And it’s a really generous one from Spinetingler Magazine. Needless to say, I hoisted a glass or two to the gentlemen over there last night.
One of the books that I’ve been looking forward to reading the most this year was Pike by Benjamin Whitmer. It seems that the PM Press folks are running a bit behind schedule with getting their books out on time this year (all speculation btw nothing confirmed) so when the release date of July 1st came and went I did something that I’ve never done before, I ordered an e copy from the publisher, easily downloading a .pdf file within minutes. The main reason I mention this is so you know up front, at least for now, the availability of this book. Because you are going to want to read it.
Over at his blog Benjamin Whitmer said that crime fiction is “supposed to be scary”. He also says that noir isn’t “supposed to be the police procedurals and wisecracking detective serials that dominate the crime shelves” and that they should be something different:
“This is nightmare, hunker-down-in-your-soul, how-deep-can-you-dig, release-the-fucking-bats territory.”
Benjamin Whitmer makes these tenants Bible truth in his debut novel Pike. With this novel Whitmer announces his presence with a kick to the teeth and he is the real deal.
I’ve read a download of the thing at this point, and didn’t find much more than an account of the sorts of everyday people and events one might expect to encounter just about anywhere in Ohio.
Granted, it’s well-written, but…
Y’know, there’s something to that. I had to re-read parts of it a week or so ago to cut out some excerpts for another project and it actually did make me nostalgic for Cincinnati. (And thanks for the belly laugh.)
Kind of like being nostalgic for a root canal, doncha think? Cincinnati, I mean.
I’ve actually got a hell of a soft spot for Cincinnati. I don’t know why, but I think if I could have kept work there, I’d have stayed forever. It was a great city to walk around in.
This seems a tad inconsistent with your otherwise admirable attitude towards those who “serve and protect.”
I’m guessing that maybe you didn’t have the misfortune of living in the black section of town.
Actually, one of the greatest things about Cincinnati was that the spirit of resistance was alive, well, and immediate. People always talk about how conservative a city it is, but there’s nothing further from the truth. Yeah, conservatives dominate the media in the mainstream press, but there’s a thriving hard-left presence in the black and alternative media which is downright refreshing. I lived in Correyville which was a gas, in that it was right in the midst of most of the good stuff on all sides.
Sounds promising. Reckon maybe I’ll just up an’ move there.