"Bullets, Booze and Bastards"

The Last of the Smoking Bartenders by C.J. Howell

ISBN: 978-0985578688

The Last of the Smoking Bartenders follows a drifter traversing the Arizona desert, leaving behind a path of destruction. Tom believes he is a secret agent deep undercover racing to stop terrorists from blowing up the Hoover Dam. Forced to live off the grid, without paper money because of tracking devices in the watermarks, and aided by a homeless raft guide and a band of meth dealing Navajos, he hunts down a terrorist network one Molotov cocktail at a time. But is it all a delusion? Are they actually killing innocent people? Chased by a beautiful but damaged FBI agent and a crossbow wielding psychopath, Tom must stay one step ahead of his pursuers and save the country he loves, all on less than a dollar a day.

Raves for The Last of the Smoking Bartenders

“A zany, violent road trip through madness and paranoia. The Southwest as seen through the haze of a meth pipe while you cruise on a ninety-proof buzz. Visceral and intense.”
—Mario Acevedo, author of The Nymphos of Rocky Flats

“The Last of the Smoking Bartenders is hilarious and intense, a book that nailed my feet to the floor, grounding me to my favorite reading chair for two days and ruining all my plans. I love it when that happens.”
—Matthew McBride, author of Frank Sinatra in a Blender

“A heated adrenaline ride of pulp and madness, if you have a taste for the harsh, the downtrodden and the psychotic, C.J. Howell brings something fresh and entertaining to this landscape of storytelling, while flipping it on its ear. If not too bad for you!”
—Frank Bill, author of Crimes in Southern Indiana

“The Last of the Smoking Bartenders is a druggy road trip across a burned out southwestern landscape that’s both bizarrely off-kilter and strangely recognizable. With gallows humor and a keen eye for American absurdity, C.J. Howell has fashioned an apocalyptic epic that takes place in the here and now of our darkest national fears and neuroses.”
—Jake Hinkson, author of Hell on Church Street

“The Last of the Smoking Bartenders burns like a message carved into the desert by the ghost of James Crumley. It’s the kind of paranoid, alcoholic, drifter prophecy that captures the new West perfectly.”
—Benjamin Whitmer, author of Pike

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