Saturday, July 23, 2011

Indie Book Stores Are Behind Frank BIll's Crimes in Southern Indiana!!



When I began writing I wanted to write stories that took the air from your lungs. Regardless of violence I wanted my work to be about language and place. About people that others didn't write about. I cared not for heroes because in the real world, more times than not, there are no heroes. I write about men and women getting by the best way they know how, using what they know, good or bad. I'm not a sentimental writer. You want hugs and kisses get on the Care Bear bus. You want action. Bad deeds and people pushed to the edge? Read my work. And the indie book sellers, they get that. And I thank them. Below are what a few had to say about my first book, Crime in Southern Indiana!
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Like a wild, non-stop ride in a bullet-ridden Ford pickup careening through the author's hometown of Corydon, Indiana. Most of the characters in these short stories are bad to the core, and the ones that aren't are usually victims. Meth heads, bare-knuckle fighters, weed runners and random evildoers populate this collection from Frank Bill, a rising star from the heartland. Don't think for a minute though that everything's black & white in these stories; they're hard-edged tales with a literate punch. This book is in a category all by itself. Wow!
Carl Hoffman, Boswell Book Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin"
http://www.boswell.indiebound.com/
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As a way of introducing you to his stunning debut, Crimes in Southern Indiana, Frank Bill grabs your hand & leads you into the pitch-dark, flooded basement of America where he proceeds to force your head down into the dark, pungent depths. The resultant interlaced stories are gritty, mean, awful, & flat-out brilliant. The characters of Bill’s Indiana are deplorable, miserable wretches – brawlers, drunks, meth-heads, & scumbags - yet this is what lends them such an air of vitality that makes them all the more real. I couldn't tear my eyes away from them, as much as I thought I wanted to. I kept thinking, "Just one more story & I'll stop this madness," but I never did. Ah, let’s admit it: I never wanted to. A power-punch of a debut that left me reeling, arms pinwheeling in space as I tried to return to the sunlit world outside its pages."
http://warwicks.indiebound.com/book/9780374532888

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Carl & Matt, thanks again. You guys kick ass. Oh, I've a new friend on twitter. Ray Wylie Hubbard  http://raywylie.com/ His music and other Texas Musicians have been a great influence over the years. Check this cat out, he's one of the great influences for singer/song writers like Hayes Carll http://www.hayescarll.com/ and Todd Snider http://www.toddsnider.net/fr_home.cfmand maybe even Ryan Bingham http://www.binghammusic.com/. Regardless, you can bet they all dig Ray. I sure as shit do.  

4 comments:

  1. Nice reviews Frank. Good on you. Indie bookstores are the best and the more the big box bookstores topple, I think the better the little outlets will do financially.

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  2. Great reviews! And I'll take odds that they keep rolling in.

    Ray Wylie Hubbard has made some great music over the years. Snider is great, and Hayes Carll is definitely making his mark. I still haven't come around on Bingham, not sure why.

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  3. Frank, holy crap, thanks for using my blurb AND for having such an unbelievably awesome link to Warwick's on your page! I'm shocked & honored, sir.

    I posted pretty much the same blurb over on my humble site, http://thebookcatapult.com, by the way.

    Thanks again! Can't wait to sell the book!

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  4. Frank-Would you want to do a piece for HOW I CAME TO WRITE THIS BOOK on my blog? I usually run them on Thursdays. How about toward the end of Sept? If you are too busy, I well understand. Patti

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