From the Booking Desk:
Today is a very special cover reveal for the Josh Pachter-edited anthology, Happiness is a Warm Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of The Beatles.
What makes it so special? I can hardly believe I am typing this, but this collection will include my first-ever published short story–“Ticket To Ride”–co-authored with my dear friend Dru Ann Love (also published for the first time). As many of you know, Dru Ann and I are fellow bloggers, often sharing the stage for panels, masterclasses, and other fun events around the crime fiction community and beyond. So when Josh Pachter asked us if we would be interested in collaborating on a story for his next music-inspired anthology, it didn’t take long before Dru Ann and I accepted the challenge. Never fully expecting that the resulting story would actually make it into the pages of that dream anthology.
But it did. And the fact that Dru Ann and I are next to some of our favorite short story authors is beyond anything I could have wished for. Just wait until you see some of the other names included! And then there is the beautiful, fun, and most importantly, period-evocative cover. I can’t wait to hold this book in my hands!
When asked to host this cover reveal, my initial response was that it was a conflict of interest. Then I realized that it’s sometimes ok to celebrate one’s own achievements, so I relented. It’s only fitting that Dru Ann and I simultaneously host the cover reveal on our respective blogs (Dru’s Book Musings and BOLO Books), since this is a journey we embarked on together. The resulting story based on The Beatles classic “Ticket To Ride” is nothing either of us would have written independently. It’s truly a collaborative effort (guided by the editorial hand of Josh) and perhaps a bit of divine intervention.
Enough chattering on, let’s look at this amazing cover.
Jacket Copy:
Happiness Is a Warm Gun is the sixth of Josh Pachter’s “inspired by” anthologies, following volumes of stories inspired by the songs of Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Buffett, Billy Joel, and Paul Simon…and by the films of the Marx Brothers.
For this collection, the lyrics of the Beatles’ inspired the contributing authors to imagine a world in which murder, kidnapping, blackmail, and theft are as common as meter maids and yellow submarines. Each story was inspired by a song from one of the Fab Four’s studio albums: seventeen albums, seventeen songs, seventeen stories—by a total of eighteen authors (since one was written collaboratively by Dru Ann Love and Kristopher Zgorski, two of crime fiction’s leading bloggers).
Many of the contributors, like the Beatles themselves, come from England—including award winners Martin Edwards, Paul Charles, Vaseem Khan, Christine Poulson, Marilyn Todd, Kate Ellis, and Tom Mead—while the American authors include such popular crime writers as John Copenhaver, Michael Bracken, John M. Floyd, David Dean, Joseph S. Walker, and Robert Lopresti.
So roll up for the Magical Mystery Tour—step right this way! After all, when it comes to crime, all you need is…motive, means, and opportunity!
Pre-order Happiness is a Warm Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of The Beatles at the
Down & Out Bookstore
