived too dangerously. Russ is the new guy, new to Deria, new to whatever hell he’s gotten himself into. Can they keep the money from the psychotics who want it? Are they more psychotic? Or will they break down from the acts they must commit? If you liked Pierce’s Vern in the Heat, you’re going to love Snake Slayer. And if you didn’t read that one, strap in for the ride. It’s fast, it’s bloody, and it goes well beyond that, into the minds of those who commit the horrible crimes. Praise for Snake Slayer: “Pierce’s writing doesn’t so much take you for a ride as it throws you in the trunk and takes off at top speed. Kinetic, blistering, and hard-boiled to the bone, Snake Slayer is a read to be experienced more than once.” —Angel Luis Colon, author of Hell Chose Me “Imagine if Raymond Carver’s slick poetic prose and unhappy alcoholics found themselves with a gun and a thirst for crime—you’d get Rob Pierce’s bleak but darkly funny Snake Slayer.” —Shawna Yang Ryan, author of Green Island “Rob Pierce puts the pedal to the medal from the word go in his latest novella, Snake Slayer. Pierce is a master of tight writing and great action sequences cut lean and hard…a hard-rock symphony of violence.” —Bobby Mathews, author of Living the Gimmick “Rob Pierce explores the humanity of otherwise ordinary people who kill first and ask questions later. There is violence or sex on every page—for a reason. The dialogue is masterful and the action is flawlessly executed!” —Kris Calvin, author of Under a Broken Sky “Tough guys and tougher women, zip-tied together...Pierce’s sharp, minimalistic style lays the story like brutal poetry while offering glimpses of the horror and humanity behind his characters.” —Marietta Miles, author of May and After the Rain “Crime is a dish well-delivered: lean, unsentimental, and pitiless. That’s what Rob Pierce brings to the table, and Snake Slayer is a choice cut of prime unadulterated Pierce.” —Scott Adlerberg, author of Graveyard Love and Jack Waters “Deria…every woman’s fantasy of killing without compunction. Mesmerizing in its staccato delivery, Snake Slayer is also riveting with its psycho story, complete with happy ending. Well, sort of. A must-read noir gem.” —Kate Thornton, author of Buzz Kill “Rob Pierce has crafted an action packed tale of a woman on the grind determined to do whatever it takes in a blood drenched hell to make her own personal heaven.” —Tia Ja’nae, author of Ghosts on the Block Never Sleep “This is real crime fiction, reminiscent of Edward Bunker. Dialogue sharp enough to shave with and prose that repeatedly jabs before landing several knockout blows. With Snake Slayer, Pierce stakes his claim as one of the best in the business.” —Bill Baber “Lean, mean, and spitting venom, Snake Slayer coils around your throat and won’t let go. Rob Pierce delivers a hard-boiled narrative that’s all the more brutal for its fleeting moments of tenderness.” —Scott Von Doviak, author of Charlesgate Confidential “Deria, a woman who won’t hesitate to put a hole in someone, smile about it, and go along with her day.” —Kevin Lear “The high priest of Oakland low-lives is back with another nihilistic neo-noir nightmare ... this merciless book will shoot you in the back and finish its drink while you bleed out in the gutter.” —Tom Leins, author of Repetition Kills You and Sharp Knives & Loud Guns

The first novel in an explosive new series inspired by Robert Ludlum's Bourne universe, The Treadstone Resurrection introduces an unforgettable hero and the shadowy world that forged him... Treadstone made Jason Bourne an unstoppable force, but he's not the only one. Operation Treadstone has nearly ruined Adam Hayes. The top-secret CIA Black Ops program trained him to be an all but invincible assassin, but it also cost him his family and any chance at a normal life. Which is why he was determined to get out. Working as a carpenter in rural Washington state, Adam thinks he has left Treadstone in the past, until he receives a mysterious email from a former colleague, and soon after is attacked by an unknown hit team at his job site. Adam must regain the skills that Treadstone taught him--lightning reflexes and a cold conscience--in order to discover who the would-be killers are and why they have come after him now. Are his pursuers enemies from a long-ago mission? Rival intelligence agents? Or, perhaps, forces inside Treadstone? His search will unearth secrets in the highest levels of government and pull him back into the shadowy world he worked so hard to forget.

An Indian girl is forced to go to a reservation with her people where she is confused by the white people's culture and their God.

Return to danger It's the summer of 1880, and Thomas Edison's incandescent bulb is poised to put the gaslight industry out of business. Knowing a good business opportunity, former New York shopkeeper Steve Dancy sets out to obtain a license for Edison's electric lamp. Edison agrees, under one condition: Dancy and his friends must stop the saboteurs who are disrupting his electrification of Wall Street. After two years of misadventures out West, the assignment appears to be right up his alley. But new troubles await him in New York City. Dancy has brought a woman with him, and his high-society family disapproves. More worrisome, he has also unknowingly dragged along a feud that began out West. The feud could cost him Edison's backing ... and possibly his life. About the Author James D. Best is the author of The Shopkeeper, Leadville, Murder at Thumb Butte, The Shut Mouth Society, Tempest at Dawn, The Digital Organization, and Principled Action. He lives in Omaha, Nebraska, with his wife, Diane. Praise for Steve Dancy titles "You'll find yourself lost in the book." Maritza Barone, Woman's Day "Once again, Best has penned a fine read." C. K. Crigger, Roundup Magazine "This is a fast-paced tale with an interesting hero...you'll certainly find enough twists and turns to provide an entertaining and exciting story." Western Writers of America, August, 2008 "The James Best books...are about the best new western series to come along since Larry McMurtry." Larry Winget, True West Magazine, March, 2012 "This is a compelling narrative and as good as the best of classic westerns. James D. Best is a name to remember." Saline River Chronicle "The Shopkeeper is quick and fun to read, perfect for a vacation escape." Diane Scearce, Nashville Examiner

DIVThe long-awaited memoir from the most prolific historian of Africa /div

General Stoo has escaped and taken Braddle hostage. He and his men are far from the city, deep in the jaggeds. His plan is to conquer Carporoo but first he must rid himself of interfering giants. For Alfie, it is the start of the new school term. As well as learning about punctuation, fractions and the enormity of the universe he also learns that his life is in danger from tiny assassins. In this sequel to Braddle and the Giant, the adventures of Braddle and Alfie take an unexpected turn. This time General Stoo does not plan to fail.