Rock and a Hard Place Press is a lit-noir publisher, focused on stories of struggle, tales of the powerless and marginalized, characters on the fringes of society … and what they do next.
With apologies to Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj, 2025 is shaping up to be the year of the “Hot RHP” summer.
The latest installment of everyone’s favorite literary magazine, Rock and a Hard Place, Issue 14, is now available, with 13 stories and essays from the finest writers working in crime fiction today.
Some of these stories are destined to be short-listed for the “best of” lists for the year. They’re full of bleeding hearts, and dashed hopes, and dark humor, and the sort of desperation that has become our calling card.
We’re also particularly excited to feature three nonfiction pieces from authors we admire—Jason Allison, Jacqueline Freimor, and Michael A. Gonzales—diving deep into the psychology of a noir writer, and exploring why each writer writes what they write.
And of course, the whole thing is packaged with a beautiful cover from our resident cover designer, Heather Garth, and features gorgeous black-and-white art throughout.
Don’t sleep on this issue, and pick up a copy from your favorite bookstore or ecommerce site (and our usual plug applies—talk to your brick and mortars about stocking RHP. We’d rather you give your money to an indie book proprietor than a supervillain billionaire).
Beyond the regular publication of the literary mag and our monthly Stone’s Throw stories, we’ve also got two other great books to check out.
First up is C.W. Blackwell’s Whatever Kills the Pain, a collection of a dozen short stories (some of which have appeared in the pages of Rock and a Hard Place Magazine or one of our themed anthologies).
From the marketing copy:
Crackling with energy, emotional depth and unflinching violence, and filled with characters desperate to reclaim what has been unjustly taken, plotting the heist of a lifetime, or grappling with chance encounters that might free them from the bonds of wage exploitation-or send them to early graves, Blackwell fearlessly documents an America sick with greed and hate.
Whatever Kills the Pain is guaranteed to generate a lot of buzz (it already has!), from a writer at the top of his game. We’re so excited at Rock and a Hard Place Press to publish this collection. Make sure you grab your copy! Learn more about this book via the RHP Interview, available for free on our Patreon channel.
Secondly, Rock and a Hard Place Press is thrilled to announce that we’ve re-released Dirtbags, the debut novel from Southern Noir superstar Eryk Pruitt! When three broken people find themselves slammed together by fate — Calvin, the killer; London, the cook; and Rhonda, the woman who loves them both — the body count starts to pile up. Set in a Virginia town where opportunity has long since vanished, Dirtbags is at times poignant, funny, sexy, and thrilling, while the three lead characters seek out what they don’t have: notoriety, love, family and a sense of belonging and purpose.
Eryk has earned a reputation as one of the great Southern Noir storytellers, and this is your chance to read his first crack at writing a novel. If you’ve followed his career through the years, you can trace a lot of the style and character work that has come to define his writing to this foundational book. If you don’t already have a copy, make sure to get yours’ today — and if you do have a copy of Dirtbags, get the RHP edition!
Want to know more about Eryk and his writing? Check out the RHP interview with Eryk, free on Patreon!
Thanks for being a part of our RHP community, and look for more exciting news about planned projects for the year ahead, coming out shortly!