Joey Cucuzza in Low Down Dirty Vote Volume 3

Plucking Around for the Week of April 25th

My latest Joey Cucuzza story—not counting the teaser I posted here last month—is called “Joey Cucuzza Loses His Election,” and appears in the anthology Low Down Dirty Vote: Volume 3, edited by Mysti Berry. This series of mystery and crime charity anthologies support Democracy Docket, a voting rights organization. You can pre-order the paperback from your local bookshop through the link, and the usual online retailers have it as well.

It’s got stories from Sarah M. Chen, Eric Beetner, James McCrone, Faye Snowden, David Hagerty, Jackie Ross Flaum, and more. The Low Down Dirty Vote anthology website has more info and reviews of the previous volumes, from Publisher’s Weekly. Faye Snowden’s story “One Bullet, One Vote,” from volume 2 was chosen for The Best American Mystery & Suspense 2021.

If you‘d like a taste of The Big Cucuzza to see if you like the Joey C stories, about a dapper gay mob fixer who works at the Newark port, “The Cucuzza Curse” is online at Tough Crime Magazine; “A Taste of Cucuzza” is part of my online story archive. The second Joey story, “The Green Manalishi (with the Two-Pronged Crown)” is in Collectibles, edited by Lawrence Block, and “S.L.U.G.: a Joey Cucuzza Conundrum” is in Gabba Gabba Hey, a Ramones inspired anthology.

Other publications coming up include “Blue Canaries” in the next issue of Vautrin.

It’s funny what I consider “writing,” as I was about to apologize for “not writing.” When I’ve been sending out multiple newsletters a week. I wanted to write more today but I’m exhausted from flying. There will be another Pine Bairn adventure for Sunday.

Zzzzz