FRONT PAGE PALOOKA
Dig pulp fiction? Then check out this vintage, two-fisted tale from FIGHT CARD BOOKS that's hard-boiled and whiskey-soaked...
READ THE NEW PULP AWARD NOMINEE FOR BEST NOVELLA | BEST NEW WRITER and BEST NEW CHARACTER
‘... A fantastic Noir Fiction novella that any fan of the genre should read ...'
‘... Good, old-fashioned, manly-writing ...'
‘... A potboiler in the style of old school writers like Mickey Spillane, Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler ...’
‘... The writing lopes with an almost lyrical rhythm ...'
'... Like it or not, this is the fight game… A page turner ...'
‘... Author Anthony Venutolo has a newspaperman's eye for details ...'
Newark, New Jersey, 1954
Years of fight halls and newsrooms have East Coast sportswriter, Nick Moretti, looking for a change. When a sloppy hustle goes bad, and Nick takes a bullet in the shoulder, it’s time to go west.
Hired by Pinnacle Pictures to write a boxing movie about troubled heavyweight champ Jericho ‘Rattlesnake’ McNeal, Nick joins forces with sexy public relations gal, Dillian Dawson, for a cross-country tour to give an everyman boxer an unlikely shot at the world title – what could go wrong?
From the crackling neon of Hollywood and Sin City, through the steamy Delta, and on to Chi-Town, the glitzy dream becomes a noir nightmare, and newshound Nick Moretti is about to commit a reporter’s greatest sin – becoming a Front Page Palooka...
Buy the eBook now at Amazon on download a sample.
'FRONT PAGE PALOOKA' TRAILER
BOURBON & BLONDES
Minimalist in approach but long on mood and atmosphere, the first entry in The Ladies of Liquor series is a boozy mix of old-school pulp, shadowy noir and hard-boiled double-crosses.
Writer Anthony Venutolo delivers a collection of nearly 50 flash fictions and short stories that splatter onto the page at 90 proof. From the deserted bus stations of Route 66 to the smoky, neon-tinged jazz dives of the big cities, these wanton tales of longing introduce us to desperate vixens on the fringe and those shifty men that drove them there.
Get your shot glass ready because in this retro world, showgirls, drifters, barmaids and thieves have one thing in common -- they're all painted on a seedy canvas drenched in a hearty barrel of Kentucky's finest nectar.
PRAISE FOR ANTHONY VENUTOLO'S FLASH FICTION:
In 1-2 page meteoric, magnesium-burning, retina-blinding flashes, Anthony Venutolo may be writing a fiction of the future that is technically, and decidedly, not science fiction. Part short story, borderline poetry, his "flash fiction"'s, as are quite possibly, with the imminent death of the moribund novel, the future of literature where everything'll be read on a Web-based phone, PDA or tablet. But don't let this "modern" format deter you from discovering these charmingly retro pieces that borrow heavily from film noir, detective fiction, Jorge Luis Borges and Bukowski a little (natch). Drolly funny, surreally pithy, they may herald, if Venutolo decides to stretch his considerable wings into the longer form, a unique, personal voice that has the timbre and dispassionate worldview of the hardboiled private eye novel, hearkening back, even as it speeds headlong and tangle-footed into the future, to a now bygone past.
— Rex Pickett, author of ‘Sideways’ and ‘Vertical’
MORE PRAISE FOR 'BOURBON & BLONDES' FROM AMAZON
'... Venutolo's stories capture a time, a place, and a culture that is part noir, part Mad Men, and part imagination. Hemingwayesque in the best possible fashion each story is a gem captured in a shot glass. I'l take another...'
'... Venutolo has proven that he has the gift of descriptive writing. He can take you back in time, with his words, and leave you smiling and wanting more. True talent. Grab some hooch and get your mitts on this gem... '
'... "Venutolo makes every word count in each of these stories, and the twists and turns herein will entice you to read many of these stories more than once. The longest story here, 'The Secret Society of Bourbon Drinkers,' stands out as a masterful work of fiction and anyone who can remember being taken to a bar as a kid could relate to this story. All the stories in this collection truly pack a punch and move fast. If you are a fan of noir fiction, crime stories, boxing, or grimy old Las Vegas this collection is right up your alley. ..."
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