PLOTS WITH GUNS: The Final Rot
When the gang and I started Plots with Guns back in '99, we didn't have much in the way of expectations, just a little website to give a home to tough, no-holds-barred fiction that seemed to have a hard time landing in other journals. In the end we were all just exhausted, but very proud to have published five years of stunning noir that exposed us to new writers, strong stories, and the thirst out there for what some call "High Pulp". We made a lot of friends during those years, and a few mortal enemies (well, maybe not, but that would be cool if we had), and we just kept pushing our vision of crime fiction, hoping it would catch on. Crimedogs forever. These guys and gals wrote some very brutal stuff.
The corpse of PWG is still up, but it's come time to pull it down. While we will keep the domain name (just in case...), the archives will no longer be online as of December 11th, 2006. So take a trip down memory lane and explore our evolution. Experience the excess of Darren Subarton's "Nil Desperandom", or Gischler's Christmas story (Santa and hookers?), or the early work of literary monster Scott Wolven. Check out our Big Shot issue, where we conned some of our favorite novelists into giving us a short story (with a drink for payment), and one of those--Eddie Muller's "Wanda Wilcox is Trapped!"was nominated for an Anthony Award. Read Frederick Zackel's four-part novella! Sean Doolittle's "Worth" is here, which eventually grew into his latest novel, The Cleanup. We introduced you to some loco guy named Tribe. Some dude called Jim Winter. Scroll through work that made it onto the Best American Mystery Stories "Other Distinguished Stories" lists several years running (and congrats to Wolven and Tim Williams, whose PWG pieces actually made it into the anthology itself!). Track the rise of a writer as he navigates the first steps of his career in Victor Gischler's column "Hardboiled Dixie". Check out Trev Maviano's "Blood Money", which led us to bringing him on-board the ship as editor and columnist (you can't beat his interviews. "Goomba Challenge", anyone?). Revel in Tim Wohlforth's "Crip and Henrietta" series, which began right here. There's also Robert Skinner's guest-editing an issue, his intro a call to arms: "The American story is often one about a gun." Noir Queen Vicki Hendricks chimed in with her own special issues, as did Sarah Weinman with her British picks. Pearce (Michael) Hansen's Speedy was here before he jumped into his own novel (Street Raised). We've got Stella, Coleman, Guthrie, Banks, Swierczynski (the piece made it into Gorman's Year's Best anthology), Bruen...look, not to leave anyone out, but we're talking an amazing collection of writers on our little site. Not to mention the great artists who have helped us along the way: Aaron Armstrong, Haze McElhenny, Jesse Moore, and a couple of others who contributed photos and designs.
Just go spend a few hours looking back, and you might be surprised. I'm still surprised when I start another stroll down memory lane. We'll put it this way--if we published it, we really liked it. No compromise, no middle-of-the-road, no trying to keep from offending you, none of that. If we liked it, we took it.
I wish I could contact each and every writer to let them know we're officially going dark, and to thank them for supporting PWG through the years. But there are far too many, some of whom I've lost touch with (but would love to hear from), and I don't have the time. So let this be the big public Hugs & Kisses: We will never forget our Crimedogs, our readers, and even our critics (we know how to hold a grudge...until we get bored with it). Many thanks.
Some say you should live fast, die young, and leave a good looking corpse. And aside from the scars picked up in knife fights, PWG is one hot son of a bitch. Time to shove it into the crematory.
Yeah, PWG rocked like it was on drugs. Its spirit lives on in publications like Murdaland and Thug Lit.
One question about Wolven - I recently read his CONTROLLED BURN. Didn't the story "Crank" appear in PWG? And didn't it have a different ending then?
Posted by: Graham | November 30, 2006 at 10:40 AM
Some of the best crime fiction anywhere on this godforsaken chunk of dirt. Thanks for making it so great.
Posted by: Stephen Blackmoore | November 30, 2006 at 11:13 AM
PWG was always my favourite place for short fiction. I miss it, but thank all you guys for the hard work, the fun, and the great great stories - including one of my favourite short stories EVER - the Eddie Muller one - god I loved that story.
Donna
Posted by: Donna | November 30, 2006 at 01:16 PM
Man, I'm gonna have to go troll that site just so I have the stories for a little while longer.
Thanks for giving me my break. Thanks for all the great rot and ass kicking. It was one helluva ride.
Posted by: Jim Winter | November 30, 2006 at 02:45 PM
ha ha........good job I've already downloaded and printed the f..kers off then !
Posted by: col2910 | December 01, 2006 at 07:07 AM
I heard a guy read an issue of PWG once ... and he died.
True story.
Victor
Posted by: Victor Gischler | December 01, 2006 at 10:15 AM
I knew this day would come, but it still makes me sad. I'm just glad I could be a small part of it. Thanks for keeping it up as long as you did.
Posted by: Mike MacLean | December 02, 2006 at 12:34 AM
Sad days, indeed.
My God, I can't stumble out my door without hearing 'Won't Get Fooled Again' coming from some mook's car and when I make my way back to my wind-swept hovel the Rolling Stones are being used to hock wireless phone service on TV, Led Zeppelin for Cadillacs!
Some things – man, they just never go away!
Yet – for some strange, mysterious reason (oh, this is all happening rather soon after ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko was given a fatal dose of radioactive Polonium-210 in a London sushi restaurant to simply be mere coincidence, wouldn't you say?) the 'Plots With Guns' archive must suddenly "disappear"?
It, of all things, is being pushed into a dark cyber abyss never to breathe another word?
Be scared, my friends.
And, yes, be sad too.
Be very, very sad. There were truly treasures within. Pity our children who will never know such strange and horrific tales!
Posted by: Michael Langnas | December 04, 2006 at 11:49 AM
You suck man!
*sniff* *sniff*
making me cry like that.
*sniff* *sniff*
Anyone wanna share a line or five? -HEH-
PWG R.I.P.
"A life lived in infany, is a life best remembered to history."
R.S.P. LEE, 12, December, 2006
Posted by: Robert S.P. Lee | December 04, 2006 at 10:19 PM
I'll be saying my last goodbyes to PWG at the MURDERATI BLOG on Sunday.
Check it out if you get a chance.
http://www.murderati.typepad.com/
Posted by: Mike MacLean | December 08, 2006 at 10:51 PM