Jimmy Veeder is simple kind of guy who just wants to get married, raise his son, drink beer with his friends, and work on his farm. Unfortunately, he’Jimmy Veeder is simple kind of guy who just wants to get married, raise his son, drink beer with his friends, and work on his farm. Unfortunately, he’s also the kind of guy who can accidently get on the bad side of a drug cartel kingpin while on his honeymoon in Mexico. In other words, poor ole Jimmy is just a shit magnet.
The books in this series are labeled as Jimmy Veeder Fiascos, and this third one certainly lives up to that billing. After Jimmy’s ill-fated trip to Mexico he returns to his home town in California’s Imperial Valley, but with a small army of cartel goons hot on his trail Jimmy has to turn to his friends for help. Since most of Jimmy’s pals are a collection of small town hell-raisers who thrive on drinking and fighting it isn’t exactly a group of tactical geniuses he can call on. But then again it’s not exactly like Jimmy is known for his long term planning skills either.
Johnny Shaw is one of those writers who is just flat-out funny. Both Jimmy’s first person narration and the dialogue are laced with hilarious lines that get me to laugh out loud, and he’s got a knack for mixing that with action along with some emotional stakes to feel like it all matters. I also appreciate that with Jimmy he’s created a regular fella with a good heart who isn’t a bad ass and really doesn’t want to hurt anyone even as he frequently finds himself in violent situations. Shaw does an equally good job at portraying the rural lifestyle and the oddball characters you might find there. I come from farm country so I’ve known more than a few people exactly like Jimmy’s buddies in my life. Just as Shaw presents them you’ll never have a more loyal friend who can nearly get you killed in ways you can’t imagine, and they’ll usually have a beer in their hand while it happens.
Fans of Joe R. Lansdale’s Hap & Leonard series should definitely give these books a try because they share a lot of the same DNA, but Shaw has got his own style and rhythm that’s he’s pretty much honed to perfection at this point. This was just pure madcap fun to read.
Full Disclosure – I once contributed an unpaid review to the Shaw’s Blood & Tacos e-zine....more
I received an advance copy of this from NetGalley.
Auction City is the kind of town that would keep Gotham City from being ranked #1 on one of those WoI received an advance copy of this from NetGalley.
Auction City is the kind of town that would keep Gotham City from being ranked #1 on one of those Worst Places To Live In America lists. It’s a decaying cesspool of crime and corruption where an honest cop like Andy Destra gets framed, disgraced, and tossed off the police force after he digs a little too deeply into a case.
Unemployment doesn’t keep Andy from launching a personal investigation and crusade against the deputy chief who got him fired, but his obsession with looking into Auction City’s shady history has him teetering on the brink of being written off as a conspiracy theory whackadoo. When Andy sees a mysterious lady visiting the woman who raised him it sparks his curiosity and leads him to previously unsuspected layers of Auction City secrets that could get him killed.
I’ve been a big cheerleader for Johnny Shaw since I stumbled across his old Blood & Tacos* e-zines and had an ARC of his Dove Season dropped in my lap a few years back, and it’s been a genuine pleasure to keep up with his career since then. He’s got a knack of creating characters who are likable losers and putting them in hilariously violent situations with plenty of laugh out loud moments. Floodgate continues that trend with Andy being a goof who finds himself in over his head and confronted with a stream of increasingly outlandish characters and situations.
That works pretty well, but I had a few problems with this one. The story seems a bit slow coming out of the gate, and it takes a while to get up and running. Andy is also a problematic protagonist who is supposed to be an ex-cop who knows the score in Auction City, and yet he seems almost painfully naïve and short-sighted at times. This whole story hinges on the idea that out of simple curiosity Andy starts chasing a trail despite being warned off in very scary ways and having his life threatened, and that just doesn’t seem like enough motivation for this.
In addition to that there’s also the contradiction that Andy is supposed to be the kind of guy who can patiently prowl old records and painstakingly build files on every nook and cranny of Auction City, yet he’s so impatient that he can’t sit on a stake-out for 20 minutes without getting bored and doing something he knows is stupid. Frankly, he comes across as kind of a dumb ass just running around with his hair on fire who then criticizes other for their lack of planning and research later in the book. (view spoiler)[Which is rich coming from the guy who started the whole mess by accidently killing a guy he confronted with a gun without thinking of what he’d do next. (hide spoiler)]
That kind of characterization has worked in other Shaw books when his leads are supposed to be rednecks and morons, but this kind of story seems to demand a smart, cynical, and capable hero. It seems improbable that Andy could have lasted for ten minutes in Auction City, let alone have once been a cop there. I know this is primarily a comedy, but it just didn’t seem like the kind of story where the main character could be that idiotic and impulsive.
Still, I loved the whole idea of this hellish city that makes Detroit seem like garden spot and the underlying history to the whole situation. There’s a cool concept at the heart of this that could be a fun series, and Shaw puts some very funny bits into the chaos that ensues. However, I had a hard time getting past the basic stupidity of Andy that drives the entire plot.
* - Full disclosure. I once contributed an unpaid review to Blood & Tacos....more
I’m so glad that I finished up this collection of holiday themed crime stories from Thuglit magazine just in time for Christmas. Give or take five dayI’m so glad that I finished up this collection of holiday themed crime stories from Thuglit magazine just in time for Christmas. Give or take five days or so. You know what they say about it being close enough for horseshoes and hand grenades.
And speaking of hand grenades, Chingon is back!!
The main reason I bought this was because of Johnny Shaw’s* magnificent creation, Chingon. Feliz Navidead is a story by Brace Godfrey that was ‘discovered' by Shaw that spoofs men’s adventure novels from the ‘70s and ‘80s featuring a Christmas adventure for the World’s Deadliest Mexican in which Chingon reunites with his old comrades the The Explosioners. Shaw has a hilarious knack for writing prose that is deliberately bad and dated with hilarious results, and he’s got one multi-page joke in there that is just fantastic.
The rest of the stories turn out to be a very solid mix of Christmas crime carnage with enough black humor and melancholy to remind everyone what the holidays are really all about. I particularly enjoyed Mistletoe by Hilary Davidson, and ’Twas the Night Before by Todd Robinson.
* Full disclosure - I contributed an unpaid review to one of Shaw’s Blood & Taco magazines. ...more
“Ceja Carneros hit me so hard he broke his watch on my head.”
And with that opening line the second Jimmy Veeder Fiasco begins. In Dove Season Jimmy re“Ceja Carneros hit me so hard he broke his watch on my head.”
And with that opening line the second Jimmy Veeder Fiasco begins. In Dove Season Jimmy returned to his childhood home in the desert country of Imperial Valley in California after years of doing his best avoid any and all responsibility. Now he’s a farmer living with his girlfriend and raising a small boy, but Jimmy can’t entirely give up his old ways. Whenever his best friend Bobby Maves decides it time for drunken adventure Jimmy is his first call to join him on Mavescapades that usually involve physical injuries as well as hangovers. Since Bobby recently broke up with his girlfriend the late nights have been a lot more frequent lately.
Then Bobby gets word that his estranged sixteen year daughter has disappeared from her home in a neighboring city, and Jimmy feels obligated to help his friend track the girl down. Since Bobby fully believes that anything less than kicking in doors, knocking heads, and demanding answers is a completely unacceptable they soon find themselves embroiled in a series of confrontations that are both extremely violent and pretty funny.
Johnny Shaw hit my radar in a big way a couple years back with Dove Season, Big Maria and the quarterly e-magazine Blood & Tacos*, and Plaster City continues to show what makes him such a fun read. It's fast, violent, funny, and entertaining, and Jimmy’s second adventure is as good as the first. The emotional weight this time comes from Jimmy’s conflict between wanting to be a responsible person that his girlfriend and son can depend on, and his desire to be a loyal friend to the reckless Bobby.
A big part of the appeal is that Jimmy isn’t your typical crime novel protagonist. He’s not a bad ass and is well aware that he’s in way over his head. Jimmy’s also a genuinely nice guy who doesn’t want to hurt anyone. Yet he feels duty bound to stick by Bobby even as his macho redneck insistence on doing things with fists and guns repeatedly puts both of them in danger. As they cross paths with a Mexican biker gang and another childhood friend who has become a dangerous criminal kingpin the tension between Jimmy’s family life and his friend increases to the breaking point.
Anyone who likes a fast paced story populated by colorful characters in which the violence is doled out with both humor and an appreciation of the consequences should be reading Johnny Shaw.
*(Full disclosure. I contributed an unpaid review to an issue of Blood & Tacos.)
Three men who are down on their luck go looking for gold in the mountains of a desert.
“Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I don'Three men who are down on their luck go looking for gold in the mountains of a desert.
“Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges!”
No, no, this isn't The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. The characters in this have far more in common with Donald Westlake’s luckless thief Dortmunder than they do with Humphrey Bogart.
In a little shit splat of a town Harry is a prison guard scamming disability checks that he uses to finance his drinking. Frank is an elderly Native American who is more scared of his angry overbearing daughter than he is of the cancer that is killing him. Ricky isn't too bright but dearly loves his wife and daughter and hopes to someday get them out of the trailer park they’re living in.
While lying in an alley outside a bar with puke in his pants, Harry overhears a conversation that gets him interested in the gold mines of the nearby Chocolate Mountains, and he decides that’s the way to change his fortunes. When circumstances bring Rick and Frank into the plan, Frank reveals some family history that gives them a clue to a fortune in gold that might be hidden away in the old Big Maria mine.
The problem is that the Big Maria is located in the middle of the mountains where the US military tests out all of its artillery, bombs, and mines. Their efforts to locate the gold result in a dark comedy of errors and explosions.
Like his first novel Dove Season, Johnny Shaw has written a very funny story set in the desert country of the California/Arizona border populated with a collection of misfits and losers. The great thing about it is that Shaw makes you care about these people and their struggle to improve their lives and doesn't treat them like cartoon cliches.
There are a lot of twists to the story that is often funny and graphically gross, usually at the same time. The ending was somewhat abrupt, and I liked Dove Season a bit more than this one. Still it’s a fun read and a humorous story about guys seeking their fortunes with grim determination no matter what life throws at them.
Full disclosure: I have done an unpaid review for the Blood & Tacos quarterly e-magazine that Johnny Shaw edits and writes for. ...more
As with the first two volumes, there's much fun to be had with this collection of stories and articles that pay tribute and satirize the manly men’s aAs with the first two volumes, there's much fun to be had with this collection of stories and articles that pay tribute and satirize the manly men’s adventure stories of the 1970s-’80s. There’s lots of good stuff in here including stories featuring a martial arts fight where sex toys are used for weapons, a chemist who tries to take down a drug infested town with items he literally pulls out of his ass and an ocean battle against sharks and Mayan Nazi Vampires.
But the best part of this one is a review for a book called Doomsday Warrior #9 - America’s Zero Hour. What makes it so great? That’s easy. I wrote it.*
So if you want to hear my witty thoughts regarding a book that has post-apocalyptic American patriots using throwing stars in a fight with a tribe of cannibal Sasquatch, download it for a buck. Or you could read it for free on the website, but then I might come around with my beggar’s cup asking for spare change, and it’ll be awkward for both of us….
* Seriously. I contributed an unpaid review to this issue....more
Full disclosure: I contributed an unpaid review to Blood & Tacos #3.
To quote the movie Robocop, “I’d buy that for a dollar!”
Johnny Shaw and company haFull disclosure: I contributed an unpaid review to Blood & Tacos #3.
To quote the movie Robocop, “I’d buy that for a dollar!”
Johnny Shaw and company have done another edition of their quarterly magazine that both parodies and pays tribute to the action adventure stories of the ’70s and ’80s that starred ass kicking heroes who usually sported mustaches.
Featuring stories by guys with hilarious bios that were ’discovered’ by other authors along with reviews from books of that type, this second edition is well worth the 99 cents it costs from Amazon. Hell, the cover alone is worth the buck.
This one isn’t quite as funny as the first edition with one story called Burn In actually being kind of dark and disturbing . That one and The G-String Gundown about a stripper seeking revenge were the two standouts in this edition.
Johnny Shaw again provides the biggest laughs with From American Viking to Zane: A Brace Godfrey Chrestomathy. In this, Shaw creates a hilarious fake partial bibliography for the so-called “King of the Three Shots” that he credited with writing the Blood & Tacos story in the last volume that gave the magazine its title. I’ve got my fingers crossed that future editions will actually give us some of these stories listed here like the Yo-Yo Assassin or Knockers O‘Malley: Lady Cop. ...more
The Reading Gods had been tapping me on the shoulder for a while about Johnny Shaw, but I foolishly ignored their omens.
Dove Season was one of the ARCThe Reading Gods had been tapping me on the shoulder for a while about Johnny Shaw, but I foolishly ignored their omens.
Dove Season was one of the ARCs I got in the freebie bag at Bouchercon last fall. I thought it looked interesting, and then I got into a conversation with a young woman who worked for Amazon and asked me what books I’d received. When I mentioned this title, she told me I should put it at the top of my list. So after I got home I put it on the To Read pile with every intention of checking it out in the near future.
Then I forgot all about it.
Six months later and the Blood & Tacos e-book was pointed out to me and with a title like that, who could resist? Read it and loved it, and when I looked up this Johnny Shaw character, I saw that he had written a book called Dove Season which sounded really familiar for some reason. After finally reading it, I’m heartily ashamed that I let it languish on the shelf.
Jimmy Veeder is a good natured guy who has been coasting through life with the sole ambition of avoiding responsibility. When he learns his father Jack is dying of cancer, Jimmy returns to his childhood home in Imperial Valley which is in the desert borderland of California, Arizona and Mexico. As a last request, Jack asks Jimmy to track down a Mexican prostitute named Yolanda and convince her to come see him. With the help of his boyhood friend Bobby, Jimmy crosses the border to Mexicali and asks another old friend who is now a big shot in the porn and prostitution industry to track her down. Unfortunately, Jimmy’s wish to fulfill his dying father’s request will lead him to more trouble than he can imagine.
The story of Jimmy’s return to his hometown while he tries to cope with the upcoming death of his father and then getting sucked into the violent Mexicali underworld made for a crime story that doesn’t skimp on the death and violence but also has a surprising amount of moving things to say about family and friendship.
Fans of Joe R. Lansdale’s Hap & Leonard series would probably enjoy this because it’s got a similar vibe with a very decent guy with good intentions in a rural environment getting mixed up with dangerous people.
I definately won’t be letting the next Johnny Shaw book gather dust on a shelf. ...more
Full disclosure: I contributed an unpaid review to Blood & Tacos #3.
It took a title as awesome as Blood & Tacos to get me to finally read an e-book. AFull disclosure: I contributed an unpaid review to Blood & Tacos #3.
It took a title as awesome as Blood & Tacos to get me to finally read an e-book. As soon as Jim Thane pointed this out to me, I borrowed the wife’s Kindle Fire and spent a whopping 99 cents for it.
Author Johnny Shaw came up with a very fun idea. He and his friends would write stories under fake names in the style of the men’s adventure stories that were big in the ‘70s and ‘80s like The Executioner series, and e-publish them as if they discovered them in basements and attics and garage sales. They've tapped into that right wing action fantasy mindset to deliver a series of stories about how only men with mustaches and heavy weapons stand between America and vicious criminals, communists and damn dirty hippies.
With intentionally bad writing, the stories do a great job of poking fun at the action fests of the era. There’s also several humorous reviews of actual titles from the time like (God help us all) The Penetrator #14: Mankill Sport.
The stories do several different types of two-fisted gun-toting stories:
The Silencer is inspired by the black exploitation films and features a hero who custom makes his own guns to shoot jive turkeys and racist honkies.
My second favorite story featured a character known as The Albino Wino who has been captured by murderous hippies and has to fight the DT’s as well as come up with a way to escape the Longhair Death Farm.
Battleground U.S.S.A: Texasgrad is a Red Dawn style account of a US soldier returning to his hometown after World War III has broken out only to find that it’s been taken over by Soviet invaders.
The A-Team look like a bunch of wimps compared to the Vietnam veterans of Tiger Team Bravo who are out for revenge in Bonds of Blood.
All of these are good for some serious chuckles, but my favorite story by far is the title tale of Blood & Tacos written by Shaw. It features Chingon, ‘The World’s Deadliest Mexican’ who carries a bullwhip and a bandolier of grenades and refers to himself in the third person as he tries to rescue a U.S. senator’s daughter who has been kidnapped. This one features some great awful writing like this bit:
“The family hired Chingon to get her back. And once Chingon has been paid, Chingon never backs down. Chingon never surrenders. And Chingon never compromises,” Chingon said about Chingon.
And here’s how Chingon enters a room:
Chingon kicked open the saloon doors, splintering wood and shattering the door from its hinges. Sneaking in back doors was for weak men and Canadians.
This collection reminded me a lot of the Black Dynamite film, which I loved, because it’s got that same style of mining humor out of doing these kind of stories with deadpan seriousness and taking it to insane lengths. The good news is that the plan is to publish more of these Blood & Tacos collections, and I’ll have my buck ready for the next one. ...more
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