With Love And Squalor by Nigel Bird

With Love and Squalor is a great introduction to the dark fictional world of Nigel Bird. The author’s fiction has featured in such places as The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime Volume 8, A Twist of Noir and Pulp Metal Magazine. This collection features stories from a range of these publications and serves to give the reader a good idea of what he’s about. This also includes a sample from Nigel’s novella, Smoke. Bird’s style is indefinable. He is drawn to the quirk and different aspects of life. He takes a sidelong view at things and then puts pen to paper.

Some tales like Fisher Of Men will leave you with more questions than answers. A Whole Lotta Rosie, I suspect inspired by the AC/DC song, had heart like much of Bird's fiction and a sad almost melancholic edge to it.

No Pain, No Gain took the interesting concept of siblings that can't feel pain and ran with it. Yet again we have the darker aspects but interwoven that sense of emotional depth that makes you care for the characters even in short fiction. This makes for compelling reading. He has that rare talent of great characterisation in a limited word count. This gives his stories more punch and an extra dimension.

If this is this first title of Nigel's that you read I have no doubt that you will explore more of his work.

Genre:  Crime Fiction
Publisher:  Sea Minor
Format:  E-Book - Short Story Collection
Rating: 5/5

A DECEMBER SPECIAL OFFER WHICH CAN’T BE BEATEN!!!

Yes, we have lost our marbles! Our sanity has gone up in a flash of smoke. An offer so good it won’t be beaten.

If you purchase Nigel Bird’s critically acclaimed novella SMOKE which is on special offer at just 86p/$1.34 we will give away a PDF copy of my flash fiction collection absolutely FREE for nowt, zilch, nothing, gratis.

(This offer also works in reverse. If you purchase my own Flashes of Revenge I will send you a FREE PDF copy of Nigel's novella)

Offer ends 31/12/2011.

Here’s what some very talented people say about Nigel Bird’s Smoke:

“So this is how it went for me last night. I went to bed thinking I'd make a start on Nigel Bird's brand new novella SMOKE and then hopefully manage to get some sleep in. Two hours later I was still reading. Feeling guilty that it was 3am I turned off the light, only to switch it back on at 4.30am to finish reading this superb tale about the high jinx that two young lads get up to in Tranent.”  - McDroll.

“Being familiar with Nigel Bird's bitter-sweet short-stories, I was fascinated to see how trying his hand at a longer piece would turn out. This novella is a little different from many of the aforementioned short-stories in that the writing voice is unashamedly Scottish. And brilliantly so. I think of all the UK short-story writers plying their trade at the moment, along with the inimitable Mr Paul D. Brazill, Bird is the one writer that has most successfully found a voice for the US market. That being so, I loved the fact he's returned to his Scottish roots for 'Smoke'.”  – Ian Ayris.

“It's no secret for crime fiction fans that Nigel Bird is the real deal.

Smoke features all of his strengths -- complex characters, a well-constructed story and very fine writing. Working-class Scotland comes to life here, from chip shop wars to dog fighting rings. Violence is a way of life for the characters in Smoke, which makes the moments of humanity all the richer.

Jimmy emerges as the most likable character. He's trying to rise above his disfigurement and the general s*** life he's had. I hope Bird continues to write about him.” – Chris Rhatigan

Nigel Bird's debut novella, Smoke, is the story of a town, Tranent, and the rough edged characters that live there.

Smoke is a spin off from Bird's great story An Arm And A Leg-which was included in this year's Mammoth Book Of Best British Crime.

The main characters are Carlos, who actually lost an arm and a leg at the end of the aforementioned story and is hell bent on revenge, and Jimmy, a young kid with a good heart who has drawn the short straw in life. And they have a mutual hatred of the Ramsey brothers, who are making their fortune organizing dog fights.

Smoke is reminiscent of Allan Guthrie's Savage Night in the way it cleverly interweaves different strands of the story and its great mixture of colorful characters, absurdest humour and hard boiled crime.

It's a funny, gripping and moving book which left me desperate to read a follow up! Recommended. – Paul D. Brazill.

Download Smoke in the UK HERE
Download Smoke in the US HERE

Download Flashes of Revenge in the UK HERE
Download Flashes of Revenge in the US HERE

Smoke by Nigel Bird

Ever since I first read Dirty Old Town by Nigel I have been a fan of his short stories. The collection which followed it Beat On The Brat only reinforced this feeling. When I heard that Nigel had a novella out I was excited at the prospect of reading it.  I wanted to see how Nigel would handle longer fiction and he didn’t disappoint me.

Bird brings us a unique flavour in the setting of the town of Tranent. Like most writers of his considerable talent you can’t quite put your finger on the singular thing that makes his writing unique. Smoke is Brit Grit at its very finest. Think in terms of Layer Cake or Snatch.

The story starts with Jimmy being humiliated at school and vowing revenge against his nemesis Sean Mulligan. Things go downhill for Jimmy very quickly from there. This is also the story of Carlo who we first saw in Nigel’s story An Arm And A Leg which appeared in The Mammoth Book Of Best British Crime 8.

The story is set in the middle of a huge dog fighting tournament and one or two scenes excellently convey the brutality of this horrendous pastime. I won’t grace it with the word sport.  Nigel’s writing often deals dark settings and damaged characters and this is particularly true for Smoke.  The two main characters in Smoke are physically damaged in different ways.  However, don’t let this put you off, always with Nigel’s fantastic writing there is humour and a nugget of hope. There is always a shot at redemption for these characters. The story is left open and we could possibly see the return of one of the characters in the future. I do hope so it would be great to see the setting of Tranent again.

I started off as a fan of Nigel Bird’s and my admiration for his work has only increased with the addition of Smoke to his portfolio.

Download Smoke HERE

Pulp Ink Anthology edited by Nigel Bird and Chris Rhatigan

PULP INK is the bizarre, chaotic side of crime fiction. From an ass-kicking surfer on acid to an idiot savant hitboy, these tales are dark, funny, action-packed and told with all the gleeful insanity of a Tarantino flick. 


It was obvious to me by the time I had read the first three or four stories of this anthology that I had a problem.  Writing an effective review of Pulp Ink would be like trying to clean the Humber Bridge with a toothbrush. Why?  Quite simply because each story is like a sparking gem in the mud that is the e-book market. This anthology shone so brightly to me that I felt I had to wear shades when reading it. The editors deserve great credit for putting together such a fine collection. This is up there with the best of them and possibly my most enjoyable read this year.


Anyone who regularly reads my reviews knows that I am not a critic. I write positive reviews. I know what I like and I read what I enjoy.  However, I am having to rein myself in from gushing like a school girl in the presence of a boy band. This anthology is THAT good.  I very early on decided that I would say a little something about each of the stories. I felt that I owed it to the authors of this collection to say at least at little something about each of these excellent stories. So here it is:


Requiem for Spider by Reed Farrel Coleman 
A hugely enjoyable hard boiled tale with humour entwined within its very soul. Poetic.

Jack Rabbit Slim's Cellar The $5 Mil Hak by Jodi MacArthur 
McArthur's character Shasta Star is both fascinating and playful. Witty from the start, wise cracking and multi-layered. A great setting and a fantastic ending. Sublime.

Padre by AJ Hayes
You could lose yourself in the midnight black worlds AJ creates. This tale screamed across my synapses in cinematic high definition. A story of justice done told only the way AJ can.

The Creation of Ice by Sandra Seamans 
You are plunging straight into the desperate end game as a cold hearted killer tries to charm her way out of the clutches of the law.

Zed's Dead, Baby by Eric Beetner 
A debt collector cuts a bloody swathe in his attempt to find Zed. Beetner pulls no punches in this bloody tale with a surprising ending.

Your Mother Should Know by Allan Guthrie 
A tale of god fearing folk & childhood innocence with that dark cloud of menace hanging over it that only Guthrie can conjure.

You Never Can Tell by Matthew C. Funk 
Brilliantly descriptive. Laced with delicious atmosphere, the air hangs heavy with menace and the threat of violence.

A Whole Lot of Rosie by Nigel Bird 
Nigel takes a classic song by AC/DC and turns it into a fantastic atmospheric story with heart and soul.

The Lady & The Gimp: A Peter Ord Investigation by Paul D.Brazill 
Another great story in another fantastic seedy setting. Stuffed to bursting with vintage Paul D. Brazill wit and humour. His PI Peter Ord never disappoints.

A Night at the Royale by Chris F. Holm 
A story that is pregnant with an air of menace. However, you find yourself with no sympathy at all for Mr. Black's hapless victims. An outstanding and clever ending.

Clouds in a Bunker by David Cranmer
 A sad little tale that injects humour into a difficult subject.

The Wife of Gregory Bell by Patricia Abbot 
An excellent tale confirming that one shouldn't mess with karma.

If Love is a Red Dress - Hang Me in Rags by Michael J. Solender 
Eloquently descriptive. The author does so much with so few words.

A corpse by Any Other Name by Naomi Johnson 
A brilliant and hilarious short crime caper. Great characters. Steinbeck is smiling from the great beyond at the tribute.

Surf Rider by Ian Ayris 
Solid gold from Ian. He takes us through the doors of perception and shows us the darkness within.

The Slicers' Serenade of Steel by Gary Philips 
A story that started one way then went off at a fantastic action packed tangent. Great pace and wit throughout.

The October 17 Economic Development Committee Meeting by Chris Rhatigan 
You can’t help but empathise with some of the views created by Chris’s character here! A brilliantly woven tale told at a fast tense pace.

Threshold Woman by Richard Godwin 
A beautifully descriptive and erotic tale of our desire to quench forbidden thirsts.

Redlining by Jim Harrington 
A little impatience leads to a dark deed and a gritty ending.

Jungle Boogie by Kate Horsley 
A tale filled laden and heavy with the threat of impending doom.

This Little Piggy by Hilary Davidson 
A cleverly told tale with a great twist.

Comanche by Jason Duke 
Revenge served in a suitable fashion. Some great descriptive lines in this one.

Misirilou by Jimmy Callaway 
A fun caper with great humour throughout & snappy dialogue

The Only One Who Could Ever Reach Me by Matt Lavin 
A dark and UTTERLY compelling read.

UK Download Pulp Ink HERE
US Download Pulp Ink HERE

You can find out more about the editors here:
Nigel Bird
Chris Rhatigan