I am excited to welcome author Johnny Shaw, who’s here to share a look at his newest Jimmy Veeder Fiasco novel, Plaster City.
Jimmy Veeder and Bobby Maves are back at it, two years after the events of Dove Season—they’re not exactly the luckiest guys in the Imperial Valley, but, hey, they win more fights than they lose.
Settled on his own farmland and living like a true family man after years of irresponsible fun, Jimmy’s got a straight life cut out for him. But he’s knocking years off that life thanks to fun-yet-dangerous Bobby’s booze-addled antics—especially now that Bobby is single, volatile, profane as ever, and bored as hell.
When Bobby’s teenage daughter goes missing, he and Jimmy take off on a misadventure that starts out as merely unfortunate and escalates to downright calamitous. Bobby won’t hesitate to kick a hornets’ nest to get the girl to safety, but when the rescue mission goes riotously sideways, the duo’s grit—and loyalty to each other—is put to the test.
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Exclusive Excerpt: Plaster City by Johnny Shaw
“Kill dead on you,” Ceja Yoda-ed. His alcohol breath queased me as a cloud of sour murdered the air between us.
I didn’t want to hurt the big moron, but I wanted to get hit again even less. I needed to use my sobriety as a strategic advantage. I could think faster, move faster, and exploit my cleverness. I devised a devious and intricate plan.
I kicked him in the balls.
Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer the classics.
It took a lot of booze to ignore a steel-toe to the grapes. Ceja’s eyes watered and he let out a death rattle of an exhale, but he didn’t go down. Instead, he charged, dropping his shoulder and driving into my gut. My back slammed against the brick wall.
I’m not proud of what happened next. To be honest, I’m not all that proud of the nut-kick either, but you got to work with the tools in your shed. And the closest tools at that moment were the cues in the wall rack.
When Ceja stepped back to throw another shot, I cracked the pool cue over his head. He didn’t exactly drop. He eventually hit the floor, but his descent was more of a slow, sad crumple. Like his limbs surrendered against gravity, a modern dance version of a Peckinpah death scene. When it was over, he curled up on the ground, fetal. Eyes open, snoring. I thought about giving him an insurance kick, but we were buddies.
“Rack ’em up,” Bobby Maves said, toasting me from behind the bar. “No, wait. Nice rack! Or, I think that’s my cue—dot-dot-dot—to kick your ass. Get it? Cue. Or something with the word pool in it. I pity the pool?”
“Why didn’t you help me?”
“Laughing too hard.”
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Meet Johnny Shaw!
Johnny Shaw was born and raised on the Calexico/Mexicali border, the setting for his Jimmy Veeder Fiasco novels, Dove Season and Plaster City. Dove Season won the Spotted Owl Award for Debut Mystery, was nominated for the Spinetingler Award, and earned year-end “Best of” mentions from outlets including Booklist, Grift Magazine, Barnes & Noble’s Mystery Blog, LitReactor, Spinetingler Magazine, and Murder by the Book. He is also the author of the Anthony Award-winning adventure novel, Big Maria.
His shorter work has appeared in Thuglit, Crime Factory, Shotgun Honey, Plots with Guns, and numerous anthologies. He is the creator and editor of the fiction magazine, Blood & Tacos, which recently added a phone app, a Podcast, and a book imprint to its empire.
Contact Info: Website | Twitter | Google+ | GoodReads | Amazon
Want to purchase Johnny’s novels?
Jimmy Veeder Fiasco
Big Maria
Blood & Tacos #1
Blood & Tacos #2
Blood & Tacos #3
Blood & Tacos #4
The Snickerdoodle Kerfuffle
Sounds like a fun read, thanks for sharing!