Blood and Tacos #2

I'm proud to have a review published in this issue of Blood and Tacos, and  I'm thrilled to be sitting alongside Ray Banks, Jimmy Callaway, Frank Larnerd, Andrew Nette, Josh Stallings, Matthew C. Funk, and the incredibly kind and equally crazy Johnny Shaw. And extra props to

ROXANNE PATRUZNICK 

for the gorgeous cover art! Isn't this cover AWESOME?

Issue 2 is available on Amazon, but you can also read it  

for free at the home of Blood and Tacos.

A Little Levi-Lovin' with Moses McGuire

I was introduce to the incredibly talented author, Josh Stallings last year when his debut novel Beautiful, Naked & Dead was pretty much forced on me by my good friend, Fiona Johnson.  It was love at first lap dance... or was that pole dancing? Hmmm... whatever it was, my heart fell even harder for the guy with his return in Out There Bad.  Moses might be an ex-con, ex-marine, ex-husband in debt to the ex-wife and ex-bookie, but if there's one thing I've noticed about Moses McGuire it's that the guy has a strong desire to be loved. His love life might not have worked out for him over the last couple of books, but I'm sure one day a lovely lady will come along and sweep him off his feet... even without a lap dance or two. Well, here's hoping, anyway.

Josh was kind enough to send me an excerpt from Out There Bad showcasing a lovely little scene with Moses and one of his love interests.  Its perfect for Sabrina's Month of Love, and  it was the first scene that came to mind when I sent Josh an email requesting a little something for the blog. The fact that he chose this particular scene makes me think Josh knows me a little too well... After reading it this morning and seeing the reference to red velvet curtains, I couldn't help but add a recipe for Moses McGuire Red Velvet Cupcakes... I know,  I know. I'm hopeless with the cupcake thing! Enjoy!

Warning:  this scene does contain strong language, so... considered yourself warned.

From OUT THERE BAD...

“Buy me drink?” she said, absentmindedly tracing her finger down the line of her dress, pulling my attention to her breasts. They were mounded by a push-up bra into marvelously lush cleavage.

“Nice move,” I said, my eyes following her finger, “but unnecessary. I already noticed how good you look.”

“I don't know what you are talking about,” she went wide-eyed and innocent.

“You're hot, you know it. I know it. I'm way out of my league here, so I'll buy you a drink, chit some chat while you scope your next victim, but you have to turn down the heat, ok?”

“Spasibo, it was much work, pretending to like a big handsome man like you.” She smiled broadly, showing me that gap in her teeth. “Betty, please, a Rémy,” she called to the bartender.

She had expensive taste when someone else was paying. I wondered what she drank when it went on her tab. I ordered myself another McCallans that I probably didn't need, but sure wanted.

“Na zdororve!” she said, clinking my shot glass with her snifter. I knew she got a cut of any booze the chumps bought her, but I didn't care. It was worth every penny to sit listening to her accented broken English.

“Scorpio, yes?” she asked.

“I don't know.”

“What is your birthday?”

“October twentieth. What? Why are you grinning like I just dropped a hundred on the stage?”

“Scorpio. Casanova, Scorpio the lover. Ruled by Mars, a lover and warrior.”

“And you?” Astrology is pure mumbo jumbo, but I would have said anything to keep the conversation going.

“Me, Aries. We are fire and water.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“Yes.” She slew me with a look of deep longing. “My beautiful man, I knew you were for me, first time I saw you,” she said, simply as if it were an obvious fact.

“I thought we agreed you were going to dial it back,” I said, hoping she would turn up the heat.

“Scorpio,” she shook her head, mulling the thought over, “I have to be very careful with you, if I fall for you it would be very bad for business.”

“Why me? Look around, plenty of younger, richer guys here.”

“They are boys dressed like men. You are man.”

“Dressed like a boy.” I smiled looking down at my Pogues concert shirt, faded jeans and Doc Martens. I spent my nights looking after girls, but here was a woman. My back straightened and my chest puffed slightly. She made me want to be the man she seemed to think I was.

Katy Perry blasted happy pop over the sound system. I noticed Earl and his schoolgirl had disappeared into the VIP room, so I guessed his date was going fine. Over our drinks, Katerina told me she was from Yaroslavl, a small city two hundred miles from Moscow. “When I was fifteen, my mother passed away and left me to take care of my baby sister and my pig of a father.”

“Sounds rough.”

I never knew my old man and by the time I was sixteen I was in the Marines being shot at by towel heads in the Root. To get away from my drunk mother, I had stolen my big brother's birth certificate and they shipped me off to that jug fuck in Lebanon. I didn't tell Katerina any of that, I just told her I had grown up poor, too. We had a bond that children forced to grow up too soon share. A bond of pain and longing. A bond of anger and the desire to be loved. Over our words, a separate conversation flowed between our eyes, a conversation of longing and need.

“Come, I'll dance for you. I want to.”

“Sorry, I don't do that anymore,” I said, with zero resolve.

“Yes, I know... come.”

She took my hand and led me willingly across the room and through the red velvet curtains into the VIP room. Earl must have gone home while we were talking, because we had the room to ourselves. It was a low ceilinged dimly lit cave of lust. Plush crushed velvet tuck and roll surrounded the room like it was one big low-rider Chevy. There were several tables with chairs and candles. Generally the couch is $35-$40 bucks and the chairs are $20-$25. That's before tip, but only about half the pricks tip the girl who dances on them. The law states that the man cannot at any time touch the girl, she can touch him, but not in a lewd manner. Trying to legislate morality is like trying to hold back the sea with a chain link fence.

Katerina pushed me down in the soft padding, over the speakers, Cee Lo Green started singing about wishing he had enough cash to keep the girl. She put her knees between mine and pried them open, moving slowly ever closer. I was used to lap grind, make a guy come and get on with your day dances. But she was seducing me, one move at a time. As she swayed closer, I could feel the heat emanating from her before any skin touched. Her lips brushed across my cheek, I could feel her breath, smell the faint cigarette mixed with brandy. Just when I thought she would kiss me she pulled back. It took all I had not to pull her down on top of me. The song ended and Katerina rose up taking a small step back. Her eyes flicked down to my lap.

“One more, yes?” she said.

“Why not.” I fought to sound like I could take it or leave it. Chili Peppers' Breaking the Girl filled the air around us.

Katerina slowly unfastened her shirt, letting it drop to the floor. She stepped out of her leather skirt and stood for a moment so I could look at her. She had a ragged appendix scar. A small jailblue tattoo started on her hip and ran down disappearing into her thong. It was maybe two inches long, a straight line with a cross bar near the top and below it a second line set more diagonally. Marina had a similar tat, it must be a Russian thing.

Looking up at Katerina, I knew whatever she wanted was hers, she was that beautiful. Sounds shallow but there it is. Moving between my legs, this time she pushed her leg until it was against my erection. I let out a shudder as she began to stroke me with her thigh. Moving up she brushed her breasts across my face, I kissed her ivory skin. She didn't pull away. She moved slowly down, I kissed her neck, and then she brought me her lips. Gift of all gifts, a real kiss. Hookers and strippers alike will tell you they will fuck and suck all day long, but to kiss is just too personal.

Katerina's lips pressed against mine. She bit at my lower lip, her eyes were closed and her breathing had the rhythm of arousal. Her hand wrapped around the line in my jeans, she let out a small gasp. I ran my hand up her thigh. Continuing the kiss, I pulled her down on top of me. And like two Catholic teenagers, we went at. She ground herself against my bulge, pushing her tongue into my mouth. How many songs came and went while we pounded against each other I haven't a clue, I was lost in the rush. Her breathing turned into a deep rasp.

Suddenly her eyes popped open in crazy surprise. She sank her teeth into my shoulder to muffle her scream. Then like a rag doll, she collapsed into the couch next to me with her head on my shoulder.

“Oh, oh... you didn't finish... I sorry... I,” she said with weak but genuine concern.

“Ain't nothin but a thing.”

“But...”

“Hush... you smell so human.” I nuzzled her neck.

“What?”

“You don't cover up with a bunch of perfume, you smell human.”

Her eyes drifted closed, maybe she wanted to block out the room around us.

“What's your name? It's not ‘Katerina’.”

“You don't like it?”

“It's fine, just not yours, least not the one you were born with.”

She thought about this for a long moment, screwing up her fine features. “What is your name?”

“Moses McGuire.”

“That's funny.”

“The only book my mother ever read was the bible. Brother's name is ‘Luke’. Guess we're both lucky we didn't get stuck with ‘Jesus One’ and ‘Jesus Two’.”

She opened her eyes, making sure I knew what she was giving me. “Anya Kolpacolva.”

Somewhere out in the club, the DJ was calling for all the girls to line up for a two for the price of one lap dance special.

Anya let out a laugh. “Oh my god, how long have we been here? You are bad for business, I know this the moment I see you.”

“Do you mind?”

“No,” she said laughing. Jumping up, she pulled on her shirt and skirt in faster time than an Indy pit crew. Reaching down, she tugged me up and out of the couch. Arm in arm and giggling like high schoolers, we walked out of the VIP room.

When I slipped $200 into her purse she rolled her eyes but she didn't refuse. She had rent to pay like everyone else.

From the bar, I watched the money mating dance gyrate around me. Anya slipped like a shark through the sea of men, hustling them, then stopping by to give me a wink or a kiss in between trips to the VIP room. I realized one of these fat fucks was gonna wind up dead if I didn't get out of there soon.

“Want a dance?” Anya had slipped up behind me while my concentration was on buying a last shot of scotch.

“Love to, but I'm broke.” I don't know why I lied, fact was I had a wad in my pocket and more cash stashed in my hideout hole in the car. I guess I was hoping she would offer me a freebee, a way she could show that I was different than the other slobs.

“We have ready-teller.” She made it sound sexy, purring like it was some exotic love toy.

“Do I look like the kind of guy they'd give a bank card to?”

“Everyone has bank card.”

“I don't.”

“Too bad,” she was leaning into me, making sure I got a grand glimpse down her dress at what I was missing. She kissed my neck. “You are so bad for business.”

“When do you get off? I'll take you to breakfast,” I whispered.

“A date?” She closed her eyes, smiling inwardly at the idea. “No, not tonight.” Past my shoulder, she surveyed the room for her next client.

“Whatever.” I turned back to the bar, trying to pull off indifference, though petulant may have been closer to the effect.

“Here.” She was on the move, she slipped a piece of paper into my hand. “My cell number, call me.” She started to disappear into the crowd, then turned back. “You do have a cell phone?”

“Nope, but I've got some change and a working finger.”

“My beautiful man. Are you sure you are American?”

“Only because my parents fucked here,” I said. Anya laughed, running her hand through my hair. I gave her a stolen kiss the manager didn't see and promised to come back the next night. Then stumbled out into the evening.

BEAUTIFUL, NAKED & DEAD is available from in PRINT and for  KINDLE.
OUT THERE BAD is available in PRINT  and for both the KINDLE and the NOOK.

Josh Stallings is your average ex-criminal, ex-taxi driver, ex-club bouncer, film making, script writing, award winning trailer editing, punk. Over his time in Hollywood he wrote and edited the feature film “The Ice Runner,” a Russian/American co-production. “Kinda Cute for a White-Boy” an independent feature he directed and co-wrote with novelist Tad Williams, won best picture at the Savanah International Film Festival. He also wrote “Ground Zero Texas,” a best selling Sony video game with Edward Neumeier (writer of RoboCop). His first novel BEAUTIFUL, NAKED & DEAD is garnering great notice from readers and reviewers alike. OUT THERE BAD (Moses #2) Will be published early summer. He is currently working on the third Moses McGuire novel. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Erika, his bullmastiff Nelson, Lucy the lab pit mix and Riddle the cat.

You can read more about Josh Stallings at his website HERE!

Out There Bad by Josh Stallings

The first book (Beautiful, Naked & Dead) by Josh Stallings had me pole dancing in my dreams. In all honesty, I was hoping for the same night life while reading the second book. I mean, really... what girl wouldn't want to be flawless at pole dancing and possibly skilled in the art of... the lap dance?

Unfortunately, no matter how much I wanted those dreams to appear, I knew it wasn't gonna happen.

From the beginning, Out There Bad took on a different tone from the first novel in the series. Instead of nights dreaming of my life as a stripper, this second book had me dreaming about my childhood when I was living in Hawaii. The time when I would pray daily that my father would find me and bring me home, and mark each day off a calendar with an X. 

Sent to live with relatives after a my father and step-mother divorced - I was under the impression that my time there would be brief and stress free - I was forced to endure many things that are still not spoken of in my family. While reading Out There Bad, the second book in the Moses McGuire series by Josh Stallings, I became painfully aware of just how badly I wanted to be saved during that time.  I specifically remember how when the phone call came that my father was making arrangements for me to be on the next flight home... I didn't believe it was over. Even after the plane took flight... I didn't believe it was over. 

Thirty years later... it still isn't over.

At the end of Beautiful, Naked & Dead, Moses has taken revenge on the people responsible for brutally murdering the only woman that he truly loved, and he also managed to fall in love and out of love with her twin sister during his quest for vengeance.

When we meet up with Moses again in Out There Bad, he's working the rounds as a bouncer for the same strip club in LA, when he notices odd behavior and suspicious living arrangements with some of the new Russian women that have come to town to play. Soon Moses finds himself out of a job and blowing off some steam at another strip club after a beat down in the parking lot with a customer wanting more than the usual lap dance gets a little rough.

And that's when she walks in. The beautifully seductive, Anya.

Swaying those hips just right on the dance floor leads to some back room levi-lovin' between Anya and Moses.  And I'm not quite sure how it happened, but Moses fell in love. And he didn't fall in love with just any girl. Moses fell in love with a woman that has fallen victim to a scam that has left her and many others forced into a life of prostitution. Even worse, Anya's thirteen year old sister is on her own journey to a life of unfulfilled promises and training as a sex slave by the same men that has taken control of Anya's life.

In the story you'll read about Moses giving his heart and soul to another woman,  being betrayed by the man that's he's been loyal to for years, traveling to Mexico to save children being forced into a life of prostitution, and fighting alongside a kick-ass, female, tarot-card-tossing assassin.

But most importantly you'll read about Moses being tortured and forced to participate in acts that will forever alter his sense of being. A sense of being that has already been damaged by a past stained with violence, loss and betrayal.  And when the book is finished and Anya and her sister have been saved and Moses returns to LA... you won't believe it is over. When the next book in the series is written and the next memory is made... you still won't believe it is over.

That's because for them... it will never be over.

Out There Bad by Josh Stallings is an incredible addition to the Moses McGuire series. And if you ladies didn't fall in love with Moses while reading Beautiful, Naked & Dead, not only will you be in love with him at the end of Out There Bad, you'll be wishing for a part in his next novel as... his savior. 

Out There Bad is available in PAPERBACK, on the KINDLE and on the NOOK.

Josh Stallings is your average ex-criminal, ex-taxi driver, ex-club bouncer, film making, script writing, award winning trailer editing, punk. Over his time in Hollywood he wrote and edited the feature film “The Ice Runner,” a Russian/American co-production. “Kinda Cute for a White-Boy” an independent feature he directed and co-wrote with novelist Tad Williams, won best picture at the Savannah International Film Festival. He also wrote “Ground Zero Texas,” a best selling Sony video game with Edward Neumeier (writer of RoboCop). His first novel BEAUTIFUL, NAKED & DEAD is garnering great notice from readers and reviewers alike. and OUT THERE BAD (Moses #2) is receiving the same attention. He is currently working on the third Moses McGuire novel. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Erika, his bullmastiff Nelson, Lucy the lab pit mix and Riddle the cat.

HUNTING STORIES by Josh Stallings

I'm very pleased to welcome Josh Stallings to My Friends Call Me Kate.  Yesterday you read about his first book in the Moses McGuire series and today, well, you'll read about the research he does to get the story just right.  It's an excellent post and I know you will enjoy it. 

Midnight, East LA, barrio bar. I sit watching young ladies take their clothes off and dance on a Lucite stage while men toss dollar bills at them. “Research my ass.” My friend Parker laughs. He compares me to Verhoeven and Esterhaus when they were doing Showgirls. Problem is, they are pigs. Me I’m… just chasing down a story. This is how I work. I find a world. For Moses McGuire that is sex for sale in LA. It is also Armenian mobsters. I sit in a club and watch the hardcore power boys strut their Armani and flash their gold.

“What are you doing here?” She is pretty in a tattooed librarian girl-next-door kind of way.

“I’m working on a novel, about the Armenian mob.”

“Shut up, no really shut up. Aren’t you afraid?”

“Of what?”

Her eyes scan the room, flicking across the mobsters. Somehow it doesn’t freak me. I’m not brave. But I grew up hard, that and I feel my literary license will protect me. So far it has. I took my wife to the valley to dine at a Russian mob club. It was an amazing evening and the food wasn’t half bad.

When I’m chasing down a story I go where it takes me. I walk the streets where Moses will stomp. I have spent all night on the streets of Ensenada for Out There Bad (Moses #2.) I took a streetwalker out for tacos at 3AM and got her to tell me how she got where she was. I stood in front of a brothel talking to the bouncer, across the street was a farmacia. In it’s window was a sign – Viagra and US made condoms. The bouncer said Viagra had been a boon to his business, older and older gringos come in and they can go three or four times a night. That scene is in the novel, and I couldn’t have written it half as well as life did.

I troll the Internet looking for facts and cases to lead me to the next story. I read first person accounts of life in the Mustang Ranch, a legal Nevada brothel. I read interviews with the women who work these places. I take Moses on road trips, letting his character fill my mind whilst flying across the desert.

On iTunes I start to build the novel’s play list. Music that I will listen to loud as I pound the keys. I got in the habit of listening to music when writing when my kids were toddlers and my office was a broom closet with just enough room for a desk and my typewriter. To block out the raging sea of domesticity I would put headphones on and fill my head with noise of my own making. I still use it, only now I believe it helps to keep the logical side of my brain busy listening whilst the creative side gets the job done. Thus effectively quieting the mob of inner critics to a dull roar.

Ok, I do all this and I have not written word one of the novel. What I’m finding is texture. What I am searching for is a thread that I can follow, sometimes it is an image or a scene. With Beautiful Naked & Dead it started with the name Moses McGuire, then I saw him with a loaded revolver in his mouth. I started typing the first draft. And I just kept typing until I ran out of story. Then it was time for more research. More low rent bars. More talking to strippers and bouncers and car-parks and who ever else I needed to talk to so I could get my head back on track. Oddly, the places I do my best thinking are strip clubs, on my motorcycle and at the shooting range. Again, I think I need to distract my logical brain so that I can think. At 80 mph on two wheels with every asshole in LA trying to run you over, trust me the logical side is fully busy.

I write my first draft as quickly as possible. Charlie Huston calls it writing with velocity. I type as hard and as fast as my two fingers can go. Later drafts are for cleaning up plot holes and sprucing up the word choices. First drafts are for capturing with passion the reason I wrote the damn story in the first place.

Writing a novel is like moving a very heavy steel hulled boat across a sandy beach. I bust my ass pushing and pulling, dragging the beast into the water. And then it starts to float, inch by inch it gets easier to move. And then all at once the current takes it and we are speeding down a river. From that point my job goes from dragging it, to just keeping it off the rocks. Fitzcarraldo, more the documentary about Herzog making it, Burden of Dreams is all about dragging a ship over a mountain. It is an almost perfect metaphor for how it feels for me to write a novel.

Josh Stallings is your average ex-criminal, ex-taxi driver, ex-club bouncer, film making, script writing, award winning trailer editing, punk.   Over his time in Hollywood he wrote and edited the feature film “The Ice Runner,” a Russian/American co-production. “Kinda Cute for a White-Boy” an independent feature he directed and co-wrote with novelist Tad Williams, won best picture at the Savanah International Film Festival. He also wrote “Ground Zero Texas,” a best selling Sony video game with Edward Neumeier (writer of RoboCop).   His first novel BEAUTIFUL, NAKED & DEAD is garnering great notice from readers and reviewers alike.   OUT THERE BAD (Moses #2) will be published early summer.  He is currently working on the third Moses McGuire novel.  He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Erika, his bullmastiff Nelson, Lucy the lab pit mix and Riddle the cat.

You can read more about Josh Stallings at his website HERE!

Beautiful, Naked & Dead by Josh Stallings

Prior to reading Beautiful, Naked & Dead by Josh Stallings, I hadn't dreamt about a book I was reading since my Oscar Martello reading days right before Christmas.  I was starting to think I'd lost my, uh... touch, for lack of a better word. I mean, it's not like I can will a character into a dream. In fact, my one and only dream about Oscar Martello didn't even have Oscar Martello in it.  Moses McGuire on the other hand...

****

Having never been in a club that featured GIRLS! GIRLS! GIRLS! I was doing a pretty good job at blending in. My skirt was short and tight. My hair was teased to perfection. My make-up was immaculate. My music choice was hard-core 50 Cent with the perfect thump, thump, thump.  My pole dancing skills were flawless.

Wait a second. Flawless?

Ah, man!  The beginning of this dream is a nightmare of catastrophic proportions. Me, in a nudie bar with perfect pole dancing skills? Ya, right!  I can't walk in a straight line sober. What on earth made me think I could try my hand at pole dancing... even in a dream?

****

Well, before we get back to that, let me tell you about this book I found on the twitter feed. It was pushed on us really, really hard by my friend @McDroll (This is how we address ourselves on twitter. I'm @sabrinaogden). Anyway, @McDroll read this book written by this guy, @LysdexicWriter (Josh Stallings), that she found on twitter and totally loved. So she pimped it and talked about it until we were all forced to buy a copy.

Then an amazing thing happened.  People started reading it, people started talking about it, and people started falling madly in love with the main character, Moses McGuire. True story. Read the reviews on Amazon.

In Beautiful, Naked & Dead by Josh Stallings, you'll meet Moses McGuire.  Moses is an ex-marine, an ex-con, and an ex-husband in debt to the ex-wife and ex-bookie.  He's also been recently cut off from his drug dealer for passing a bad check.  The guys got a new career as a bouncer at a strip club, and for the most part, well, let's just say he takes his job pretty seriously. Moses is pretty miserable and he's pretty much made a mess of his life, but the one thing that I think keeps him going from day to day is the one woman at the club that isn't a stripper.  Her name is Kelly, and she's the only light in his world that is covered in darkness.

True darkness. Moses has been considering suicide since he was six years old. And at the very beginning of Beautiful, Naked & Dead we read about his personal day to day decision to either live, or die. 

In the story you'll read about Moses getting lap dances, popping pills and taking too long to come to the aid of the one woman that seems to matter the most to him, Kelly. After you read that, you'll learn of Kelly's brutal death and Moses going kick-ass crazy on the guys that did it. You'll also meet Kelly's twin sister, and read about a totally screwed up and, thankfully, brief romance. 

But most importantly you read about Moses. My guess will be that you will fall in love with him like so many of us already have. And while you're reading, you'll find that Moses is just as modest about his good looks in the book, as the author Josh Stallings is about his writing.  Maybe it's the modesty from both men that's making all the women nutty. I don't know. All I know is that I read this really incredible book with an amazing character and story line and that all I've wanted to do is read more about this character and encourage and support this author with his writing.  It truly is an amazing book. Hard-boiled, dark, full of suspense and fast cars, this is a debut novel with a character that can be stuck on repeat for years without me getting weary.  Seriously. I didn't call Moses hubba-hubba superlicious in a previous post for no reason, ladies. 

As for the dream...

I'll leave that to your imagination.

Josh Stallings is your average ex-criminal, ex-taxi driver, ex-club bouncer, film making, script writing, award winning trailer editing, punk. Over his time in Hollywood he wrote and edited the feature film “The Ice Runner,” a Russian/American co-production. “Kinda Cute for a White-Boy” an independent feature he directed and co-wrote with novelist Tad Williams, won best picture at the Savanah International Film Festival. He also wrote “Ground Zero Texas,” a best selling Sony video game with Edward Neumeier (writer of RoboCop). His first novel BEAUTIFUL, NAKED & DEAD is garnering great notice from readers and reviewers alike. OUT THERE BAD (Moses #2) Will be published early summer. He is currently working on the third Moses McGuire novel. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Erika, his bullmastiff Nelson, Lucy the lab pit mix and Riddle the cat.

You can read more about Josh Stallings at his website HERE!

Beautiful, Naked & Dead is available on the both the Kindle and the Nook. You can also purchase this in paperback on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

BUY NOW with 1-Click!

I was warned by my twitter pal, Spencer Koch, that Amazon had devised this plan to easily suck you dry by letting you save a credit card number in their system so when you wanted to buy a book for your Kindle, like... 8 Pounds by Chris F. Holm, all you had to do was click the button that said, "Buy Now with 1-Click"  and you were done. No address information. No double checking the shipping.  Just a simple click.

I didn't think it would become a problem for me. I mean, really. How many books could there possibly be on Amazon that I would be interested in? 

Click. Click. Click.

Turns out (after pulling a copy of my Kindle Orders),  I click that damn button a good 2-3 times a day. In fact, on November 25, 2010, I clicked that button six times. SIX TIMES!  On December 18, 2010... THREE. February 5, 2011... THREE. February 26, 2011... TWICE.  February 28, 2011... TWICE. April 28, 2011... THREE. 

Last week I clicked the button five times. FIVE TIMES, PEOPLE!  It would have been every work day last week, but according to my purchase order I skipped Wednesday and double clicked on Friday. And today, the day I'm typing this post, I clicked it twice. Back to back thanks to Ron... well, does it really matter who tempted me?

I'd really like to blame other people for my clicking addiction, but that really wouldn't be fair.  All the people that I have come to admire and trust with my book purchasing decisions are part of my wonderful twitter family. They clearly have my best interest at heart when they're innocently suggesting great reads by people that they know and like and have read.  I mean, really. It's hard to go wrong and I can't complain about the incredible mass of books I've accumulated since I first started purchasing Kindle books for my phone app with that "Buy Now with 1-Click" feature on October 18, 2010.

My very first purchase was 8 Pounds: Eight Tales of Crime, Horror & Suspense by Chris F. Holm.  For an unbelievable price of $0.99 you get eight incredible reads that leave you shaking your head in disbelief and thinking horrible, horrible thoughts whenever you hear a noise in the wall.  You know the noises I'm talking about. The ones that always come around in the middle of the night when you're home alone, or when you're the only one awake in the house that can hear them.

My second purchase for my Kindle was Terminal Damage by the gang at Do Some Damage.  While the collection as a whole is excellent, it must be said that this was the collection that introduced me to Oscar Martello. After reading this I collected every collection of short stories that contained an Oscar Martello story.  I mean, honestly. How could I pass them up?  You can find any and all stories about Oscar Martello here.

Would you believe me if I told you I've been putting off my reading of More Sinned Against by Dave White for fear that his main character might take away my possessive feelings for Oscar? It's totally true. It's on my list to read, but after finishing a book this weekend I really think I'm okay with moving on. Not on, on. Just moving on a little. Now would be a good time to release an Oscar Martello short story collection, Mr. Weddle.  It'd be really nice to have Oscar around all the time. All. The. Time. 

My good friend, Elizabeth introduced me to Jeff Strand.  Not only do I plan to collect all of his book books, I'm creating a nice little collection on my Kindle. I know the writing is excellent because I've read about him over at Musings of an All Purpose Monkey, but truth be told... I'm a fan of the cover art.

I was introduced to Dave Zeltserman by reading an expert of Blood Crimes: Book One over at Paul D. Brazil's blog.  It's like a dark urban fantasy, meets crime fighter, meets vampires book. Dark and dirty with vampires, and some really good love scenes, believe it or not. Sounds like my kind of thing. I've recently purchased Zeltserman's Julius Katz Mysteries... again, thanks to Paul.  Well, I should blame Dave, too. He did talk about this character in a blog post and made me curious.  Plus, David Cranmer thinks the guy rocks.  I totally trust David Cranmer.

I've got a pretty good collection of hard-boiled crime by Anthony Neil Smith... some I've accidentally purchased twice (Kindle should really find a way to prevent that from happening).  Word on the street is Anthony should have another book available for my Kindle enjoyment shortly. Can't wait!

Who else... Oh, I bought two books by Brett Battles after reading reviews by Elizabeth White.  And I bought three books by some guy named J.D. Rhoades after someone, who shall remain nameless, retweeted information about the Jack Keller series.  Makes sense that I would buy it.  The books are about some hot guy named Jack... and it's a series. Cute men on repeat seem to be my thing. Can't wait to read these books!

I bought Beautiful, Naked & Dead by Josh Stallings because my friend from Scotland told me to.  She had read it and loved and promised me I wouldn't be disappointed. I wasn't. My review is in the making.  I'm just trying to find the right words to describe hubba-hubba superlicious without it coming across as cheesy.

So why am I telling you about this? Well, I'm hoping if I confess my Kindle  purchases on my blog each week that it might... might help me with my clicking problem.  So I've gone ahead and created a Sabrina's Kindle page for my blog. I'm hoping to update it weekly. Ya, I probably shouldn't be hoping for that since I'm supposed to be curbing my habit. Oh, well. You can find every book you will find on my Kindle listed; minus the freebies you can find on Amazon.

So take a look. If you like any of the books on the list feel free to click on the link and buy them. I haven't added today's purchases just yet. Just as well, since I just noticed on Twitter that that Dave White guy just released Witness to Death on Kindle this evening. Best $0.99 EVER! Thanks, Dave.

May 9, 2011... THREE!