– Steve Weddle, NEEDLE editor

PS The cover is by Needle’s own art genius, John Hornor Jacobs. Oh, and he loves the book, too. Click through to find out.

NEEDLE’s Fall 2011 issue is LIVE — featuring new fiction from Michael Sheedy, Peter Morin, Michael Moreci, , Alan Leverone, Nolan Knight, Gil Brewer, David James Keaton, Andrew Hook, Daniel Davis, Michael Oliveri, Stephen D. Rogers, Keith Rawson, Art Taylor, Holly West, and Ray Banks.

Here’s how Pete Morin’s story starts:

CLUB DUES

Osso buco is a dish never to be interrupted.
When my cell phone buzzed amid the clamor of the late seating at Urano’s Trattoria, I should have ignored it, but the phone identified the caller as Thaddeus Sonnet.
I like Thad. He’s my stockbroker and he’s made me a lot of money. So I left my plate at the table, stepped outside to the parking lot and answered.
“Why are you interrupting my osso buco?”
“Where are you?” His voice had an unusual tension.
“I’m in a parking lot in Hyannis. I was eating at Urano’s. Where are you?”
“I’m at Wesley Cummerford’s home.”
“What’re you doing there?”
“Looking at his dead body, I think.”
—
Order here and use code “FALLBOOKS” to save 20%

Gil Brewer lived until 1983, but the marketplace for his noir died much earlier. 

In his 1950s heyday, Brewer wrote more than a dozen paperback novels for Gold Medal and others, as well as publishing more than fifty short stories in crime/mystery digests such as Manhunt, Trapped, Guilty, and Pursuit—the Needles of their day. 

But with the increasing popularity of television, the market for noir faded.  Brewer’s last noir paperback, Sin for Me, was published in 1967, and by 1980, the only mystery digests still in business were Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, magazines far more wholesome than those Brewer had written for in the past.

Brewer’s literary world was gone, but he was stubborn.  He kept writing.  He published novels in other genres under other names.  As Elaine Evans, he did romance.  As Luke Morgann, he did porn.  And he kept writing short stories, too.  Sometimes his agent even managed to sell one to Alfred Hitchcock.  But mostly Brewer wrote stories that no one wanted to publish.  Many of them were too extreme for the readers of the remaining mystery digests.  “Sweet Amy” is one of these stories.  When Brewer wrote it in 1981, his agent couldn’t sell it.  He told Brewer that it was “too strong.”  But now it’s 2011, and “too strong” is what Needle readers want, isn’t it?

—David Rachels

Stories from

Ray Banks
Scott Morse
Steve De Jarnatt
Todd Robinson
Tom Piccirilli
Amy Grech
Cam Ashley
Daniel O’Shea
David Cranmer
Don Lafferty
Jason Duke
Matthew C Funk
Mel Clayton
Patti Abbott

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More huge congrats to Chris F. Holm.

Earlier this year, Holm received word that his story “The Hitter” (Needle, Summer 2010) would be included in the upcoming BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES from Otto Penzler and Harlen Coben.

And today comes news that “The Hitter” has been nominated for an Anthony Award. 

So once again, a hearty “Hot Damn” is aimed at Chris F. Holm, as his fantastic story continues to be recognized.

Here’s Holm earlier in the year writing about ‘The Hitter’ and how it came to be.

By the way, have you read 8 POUNDS from Holm? You should.

Check out the list here.

In no particular order:

Tom Piccirilli

David Cranmer

Amy Grech

Ray Banks

Michael Moreci

Mel Clayton

Peter Morin

Don Lafferty

Dan Davis

Andrew Hook

David Keaton

Allan Leverone

Cam Ashley

Loren Eaton

Nolan Knight

Michael Sheedy

Patti Abbott

Steve De Jarnatt

Matthew C Funk

Michael Bracken

Todd Robinson

Eric Beetner

John Kenyon

Jason Duke

Scott Morse

Daniel O’Shea

Still putting together the list for the third issue, but these are the names you’re guaranteed to see. We’ll update with additional names as we find more jewels in the stacks of NEEDLE HQ.

Read how Dave White came to write “Closure,” his Derringer-Award winner here then buy the collection here.

“God Bless the Child” first appeared in Thrilling Detective, 2000.
“More Sinned Against” first appeared in Handheld Crime, 2002.
“Closure” first appeared in Thrilling Detective, 2002.
“Get Miles Away” first appeared in Thrilling Detective, 2003.
“God’s Dice” first appeared in Thrilling Detective, 2004.
“Darkness on the Edge of Town” first appeared in Thrilling Detective, 2004.
“Reptile Smile” first appeared in Shred of Evidence, 2004

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Big congrats to Chris F. Holm. His “The Hitter” from Needle’s second issue has been selected for the upcoming BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES.

Read an excerpt of “The Hitter” from our archives here.

Order a copy here.

Visit Chris here and tell him how frackin cool he is.

And check out Chris’s short story collection on the Kindle here.

So, so happy for the dude. Well done.

Needle Magazine is pleased to announce that it will publish an ebook collection from Derringer-Award winning Dave White.

Under Needle Publishing, MORE SINNED AGAINST will collect seven stories featuring White’s Jackson Donne, a New Jersey PI.

Jackson Donne has appeared in two highly popular novels, WHEN ONE MAN DIES (2007) and THE EVIL THAT MEN DO (2008).

From the introduction by Ray Banks:

When I first started writing my own PI, I wanted to create an unofficial investigator, similar in age or younger than me, working cases that were mundane but personal, someone who would simultaneously embrace and be embarrassed by the expectations and cliché that surrounded his chosen profession. I set out my stall thinking I was being terribly original and when the first story was picked up by Handheld Crime in 2002, I thought that was it, nobody was doing what I was doing, I was a God among men and it was only a matter of time before I was living the high life.

Then I stumbled across “God Bless The Child” by Dave White, a story published by Thrilling Detective in 2000. The detective was Jackson Donne. He was young. He was unofficial. He worked small and personal. He embraced and was embarrassed yadda yadda yadda. In short, this White character had essentially stolen my initial idea. He’d been clever about it, too – managed to nick the idea two years before I actually had it, bastard that he was.

I, of course, swore immediate and bloody revenge.

Over the next four years, he continued to write Donne stories, seven of which are collected here. His next story after “God Bless The Child” was a direct dig – “More Sinned Against”, Handheld Crime, 2002 – published in the same place and the same year that I published my first Innes. On top of that, he eschewed the lone wolf by giving Donne a social circle, as dysfunctional as it is realistic. And then, just to really throw pepper in my eyes, he goes and publishes another one that same year which goes on to win a Derringer. Not only that, but “Closure” succeeds in making a nation’s tragedy personal only a year after the fact, something that writers still struggle with almost ten years on.

Dave White is among the youngest winners of the Derringer Award. He has contributed to many anthologies and collections, including The Adventure of the Missing Detective and Damn Near Dead. Both his novels have been nominated for Shamus Awards. Dave lives in New Jersey, where he teaches middle-school English.

The stories in the collection:
God Bless the Child
More Sinned Against
Closure
Get Miles Away
God’s Dice
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Reptile Smile

The collection, which will hit the virtual stands in February 2011, will be the first in an ebook onslaught of awesomeness from Needle Publishing.

MORE SINNED AGAINST, the Jackson Donne Collection
By Dave White

Cover by John Hornor Jacobs
Introduction by Ray Banks