Start reading Beat On The Brat (and other stories) on your Kindle in under a minute. Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

 
 
 

Try it free

Sample the beginning of this book for free

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

Read books on your computer or other mobile devices with our FREE Kindle Reading Apps.
Beat On The Brat (and other stories)
 
 

Beat On The Brat (and other stories) [Kindle Edition]

nigel bird
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

Digital List Price: £1.53 What's this?
Kindle Price: £1.53 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
Unlike print books, digital books are subject to VAT.



Product Description

Product Description

'A fantastic writer.' Donald Ray Pollock

Beat On The Brat (And Other Stories) is the second collection to be released by prize winning author Nigel Bird, following the success of his debut, the critically acclaimed Dirty Old Town (And Other Stories).

Here are 9 more pieces from the shadows.

The lead story, Beat On The Brat, was the winner of the prestigious Watery Grave Invitational competition of 2010. It went on to be published in the highly-regarded Needle Magazine and was nominated for Spinetingler’s ‘Best Story Online’ earlier this year.

In 2010, his success in 2010’s Watery Grave Invitation was followed by a 5th place story entitled ‘Too Much Too Young’. The story appears here as ‘Back In Black’ as a dedication to the wonderful Amy Winehouse who died on the weekend before release.

‘Hoodwinked’ appeared at ‘All Due Respect’, ‘Mind Your Step’ at Microw, ‘Sugar and Spice’ at A Twist Of Noir’ and ‘Snow Angel’ at ‘Not From Here Are You’.

His work has appeared recently in the collections ‘The Mammoth Book of Best Of British Crime Stories’ and the debut release from Snubnose entitled ‘Speedloader’.

This follows appearances in Crimefactory; Dark Valentine; Beat to a Pulp; Pulp Metal; Crimespree; and a number of other wonderful homes.

Later this year Nigel is to put out the anthology ‘Pulp Ink’ with co-editor Chris Rhatigan. He is confident that the names involved and the quality of the work will make it one of the finest short fiction collections of the year
.
His blog ‘Sea Minor’ is currently running the ‘Dancing With Myself’ series of interviews. He hopes to complete his novel by the end of 2011.

Praise for the work of Nigel Bird:

‘A rare talent.’ Allan Guthrie

‘The incomparable Nigel Bird opens the collection with the gripping “You Dirty Rat”, a WWI-era tale of revenge that manages to be beautifully layered and thrilling at the same time. I’ve not seen Bird take a misstep yet.’ Heath Lowrance

‘Big money messing with people's heads. Cheating. Murder. Blackmail. Deception. Great stuff.
The narration sets a good mood, and the little bits of description tossed out by someone intimately familiar with his subject, but not working too hard to prove it provide that perfect amount of setting to draw you in without slowing the story.’

- Criminal Thoughts, R Thomas Brown

‘nigel bird is the bomb diggity’ Steve Weddle

‘In crime fiction shorts, I've rarely seen stories with multiple narrators. I would speculate that this is because it's tough to execute and, more often than not, confuses the reader. But Bird manages to pull it off in this piece with three different narrators. It took me a second to realize what was going on, but when I did it was worth it. Bird uses this technique to an interesting effect with all of the characters witnessing the same events from different perspectives. And each character has a distinctive voice--absolutely essential for this kind of piece.’

- Chris Rhatigan

‘Excellent. Sharp lines and a great ending!’ – David Barber

‘Nigel’s, Dirty Old Town, is superb.’ - AJ Hayes

‘So nice to read a story with this much heart in it.’ - Patti Abbott

‘Great Stuff.’ Charlie Stella ‘Brilliantly razor-sharp, jagged slice of life.’ - Paul D Brazill

‘I sought out everything I could from him. I dare you to read and not do the same.’ - Chris F Holm

‘Took my breath away...Powerful.’ - Kathleen A Ryan

'The stories have well written plots and all have unexpected endings which are not obvious when reading them. I found the stories to be well conceived and ideal to read in ebook format. I hope that Nigel is able to write a full size novel to further develop his writing skills. Some of the short stories here could easily have been the base for a much longer book.'

- Paul Blackburn



Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 133 KB
  • Publisher: Sea Minor (25 July 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language English
  • ASIN: B005ELNTLM
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #122,969 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  •  Would you like to give feedback on images?


More About the Author

Nigel Bird
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Visit Amazon's Nigel Bird Page

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(4)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Reviews

3 star
0
2 star
0
1 star
0
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By JanLuke
Format:Kindle Edition
Nigel Birds second collection of black and sometimes twisted tales lives up to the high standard he set himself in "Dirty Old Town". His tales always grip right from the first paragraph and you never quite know where he's taking you. While sometimes uncomfortable the violence is never too graphic leaving the worst unwritten and limited only by the darkness of your own imagination. The twists in the tales are usually easily spotted early on but none the worse for it. Back to Black is masterpiece in making you care for the wrong guy and is the story that stayed in my head for days.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Brit Grit! 11 Aug 2011
Format:Kindle Edition
Nigel Bird screamed onto the crime scene with his story "Beat on the Brat," winner of last year's Watery Grave International competition. And with good reason. It's a sharply written tale about the cost of loyalty.

One of my favorites here is "Back to Black." This nuanced short takes the reader to the back alleys of Tranent and gets inside the mind of a child molester who has returned to his hometown. Bird's gift for creating complex, sympathetic characters is on display here.

"Dance with Me" was a nice surprise toward the end. A punchy, very funny piece about a bounty hunter and a criminal linked together by handcuffs at JFK.

This is Bird's second expertly crafted collection of gritty crime stories this year. I'm sure we'll be seeing more from him in the future.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Another (literally) knockout selection from Nigel Bird following on from Dirty Old Town earlier this year.

Themes featured include revenge, people at the end of their tether, revenge, crazy experiments & more revenge. Keeps the quality very high throughout - standouts for me are Beat on the Brat, Hoodwinked & Snow-Angel. Snow-Angels ending brilliantly ties into the title & BotB recalls the heady days at the beginning of NY punk & had me wondering (or wishing )if it was based on fact & Hoodwinked is a revenge tale like no other. Mr Bird also throws in a poem & some haiku but it's the stories that will stay with you & have you coming back for more. Fans of Dirty Old Town shouldn't hesitate in getting this as well - everyone else should get both.

All in all a great collection from a writer who has his own voice & isn't afraid to experiment.
Was this review helpful to you?

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums


Look for similar items by category


Look for similar items by subject





i.e., each title must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Amazon Media EU S.à r.l. GB Privacy Statement Amazon Media EU S.à r.l. GB Delivery Information Amazon Media EU S.à r.l. GB Returns & Exchanges