James Newman

Adam Howe

From Adam Howe, writer of Die Dog or Eat the Hatchet, and the winner of Stephen King's On Writing contest... and James Newman, acclaimed author of Odd Man Out and Animosity. March 29, 1987... For metalheads Mike Rawson, Lonnie Deveroux, and Pork Chop, an RV road trip to Wrestlemania III becomes a one-way ticket to hell. While delivering an illegal shipment of counterfeit wrestling merchandise, an ill-fated shortcut through the Kentucky backwoods leads them to a teenaged girl carved head to toe in arcane symbols. Soon our unlikely heroes are being hunted through the boonies by a cult of religious crazies who make the Westboro Baptists look like choirboys

Scapegoat

From Adam Howe, winner of Stephen King’s On Writing contest, come three original novellas of hardboiled crime, graphic horror and pitch-black gallows humor. DAMN DIRTY APES Washed-up prizefighter Reggie Levine is eking a living as a strip club bouncer when he’s offered an unlikely shot at redemption. The Bigelow Skunk Ape – a mythical creature said to haunt the local woods – has kidnapped the high school football mascot, Boogaloo Baboon. Now it’s up to Reggie to lead a misfit posse including a plucky stripper, the town drunk, and legend-in-his-own-mind skunk ape hunter Jameson T. Salisbury. Their mission: Slay the beast and rescue their friend. But not everything is as it seems, and as our heroes venture deeper into the heart of darkness, they will discover worse things waiting in the woods than just the Bigelow Skunk Ape. The story the Society for the Preservation of the North American Skunk Ape tried to ban; Damn Dirty Apes mixes Roadhouse with Jaws with Sons of Anarchy, to create a rollicking romp of 80s-style action/adventure, creature horror and pitch-black comedy. DIE DOG OR EAT THE HATCHET Escaped mental patient Terrence Hingle, the butcher of five sorority sisters at the Kappa Pi Massacre, kidnaps timid diner waitress Tilly Mulvehill and bolts for the border. Forcing his hostage to drive him out of town, it’s just a question of time before Tilly becomes the next victim in Hingle’s latest killing spree. But when they stop for gas at a rural filling station operated by deranged twin brothers, Dwayne and Dwight Ritter, the tables are turned on Hingle, and for Tilly the night becomes a hellish cat-and-mouse ordeal of terror and depravity. The meat in a maniac sandwich, Tilly is forced against her nature to make a stand and fight for survival. Because sometimes the only choice you have is to do or die…to Die Dog Or Eat The Hatchet. GATOR BAIT Prohibition-era 1930s… After an affair with the wrong man’s wife, seedy piano player Smitty Three Fingers flees the city and finds himself tinkling the ivories at a Louisiana honky-tonk owned by vicious bootlegger Horace Croker and his trophy wife, Grace. Folks come to The Grinnin’ Gator for the liquor and burlesque girls, but they keep coming back for Big George, the giant alligator Croker keeps in the pond out back. Croker is rumored to have fed ex-wives and enemies to his pet, so when Smitty and Grace embark on a torrid affair…what could possibly go wrong? Inspired by true events, Gator Bait mixes hardboiled crime (James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice) with creature horror (Tobe Hooper’s Eaten Alive) to create a riveting tale of suspense. _____ "It's an explicit, hard-hitting, twisted funhouse ride into pulpish horror wrapped loosely in a tattered skein of irreverent, jet black humor. In short, it's a freakin' blast." --Walt Hicks, author of Dirge of the Forgotten _____ "Every page ratchets up the tension another notch even as it descends deeper and deeper into terrible darkness. Out of all the books I've read for Ginger Nuts of Horror, this is definitely the most intense." -- David Dubrow, author of The Blessed Man and the Witch _____ “With Die Dog Or Eat the Hatchet, Adam Howe hasn’t written one of my favorite books of the year, he’s actually written three of my favorites. Stories that are tight, toned, and genre-confounding. Horror fans and crime fans are going to come to blows over who gets to claim Howe as one of their own, but they’re both going to be wrong because Howe’s his own thing.” – Adam Cesare, author of Tribesmen and Mercy House _____ “The recipe for Adam Howe’s DIE DOG OR EAT THE HATCHET is: Two parts Joe Lansdale, One part Justified, and a heavy dose of WTF. The result is a swampy cocktail darker than any backwoods hayride, stronger than the meanest Sasquatch, and crazier than anything you’ll find chicken-fried at your local state fair.”—Eryk Pruitt, author of Hashtag and Dirtbags

Die Dog or Eat the Hatchet

DAMN DIRTY APES: Washed-up prizefighter Reggie Levine is eking a living as a strip club bouncer when he's offered an unlikely shot at redemption. The Bigelow Skunk Ape -- a mythical creature said to haunt the local woods-- has kidnapped the high school football mascot, Boogaloo Baboon. Now it's up to Reggie to lead a misfit posse including a plucky stripper, the town drunk, and legend-in-his-own-mind skunk ape hunter Jameson T. Salisbury. Their mission: Slay the beast and rescue their friend. But not everything is as it seems, and as our heroes venture deeper into the heart of darkness, they will discover worse things waiting in the woods than just the Bigelow Skunk Ape.

Die Dog Or Eat the Hatchet

Mike Miner

Nikki Dolson

Eryk Pruitt

Thomas Pluck

J. David Jaggers

Don LaPlant

Brandon Patterson

It's another issue of the multi award-wining crime fiction mag, THUGLIT! Filled with EIGHT brand new stories of crime and criminals that will bring you straight to the edge. Dig the nasty, kittens. It ain't gonna be pretty.IT'S GONNA BE THUGLIT!!! In This Issue of Thuglit:ANIMAL CONTROL by Don LaPlantTHE LAST TIME WE SAW BEARS IN LAKE CASTOR by Eryk PruittTHE STROKE OF MIDNIGHT by J. David JaggersMOMMA'S BOY by Mike MinerTHE LAST DETAIL by Thomas PluckOUR MAN JULIAN by Nikki DolsonBRUIN by Brandon PattersonCLEAN-UP ON AISLE 3 by Adam Howe

THUGLIT Issue Nineteen

Jeff Strand

Adam Cesare

Jack Bantry

Robert Essig

Jason Parent

David James Keaton

Kristopher Triana

Charles Austin Muir

Scott Emerson

Tony Knighton

The Behrg

Pete Kahle

George Cotronis

MP Johnson

Lilith Morgan 

Jorge Palacios

Monica J. O'Rourke 

Clare de Lune 

"Not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach, the 19 stories in this new best-of annual anthology feature episodes of graphic gore and violence—including torture, dismemberment, self-mutilation, and home abortion—that are designed to push buttons as well as boundaries...strictly for hardcore horror fans."—Publishers Weekly Excerpt from the Introduction: Editors Randy Chandler and Cheryl Mullenax put the call out to horror writers and editors of extreme stories, the hardcore stuff that breaks boundaries and trashes taboos, the transgressive tales you can't "unread" (as Chuck Palahniuk says). We staked out our territory and nailed this to the wall to guide us: YEAR'S BEST HARDEST HORROR Not your mama's best-of horror annual. This stuff comes from the edge of the abyss, stories you read at your own risk because you feel the abyss looking right back into you through the tainted lens of each twisted tale. Some of the stories you'll find here are loaded with very graphic descriptions of violence, sex and depravities, while others may contain only one shocking moment of brutality. In others, the hardcore aspect may be less graphic and subtler than you might expect. Some of these quieter tales offer the reader some time to recover from the more disturbing ones preceding. Most of the stories collected here are from small and specialty press anthologies, with a few from periodicals, like the prestigious Splatterpunk Zine in the UK and Thuglit here in the US. Bizarro is also represented with a couple of tales from the unlikely anthology Blood For You: A Literary Tribute To GG Allin from Weirdpunk Books. (If you're not familiar with the late GG Allin, you can find snippets from some of his outrageous and obscene punk shows online, which will increase your appreciation of those two tales.) So for now, forget about that neighbor you suspect is a serial killer, don't worry about the drunk driver that could take you out on your next trip to the store, push those troubling news stories to the back of your mind and immerse yourself in the imaginary horrors at hand. But don't be surprised if you sense something dark staring back at you from between the lines. That is to be expected when you enter these forbidding realms. With any luck, you may find something useful to help you survive the approaching Apocalypse. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: The Year That Was "Worth the Having" by Michael Paul Gonzalez "Awakening" by Jeff Strand "Readings Off The Charts" by Adam Cesare "Reborn" by The Behrg "What's Worst" by David James Keaton "Dead End" by Kristopher Triana "What You Wish For" by Lilith Morgan "King Shits" by Charles Austin Muir "Cleanup On Aisle 3" by Adam Howe "Bath Salt Fetus" by Jorge Palacios "Bored With Brutality" by MP Johnson "Exposed" by Monica J. O'Rourke "Eleanor" by Jason Parent "The Scavengers" by Tony Knighton "The Most Important Miracle" by Scott Emerson "Hungry For Control" by Clare de Lune "Clarissa" by Robert Essig & Jack Bantry "Where The Sun Don't Shine" by Pete Kahle "Blackbird Lullaby" by George Cotronis

Year's Best Hardcore Horror Volume 1

One Tough Bastard

In these three novellas of blackly comic crime and creature horror, you’ll go slumming with well-endowed dwarf porn stars, killer badgers, redneck mama’s boys, morbidly obese nymphomaniacs, dumbass dog-nappers, trailer trash Jesus freaks, diarrheic Jack Russell Terriers, not-so-wiseguys, mob-movie memorabilia collectors, junkie blackmailers, and giant man-eating Burmese pythons. OF BADGERS & PORN DWARFS To pay back a gambling debt and avoid being castrated, washed-up dwarf porn star Rummy Rumsfeld (of Snow White spoof Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It’s Up Your Ass We Go) must overcome a geriatric pederast, redneck pornographers, a morbidly obese nymphomaniac with serious personal hygiene issues, the ghost of his religious zealot mother, a dwarf-eating badger, and George Lucas. JESUS IN A DOG’S ASS Dumbass desperadoes Hootie and Poke incur the wrath of a trailer trash church group, not to mention God, when they kidnap a Jack Russell Terrier with the figure of Jesus Christ in its butt. FRANK, THE SNAKE, & THE SNAKE After testifying against notorious mob boss “Snake” Cobretti, embittered ex-wiseguy Frankie “The Tin Man” Piscopo emerges from Witness Protection to embark on a disastrous drug deal that leaves him fighting for his life against a giant Burmese python with a taste for Italian-American. BONUS SHORT STORY THE MAD BUTCHER OF PLAINFIELD'S CHARIOT OF DEATH Washed up carny buys Ed Gein's car hoping to reverse his bad luck. . .But the real horror was just getting revved up . . . "It’s almost as if someone smashed Dashiell Hammett’s seamless noir patter, Elmore Leonard’s pitch-perfect ear for hapless characters, Quentin Tarantino’s sardonic sense of irony and Clive Barker’s unflinching portrayal of sexual pain/pleasure into a blender, mixing in a heaping helping of Stephen King’s pop culture mise–en–scène framing. Howe bobs and weaves, pulling it all together in a denouement that is as satisfying as it is completely unexpected." Walt Hicks for HELLNOTES "Like tuning in to Irvine Welsh's Animal Planet, Adam Howe has conjured up something pulpy and hysterical here, but with an eye for satire and some satisfying potshots at rednecks, religion, as well as technology, not unlike Black Mirror actually (the first episode with the pig anyway). Gloriously offensive, fast-paced and funny, only the animals come through with their dignity almost intact, although Howe does betray some affection for his cast of dead-enders in each selection. So if you're tired of all that respectable, snooze-worthy shit with silhouettes on the cover, try something like this, a book best consumed on the subway in a paper bag, or at the zoo." --David James Keaton, author of The Last Projector and Fish Bites Cop! "Utterly compelling, uniquely twisted, and funny as hell, BLACK CAT MOJO is simply magnificent!" --Adam Millard, author of Vinyl Destination and Hamsterdamned! "Black Cat Mojo makes you feel like you've stumbled across a treasure trove filled with the stories Tarantino was too afraid to tell. Bizarro pulp of high quality, Adam Howe writes like Chandler on mescaline--a mind altering read." --S.R. Mastrantone, Shock Totem, Lamplight, Vignettes from the End of the World "Adam Howe's stories are peopled with characters you might find in a Carl Hiaasen novel: wacky, outrageous, severely down-on-their-luck losers, who go to extreme means to try and improve their lot. You will either be laughing your head off or feeling slightly nauseous." --Jerry Raine, author of Frankie Bosser Comes Home and Slaphead Chameleon. "Raw, punky, and genuinely surprising." --Stephen King, (on JUMPER, as featured in ON WRITING: A Memoir of the Craft." )

Black Cat Mojo

Lavie Tidhar

Dan Stout

C. D. Reimer

Laird Long

Michael McGlade

Frank Byrnes

Daniel Marshall Wood

J. M. Vogel

MJ Gardner

Richard Zwicker

Jeff Poole

Doug J. Black

Taking something away from others — their possessions, their dignity, their liberty, their lives — is the root of taboo. All the stories in this, the fourth collection of tales from Plan B Magazine, touch on what happens when people put their will above that of others. Sometimes it’s amusing, other times heartbreaking, but it no matter what, someone’s day won’t be going according to plan. Table of Contents “Old Friends” by Frank Byrns “Write Your Epitaph” by Laird Long “An Unexpected Invitation” by Daniel Marshall Wood “Bad John” by Adam Howe “Death by Fiction” by J. M. Vogel “The Chunk” by Michael McGlade “The Basement” by MJ Gardner “The Bulldog Ant is Not a Team Player” by Dan Stout “The Mystery of the Missing Puskat” by Lavie Tidhar “Other Wishes” by Richard Zwicker “Afterwards” by Jeff Poole “The World’s Best Coffee” by C. D. Reimer “Zero Sum Game” by Doug J. Black

a mystery and crime anthology

Plan B: Volume IV

Tijuana Donkey Showdown

Neil Corry

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