DRINKS WITH ANDRE - #fridayflash

The other night at Smitty's I was bummed since there were more men in the joint than usual. Even more annoying was that I was stuck next to Andre, quite possibly the most annoying dude on the planet because he didn't know squat about bar etiquette.Like most of us, I hated Andre because when he was in a good mood he'd be the guy flaunting everything he owned -- from his Swedish watch to his German car -- all the while basking in wretched French cologne.Now...

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OUR KINDA PLACE...

I wanna get my hair cut here... Thanks to Barry Northern for the pic. Thanks for lookin' out...

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IN THE CIRCLE...

That ever-so-busy blogger Paul Brazill over at his popular blog got this lil' mini viral ball rolling when he was awarded this nifty Circle of Friends badge to five bloggin' buddies. Spreading like a wildfire in the Hollywood hills, it managed to make its way over to me. Thrice. I'm blushing...I thank the always-talented Laurita Miller, Erin Cole and Barry Northern for thinking of Bukowski's Basement in their prolific circle of friends.Now I'll pass...

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AWESOME ALERT: BURGER KING TO SELL BEER

Burger King has unveiled plans to sell beer and burgers at a Whopper Bar — a new BK concept to compete with casual dining restaurants — in Miami Beach's tourist-heavy South Beach. The South Beach Whopper Bar is scheduled to open in mid-February.Don't look for the hooch, though, at conventional Burger Kings. That's not in the plans. But more Whopper Bars — which offer an assortment of burgers, toppings and beer — could be on tap in tourist hot spots...

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SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION: AT THE BIJOU

My noir piece, "An Unlikely Partner" is up and live in a Noir-arama Double-Double Feature of talented scribes on the tasty blog At the Bijou.You will also find three delicious thrillers from the talented Kevin Michaels, the prolific Paul D. Brazill (who is everywhere online btw) and the super cool Bijou curator Absolutely*Kate, who's print project Harbinger*33 will showcase 33 super-talented scribes.Please click play to enjoy an audio reading of...

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'GONE 'TIL NOVEMBER' NOW OUT IN STORES

About a month or so back, I wrote about my former work colleague Wallace Stroby, who's third novel "Gone 'Til November" is out today in major bookstores. BTW, it's been getting some pretty damn good reviews.He recently posted an enlightening blog post explaining why there was a five year-lag time between books. In fact, he had started writing a completely different novel altogether and pretty much hit the wall and scrapped it. He says: The next morning...

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SHE NEEDED A JOB (flash fiction)

Clark County was supposed to be her salvation. Instead it became her handicap.When she got the call from her cousin that this town called Las Vegas was wide open with possibility, she hopped on the first bus clutching a suitcase and Harlequin.Over the course of the four-day bus trip, she wondered what kind of job ol' cuz would land her. As a medium-shot for a gambling hall somewhere in the desert, maybe he'd get her something in the casino office,...

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THE WHISKEY CHEAT SHEET

OK, guys... We all know that whiskey is a broad term for describing different variations of the spirit. Several regions and countries that make whiskey have their own distilling rules and regulations for the hooch to be considered official.In the simplest of terms, whiskey is comprised of water, a grain and yeast (if you add hops to those three, you get beer), and is aged in oak casks. The way you manipulate these ingredients accounts for all of...

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HOUSE OF CARDS (poem & podcast)

Please click play to enjoy an audio reading THE HOUSE OF CARDSHis new house is now areality.As is the excrutiatingmortgage payments.He won’t rest until they've beenthere a year.Only then will it seem real.Yup, after twelvemonths, he’ll put up his feetfor the first time.And his wife will lether hair down.And then she’ll smile.Finally.Only then, will it seem doable.They’d be bonafide.Only then, will he unpack."House of Cards" by Anthony Venutolo is...

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BOOZE WITHOUT THE HANGOVER MAY BE COMING

As I languish through a miserable weekend with strep throat, not much is making me happy. This little tidbit, though, brightened my evening somewhat.Professor David Nutt, one of Britain's top drug experts, is developing a synthetic alcohol substitute developed from chemicals similar in composition to Valium that could give users the pleasant feelings of tipsiness without affecting the parts of the brain that lead to barroom brawls, crippling addiction,...

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THAT LITTLE GIRL SAID WHAT????! OH NO SHE DIDN'T!

Next time you're writing witty banter between characters ask yourself -- I mean really ask yourself -- if you're ballsy with the words your characters utter.Mark Millar is...I've always admired comics creator Mark Millar. If there ever was a Bukowski-esque scribe in comics it's him. The reason being is that he's all out ballsy in his dialogue and makes no apologies for what he writes. Not to mention, he seem like a heck of a guy to grab a beer with......

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AS WRITERS, WHERE DO WE GET OUR IDEAS?

All of us writers have a well we visit when we do our thing. Scribes like Raymond Carver, Jim Carroll and even Bukowski infused much of their own experiences into what they created. Most mainstream authors, though, are plot-driven and may be compelled (even subconsciously) to perhaps "borrow" elements from different material. If you really wanna see how few plots there really are, check out The Writers Digest book "20 Master Plots and How to...

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HOW E-BOOKS WILL CHANGE WRITING (AND READING)

I suspect we'll be seeing more and more of these kinds of stories. Ten years ago, few imagined that by decade's end, people would be reading novels on cell phones. A lot has changed in the book world. The Kindle and other electronic reading devices have already started to make their mark, but they may begin to change the very words authors commit to posterity.Check out this pretty detailed NPR (ick) piece and accompanying podcast which sheds light...

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