Tag Archives: Down and Out Books

Pre-orders open for Gunshine State

Posted on February 5, 2018 by Andrew Nette| 3 Comments

A very quick heads up that pre-orders are now open for the re-released version of my novel, Gunshine State, which will be dropping from Down and Out Books on February 26.

It is available via this link here in e-book and paperback.

Gunshine State is a heist thriller set in Queensland, Melbourne and Thailand. Think Richard Stark’s Parker, Garry Disher’s Wyatt, and Wallace Stroby’s Crissa Stone. Add a touch of Surfers Paradise sleaze and a very dangerous stopover in Asia.

Gary Chance is a former Australian army driver, ex-bouncer and thief. His latest job sees him in Queensland working for Dennis Curry, an aging Surfers Paradise standover man. Curry runs off-site, non-casino poker games, and wants to rob one of his best customers, a high roller called Frederick ‘Freddie’ Gao. While the job may seem straightforward, Curry’s crew is anything but. Frank Dormer is a secretive former Australian soldier turned private security contractor. Sophia Lekakis is a highly-strung receptionist at the hotel where Gao stays when he visits Surfers. Amber is Curry’s female housemate and part of the lure for Gao. Chance knows he can’t trust anyone, but nothing prepares him for what unfolds when Curry’s plan goes wrong.

As part of the re-release the new book will include the first 5000 or so words of my follow up, Orphan Road.… Read more

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Posted in Australian crime fiction, Australian noir, Gunshine State

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Ghost Money reading, Summer crime work shop & other end of year notices

Posted on December 20, 2017 by Andrew Nette| Leave a comment

I know I am not the only one who will be glad to wave goodbye to the end of a long year. Before I head off for a few weeks break, I just want to give you all a quick heads up about a few things that are happening, that you might like to check out.

First up, a big thanks to The Segilola Salami Podcast for having me on to read from my first novel, Ghost Money. Ghost Money originally came out in 2013 and it is still a book that is dear to my heart. The story takes place in Cambodia, 1996, just as the long-running Khmer Rouge insurgency is fragmenting and competing factions of the coalition government scrambling to gain the upper hand. Missing in the chaos is businessman Charles Avery. Hired to find him is Vietnamese Australian ex-cop Max Quinlan. Anyway you can hear me read a couple of chapters, talk about the origins of the book, and why I wrote it here.

If you like what you hear and want to pick up a copy of Ghost Money, you can do so via Amazon.

The good folks at Writers Victoria have asked me to run a day-long class for emerging authors on January 15.… Read more

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Posted in Australian crime fiction, Australian pulp fiction, Ghost Money, Girl Gangs, Biker Boys and Real Cool Cats: Pulp Fiction & Youth Culture, 1950-1980, Gunshine State

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Cover reveal for the re-release of Gunshine State

Posted on October 24, 2017 by Andrew Nette| Leave a comment

Here’s the new cover for the re-lease of my second novel, Gunshine State, which will be dropping from Down and Out Books in February 2018.

I hope you like it as much as I do.

Gunshine State found itself without a home when its original publisher, 280 Steps, closed shop earlier this year. I am eternally grateful to Eric Campbell and the gang at Down and Out for giving the book a second chance.

Gunshine State is a heist thriller set in Queensland, Melbourne and Thailand. Think Richard Stark’s Parker, Garry Disher’s Wyatt, and Wallace Stroby’s Crissa Stone. Add a touch of Surfers Paradise sleaze and a very dangerous stopover in Asia.

Gary Chance is a former Australian army driver, ex-bouncer and thief. His latest job sees him in Queensland working for Dennis Curry, an aging Surfers Paradise standover man. Curry runs off-site, non-casino poker games, and wants to rob one of his best customers, a high roller called Frederick ‘Freddie’ Gao. While the job may seem straightforward, Curry’s crew is anything but. Frank Dormer is a secretive former Australian soldier turned private security contractor. Sophia Lekakis is a highly-strung receptionist at the hotel where Gao stays when he visits Surfers. Amber is Curry’s attractive female housemate and part of the lure for Gao.… Read more

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Posted in Australian crime fiction, Australian noir, Gunshine State

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A new publisher for Gunshine State

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Andrew Nette| Leave a comment

Anyone with a knowledge of the history of pulp and popular fiction publishing will know that publishers, particularly small publishers, come and go.

They appear on the scene, often amid a flash of initial excitement and publicity, prosper and become bigger. Or they may do well for a while until economic problems, changes in the publishing industry or the fortunes of the, often few, individuals running them, cause them to falter and close shop. The latter was the unfortunately fate of 280 Steps, the publisher of my second novel, Gunshine State, and the work of many other fine crime writers.

I don’t want to dwell on the reasons behind  280 Steps closure, which took effect at the end of April, except to say that when I signed with them in 2015, they appeared to be very going concern. They had a good business model, had their publicity act together, produced terrific cover art, and where putting together an excellent roster of existing and up and coming crime writers I was happy to number among.

The upshot of the 280 Steps closure is that, for the time being, Gunshine State will no longer be available to purchase either digitally or in hard copy. I say ‘for the time being’ because Gunshine State will be re-released in February 2018 by the US crime publisher Down and Out Books.… Read more

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Posted in Australian crime fiction, Australian noir, Gunshine State

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Guest post: AC/DC noir

Posted on March 6, 2017 by Andrew Nette| 5 Comments

cover-pluck-bad-boy-boogie-600x900pxI am very happy to welcome crime writer Thomas Pluck to Pulp Curry this week. He’s got a new crime novel out called Bad Boy Boogie. He’s based in New Jersey but is also a massive – and I mean massive – fan of the iconic Australia rock band, AC/DC. You reckon the book and the band aren’t connected? You reckon wrong.

I’ll let Thomas explain.

PluckI remember first hearing the snarl of Bon Scott’s voice on the radio in my grandmother’s basement. I promptly wrote “Dirty Deeds – Done Dirt Cheap” on a scrap of lumber and put out my shingle on her desk, waiting for clients who needed whatever help a nine-year-old raised on Encyclopedia Brown could offer.

I didn’t get to give anyone concrete shoes or use TNT. I think my sister hired me to find her imaginary dog. But AC/DC stuck with me. They sounded like no other rock band I’d heard before. And I wasn’t totally sheltered. My uncle ran bars in Manhattan and the jukebox service was mob controlled, so you played what records they gave you and when they swapped them out, he came home with shoeboxes of KISS, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Marvin Gaye, Wings, and Steve Wonder.

But no AC/DC.

I wouldn’t hear much of them again until high school, when I had my own money from delivering papers and occasionally working off the books on construction sites.… Read more

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Posted in 1970s American crime films, Crime fiction, Noir fiction

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