Award-winning short crime fiction - Nowhere To Go

[Iain Rowan]

Eleven stories of murder, obsession, fear and - sometimes - redemption.

Featuring stories published in Alfred Hitchcock's, Ellery Queen's and more, NOWHERE TO GO is a collection of Iain Rowan's best short crime stories. Iain's short fiction has been reprinted in Year's Best anthologies, won a Derringer Award, and been the basis for a novel shortlisted for the UK Crime Writers' Association's Debut Dagger award.


Amazon US | Amazon UK | Smashwords

WHAT OTHERS SAY

"A short story writer of the highest calibre."
(Allan Guthrie, author of Top Ten Kindle Bestseller Bye Bye Baby, winner of Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year)

"During the five years that I published Hardluck Stories, One Step Closer and Moth were two of my favorite stories. I loved the nuances and true heartfelt emotion that Iain filled his stories with, and Iain quickly became a must read author for me--everything I read of Iain's had this tragic, and sometimes, horrific beauty filling it, and was guaranteed to be something special."
(Dave Zeltserman, author of Outsourced, and Washington Post best books of year Small Crimes and Pariah)

"Iain Rowan's stories never fail to surprise and delight, and just when you think you know what will happen next, you realize how much you've been caught unaware."
(Sarah Weinman, writer, critic, reviewer, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and News Editor for Publishers Marketplace)

"Iain Rowan is both a meticulous and a passionate writer, and these stories showcase his ample talent wonderfully well. You owe it to yourself to discover Rowan's fiction if you haven't already had the pleasure."
(Jeff Vandermeer, author of Finch, Shriek:An Afterword, City of Saints and Madmen; two-time winner of the World Fantasy Award)

ONE STEP CLOSER: Life jumps the rails, runs away from you and there's no catching it up. Not ever.
THE CHAIN: "You know what this is about, Mr Jackson," the voice said.
A WALK IN THE PARK: Mason didn't know much about the man they had been sent to kill.
ONE OF US: "You must be the doctor," he said.
TWO NIGHTS' WORK: As soon as the short man opened his bag, I knew what was going on.
EASY JOB: Harry could never resist an easy job, and the place on the moors road was the king of easy jobs.
FAKE: "Get me one note please, Mr Rogers. Any one. Pick it at random."
MOTHS: "You've been watching me, haven't you," she said.
CHAIRMAN OF THE BORED: Oh, and I killed someone else too, but he was old and pointless and I doubt anybody noticed.
THE REMAINS OF MY ESTATE: I am the Alcatraz of the ironic. Nothing gets out of here alive.
NOWHERE TO GO: The man took a step out, then back, then stopped, no time any more, nowhere to go.

If you read it, I hope you enjoy it. Any feedback always welcome.

Iain

[Iain Rowan]

Interesting to watch the ups and downs of sales rank in the first week.

Nowhere To Go made the Amazon UK top 20 (print and ebooks) in the crime/mystery/suspense short stories category today. Slipped just out now, but entertained my kids seeing dad's book between Stephen King and Conan Doyle.

[Iain Rowan]

I’ve put out a free taster for my crime collection, Nowhere To Go. One Step Closer was first published in 2006, and won the Derringer for best short story.

It's available at Smashwords for Kindle, Sony, Apple, and other e-readers, as well as in pdf.



If you were standing bored in a bank queue on an ordinary day when a man pulls out a gun and starts shouting, do you know what you would do? One Step Closer is the story of one man who has to make that decision.

If you read it, I hope you enjoy it.

Iain

[Iain Rowan]

Hi all.

An ordinary man who finds himself caught up in a bank raid gone wrong. A murder caught on security camera where the victim doesn't exist. A man with just months to live, who is already living in hell but decides to take on the devil. A mob accountant babysitting a hired killer on a trip to the countryside, and a burglar on an easy job who finds it might not be so easy after all. A con-artist conned, and what a man will do when in the grip of an obsession more important to him than his own life.

Nowhere To Go is a collection of eleven crime stories first published in Alfred Hitchcock's, Ellery Queen's, and elsewhere. Eleven stories of what people do when there is nowhere left to go. My short fiction has been reprinted in Year's Best anthologies, won a Derringer Award, and been the basis for a novel shortlisted for the UK Crime Writers' Association's Debut Dagger award.

I'm offering Smashwords coupons for free downloads of the collection (normally $2.99) to anyone who might be interested in reading and reviewing. If this is you, please drop me a direct message here and I'll send you the coupon code, which is valid for download until June 5th.