Kirjahaku

NEW ALLEYS FOR NOTHING MEN reads like a handbook for the bent, but not yet broken, humanizing even the darkest moments with laughter and tears. Drug addicts, thieves, and used car salesmen abound in this haunting collection of crime and noir short stories. At times funny, at times heartbreaking, but always emotionally impactful, these short stories humanize the outcasts and give a voice to the doomed among us who are desperately looking for something, anything, to hold onto. Michael Pool writes with humanity, clarity, and a street sense of justice that cannot be forgotten. Includes stories published in magazines such as Thuglit, All Due Respect, Heater, Out of the Gutter, Urban Graffiti and more "You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll keep turning the pages, because one thing is for sure--Michael Pool can write. A gripping collection of tales about the broken, the bent and the down-and-out. Michael dishes up characters with depth, facing internal and external conflicts that will leave you wanting more. One of the best short story collections I've read."- Dietrich Kalteis, award-winning author of Ride the Lightning, The Deadbeat Club, and Triggerfish. "Many of the characters in this compelling collection find themselves in dire straights after life-changing events. Pool's knack for showing how people react when the chips are down is what brings these stories to life-each in its own dark way. This is a book about the moments that change us, and the moment to read it is now." - S.W. Lauden, author of Bad Citizen Corporation and Crosswise

Private investigator Riley Reeves specializes in cases of at-risk or missing girls that often lead her into dangerous waters. On the same day that a socialite couple hires Riley to protect their teenage daughter Carmen from a mysterious stalker, Riley's troubled alcoholic brother and last living relative, Chip, shows up on her doorstep fresh out of the state penitentiary.Riley's investigation soon uncovers that Carmen is involved with a dangerous group of redneck gangbangers, though their connection to the stalking remains unclear.Meanwhile, Chip is off the wagon and running wild, drumming up constant trouble that soon arrives at Riley's doorstep. As pressure ratchets up from all sides, personal and professional, will Riley be able to save the girl without neglecting her own loved ones at the time they need her most?

Cooper and Davis are a couple of jam band-obsessed Texas ex-pats growing some of Denver's finest organic cannabis and living the good life on tour. Or, at least they were, until legal weed put the squeeze on their market and cramped their playboy lifestyle. When their last out-of-state distributor gets busted by an Illinois task force, they're left with no choice but to turn to their reckless former associate Elroy "Sancho" Watts to unload one last crop down in Teller County, Texas. But Sancho Watts has troubles of his own in the form of Texas Ranger Russ Kirkpatrick, tasked under the table with nailing Watts for anything that will stick because of his involvement in the drug-induced suicide of a state senator's son. Not to mention his infamous new business partner, Heisman quarterback and NFL burnout Bobby Burnell, a man working to rise from the ashes of his self-destructed football career by making a name for himself in his criminally inclined Teller County family, no matter who he has to double-cross to get there. What ensues is a pine-curtain criminal jamboree where everyone involved keeps their cards close to their vest, and all the high-stakes two-stepping is sure to result in bloodshed. Praise for TEXAS TWO-STEP: "Tough and taut, Texas Two-Step packs a punch. Michael Pool delivers." --Sam Wiebe, award-winning author of Cut You Down "Texas Two-Step is a shotgun marriage between the Coen brothers and Joe Lansdale. Come for the gun-slinging, drug-dealing hijinks, but stay for the witty characterizations and whip-crack plotting that drives this humdinger to its action-packed denouement. Michael Pool follows up on every ounce of promise he's shown so far as one of Texas crime fiction's hottest rising star. Make room on your bookshelf for Texas' own Elmore Leonard " --Eryk Pruitt, author of Dirtbags, Hashtag, and What We Reckon "Michael Pool's Texas Two-Step is a gritty adventure in the spirit of True Romance and Savages, filled with weed, bullets, double-crosses, and even a messy sort of redemption." --Nick Kolakowski, author of Slaughterhouse Blues and A Brutal Bunch of Heartbroken Saps "Michael Pool spins a story that's got kick. Take a couple of desperate pot growers and a truckload of weed crossing state lines, throw in a gauntlet of thugs, losers and backstabbers, along with law enforcement watching and listening in, and you've got Texas Two-Step. A story that's got pace, terrific characters and some unexpected turns. Everything you want in a crime novel." --Dietrich Kalteis, award-winning author of Zero Avenue, House of Blazes, Triggerfish, The Deadbeat Club and Ride the Lightning "Some things, once you get into them, they're hard as blue blazes to get out of. I would count Michael's book as one of them. It's almost impossible to put down, and, even when you finish it, it won't let go of you. They say to write what you know. If Michael followed that line of reasoning, I'm a little worried about him. I hope he makes out alright." --Tim Bryant, author of the Dutch Curridge series "Michael Pool's spot-on descriptions in this crime caper make for a good read with its own voice." --Earl Javorsky, author of Down Solo and Trust Me

Cam Reynolds has a problem... When Cam's longtime boss Tom Colcetti dies and leaves control of his criminal organization to his predatory son Tommy, Cam may finally get the chance to run a crew of his own. But Tommy has his eyes on new business horizons, and Cam just made a mistake that could destroy Tommy's heavy-hitting new partnership. Now Cam must struggle against violent forces of betrayal, lust, and greed as he attempts to either salvage his career, or get out of the game with his life still intact.

When Cole Quick returns to his estranged hometown of Teller, Texas for his alcoholic father's funeral, it doesn't take long for old debts, both criminal and psychological, to drag him back into the underworld he fled thirteen years earlier. Fresh off the death of his wife, a former local debutante who swore off her inheritance to skip town with him, Cole soon finds trouble from her family on the other side of the tracks as well. To escape Teller County with his life intact he'll have to solve an old friend's murder, resist powerful forces conspiring to pillage his birthright, and crack open the debutante town's sterile shell to reveal the dark forces of racism, classism, and corruption operating just beneath the surface.