Tag Archives: Gary Chance

Pre-orders open for Gunshine State

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

Cover reveal for the re-release of Gunshine State

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

‘…Wyatt’s got some serious competition now’

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Sometimes one just has to do a bit of shameless self-promotion.

It’s been nearly three weeks since the release of my second novel, Gunshine State, my heist thriller set in Queensland, Melbourne and Thailand, and the reviews so far have been very positive.

My favourite of the crop so far is from Karen Chisholm, Australia’s most consistent and rigorous non mainstream media crime reviewer, who helms the site, Australian crime fiction:

‘What Gunshine State does as well is avoid the trap of style over substance. For all the lean and mean styling and strong characterisations, there is also a very solid plot. Believability again being the key here. There are all twists and turns you’d expect when the people on your side are as bad as the ones you’re up against, and there’s a certain type of person that does not take being screwed over – literally or figuratively – quietly… There’s room in Australian crime fiction for two lone-wolf anti-hero types, and Wyatt’s got some serious competition now.’

Those are terrific sentiments, given how much of a fan of Garry Disher and his creation, the character of the master thief Wyatt, I am. You can read the full review on Karen’s site here.

The other reviews so far have also been good:

‘… a comprehensive love letter to the genre’s rough hewn roots.’ … Read more

Roll on 2012

I don’t know about you, but I feel like it’s been a long year.

Pulp Curry is going to be taking a break over the Christmas/New Year period, returning in mind-2012.

It’s shaping up to be a big one for me writing-wise. My manuscript, tentatively titled Cambodia Darkness and Light, will be published as an e-book in the US some time in the second half of 2012, by Snubnose Press.

I also have short fiction appearing in a number of publications. Max Quinlan, an Australian-Vietnamese ex-cop and the main character in Cambodia Darkness and Light, will be making an appearance in issue two of Noir Nation, in a story called ‘Homeland’.

Gary Chance, a tough, ex-Australian army veteran who now makes a living pulling heists for anyone who’ll pay, will appear in The One That Got Away, an anthology of Australian crime fiction by Dark Prints Press, out February.

Chance will also feature in a story by me in Crime Factory: Hard Labour, out in March. Hard Labour is an anthology of crime stories by authors either born in Australia or residing here.

Rather than just complaining about the narrowness of the local crime fiction scene, Melbourne’s Crime Factory crew, myself, Cameron Ashely and Liam Jose, have decided to get active and do something about it.… Read more

Who Is Gary Chance? Buy Dark Pages, Volume One, and find out

On-line publisher Trestle Press released the first of a series of international noir and hard-boiled anthologies over the weekend.

Dark Pages: Volume One tries to answer the question: What is noir/hard-boiled like all over the world? What does it mean in your country and how does it read?

The anthology contains twelve stories from authors in USA, England, Ireland, Poland, New Zealand and Canada. There’s a few contributors whose work I’m familiar with, including pulp hack Paul D Brazill (and Paul, if you’re reading this, that’s a compliment) and Julia Madeleine, and a whole lot who I’m looking forward to reading for the first time.

I’m one of two Australian contributors.

My story, ‘One Ashore in Singapore’, is the second tale of mine to find its way into print featuring the character of Gary Chance. Chance is a tough as nails ex-Australian army veteran who now makes a living pulling heists for anyone who’ll pay.

My first Chance story ‘Two Men and a Car’, appeared in Crime Factory: The First Shift, published earlier this year by indie US crime publisher, New Pulp Press. You can order Crime Factory: The First Shift here at Barns and Noble and Amazon.

Chance will also appear in early 2012 in an anthology of local crime fiction by a new Australian publisher, Dark Prints Press.… Read more