“The Movie Makers” [Excerpt] by Gary Phillips

For what the mark wanted—needed, in fact—Rachel reflected as she went through her yoga exercises, was vindication. Having reached a certain age and income level in this dog-eat-dog business, his psyche still needed boosting. “Don’t get wrong,” Mikka Bolarus had said to Rachel one evening after a narcotics anonymous meeting as they sipped quite wretched […]

“See No Evil” by Peter DiChellis

I told the cops the truth. I didn’t see anything. But yes, the murder happened right in front of me. And yes, the killer grabbed me and pushed me out of the way to leave. But like I said, I didn’t see a thing. Nothing at all. And then my hard, angry voice screamed the […]

“At the Junctions of Epiphany” by Les Wicks

The train of thought, my tickets of insight a quiet of the sleepers the tranquillity of this nothing. Then the carriage breaks out I sit inside a chaos, we commuters right alongside a somewhat crazy Absolute Disaster who is interested his own opinion. I experience true peace Not apart, nor together. Signals are red but […]

“A Question of Execution” by Basil Rosa

I’d heard Tiny Aria say a million times that in Fortuna, if you scratched beneath the surface, you’d only find more surface. He laid this on me again when he phoned about the Reno Morelli kidnapping. Reno managed The Gutterball, a dive where mooks, con-men, and low-level operatives met to figure out which cops weren’t […]

“Coffin Dress Girl” by Heather Santo

“I’m looking for someone,” I said. “A girl.” “Aren’t we all?” replied the punk. He took a drag from the cigarette stub pinched between his thumb and index finger, then exhaled dramatically. I watched as the large plume of smoke rose, flashing alternating colors in the club’s strobe lights. Red, blue, green, yellow and back […]

“Noir” by Charles Rammelkamp

“Feem nwah,” Larry muttered, as if uttering sacred words, his tone hushed, as though in a church – or in a movie theater. A lonely middle-aged guy who spent his evenings alone in the repertory cinemas in Coolidge Corner or Harvard Square, Larry fashioned a purpose from his hobby, a cult for one, conjuring metaphysics […]

“The Stew Pot” by Steve Carr

Sitting with his legs hanging out of the open boxcar door, Daryl lifted the left pants leg of his orange prison uniform and poked at the blood crusted on the thin piece of cloth, torn from his t-shirt, that was tied around his lower leg. He removed the cloth and wadded it, then threw it […]

“The Coming Storm” by D. V. Bennett

Pulling up carefully on the latch handle, Jack Winslow stepped out of his Chevy Impala onto the lonely tree-lined street. The intense rain and wind would cover most sounds, but he was careful not to allow the low-register thump of his car door to cut through the din. Repossessing a motorcycle in the middle of […]

“Nightfall” [excerpt] by David Goodis

It was one of those hot sticky nights that makes Manhattan show its age. There was something dreary and stagnant in the way all this syrupy heat refused to budge. It was anything but a night for labor, and Vanning stood up and walked away from the tilted drawing board. He brushed past a large […]

“Much Worse Ways” by Joseph Hirsch

This was Ant’s first time in Ohio, and he wasn’t impressed. Pennsylvania, he knew from the Poconos, but this was pure boondocks. The sticks. His passenger, Carmine, didn’t seem to like it either. The morning sun came rushing through the tinted windshield of the rental car, and Carmine spoke while playing with the rounds in […]