SHORT STORIES

LUSH & OTHER TALES OF BOOZY MAYHEM

(Cimarron Street Books, 2023)

in the mood for mayhem? you’ve come to the right place, pal

Cozy up to the bar and let Duane Swierczynski spin you a yarn. I’ll warn ya, though; these eighteen tales aren’t for the faint of heart. You’ll find crime, science fiction and plenty of horror in these pages . . . and rest assured, he isn’t afraid to serve up the hard stuff.

As Duane notes in his introduction: “Stories have always been an escape for me, just like a couple of stiff drinks at the end of the day. Both are methods of altering your personal reality, even just for a little while.” We invite you to escape into Duane’s wild world of high-octane (and high-proof) short fiction, where you’ll experience . . .

A journalist landing an interview with Philadelphia’s last hardboiled P.I., the hunt for a pulp writer’s lost manuscript, the downside of finding out that death isn’t the end, the dangers of ignoring a Polish death curse, a new twist on serving time for crimes committed, a cross-country trek under the watchful eye of a killer, a particularly dangerous film print, lawbreakers in a future where technology has tamed the L.A. freeway system, and a whole lot more . . .

Gird your brain and your liver . . . it’s time for Lush and Other Tales of Boozy Mayhem.

Contents include:

• Sharpened Pencils and Spilled Drinks: An Introduction

• Hilly Palmer’s Last Case

• Life During Death

• Eve of Destruction

• Not All There

• Say Goodnight to the Bad Guy

• Death Runs Faster

• The Replacement

• Lonergan’s Girl

• Hell of an Affair

• Under the Influence

• Lush

• Tough Guy Ballet

• Universal Monster

• Giant’s Despair

• W★lk of F★me

• Speed of the Sound of Loneliness

• Pinkerton

• Story Notes & Thanks

AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AT

Amazon and Cimarron Street Books

COMPLETE SHORT STORIES

  • “Eve of Destruction”, Grand prize winner of Fangoria Magazine’s “A Very Fango Christmas” Contest (online, 1998)

  • “Life During Death”, Dark Planet (1998)

  • “Not All There”, Gothic.Net (1998); reprinted in Tourniquet Heart (Prime Books, 2002)

  • “Hilly Palmer’s Last Case”, Plots with Guns (2004); The Adventure of the Missing Detective and 19 of the Year’s Finest Crime and Mystery Stories edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg (2005). Shortlisted as one of the Notable Stories of 2004 by storySouth; shortlisted for the Derringer Award 200

  • “State Trooper Joke”, The Trunk Story (online, 2005)

  • “Lonely and Gone”, Dublin Noir (Akashic Books, 2006)

  • “Say Goodnight to the Bad Guy”, Damn Near Dead (Busted Flush Press, 2006)

  • “Redhead” (St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2007; included in The Blonde paperback edition)

  • “The Crimes of Dr. Watson” (Quirk, 2007; also published in France)

  • “Death Runs Faster”, Killer Year: Stories to Die For from the Hottest New Crime Writers, edited by Lee Child (St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2008

  • “The Replacement”, Thuglit (Kensington Books, 2008)

  • “Lonergan’s Girl,” Philly Noir (Akashic Books, 2010)

  • “Tender As Teeth” (with Stephanie Crawford), 21st Century Dead, edited by Christopher Golden (2012), and reprinted in both Best Horror of the Year Volume Five (2013) and Best of the Best Horror of the Year: 10 Years of Essential Short Horror Fiction (2020), edited by Ellen Datlow.

  • “Hell of an Affair”, L.A. Noire (Rockstar Games, 2011)

  • “Awake While Asleep”, The Strand Magazine (2016)

  • “Lush”, Blood Work (2018), reprinted in Best American Mystery Stories, edited by Otto Penzler and Jonathan Lethem (2019). Currently in development as a feature film by Chad Stahelski (John Wick) for Lionsgate.

  • “Tough Guy Ballet”, For the Sake of the Game (2018); Nominated for 2019 International Thriller Writers Award (Best Short Story)

  • “Universal Monster”, Pop the Clutch: Thrilling Tales of Rockabilly, Monsters, and Hot Rod Horror (Dark Moon Books, 2019)

  • “Giant’s Despair”, At Home in the Dark, edited by Lawrence Block (2019)

  • “W★lk of F★me”, Speculative L.A., edited by Denise Hamilton (2021)

  • “Pinkerton,” NoirCon 2022 program