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The Best of Whatever—Poker Ben

PokerBen’s Top 10 Whatever list 2010.

This is in no particular order.

10. The TV show Justified.
This little show starring Timothy Olyphant is a winner in my book. The pilot was based on the Elmore Leonard short story “Fire In The Hole”, and features EL’s series character U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens. Who knew there were still U.S Marshals? From the kick ass pilot to the gripping season finale, I was hooked. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us in season 2, which starts February 2011.Season 1 dvd available January 25th.

9. John Rector’s The Cold Kiss.
It’s hard to believe this was JR’s first novel. A young couple tangle themselves up with a gut shot man, who has a bag full of money. Mix in a horrible blizzard, and being stranded at an old motel full of crazies. This gem of a novel takes off like a rocket and doesn’t let up until the final page. Rector’s 2nd novel, “The Grove”, is sitting on my Kindle waiting to be enjoyed.

8. The Amazon Kindle.
Speaking of the little guy, it definitely deserves to be on my list. I love having the ability to buy a book, and almost instantly have it available at my finger tips. It’s also nice to have the larger print size available when my eyes are tired, and it’s great for traveling.

7. Needle Magazine.
I love being able to stay up to date on the latest sewing and knitting trends. Oh wait, not that Needle Magazine. I meant the one featuring all the awesome crime fiction/noir stories from today’s who's who in the industry.

6. Crimefactory Magazine.
I can’t mention a crime fiction magazine without mentioning the best one of all in my opinion. It’s got everything a crime lover could want, and a lot more. Not a bad purchase price either. Yep, Rawson and company know how to deliver the goods.

5. Ken Bruen’s The Devil.
What can I say about KB that hasn’t already been said. The man is an extraordinary writer. The Devil is the latest installment of his Jack Taylor series. Everything Bruen writes is gold in my eyes. He could write a computer manual and I’d read it.

4. Red Dead Redemption - PS3
First Rockstar games buts out the awesome GTA series, then they take GTA and drop it into the wild west. Yee Haw!

3. Getting my graphic design work some exposure.
I started off just screwing around in Photoshop. I then made Keith Rawson a banner for his blog, sent it to him, he actually liked it, and used it. I did the same thing for Anthony Neil Smith’s blog. He liked it, and down the road actually hired me to design a book cover for his upcoming E-book edition of Psychosomatic.My latest work was for the banner of this blog. All I can say is I’m thrilled. Who knows maybe this hobby can turn into something bigger down the line.

2. Don Winslow’s Savages.
This was my first Winslow. It knocked my socks off. To describe this book in one word---FUN. This isn’t your standard thriller. Sure its got great fleshed out characters, and an intense plot. It also has one sentence chapters, made up words, slang, lists,the author speaking directly to the reader,sex drugs,music. Pretty much the everything but the kitchen sink. You’ll just have to read it.

1. Winter’s Bone.
Both the book by Daniel Woodrell, and the movie directed by Debra Granik. I first fell in love with the book, but after seeing the movie recently, I love it just as much. WB tells the story of Ree Dolly, a 17 year old girl living in the Ozarks struggling to take care of her sick mother and younger siblings. Her father, a meth cook, has gotten in trouble with the law and has put their house down as collateral on his bail bond. He disappears ,and it’s up to Ree to find him before they loose their home. You will not soon forget this powerful tale. It will stick with you long after you’re finished with it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ben Springer (aka Poker Ben) is Crimefactory’s graphic designer at large. He’s created the banners for Bloody Knuckles, Callused Fingertips, (Keith Rawson’s much under used blog) Day Labor, Anthony Neil Smith’s blog, Herman's Greasy Spoon and the cover to the e-version of Smith’s first novel, Psychosomatic. He’s also written reviews for Spinetingler Magazine

The Best of Whatever—Jason Duke

This was a very exciting year all around, but looking back, the top of my list for 2010 was Bouchercon in San Francisco. I got to meet a lot of wonderful crime writers, hang out at parties like the one Mulholland threw at Gordon Biersch, and drink ridiculous amounts of liquor. I also bought a lot of books while I was at Bouchercon, some were bought for me, and some were given to me. I haven't had a chance to read all of them yet, but most of these books on my list I picked up at the con:

Hogdoggin' by Anthony Neil Smith: granted this isn't from 2010, but it's still my favorite because I really dig Neil's style. Also check out Yellow Medicine, the first in the series (I hope this will be a series, you hear me Neil?)

Do They Know I'm Running by David Corbet: this one I was fortunate to pick up from David himself when he read from it at the City Lights black envelope event. Some of it deals with soldiers and Iraq, which is right up my alley.

Last Known Address by Theresa Schwegel, Jump by Tim Maleeny, One Too Many Blows to the Head by Eric Beetner and JB Kohl: also not from 2010, but great books nonetheless and definitely worth reading.

Pike by Benjamin Whitmer, The Underbelly by Gary Phillips: two I picked up from the PM Press booth at Bouchercon. Gary never disappoints, and Ben's first book Pike will knock you on your ass.

Young Junius by Seth Harwood: what can I say, this book is all kinds of dope, and not because there's a lot of drugs and drug dealing going on. Plus, the special edition was a really nice touch, with the extra artwork and cloth cover, if you preordered like I did.

Killer Tease by Danny Hogan, Broken Dreams by Nick Quantril: a little shout out to my blokes across the pond. Don't get me wrong, all of the Pulp Press line is top notch, this one just happens to be my favorite. A big plus for me because I'm a lazy reader is that these books can all be read in about an hour or so. And Nick hit it out of the park with his first try with Broken Dreams, featuring his private investigator Joe Geraghty. I expect more grandslams in his future, and lots more of Geraghty.




ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jason Duke is a Sergeant in the U.S. Army with a 15 month deployment to Iraq under his belt. His stories have appeared in Plots With Guns, Thuglit, Spinetingler Magazine, Crimefactory, Crimewav.com, Darkest Before the Dawn, and A Twist of Noir, among others. Jason can be reached at dm_jasonduke@hotmail.com or on Facebook

The Best of Whatever--Anthony Neil Smith

I love year-end Top Ten lists. I do. I hate writing them. I do. I hate them for the same reason I love them: I want to be on them, and if I’m not, I get mad at the person who left me off. So why would I do the same shit? Except, I will when it has nothing to do with books or writing or authors or…or writing…or etc. Of course, I use a lot of Top Ten lists to find new stuff to read, hear, taste, etc.

So here’s my Top Ten General Stuff of 2010 list

10) The ribs at the Hitching Post in Marshall, MN. They make great ribs. Consistently. Fall off the bone. Good ribs. This joint is sandwiched between a Super 8 and a gas station, and half the sign has fallen off.

9) NoirCon 2010. It was a week after I had put on the crazy whirlwind of Marshall Festival, and I was dead tired. I didn’t want to get on the plane. But I did and it was fine. Turned out that I had a fantastic weekend with some great writers and friends and beers at the German place and George Pelecanos punching out Jed at the Mummers Museum. Awesome. I needed that, guys. I really did.

8) Seeing MacBeth at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Holy shit, we were right up against the stage, in the “spit zone”. It was sweet. This was a bad ass Macbeth, a mesh of time periods and styles and and and, fuck, Macbeth just shot a guy!

7) The season finale of the Venture Brothers. “Operation P.R.O.M.” was an hour long, and was one of the craziest eps I’ve ever seen. Kudos.

6) The teaser movie poster for Nicolas Winding Refn’s upcoming movie DRIVE. Just a grainy old close-up of a muscle car engine. Vroom.

5) This picture of Sarah Palin from TIME Magazine.

4) The Mulholland Books website. A place for smart crime fiction. You can tell from these posts that the people in charge are not looking for run-of-the-mill airport dumb-down thrillers. If they’re going to put out a book, it’s gotta be some strong medicine. God, I hope so.

3) Layer Cake Primitivo. The absolute best wine I’ve tasted in over a year. I’ve had two bottles of Layer Cake—one Shiraz and one Primitivo. Both were excellent.

2) Some stupid thing. I forget.

1) Herman. Herman is the best dog ever. Herman is my boy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Anthony Neil Smith is the author of four novels--Psychosomatic, the Drummer, Yellow Medicine, and Hogdoggin'. He also edits the baddest zine on the web PLOTS WITH GUNS.