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Unloaded Volume 2: More Crime Writers Writing Without Guns

Review

Unloaded Volume 2: More Crime Writers Writing Without Guns

edited by Eric Beetner

A crime thriller anthology without guns? How Edgar Allan Poe-ish. Poe is considered to be the creator of detective fiction, and his iconic image is used by Mystery Writers of America, an organization to which many of the 24 authors featured in this anthology belong.

Moreover, Poe’s characters used creative means, not guns, to commit crimes. In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the protagonist frightens to death the antagonist, dismembers the body and dissembles the parts beneath the floorboards.

That is the creative crime vein in which the lifeblood of both Unloaded anthologies flows.

Serial killer Miles has terminal cancer in “Endgame”: “He who lived to kill withheld death as a petty punishment.” He had collected a souvenir from each victim, and now visits each kill site, hoping to relive the thrill. Karma “kneed him in the groin.” Actually, Katie did, the sister of his first victim.

"Mass shootings bring to mind the need to focus crime fiction creativity without the use of guns. In that, these authors succeed. Brilliantly!"

“The entire town was a neon fiction,” aka Las Vegas, where Eddie Flynn is confronted by a professional poker player at Caesar’s Palace. “You’re bluffing,” says his opponent, when $57k lay on the table. The tables turn like a tornado, but who ends up with the cash in “The Neon Punch”?

In “You Kill Me,” Leona mulls, “How could a mousy woman like me ever kill her own husband?” who is a pathetic replica of Stanley Kowalski, only more domineering.

“Character Is Everything” is a whimsical tale about Roscoe Boyer, who writes robot character profiles. But Roscoe’s boss was “closing down the character department, getting rid of the writers and handing it all over to the” robots Roscoe had created. Artificial intelligence. But Roscoe isn’t finished; he’s “delving deeper and deeper into the original PeopleBot character code. Then he started typing.” Moral of the story? Never tick off a writer.

In “We Have to Talk,” Anna Ackerman becomes an overachiever after her brother dies in youth. The tale unfolds, reminiscent of A SEPARATE PEACE.

These are only a few samples of the creative ways crime fiction writers can off antagonists, so much more imaginative than a gun on the mantle.

There have been mass shootings in San Bernardino, Las Vegas, Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church, Orlando’s Pulse Nightclub, the church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, Sandy Hook Elementary School, Columbine, and the recent spate of killings by guns at schools. Mass shootings bring to mind the need to focus crime fiction creativity without the use of guns. In that, these authors succeed. Brilliantly!

The UNLOADED: VOLUME 2 dedication page specifies: “For the women, children and men who have been victims of gun violence. And to the families left behind.” Proceeds from the sales of both Unloaded volumes go to the nonprofit States United to Prevent Gun Violence.

Reviewed by L. Dean Murphy on July 20, 2018

Unloaded Volume 2: More Crime Writers Writing Without Guns
edited by Eric Beetner