Cullen Gallagher's Silent Film Chronicle

Cullen Gallagher of Pulp Serenade just started a new blog devoted entirely to silent cinema, called Silent Film Chronicle. Awesome, awesome, awesome news for those of us who love the artistry of the silents. His first post is on the legendary Janet Gaynor. Check it here.

Megan Abbott: "You will finish it in one frenzied sitting..."

What a great way to start the weekend. I heard from Megan Abbott, author of Queenpin, Die A Little, Bury Me Deep (one of my top ten noirs) and the forthcoming The End of Everything. She's one of our shining stars of noir. She read The Bastard Hand, and has this to say:

“In the storied waking-up-into-a-nightmare pulp tradition, Heath Lowrance’s The Bastard Hand is a lurid thrill. You will finish it in one frenzied sitting, then feel as if you’re awakening from a red-misted trance.”

Hello, Heath. Welcome to the 21st Century.

I'm now twittering. If you know me, you know how fucking hysterical that is.
Honestly, until a week ago I didn't even know I COULD twitter. I thought it was something that took months of practice, special equipment, and the enthusiasm of youth. And actually, I'm still a little baffled by it. I'm not a luddite, I'm really not, but looking over my twitter account it was all I could do to suppress my panic and carry on. I'm a bit lost at the moment, but be patient. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.

New Pulp Press at You Would Say That, Wouldn't You

Jon Bassoff, publisher of New Pulp Press, does a guest blog over at Paul Brazil's You Would Say That, Wouldn't You? He talks a little about The Bastard Hand (after all, it's the next book coming from NPP) and also badbadbad, by Jesus Angel Garcia... which sounds like another winner.

bare.bones and Manhunt Magazine

This has been right under my nose for I-don't-even-know how long. Awesome stuff. I keep hoping someone will anthologize the Manhunt stories, and bring the magazine back. In the meantime, this will do nicely.

Check it here.

Here in my car...

I have never, ever owned a really good car. People who drive around in Caddy Escalades or brand new Mustangs or Camaros are a constant source of envy for me. And I don’t see it happening anytime soon.
My very first ride was an old Dodge van, blue, riddled with rust and the kind of brakes that made you age five years every time you drove it. It was a hand-me-down from my step-dad at the time, a piece a’shit that had over 130,000 miles on it by the time it wound up in my teenage hands. It died after about a year of use.
Second vehicle: a shit-brown 1974 Chevy Malibu that I got for 300 bucks from some mullet-wearing stoner in a parking lot. It was forever leaking fluid everywhere, and the seats were so torn to shit I couldn’t get my girlfriend at the time to get in it. It also died an ignoble death and was left to rot.
That’s the car I gave to the Reverend Childe in The Bastard Hand.
Then a series of unmemorable vehicles, purchased for no other reason than I freakin’ needed a car badly and they were available.
A few years ago, I didn’t even have a car, and got everywhere I needed to be on a bicycle. Even in the dead of winter. So a friend of a friend sold me a little Honda (my soon-to-be wife, Kim, fronted me the minimal cash to buy it). This car was literally held together with bungee cords and duct tape. When it finally expired, I donated it to some car charity thing and was honestly amazed that they took it… I thought for sure they’d laugh me right out of my own driveway.
So about two years ago I finally got the car I have now, a 2001 Saturn. It seemed at first to be a good deal, but I’d had it for less than three months when it suddenly decided that going in reverse was no longer an option. You never realize how often you need to go backwards until you CAN’T anymore.
I lived with it for a long time, until just recently. Finally shelled out 2,300 fucking dollars on Kim’s credit card and now the thing drives beautifully—a completely overhauled transmission will do that. Still another year’s worth of payments to be made on the Saturn, so here’s hoping the thing holds out.
Cuz I don’t see an Escalade or a Camaro in the near future…

Emancipation, With Teeth

Here's my story, Emancipation, With Teeth. Originally appeared in the January '10 issue of Necrotic Tissue. I'm posting it here just in case you aren't one of the four or five people who read it at the time...