By H.A.L. Wagner The school bus blocks my view of Murray Russel’s new place. The city obviously didn’t do their predator checking lately. Murray shouldn’t be within 1,000 feet of this stop. Just another pleasurable reason to take this bastard out. The bus passes leaving no child behind. In the large picture window stands Murray.Continue reading “Seen It Many Times”
Category Archives: Noir
The Carlton Theater
By Andy Betz and Samantha Fowler Part One: My life as it was My employer, Mrs. Oliver, assigned the duty of a visual inspection of an older movie theater to me. I was to look around and walk about and give her my written report by the morning. While her decision would not be basedContinue reading “The Carlton Theater”
Gorehounds
(Or The Case Surrounding Crystal Woijick’s Supposedly Lost Death Tape) By Cindy Pereira “You don’t look the type of the girl that’d be into this shit,” Raoul Davenport says with a condescending smirk. Yeah, and you look exactly like the sort that jerks off to it and watches the Columbine surveillance tapes on loop. IContinue reading “Gorehounds”
Drunk Tank
By Dick Johnson Carl awoke. His head hurt and the light was bright. His memory flooded back to him, and he realized where he was. He was in his underwear, and lying on a concrete bunk in a room with almost zero features. There were fluorescent lights in mesh glass above, grey rubber walls, aContinue reading “Drunk Tank”
Tell Me a Story
By Hillary Lyon Tell Me a Story, She Said, Make it a mystery. So I concocted a tale,a cocktail concerninga private plane, a stowaway,a debris field. A secret affair, a radical manifesto,a tiny rhythmic beeping.Red numbers tumbling downlike crisp autumn leaves. A smug politico, a movie mogul,a sex slave.I was not a slave, she corrected.IContinue reading “Tell Me a Story”
Bank Robbery Hostage
By A. Williams Jason ran his hand through his dark curly hair as he stood in line at the bank. His boss hadn’t even wanted to let him off early even though he knew the bank closed at 5 p.m. He hated his job. “Put your cell phones away! Don’t want you calling the copsContinue reading “Bank Robbery Hostage”
Lavender Diamond
By Edward Sheehy I’m done writing first-person point-of-view stories. My latest saga of a modern family stretching back several generations, voiced by 72 first-person characters including pet dogs and cats and a crow circling the narrative dispensing omniscient commentary, had been soundly rejected by dozens of publishers. My agent said first-person was overdone, mine inContinue reading “Lavender Diamond”
.38
By Seamus O’Leary Jack’s slim form moved through the dancers on the night club floor, like a panther moving through a jungle of flashing lights. Nubs followed, and everyone got out of his way. They entered a door in the back, which opened into a short hall lit by fluorescent lights in the ceiling, andContinue reading “.38”
Julia and Katherine
By Andy Betz “Hello. My name is Katherine Adams.” It was my reserved opening. Neither abrupt nor capricious, I remained steadfast in my resolve to make a singular opening. I made discreet inquiries about her idiosyncrasies and decided to discard such second hand information and decide for myself. “I read your ad in the tradesContinue reading “Julia and Katherine”
The Quarry
By Jason Smith Alex and his car were found at the same quarry where the man from 1984 was buried. The front of his car was a crumbled wreck. He had driven through a barricade and rolled down a hill before plunging to his final resting place. His autopsy showed his alcohol limit was aboveContinue reading “The Quarry”