Sunday, October 14, 2012

Check Out The Savage Kick

We all know the history of the online short crime fiction zines and how they came to be over the last 15 years or so and filled a void.  In recent years there has been a rise in crime fiction print journals.  The legendary Murdaland stormed onto the scene, had an impact then folded after two issues.  A little more then a year after Murdaland our very own Steve Weddle co-founded Needle Magazine, which six issues later, is still going strong. Earlier this year John Kenyon launched Grift Mgazine, and Pulp Modern recently published their third issue. 

I think that these magazines and journals are all, deservedly, pretty well known. Especially within the crime community.

What I wanted to do briefly today was to point out another great magazine/journal that everyone might not be as aware of.  Savage Kick.


The Savage Kick is an annual (or whenever the hell they feel like it) fiction journal that contains a lot of raw and in your face fiction. It also features interviews and recommendation lists. The early issues were straight up old school zines that were stapled together and kind of sloppy in the best way possible, and the last couple being more of a trade paperback journal.

The new issue is out now.


Each of those old issues had a limited print run and when they hit the limit, boom that’s it, no more. In fact issue #1 is gone but the other are still available and highly recommended. There are probably two reasons why these guys aren't more well known: They don't publish only crime fiction and they are erratic.

But I do recommend that you check them out if you have the time and the coin.  It was actually in issue 5 that I first read a story by Julie Kazimer which lead to me buying her short story collection, nominating it for a Spinetingler Award, and purchasing and publishing her crime fiction novel through Snubnose (couple of weeks).

Bottom line is that I wanted to take a moment and use this space to boost their signal and make sure folks were aware of them.


Savage Kick is a part of the Murder Slim family. They published the Spinetingler Award cover nominee The Hunch by Seymour Shubin and also The Angel by Tommy Trantino which was featured in the article 30 Days in the Hole: The Real Prison Books. Check these books out.

Current Read: The Warlord of Willow Ridge by Gary Phillips
Current Listen: Babel by Mumford and Sons

No comments: