The best things in death are free

Matt Hilton's collection of tough-guy (and gal) thrillers Action: Pulse Pounding Tales Volume 1 is going to be free on Amazon for the next two days (Wednesday and Thursday).

Get Action from

Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Action is a fantastic collection of 37 fast-paced and violent hardboiled stories, including contributions from Hilton himself and some other top names including Stephen Leather of Spider Sheperd fame. There's also a story from yours truly.

Grab a bargain - if you like thrillers, you're guaranteed to find something you'll love within these blood-soaked pages.

"It's pulpy and nasty and moves like an express train..."

I've been a fan of Greg Hatcher's 'Fridays...' column over at Comics Should be Good for a while now. It's a weekly rundown of comics, pulp fiction and stories from Greg's frequent expeditions to a variety of smalltown used book stores. I always learn something new from Greg's columns, and my to-read list regularly gets a little longer.

A few weeks ago I sent Greg a copy of Halfway to Hell, in the hope that he might be interested in taking a look at it.

To my amazement, he's already read it, liked it and reviewed it in his latest column, where I'm delighted to be brushing shoulders with Doug Moench's Master of Kung Fu, Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu and Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton Series.

Greg writes:

[Halfway to Hell is] pulpy and nasty and moves like an express train...In his covering note, Gavin told me that some editors had turned it down for being too noir, or something. Well, in my household, there’s no such thing. It’s tough and cool and very much in the tradition of comics like Steven Grant’s 2 Guns or movies like Jason Statham’s The Mechanic. In point of fact, Halfway to Hell would make an amazing Jason Statham movie, come to think of it.

But until that happens, you can find Gavin’s book right here in Amazon’s Kindle store. Well worth the paltry $3.99 it’ll set you back. Check it out. After all, when one of the regulars here has published something this good, we should support it, and I’ve spent a lot more for books I liked a lot less. Hell, I’ve spent more for COMICS I liked a lot less.

You can read the review here, and if you're a fan of pulp fiction, noir or obscure comic books, you could do worse than become a regular reader of Greg's column.

The Dead Tree Zone? In praise of Mr King

Stephen King has ruffled some electronic feathers (including the splendid plumage of ebook evangelist JA Konrath) by announcing that his new book for Hard Case Crime will be available in paperback only for the time being.

"I love crime, I love mysteries, and I love ghosts. That combo made Hard Case Crime the perfect venue for this book, which is one of my favorites. I also loved the paperbacks I grew up with as a kid, and for that reason, we’re going to hold off on e-publishing this one for the time being. Joyland will be coming out in paperback, and folks who want to read it will have to buy the actual book."

As an author whose work is currently available in ebook only, I don't have any issue with this. It makes a lot of sense for the type of book and publisher involved here. Hard Case Crime is a great imprint that specialises in new and classic thrillers, all with beautifully-painted covers that hark back to the golden age of the pulps.

Books like these remind me that, while I love my Kindle, it hasn't stop me from reading paperbacks, and it never will. You get different things from a paperback than you get from an ebook.

I don't understand those, like Konrath, who seem convinced that traditional paper books (or 'dead tree books' in the lingo) are obselete. A nicely-produced paperback novel gives you a touch, a feel, a smell - in other words a physicality - that you just can't get from an ebook. You can't beat an e-reader for convenience, and as someone who travels a lot, it's great not having to lug a couple of books around in my bag.

But ebooks are essentially the no-frills option of reading: you get the text and nothing else. An ebook is like Ryanair: it'll get you where you need to go, but it's not pretty. A thoughtfully-produced physical book, particularly between gorgeous covers like the one below, is the luxury option.

This was King's first book for Hard Case from a few years ago - I didn't think it was one of his best (although if you're Stephen King, the bar is set pretty high on that score), but the cover is amazing. And it looks so much better in real, glossy 'dead tree' life.

That's why I'm not worried about the demise of the printed book. A Kindle can give you a lot of wonderful things, but it can't give you a physical product.

And as luck would have it, my ebook Shining in the Dark - Stephen King: Page to Screen is available on free promotion from Amazon today and tomorrow.

Get it from:

Amazon US | Amazon UK

Sales of Halfway to Hell have been pretty steady in the last month, and I think it might be to do with the sample chapters I've been including in this and the other books I've run free promotion days for. I hope this will generate a few more sales, but I also hope people will read and enjoy this one in the meantime.

And remember, if you download and enjoy, I always appreciate a review. Honest is good, five-star is better...