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Gun Sex
Gun Sex is the first anthology of short stories by Pearce Hansen, the author of STREET RAISED. Looking back over a 15 year writing career, Pearce has gleaned what he considers the 20 best horror and crime stories from his over 80 publications in such prestigious venues as Anthony Neil Smith's Plots With Guns!, Gary Lovisi's Hardboiled, and Todd Anderson's Thuglit.
Pearce Hansen is an East Bay native who writes about what he knows; his work is inspired by his experiences growing up on the mean streets of Oakland and her sister cities. Pearce currently resides up on the Lost Coast behind the Redwood Curtain, empty nesting it with his wife and their spoiled fat Egyptian Mau cat.
Ken Bruen (author of London Boulevard, soon to be a major motion picture, Oscar winner William Monahan (screenwriter of The Departed) to write & direct): "One of the best writers I know. Imagine James Ellroy coupled with George R. R. Martin and overseen by Charles Willeford. But Pearce really needs no comparison to any other writer; he’s created his own compelling dark universe that ratchets up noir to an astonishing level. True noir has finally received the rightful heir to the Dark Kingdom. Hail Pearce Hansen. The heir to Vachss.”
Anthony Neil Smith (Editor of Plots with Guns!): "Pearce is a wild man, and demands your attention. Hansen is definitely one of the gonzo crowd and deserves a stage with a loud amplifier and some bright lights."
Todd Anderson at Thug Lit: “There are those who write about the street, and those who write from the street. Mr. Hansen has obviously walked that walk, and speaks the language of the down and out with a heartbreaking, frightening realism. Gutter-low and dirty, the way we like our women.”
Aldo Calcagno (Mystery Dawg Blog and Powder Burn Flash): “The Black Hole of Noir. Hansen writes stuff that is so damn dark and right on that it’s scary. This is a voice that needs to be heard, and demands a wide audience.”
Pearce Hansen is an East Bay native who writes about what he knows; his work is inspired by his experiences growing up on the mean streets of Oakland and her sister cities. Pearce currently resides up on the Lost Coast behind the Redwood Curtain, empty nesting it with his wife and their spoiled fat Egyptian Mau cat.
Ken Bruen (author of London Boulevard, soon to be a major motion picture, Oscar winner William Monahan (screenwriter of The Departed) to write & direct): "One of the best writers I know. Imagine James Ellroy coupled with George R. R. Martin and overseen by Charles Willeford. But Pearce really needs no comparison to any other writer; he’s created his own compelling dark universe that ratchets up noir to an astonishing level. True noir has finally received the rightful heir to the Dark Kingdom. Hail Pearce Hansen. The heir to Vachss.”
Anthony Neil Smith (Editor of Plots with Guns!): "Pearce is a wild man, and demands your attention. Hansen is definitely one of the gonzo crowd and deserves a stage with a loud amplifier and some bright lights."
Todd Anderson at Thug Lit: “There are those who write about the street, and those who write from the street. Mr. Hansen has obviously walked that walk, and speaks the language of the down and out with a heartbreaking, frightening realism. Gutter-low and dirty, the way we like our women.”
Aldo Calcagno (Mystery Dawg Blog and Powder Burn Flash): “The Black Hole of Noir. Hansen writes stuff that is so damn dark and right on that it’s scary. This is a voice that needs to be heard, and demands a wide audience.”
207 pages, Kindle Edition
About the author
Pearce Hansen
10 books84 followersPearce Hansen is the author of Street Raised//https://www.amazon.com/Street-Raised-....
Pearce Hansen is an Oakland native residing in Seattle with his wife Pia. Pearce's fiction is inspired by events and experiences from his youth growing up in the East Bay.
He's been writing 20 years with over 100 publications including three novels, one short story collection and six anthology inclusions. He's an alumnus of Anthony Neil Smith's legendary Plots With Guns! and Todd Robinson's Thuglit. He's been reviewed by Eddie Muller in the SF Chronicle, and blurbed by Joe Lansdale, Michael Shea, Ken Bruen and Laird Barron. His work's been translated into Finnish and Spanish, and adapted as a limited edition comic book.
Pearce Hansen is an Oakland native residing in Seattle with his wife Pia. Pearce's fiction is inspired by events and experiences from his youth growing up in the East Bay.
He's been writing 20 years with over 100 publications including three novels, one short story collection and six anthology inclusions. He's an alumnus of Anthony Neil Smith's legendary Plots With Guns! and Todd Robinson's Thuglit. He's been reviewed by Eddie Muller in the SF Chronicle, and blurbed by Joe Lansdale, Michael Shea, Ken Bruen and Laird Barron. His work's been translated into Finnish and Spanish, and adapted as a limited edition comic book.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 29, 2012
ugh, i just came back from a pathetic work event and the main word that comes to mind is lazy. this event should have been inspiring; after all, its main purpose is to celebrate the volunteers who are the backbone of my agency. instead what i had the displeasure of experiencing was something that was just tossed together in the most lazy, uninspiring way - as if just the fact that the event was occurring was reason enough for its existence. it happens every year and so that's that. and so why bother about putting something together that is interesting, exciting, or truly honors the folks that it is supposed to be for. all the free drink tickets in the world couldn't solve the problem of the emptiness that was at the heart of this event. and those free drink tickets definitely didn't help fill the emptiness i felt at being a part of such a lackluster enterprise.
the event reminded me of this book. it is a collection of stories by a Bay Area author, mainly about a bunch of low-lifes and their daily lives. or rather their daily lives with a little spice thrown in. a snapshot of a day in the life of a low-life, except this day is slightly special. also tossed in the collection were various attempts at horror and personal narrative and at least one essay on Women (Women as the Mother of All Things, the Ancient Cybele, snore). i wanted so much more from this collection. just as a baseline, i wanted writing that was not so amateurish. Bay Area low-lifes are potentially a source of much rich material and they deserve a lot more. a hell of a lot more. they deserve something with actual resonance.
the author seems to know his stuff and - as the folks in reality tv competitions are so fond of saying - he clearly has heart. but the writing was often so eye-rolling that i couldn't help but think that this was cobbled together by various efforts coming from various creative writing classes. and so it was often distinctly embarrassing.
like the unfortunate event that i attended, i had to wonder: why even put this out there if it is so uninspired, if the execution is so shoddy? just because? that's not a reason... it is a waste of time. just because should never be a reason to do something that involves other people.
although a 1 star book overall, i'll give it another star for a few minor reasons. first, the story about Speedy's first day out of prison was genuinely interesting, and had a smashingly eerie segment taking place at a trucker's rest stop. apparently this is the first chapter of another novel by the author; i probably should have read that one instead. anyway, second: i love the cover. that guy is cute in an off-kilter way and the photo is funny. third, love the title. "Gun Sex".... love it. and last, this collection of stories inspired me to delete several of the more cringingly amateurish efforts that i had posted under my profile's story section (all of which come from my college or immediately post-college years). anything that inspires self-editing in a person as self-absorbed as myself is worth a star. so yeah, an extra star makes this one 2 stars. fine, i can live with that. also, this is a drunk book review. sorry, author.
the event reminded me of this book. it is a collection of stories by a Bay Area author, mainly about a bunch of low-lifes and their daily lives. or rather their daily lives with a little spice thrown in. a snapshot of a day in the life of a low-life, except this day is slightly special. also tossed in the collection were various attempts at horror and personal narrative and at least one essay on Women (Women as the Mother of All Things, the Ancient Cybele, snore). i wanted so much more from this collection. just as a baseline, i wanted writing that was not so amateurish. Bay Area low-lifes are potentially a source of much rich material and they deserve a lot more. a hell of a lot more. they deserve something with actual resonance.
the author seems to know his stuff and - as the folks in reality tv competitions are so fond of saying - he clearly has heart. but the writing was often so eye-rolling that i couldn't help but think that this was cobbled together by various efforts coming from various creative writing classes. and so it was often distinctly embarrassing.
like the unfortunate event that i attended, i had to wonder: why even put this out there if it is so uninspired, if the execution is so shoddy? just because? that's not a reason... it is a waste of time. just because should never be a reason to do something that involves other people.
although a 1 star book overall, i'll give it another star for a few minor reasons. first, the story about Speedy's first day out of prison was genuinely interesting, and had a smashingly eerie segment taking place at a trucker's rest stop. apparently this is the first chapter of another novel by the author; i probably should have read that one instead. anyway, second: i love the cover. that guy is cute in an off-kilter way and the photo is funny. third, love the title. "Gun Sex".... love it. and last, this collection of stories inspired me to delete several of the more cringingly amateurish efforts that i had posted under my profile's story section (all of which come from my college or immediately post-college years). anything that inspires self-editing in a person as self-absorbed as myself is worth a star. so yeah, an extra star makes this one 2 stars. fine, i can live with that. also, this is a drunk book review. sorry, author.
December 12, 2011
Hansen's book of short stories covers over 15 years of his writing. There is some absolutely fantastic stuff in here. I love Hansen's "East Bay" stories and characters, they jump off the page at you. Characters like Speedy, Carmen, Tamara; I love their attitudes, their flaws, their aggression, their determination to survive --- and most of all their ability to describe the details of what is happening around them and in their lives. There is some stuff in here that didn't grab me as much but what those stories did show is that Pearce Hansen is more than just a one trick pony. For 0.99c on Kindle this book is an absolute steal, and if you haven't read Street Raised you need to check that out as well.
January 12, 2012
Pearce Hansen's vision of the American streets is quite seducing. It's a picaresque landscape where everyone has the best and the worst within them, but never settle for anything in between. Think Jack Kerouac on hard drugs. While I found the collection to be lacking in cohesion as a whole, Hansen's strong point is the crime stories and especially those featuring his two protagonists of STREET RAISED, Speedy and Reseda. The horror stories felt a little out of place, but don't let them discourage you, Hansen's worth your time and money.
July 1, 2017
I wasn't sure this would amount to anything because I was not
impressed by the cover. There are a significant number of great stories
reminiscent of stories found in Thuglit anthologies. These are not soft
cuddly tales. These are dark tales of a violent world. Psychic Friend
has humor in it and is just superb. Church Social is another dark sad
tale About revenge. There is a tale about a guy released from Pelican
Bay Prison. Carny Love is about a nasty girl and what happens at a
carnival in Oakland last Trick is about robbing Johns. Wow. What a
great find.
impressed by the cover. There are a significant number of great stories
reminiscent of stories found in Thuglit anthologies. These are not soft
cuddly tales. These are dark tales of a violent world. Psychic Friend
has humor in it and is just superb. Church Social is another dark sad
tale About revenge. There is a tale about a guy released from Pelican
Bay Prison. Carny Love is about a nasty girl and what happens at a
carnival in Oakland last Trick is about robbing Johns. Wow. What a
great find.
February 8, 2012
Highly recommended collection of shorts for those who like their noir-crime-horror-realistic-dark fiction served up sharp and visceral. Some parts made me cringe at how vividly Hansen brought images to life, disturbing images that will haunt me for some time to come. Some of the shorts in this collection are from his book, Street Raised, which, judging from the few excerpts in Gun Sex, is a wild ride of a book. The other pieces have solid hooks, tight writing and very original story lines. Also, just to note, I bought the ebook version (maybe the only version there is), and it is very cheap, well worth the price. Trust me.
February 19, 2012
Pearce Hansen is a writer's writer and a reader's writer. In the stories collected here, in my opinion, he just plain does everything right. His characters are immediately three-dimensional, and the stories, well, heart-poundingly believable. Hansen knows his subjects well, and he shares them with us in a brutally beautiful style--prose vivid enough to drop you right in the scene.
Raw, brutal, sexy as all get out, I highly recommend Gun Sex, and will be reading more Hansen soon.
Raw, brutal, sexy as all get out, I highly recommend Gun Sex, and will be reading more Hansen soon.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews