Introductions

Hi. I'm Rusty Barnes, crime writer and proprietor of this new blogazine of crime stories and occasional reviews: Tough. By way of bona fides, I edited, and still oversee, the journal Fried Chicken and Coffee, and I cofounded and edited the literary journal Night Train for over ten years. You can also view my site if you'd like to know more about me.

I hope to publish new crime stories and highlight crime novels as well as story collections published by the small press via occasional reviews. However, I won't rule out reviewing something from the Big Five if it fits within my--admittedly broad--guidelines. We pay for stories and reviews. Not much, I know, but something. See the submissions page for details.

Tough will debut in July 2017. You can email me at toughcrime@gmail.com with queries or anything else you want to know about the project. I know the site looks rough. It'll get better.

Thanks for stopping by.