‘Small Change’ has been published!

As of yesterday (today in America), my fifth novel Small Change is out on the streets (preferably in book shops rather than gutters!).

A mix-up of hardboiled noir, pulp, soft horror, detective fiction, homage, and straight out farce, the book is available via Amazon USA, UK, Australia, Canada and Japan, as well as from — with free international shipping — Book Depository.

We’ve had a rash of great reviews over the past few days (says Andrez, wiping fevered brow), thanks to Australian Comics Journal, Fanboy Comics, Underrated Reads, All-Comic, and Annabel’s House of Books.

And Crime Fiction Lover included Small Change in their list of crime books to look out for: “With his off-beat pulp style featured in both comics and novels, here Andrez Bergen leads us into the bizarre world of Roy Scherer, a P.I. whose eyes are more focused on the weird phantasms of the occult than Chandler’s mean streets. Helped by nerdy assistant Suzie Miller, Scherer combats criminals for whom a standard Smith and Wesson load will do little harm. Only the silver-plated variety of bullet will damage these people!”

In answer to some questions, yes, that is an homage to Tom Waits on the cover — artist Alec and I are big fans.

Anyway, it’s out there, and I hope people (a) check the thing out, and (b) enjoy the ride. Plus it’s my birthday on Monday (the 14th), so be nice!

Otherwise?

I’m currently at 55,650 words in novel #6 (Black Sails, Disco Inferno), with just the final chapter to go — plus some very necessary editing/expansion/tweaking.

And Frantz Kantor and I have started episode 2 of our collaborative Magpie comic for Oi Oi Oi! zine in Australia. I love Frantz’s art, and am so bloody lucky to be working with him. He’s really grabbing the scripts and making them something sensational.

We also have (I like to think) a hilarious dialogue at the beginning of #2 to explain away the change in costume.

Here’s a lo-res sneak preview snippet from an initial version of the cover art (shhh!).