Crime Fiction By Michael Downing The guy didn’t shut up. One of the first things you learn inside is to keep quiet, especially when you don’t know any other cons, but apparently nobody taught him that lesson. Stark had been like that the first time he got sent up too – a tough punk whoContinue reading “Between The Lines”
Category Archives: Hard Life
Her Eyes Didn’t Meet Yours
Flash Fiction By Steve Saulsbury Betty was eating in the walk-in again. Sitting on a 5-gallon bucket of pickles, next to a platter of leftover salads. The reception was over, the staff relieved, breathing more naturally. Soon, it would be time to break down the tables and chairs. The head table for the bride andContinue reading “Her Eyes Didn’t Meet Yours”
Making A Call
Crime Fiction by J. Marquez Jr. The second he put eyes on the silver Honda Civic with the words, WASH ME, scrawled across the blanket of dirt that covered its rear window Chico made the call he’d been making since childhood. A series of cracks that looked more like the webs under Spiderman’s armpits grewContinue reading “Making A Call”
The Night Before Larry Was Stretched
Flash Fiction by Frank Sonderborg We sat on Larry’s prison bed and reminisced about our Special Ops glory days in the Army Wing.” “Why?” I finally asked Larry. He smiled through his ugly shattered face. Larry always had, serious fucking issues. But now he was sitting on death row. Because of a hurried emergency hangingContinue reading “The Night Before Larry Was Stretched”
The Sun Never Sleeps
Flash Fiction by Michael Tyler Paul and I were like brothers. Better than brothers, we were like twins. People would say we’d been separated at birth, that’s how close Paul and I were. Every school day we’d laugh and scowl together, every evening we’d terrorize the neighborhood, every summer we’d head down to the beachContinue reading “The Sun Never Sleeps”
Heaps
Crime Fiction by Robert Wofford “I ain’t sure about this, Sheriff,” Deputy Barker said. “You gonna just knock that door down?” “You got a problem with it?” Sheriff Lowe said. “It’s a fuckin’ trailer at Starlight Trailer Park. A fuckin’ heap of shit in the middle of nowhere. Even God’s forgot about Starlight Trailer Park.Continue reading “Heaps”
Dirt
Crime Fiction By Sean Williams It was July. The sky resembled living watercolor; dark blues and soft purples slowly consumed the fiery streaks of sunset. The air was thick enough to taste, yet cool enough to breathe. The smells were vivid, damp grass, fresh dirt, and the unmistakable scent of sulfur. A congress of strangersContinue reading “Dirt”
Father’s Day
Flash Fiction by Scott Macleod Del could feel the old voice coursing around his brain like poison, but he felt he had something important to say so he tried to keep it together. Well missy look at you I suppose you’re one of them schoolboy smarty pants. “You see that guy?” said Del to hisContinue reading “Father’s Day”
Levels
Great Noir Fiction by Alec Cizak 7:23PM, Lublin, Indiana She’d aimed her husband’s work issued .9mm at his heart and squeezed the trigger. Not as much blood as she’d expected. The cops, or whoever, would have no problem cleaning it. She’d turn herself in. Shortly. She imagined folks might get upset by her lack ofContinue reading “Levels”
Shooting Gallery
Mystery Fiction by Lyndy Wibking It was 10:07 p.m., and still Jack was nowhere in sight. In her old car in a corner of the fairground’s huge dirt parking lot, Bonnie Honeybone stared out the windshield at the fair’s whirling, blurring, blinking riot of a skyline a hundred yards distant. Against the vast blackness ofContinue reading “Shooting Gallery”