#crime fiction
Guess what? Now when you buy Slasher, just $2.99/£2, you can also get my nasty little horror short What’s Yours Is Mine totally FREE! Absolute bargain!
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Are you a screenplay writer? Love horror? Then I need you!
I have always wanted to turn one of my books into a film, and so have decided to actively start down this path with Slasher. Everyone who has read it said it would be a great film, and of course I’m inclined to agree.
However, despite having watched a zillion films, I don’t know how to adapt a book into a screenplay worthy of pitching, so I need someone to come on board and work with me to do just that.
So are you a horror movie lover? Know plenty about screenplays and how films work? If so I’d love to here from you, to see how Slasher can be adapted into movie magic!
Email me at [email protected]
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On Thursday November 13th I held the official launch party of my newest novel Slasher, in fact my first ever actual launch.
It was an incredible night, full of good wine, good music, good company and fantastic support by friends, family and fans alike. I even did a reading!
A huge thank you to everyone who came and made the event such a memorable experience!
If you’re interested in reading what all the fuss is about, head over to Amazonnow!
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Unboxed some paperback copies of Slasher ready for my book launch, exciting times!!!
It’s released on October 27th, just in time for Halloween, so I hope you’ll check it out!
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Watch the brand new trailer for my upcoming horror crime novel Slasher, released October 27th through Bad Day Books.
When a vicious killer mimics Hollywood slasher movies, Sergeant Joshua Matthews must overcome his painful past to end the brutal killings.
I’m extremely excited to share with you all the official cover for my new horror crime novel Slasher, about a serial killer targeting hollywood slasher movie actresses and the sergeant who must overcome his painful past to end the brutal killings.
The book will be available from October 27th (just in time for Halloween) as ebook and paperbook. Stay tuned for preorder details and where you can buy your copy!
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1933 Grosset & Dunlap hardcover
“First Edition. An early game novel and mystery solved with use of an actual puzzle. This copy lacking the scarce puzzle.“
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1940 Henry Holt hardcover
“First Edition. Murder mystery with great dustjacket art of a skeleton balancing on a roulette ball.”
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1936 John Hamilton hardcover
“First Edition. Anderson dustjacket art. Bleiler and Hubin listed Secret Service mystery, in which a terrorist wishes to unleash a Death upon a helpless world. Dick Monroe investigates ‘through train wrecks, fire and promiscuous shootings, until finally, in the heart of the Sinai Desert tracks the secret to its lair’. Uncommon.”
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1939 Lee Furman hardcover
“First Edition. Leonard Frank dustjacket art. “Harry Aston, the central figure of the story, gives his own account of his desperate effort to conceal Bannatyne’s death, describes his hopes and fears in his struggle against the limitless resources and ruthless persistence of the police’.”
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1930 Hodder Stoughton hardcover as The Clue of the Silver Key
1930 Doubleday Doran, The Crime Club series
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October 12, 1935 issue
Borden Chase, “Midnight Taxi” (Part 1 of 7)
Frederick C. Painton, Test Flight
Alfred George: Wonders of the World #41. Florida’s Singing Tower
H. Bedford-Jones, “Bowie Knife” (Part 2 of 6)
Howard R. Marsh, “The Tuba Pitcher"
Joseph W. Skidmore: What’s in a Name?
Stookie Allen: Men of Daring: Buffalo Jones
W. C. Tuttle, “The Sheriff of Tonto Town” (Part 5 of 6; Henry Sontag)
Betty Wood McNabb, “Tides"
H. H. Matteson, “Throw ’Em Down McClosky"
J. W. Holden, “The Worst Earthquake"
George Challis, “The Dew of Heaven” (Part 6 of 6; Ivor Kildare)
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Robert McGinnis, original art
Gouache on board
11 x 15 in. (image)
Not signed
1970 Signet paperback original
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AMERICAN ARTIST (20th Century)
D for Delinquent, paperback book cover, 1958
Gouache on board
24.75 x 16 in.
Not signed
cover art by Samson Pollen
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Thuglit, White dudes and Hella Gay Crime Fiction
Today is brought to you by the homie Todd Robinson on a podcast. Listen to that here.
So Todd was the editor of Thuglit. I read it a lot. I linked to the issue I was in cause I am V. Proud of that story. But I don’t want to talk craft right now.
Instead I want to talk about being welcomed with big open arms into a genre where, I did not see my ideas reflected and decided to actually dive in.…
Currently reading this book. Not that far in but liking it so far. Impatiently waiting for “Hidden Bodies” by Caroline Kepnes to be released tomorrow.
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I had a terrible day yesterday but today is definitely much better. I had requested the new book by Lisa Gardner (When You See Me) last week on Netgalley and my request was declined. I got an email from the publisher this morning inviting me to read it in exchange for a review. I’m so excited!
A friend of mine forwarded the book launch invite to me, thinking that I would be a better fit to join the event. I emailed Ms. Paula of Anvil Publishing and was given an invite to join! I was pretty pumped because when I searched for details for my pre-event blog post, Good Dog’s blurb seemed really promising!
ABOUT THE BOOK:
“Every happy family has a terrible secret.
Agnes
Agnes Tan-Lim has…
I don’t think ballistics analysis is as effective as they portray it on TV though…
greater-than-the-swordIt’s not. I’m just putting that one out there as a universal statement, without doing additional research on ballistics analysis, because I am that confident that this statement is correct.
The issue isn’t ballistics, it’s the presentation of forensics as a whole. Forensic Science enjoys an extremely unrealistic presentation in popular media. This isn’t unique to forensics, but because the field is far more esoteric, a lot of people get their only primer on Forensics from shows like CSI. This is a very real problem.
TV frequently presents forensics as infallible. This should not be surprising. Most fiction works off some variation of protagonist/antagonist conflict, and if your fiction starts is building off of the framework of police hunting, “the bad guy,” then forensics becomes a convenient form of deus ex machina. One that is completely socially acceptable in modern media. Of course the hair samples collected can put the, “bad guy,” at the scene.
This has real world consequences, because juries; real world juries in America today, are very likely to accept forensic evidence as absolute proof, even when they shouldn’t. They’ve been primed by decades of TV to accept anything a forensic scientist says as factual, and in the vast majority of cases those experts are testifying on behalf of the state.
There’s, also, an inverse, where cases which lack forensic evidence are much harder to convict, with juries skeptical of prosecutions which lack forensic support.
But, hey, you got hair and fiber, right? Turns out, the FBI’s elite hair and fiber techs were full of shit the entire time. For over 20 years, the FBI presented an image of forensic hair and fiber matches a new method in crime fighting science, but in reality it was only slightly more advanced than looking at the materials and going, “yep, looks similar.” It was entirely subjective, and not even remotely scientific, but this resulted in convictions (and more than a few executions.)
It’s also not the only story like this, with bite matching as another highly subjective and un-scientific form of forensic matching. You can get lucky and have a very distinct bite pattern, but it’s not a definitive, “oh, yeah, this was definitely this individual,” unless it’s something distinct to that person’s mouth.
One that might be a surprise is fingerprint matching. Fingerprint matching is shockingly subjective. We’re all told that, “every fingerprint is unique,” but that’s never been confirmed. It’s unlikely that you’ll find duplicate finger prints, but when you’re only looking at partials, the chances of a duplicate is much higher. Modern forensics uses a point matching system of identifying specific “features” in the print itself, but that system is entirely subjective. So, when someone is reporting that they have a 10pt match, what they’re also saying is that there’s possibly large parts of the print that do not match. But, the forensic tech is the sole arbiter of that decision.
Combine this with the fact that most forensics labs are directly affiliated with law enforcement organizations, and you have a very clear conflict of interest.
In the case of ballistics, it’s entirely subjective. There’s no point system. There’s no procedure. Just a forensic tech looking at two bullets and saying, “yep, looks similar.” However, thanks to a generation of loyal TV viewers indoctrinated by prime time crime dramas, they’re ready to accept that the forensic scientist speaks with authority.
Still probably shouldn’t use the same firearm for multiple assassinations, because if that tech decides your assassin’s weapon was the one used, the jury’s going to be entirely too happy to convict.
-Starke
The Myth of Forensic Science and its Consequences was originally published on How to Fight Write.
Luckily (or possibly lucky) the ‘CSI Effect’ has been more or less debunked in terms of direct effect of media on jurors - watching forensic crime drama doesn’t have a measurable impact on verdicts - although some scholars have suggested indirect 'tech bias’ which doesn’t require you to be a fan of CSI type shows.
These guys do a really interesting study which summarised a lot of the research:
(Sorry it’s probably paywalled if anyone can find a free link please add. Academic publishing ISA damn racket)
What they suggest is that the widespread coverage of the CSI Effect - which is probably not real - may be leading jurors to compensate for it and thatcouldbe causing problems.
