“Roses at his Feet” by Todd Robinson

by kattomic

“Roses at his Feet” by Todd Robinson

07.01.12

Story 181/366

Todd Robinson (aka “Big Daddy Thug”) resurrected ThugLit this year as a paying market, which would be reason enough to take note of him. But he has also just released his first collection of short stories, Dirty Money. “Roses at his Feet” is the story of a small-time mugger whose latest victim “seems strangely under-intimidating.” The story was originally written under the pseudonym “Dana Frittersmash,” for easons Robinson explains in his foreword, but in the era of “Benedict Cumberbatch,” the name doesn’t even sound particularly bogus. “Roses at his Feet” is one of the stories in Robinson’s new collection, Dirty Words, available here.  You can also read the story linked from Robinson’s site, here.

See you tomorrow!

Job History, Annie Proulx, WYOMING STORIES

by Patti Abbott

This relays the sad job history of a Wyoming family over a number of years. The high hopes and failures. Bleak

The Controller by David Morrell

by Barb Goffman

159/366

From the anthology The Rich and the Dead (Grand Central Publishing, 2011)

Cavanaugh and his wife are protective agents. Don’t call them bodyguards, because a bodyguard does what he’s told and simply guards. A protective agent is full-on security who tells the guarded person what he can and can’t do to avoid danger. At least that’s how it’s supposed to work, until this extremely rich guy, Dent, hires Cavanaugh after several attempts are made on Dent’s life, but Dent guy doesn’t like to be controlled and keeps putting himself in danger. Things progress as you’d expect  until you hit the twist in the story.

Lamborghini Mommy by Harley Jane Kozak

by Barb Goffman

158/366

From the anthology The Rich and the Dead (Grand Central Publishing, 2011)

Newly divorced mom Sarah traded in her home in Bel Air for full custody of her daughter, Leighton, and Leighton’s tuition being paid at an upper-class private school. New friendships are formed and all is well–until someone is murdered and Sarah is framed.

The Precipice by Daniel J. Hale

by Barb Goffman

157/366

From the anthology The Rich and the Dead (Grand Central Publishing, 2011)

Hint to wives: If your husband is a rich, crazy guy, don’t tell him you wish you married your high-school boyfriend instead. It just might set your husband off.

Murder in the Sixth by Joseph Goodrich

by Barb Goffman

156/366

From the anthology The Rich and the Dead (Grand Central Publishing, 2011)

Some say Paris is the city of love. It can also be the city of deceit and treachery and murder.

“The Tunnel Under the World” by Frederik Pohl

by kattomic

“The Tunnel Under the World” by Frederik Pohl

06.30.12

Story 180/366

Guy Burckhardt is having a bad day and it does not get better in this longish story from sf grandmaster Pohl. “The Tunnel Under the World” is posted on the East of the Web story site. Vice Magazine interviewed Pohl a couple of years ago (he’s 92 now) and the result was extremely lively. Read it here after reading the story.

See you tomorrow!

Bling, Bling by David DeLee

by Barb Goffman

155/366

From the anthology The Rich and the Dead (Grand Central Publishing, 2011)

A ridiculously rich rapper is in trouble with the IRS after his business manger didn’t pay the rapper’s taxes and stole millions. But what bothers the rapper most is he’s lost his street cred. When a bounty hunter enters the picture, the rapper has a chance to get his cred back. But at what price?

“The Night Butterflies” by Zoë Sharp

by kattomic

“The Night Butterflies”  by Zoë Sharp

06.29.12

Story 179/366

“The Night Butterflies” appears in the anthology Action: Pulse Pounding Tales, vol. I, collected and edited by Matt Hilton. You can read an excerpt from it on her site. The story takes place in Bali and fyi—“night butterflies” aren’t insects. I really liked this story and will have to check out her work. I love this bad-ass photo of the author, whose best known books are thrillers starring Charlotte “Charlie” Fox, a fitness instructor/bodyguard with a shady military past.

See you tomorrow!

 

The Gift by Frank Cook

by Barb Goffman

154/366

From the anthology The Rich and the Dead (Grand Central Publishing, 2011)

Wow, what an interesting story. It has mystery and crime and is well written. Good characters, too. But what kept me turning the pages was the story’s scientific premise of a company developing technology to cure deafness. Definitely recommended.