News for week ending 2014-01-03 (open thread)

I recently discovered a great new writer whom, I believe, is fairly new to the game and is currently only publishing E-Books.

His name is Travis Hill and so far I’ve read a novella and a short story by him–One Bad Job and One Last Job, respectively. They both feature Billy Jensen, a heister who is refreshingly modern while still having many old school heister traits.

For the cost conscious among us, they’re both pretty cheap. I think One Bad Job (which should be read first) is like 2.99 when I bought it and is now only 99 cents. One Last Job was 99 cents, but is now free.

Hill is a talent to watch. God only knows why he hasn’t been published by a house, but for all I know maybe he hasn’t even tried to be. His prose style is very satisfying, and he has a knack of avoiding cliches, and even some of the plot elements I’ve read before (having to work off a debt to a psychopathic gangster) somehow seems fresh and inventive coming from Hill. That’s one of the signs of a great writer, by the way.

Jensen is a great character and I hope Hill writes many more stories featuring him.

Hill has written quite a few other stories, mostly Sci-Fi. I’ll probably check them out but even the best Sci-Fi is somewhat a chore for me to read. My heart belongs to crime!